The Eager Beaver Space Book (1962)

 

As I keep digging in my collection I have found Space Beavers! This was a promotional comic book from Cities Service gasoline. It probably was a give-away with purchase. It reflects the early 60s where the Mercury launches had taken place and we were looking ahead to the future. The whole premise is a beaver who is invited to go on one of the early space voyages. The twist is that his son falls asleep during discussions about space facts and dreams of a moon trip. It is campy and strange in the best way and I am sure unfamiliar to most of you. Just the kind of thing I love to find and share.

The Eager Beaver Space Book. (Promotional comic from Cities Service Gasoline.) (32 P.) 1962. 

Outer Space (1953)

 

An oldie from 15 years ago (The last time I blogged about this one). I found my copy of this and was able to add a lot more scans of this early space treasure.  Outer Space was evidently a give-away comic book at Atlantic Richfield gas stations. For those of you who did not know, often in the 1950s and 1960s when you got a tank of gas there were promotional giveaways. They could be comics, books, dishes, antennae balls...etc.

This is a treasury of early space flight illustrations and I assume few have seen this. So I have tried to scan as much of the comic as I could. A lot of it seems to have been "borrowed" or influenced by the March 22, 1952 Collier's issue.

Atlantic Richfield. Outer Space. New York: Vital Publications. (15 p.) 1953.

Can you imagine? A rocket could cost more than 4 million dollars! And be more than 300 ft high.

Wonders of Space Travel (1954)

 

I have not blogged about this pamphlet since 2010 so here is a more complete scan. Wonders of Space Travel was a pamphlet that came enclosed in the May 8th issue of Lion Weekly (#116) in 1954.

Lion Weekly was a magazine for children with comics and stories. (from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_%28comics%29 It ran from 1952-1974. Evidently once in a while they would have extra booklets as part of the magazine.

I am fascinated with children's non-fiction about spaceflight. I especially like these early efforts where children were told and shown their brave new future. 

Many of the illustrations (Bonestell, Klep, Freeman) were from the Collier's Magazine series of articles about space flight so that may be why they are familiar. There are also a couple of images from R.A. Smith illustrations in a British publication.