Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Captain Science, golden age, Youthful Publications

The Atomic Age Drama of Captain Science #6, Up for Auction

In addition to two Captain Science stories, Captain Science #6 features "World War III with Ants" & an obscure photo of Stanisława Popielska

Captain Science #6, an intriguing gem from the 1950s Cold War-era science fiction comic book era, has much going for it from cover to cover.  Many collectors will focus on the cover by an unknown artist from Adolphe Barreaux's Majestic Studios, which features the titular hero facing off against a villain while attempting to rescue his assistant, Luana, who is bound to a rocket primed for launch. But the interior stories here are just as impressive.  Artists Tex Blaisdell and Vince Napoli contribute excellent art on a pair of Captain Science stories. But the final story of the issue, "World War III with the Ants" by unknown creators, is the real stand-out story here.  An overlooked issue from the atomic age, there's a high-grade Captain Science #6 (Youthful Magazines, 1951) CGC VF 8.0 Off-white to white pages up for auction in the 2024 May 30 Adventures in the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction #40261 at Heritage Auctions.

Essentially a space-traveling hero whose adventures were superficially in the Buck Rogers mold, Captain Science was created by Wally Wood, Gustav Schrotter, and Walter Johnson, for his debut in Captain Science #1.  Captain Science's 1950 origin story resembles and anticipates the later origin of the Silver Age Green Lantern.  Physicist Gordon Dane and his assistant Rip Gary witness the crash of a flying saucer.  Finding the wreckage, they encounter a dying alien who give them the "machine brain", a technology that allows them to take on alien threats.  In the first issue, Captain Science also encounters Luana, the power-mad daughter of one such alien menace.  Captain Science eliminates the threat and takes the girl with him, and she becomes a series regular.

Youthful Publications was part of a constellation of publishing companies with loose connections to DC Comics founder Harry Donenfeld. One principle of the company, William Friedman, had acted as Donenfeld's lawyer on numerous occasions, while another, Adrian Lopez, had previously co-founded a magazine publisher with Donenfeld. Over the course of its operation, Youthful Publications released 21 comic book titles, amassing a total of 125 issues.

With stories like Red Devils of Mars and The Invisible Tyrants, it's easy to see that the Cold War era in fiction is in full swing in Captain Science #6. But the true gem of this issue is the final story, "World War III with Ants," which pits the humanity of 1952 against an unknown phenomenon that has caused the Earth's ants to grow into giants.  The remants of mankind soon retreat into an underground bunker while most of them are placed into suspended animation, while a pair of scientists work on finding a weapon that will allow them to retake the surface world.

The text story in this issue, "Do You Believe in Ghosts?", provides a fascinating overview of belief in the supernatural in America and the UK during the 20th century, with particular focus on Harry Houdini's efforts to debunk mediums. A photo captioned "Ectoplasm issuing from the mouth of a Medium used by Arthur Conan Doyle to prove the existence of spirit world" seems to be a 1913-era image of purported medium Stanisława Popielska.

While the cover of Captain Science #6 is one of the big attractions here, this is a pretty compelling Cold War Atomic Age comic from stem to stern, and there's a high-grade Captain Science #6 (Youthful Magazines, 1951) CGC VF 8.0 Off-white to white pages up for auction in the 2024 May 30 Adventures in the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction #40261 at Heritage Auctions.

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