I saw Oppenheimer opening weekend and was largely impressed by the movie. This is a tough subject for a myriad of reasons, and while the movie does have its flaws, it is a good watch. During the original period of the atomic bomb, comic books and other forms of media had fallen into a nuclear war rabbit hole.
Comic books had begun to tackle to hard subject of the atomic bomb and what it could mean. Decades later and it's still a topic of discussion -- especially the aftermath.
During the Golden Age of comics, we saw a shift from superhero books to atomic war comics starting in the mid 1940s. These books were more of a "what if" than a "this is what happened" for the most part, but in later years comics would explore what happened after the atomic bombs would drop.
Many books of the era had dedicated covers for the atomic bomb, but didn't contain any atomic bomb stories in them. We all know movies can have an impact on comics, but did Oppenheimer impact the later Golden Age and Atomic Age of comics?
Atomic War! #1
Out of all of the comics dealing with atomic bombs, this book is arguably one of the more well-known examples. Published in November 1952, this book explores what would happen if Russia dropped atomic bombs on New York City, Detroit, and Chicago. This cautionary comic wanted Americans to avoid another World War -- especially now that atomic energy was very viable.
Lower-grade copies of this comic saw a price bump between March and July. A CGC blue label 3.5 example saw a jump from $403 in March 2022 to $774 in June 2023. In June 2023, a CGC blue label 7.5 sold for $2,299 on eBay via fixed price. None have come up for sale since the movie's release, so time will tell if these prices will drop.
T-Man #20
Released in 1954, this comic also explores what would happen if the Russians attacked world leaders with an H-Bomb. The rest of the 5 story issue revolved around spies and similar stories. T-Man would continue being published for many more issues before going defunct.
CGC has only graded 6 copies of this book, with the last one sold in November 2021. It would be interesting to see where this book would land if it were offered now.
Action Comics #101
This copy of Action Comics came out around the same time the atomic bombs were first dropped. With a cover date of October 1946, this cover depicts Superman recording the explosion of an atomic bomb. The stories within do not reflect the cover -- the stories were very run-of-the-mill Superman stories. A CGC blue label 3.5 had a present dollar value of $2,270 in March 2022, but in June 2023 that price dropped to $1,200.
Of course, this era saw tons of books that covered the atomic bomb, including Two-Fisted Tales #33, Atom Age Combat, and G.I. Combat. yet many of these books have not sold within recent years. The horrors of what happened when the a-bombs were dropped on Japan was the subject of a select number of anime and manga, but those properties truly deserve an article of their own.
Overall, Oppenheimer may have not had an impact on the collocability of Golden and Atomic Age bomb comics, which I half expected. It is possible once the movie is released to streaming services that we may see a bump in interest on atomic comics, but until then, enjoy the low prices on some unique Golden and Atomic Age books!
