''Atomic Age'' is an American

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

four-issue

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

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d November 1990 to February 1991, published by the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

creator-owned

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Epic Comics Epic Comics (also known as the Epic Comics Group)Shooter, Jim. "Bullpen Bulletins: The Truth About the Epic Comics Group!" Marvel comics cover-dated November 1982. was an imprint of American publishing company Marvel Comics, active from 1982 to ...

. It was created by writer

Frank Lovece Frank Lovece () is an American journalist, author, and a comic book writer primarily for Marvel Comics, where he and artist Mike Okamoto created the miniseries '' Atomic Age''. His longest affiliation has been with the New York metropolitan are ...

and

penciler A penciller (or penciler) is an artist who works on the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms, with a focus on the initial pencil illustrations. In the American comic book industry, the penciller is the first step ...

Mike Okamoto Mike Okamoto (born Detroit, Michigan, United States) is an American comic book artist and commercial illustrator best known for co-creating Marvel Comics' ''Atomic Age''; as a "good girl art" cartoonist; and as the five-time International Netwo ...

, and inked by

Al Williamson Alfonso Williamson (March 21, 1931 – June 12, 2010) was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western, science fiction and fantasy. Born in New York City, he spent much of his early childhood in ...

. The series was among the items featured in the

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a Public university, public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized progr ...

exhibition "The Atomic Age Opens: Selections from the Popular Culture Library". Collaborator

won the 1991

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred ...

for Best Inker for his work on it and other series that awards-year, with Okamoto winning the

Russ Manning Award The Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award is an American award presented to a comic book artist whose first professional work appeared within the previous two years. It was named after comic book artist Russ Manning. The winner is chosen from ...

for most promising newcomer.

Synopsis

Set in October 1957, immediately upon release of the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

artificial satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scienti ...

Sputnik Sputnik 1 (, , ''Satellite 1''), sometimes referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space progra ...

, ''Atomic Age'' is an ensemble

seriocomedy Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, illness, betrayal, grief, etc. ...

of individuals affected by the first confirmed contact of humans and extraterrestrials. The principal cast is: Joe Nuñez, a put-upon, twentysomething

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

stringer for the ''Los Angeles Eagle'' newspaper in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

; his beautiful, blond girlfriend, Nan Stoddard, an ambitious and restless young woman whose feelings for him may be genuine or an attempt at being transgressive through

interracial dating Interracial marriage is a marriage involving spouses who belong to different " races" or racialized ethnicities. In the past, such marriages were outlawed in the United States, Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa as miscegenation (Lat ...

in that pre- civil rights movement era;

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

Col. John Patrick Lear, a proud yet pathetic figure who at the end of his career has been relegated to commanding the backwater Pacific Ocean military base Charity Island; and Nimbus, a mysterious alien who has arrived on Earth confused of his origins, but programmed to find and kill members of a genetically engineered slave race from his planet. The slaves, called drones, hope to commit species suicide — what the story calls "geneticide" — by destroying the scattered pieces of the original split of the drone race's "mother cell". Nuñez, frequently beset by racial prejudice, has developed a rueful humor and a resentful hyper-ambition as a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

. Using his connection with Nan's father, Dr. Stoddard, the head of a U.S. government

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

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, Nuñez meets clandestinely with a scientist who has classified data on what he believes is alien first contact; near retirement and stung by the Joseph McCarthy Red Scare hearings of a few years earlier, he sympathizes with Nuñez's desire to verify this important event despite government stonewalling. Nuñez makes his way to Charity Island, where Lear, bitter over what he considers unfair treatment by the military after his long but undistinguished career, warily joins forces with Nuñez to spin the presence of Nimbus — who was first seen over Charity Island and has left a dead drone there — in both men's favor. Nuñez returns with Lear to California, where the observatory has tracked Nimbus. Nuñez's ambitions soon affect his relationship with Nan and her family, and though he questions how far he will compromise himself, he rationalizes that the racial prejudice against him requires moral corner-cutting to overcome. Lear's increasing desperation to prove himself not a failure leads to extremes that eventually threaten Nuñez while also forging a bond between Nuñez and Dr. Stoddard. Nimbus, who has uncovered a second, female drone, gradually learns of his true nature, and fulfills his mission in an unintended manner that betrays the billions of slaves on his world. Counterpointing these personal stories are the fads, clothing, architecture, pop-culture imagery and prevailing social attitudes of the late 1950s, which inform the characters' actions and expectations.

Production

The creators spoke of the series' authenticity in a 1990 interview, with Lovece saying: "Every car, for example, is a real car. We have a drag race in one of the issues, and the cars are a '56

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence, Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

and a '57

Chevy Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

". Okamoto said of a scene involving a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

: "We were going to put a

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in the book, but ... kids back then couldn't afford a motorcycle as expensive as that, so most of them used

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

rand The RAND Corporation, doing business as RAND, is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. RAND engages in research and development (R&D) in several fields and industries. Since the ...

bikes". A rudimentary early version of ''Atomic Age'', set in the present day, appeared as an eight-page initial chapter by Lovece,

Robb Phipps and inker Sam de la Rosa in the comics magazine ''Woweekazowie'' #4 (Fall/Winter 1978). A digital 30th-anniversary edition was published by Apex Comics in 2019.

Reception

''Nuclear Texts & Contexts'' #6 (Spring 1991) wrote: "''Atomic Age'' (Frank Lovece, writer, &

, artist,

) is a four-part series dealing with alien invaders set during the

era. ... Although no nuclear war is featured, there is plenty of wry

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

paranoia, and on racism". Reviewer Paul Carbonero in ''

Amazing Heroes ''Amazing Heroes'' was a magazine about the comic book medium published by American company Fantagraphics Books from 1981 to 1992. Unlike its companion title, '' The Comics Journal'', ''Amazing Heroes'' was a hobbyist magazine rather than an anal ...

'' found it "a pretty worthwhile series encompassing thoughtful writing and attractive art. ... Writer Frank Lovece should be commended for striving to make every one of his characters highly distinct from one another. ... Okamoto creates an effective '50s feel".

Awards and distinctions

''Atomic Age'' was among the items featured in the

exhibition "The Atomic Age Opens: Selections from the Popular Culture Library".

won the 1991

for Best Inker for his work on this and other series that awards-year. For his painted work on Innovation's five-issue adaptation of the Piers Anthony novel ''On a Pale Horse'' in 1991, Okamoto won the

Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award The Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award is an American award presented to a comic book artist whose first professional work appeared within the previous two years. It was named after comic book artist Russ Manning. The winner is chosen from ...

References

External links

* * * *{{cite web , url=http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/MASC/finders/cg710.htm , publisher=

Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...

Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections: Paul Brians Comics Collection, 1950-2004 , title= Series 1: 1950-2004 , accessdate= October 6, 2015 , archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20150302125608/http://ntserver1.wsulibs.wsu.edu/masc/finders/sc003_3.htm , archivedate= March 2, 2015, url-status=live 1990 comics debuts Comics set in the 1950s Fiction set in 1957 Epic Comics titles Marvel Comics limited series Comics about extraterrestrial life Science fiction comics