Action Comics (1938) 101

America and the world entered the Atomic Age 77 years ago today.

The Trinity technicians may have wondered what they had wrought later, but the resulting self-sustaining chain reaction signaled a division in eras punctuated with a now familiar mushroom cloud.

Since that time, man has poked and prodded what he harnessed in hopes of better understanding and wrangling that power. To honor those who were drug along during the battery of tests, President Ronald Reagan designated July 16 as National Atomic Veterans Day:

Action Comics (1938) 101

“The day was dedicated to those patriotic Americans who through their participation in these tests helped lead the United States to the forefront of technology in defense of our great nation and the freedoms we as Americans hold so dear.”

In 1996, the United States Congress repealed the Nuclear Radiation and Secrecy Agreements Act, allowing Atomic Veterans to tell their stories and file for benefits. By then, thousands of Atomic Veterans had died without their families knowing the true extent of their service.

Pulling from the Golden Age of comic books and nuclear testing, Action Comics issue 101 presents America’s new toy to the comic book reading world. Inside, Crime Paradise, a 12-page propaganda story, introduces the new age in a parable of good and evil.

To save Lois Lane, Superman allows himself to be dosed with a drug that causes him to commit irrational acts. Following the third such event, the Man of Steel flies to the south Pacific where a nuclear test is under way.

The resulting explosion clears Superman’s mind of any confusion. As a result, he offers to film the second explosion showcasing a new atomic bomb. After which, he proclaims the safety and proficiency of the newly harnessed power before returning to Metropolis and jailing the crooks.

Operation Crossroads, held mid-1946, was the first nuclear test since The Gadget was detonated at Trinity the previous year. Coincidently, the islands and setting during the test was similar to that portrayed in Action Comics 101.

This wasn’t the first time Superman would be tested by the rending of the atom.

In Superman 38 readers were greeted by the following exhortation on page one, “Due to wartime censorship restrictions on subjects dealing with atomic experiments (see Time, Aug. 20, 1945, P. 72 and Newsweek Aug. 20, 1945, P. 68), this story was not previously released to the public. You’ll understand why as you read about the astounding weapon that Superman’s ancient foe, Luthor, turns loose against the city in…The Battle of the Atoms!”

Luther would threaten the Man of Tomorrow with an atomic device only to have it explode harmlessly against Superman’s chest disarming the arch villain.

The legacy of Oppenheimer’s is maybe best summed up in his quote from the Bhagavad Gita, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”