Journey to the Sun (1961)

 

The second promotional comic I wanted to share is Journey to the Sun. It is also from Boys’ and Girls’ March of Comics and the only other one I've found that is about space flight.  It was handed to customers of stores that sold Little Yankee Shoes.  

Journey to the Sun is a story about a mission to get close enough to the sun with some instruments to make some important measurements. They use ion propulsion to get there and actually use a solar sail for braking as they approach the sun. Of course things go wrong and the astronauts are subjected to high heat (and drama.) In the end they use the known melting points of several metals to measure their distance from the sun so they can complete their mission. A much more scientific story than I expected.

Journey to The Sun. (Promotional comic.)  Boys’ and Girls’ March of Comics, #219. Poughkeepsie, NY: Western Printing and Lithographing Co. (18 p.) 1961. 

Space Explorer (1960)

 

A promotional comic from 1960 called Space Explorer. It was part of the comic series Boys’ and Girls’ March of Comics, #202. Art was by Ray Bailey, who coincidentally drew the "Tom Corbett" newspaper strip.

These promotional comics were distributer to retailers who would brand them with their name and give them away to customers to attract them to shop at that store (like stores that sell Jumping-Jacks shoes.)

Space Explorer is the story of a brave astronaut who survives trials and tribulations to make it to Phobos (of Mars) to discover via telescope new information about Martian canals. Spoiler alert: Mars has primitive plants but no intelligent life made the canals.

Space Explorer. (Promotional comic.) Art by Ray Bailey. Boys’ and Girls’ March of Comics, #202. Poughkeepsie, NY: Western Printing and Lithographing Co. (18 p.) 1960. 

Rockets and Space Coloring Book (1960)

Some nice space pictures (to color) for you today.  Coloring books may be one of the ultimate forms of ephemera. There were meant to be used, admired? and then thrown away. Yet many children owned them and there were at least 40 issued between 1950 and 1970 on space themes. If pictures are a universal communication then these children got a lot of input about what their future in space would look like. This particular one is full of futuristic dreams of what space flight might be from the viewpoint of the beginning of our men into space programs.

Rockets and Space Coloring Book. New York: Treasure Books. (51 p.) 1960. 

This first batch seems to be copied from older 50's space images

This image on the right above seems a little odd. It can't be on the Moon since there is a helicopter.  What is the palm tree doing in the loading of the lunar ship? Does it leave from the tropics? Does it launch "single stage direct?"

This image above also needs more explanation. Is this a Russian launch system? I don't remember it.

"Ready for take-off" to aim at targets on Earth?

That spaceship has a really big window

Stations in Space: Our Stepping Stones to the Stars (1960)

 

Just another quick re-run of an older book, enjoy!

Cox, Donald W. Illustrated by Kocher, W. A. Stations in Space: Our Stepping Stones to the Stars. New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston. (55 p.) 1960.