“Comic Book Cartography’s dad would have been 12 when he acquired the copy we scanned, possibly at school. The comic wrestles atom splitting away from the bomb and slots it into the post-war parade of progress and prosperity. A black and white scan of the entire 16-page comic is available on the U.S. Department of Energy Website”

Comic Book Cartograhy is curated by Half Man|Half Static. He simply describes himself as “the curator of lost items”.

“Agriculture and industry meet in a surreal scene beneath a rainbow near the power plant at Grosskrotzenburg, Germany, on Nov. 25.”

Photo description: “Titan II ICBM in Silo 1963”

Previously on Skandalon.

Photo description: “Blast Door Art, Minuteman II ICBM Launch Control Center Delta-01 1965”

Artist’s statement: “In its broadest sense, culture is the sum total of our beliefs, our fears, our behavior patterns, our institutions, our common values, as well as our art, music, and literature. But the arts often neglect or omit reference to the Cold War. In fact, most of us who lived through those times have scant visual knowledge of what may be fairly called the dark side of our culture. We were immersed in the myopic soup of getting an education, finding a job, marrying, and having children. Meanwhile, far from our thoughts, bright and earnest young men were spending 24-hour duties behind 7-ft thick steel doors. There they drilled constantly the procedures to launch missiles with a 30-minute trip to the Soviet Union. The nuclear warhead on the Titan II missile shown here packed nearly three times the explosive power of all the bombs dropped by the Allies in WWII. And there were 54 of these missiles on alert for 25 years.

Most of us remember periods in our lives most vividly in terms of the popular music of the time. This project depicts some of the objects from the dark side of our culture during the Cold War and links them with popular music of the era. As surreal as the images are by themselves, their juxtaposition with the music magnifies the dreamlike quality of what was really at stake and how little the existence of these doomsday machines seemed to touch our lives. By the way, bright and earnest young men (and now women) still pull 24-hour duty in launch-control bunkers every day.”

Previously on Skandalon.

Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Stanley Kubrick, 1964.

Photo description: “Control Console, X-10 Pilot Plant for Production of Nagasaki Bomb Plutonium, Oak Ridge, TN 1943”

Artist’s statement: “One cannot see the nuclear-explosives production facilities built during the Manhattan Project without experiencing a sense of awe at what was accomplished. The scientific, engineering, managerial, labor, and logistical challenges that were met and overcome are separately impressive but, taken together, simply astonishing. It is all the more incredible that this was done in the context of a desperate and bitter war that had already strained the nation’s manpower and resources as never before. Yet appreciation of the monumental achievements of the Manhattan Project cannot be considered without a pang of regret at what it unleashed into the world. It is an enduring paradox and essential human tragedy that so much selfless devotion to cause, so much creative intellectual energy, and so many good intentions gave birth to such a monstrous reality. It is a reality that would threaten the survival of the very civilization that made it possible. Although the end of the Cold War significantly lessened that threat, humankind may never again be free of its shadow.” Check his official website and his profile on the Behance Network.

Copyright info: “Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported”.