Nuclear Summer!

As we enter the heat of the summer it's time for a closer look at comics and movies and characters who use radiation as a motif. Expect to see a new atomic character each day in the Favorite Cover section, look to the weekends for opinions and reviews of vintage radiation heroes Doctor Solar from Gold Key and Captain Atom from Charlton. Look for other significant atomic heroes from across the decades to get a focus. And look for reviews of offbeat movies which have radioactive themes, many in surprising ways. Most days the posts this month will have a radiation theme, but Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays will for certain right now.

Let me kick things off with this link to Radiation and Man, a delightfully optimistic Canadian comic book from 1972 which looks at the history and lore and nature of radiation.

As noted at the site the giant blue man on that cover does evoke the specific memory of Doctor Manhattan of  Watchmen fame.

And of course everyone knows that Manhattan himself is a variation on the classic Captain Atom created by Joe Gill and Steve Ditko at my beloved Charlton.

So Duck and Cover amigos! The "Nuclear Summer" begins!

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