Reddy Killowatt!

Reddy Killowatt is an exquisite design. His bright effusive smile, his spindly but bristling limbs, and those cute little shoes somehow add up and the whole is far greater than the sum. Reddy was nigh ubiquitous in all sorts of ads for new-fangled ways of living life in the 20th Century, he was in fact an icon of that new way forward, a time of positive feelings and downright progress. Here are some classic Reddy appearances.

Reddy appeared in comics often. Above is a 1946 appearance.

The Mighty Atom is exactly what it seems to be, a comic extolling the virtues of electricity, especially that electricity derived from atomic power.  Here's a look at the wraparound cover.

And here's the splash page.

To check out the complete comic book adventure, see this link.

Reddy Killowatt's heyday is long gone, sadly along with the sense of progress which once marked our society. But there have been attempts to revive him, such as this one above which updates his design a bit (note the tennis shoes) and adds a little blue buddy Reddy Flame. Yikes.

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