Szasz, Ferenc M., and Issei Takechi. “Atomic Heroes and Atomic Monsters: American and Japanese Cartoonists Confront the Onset of the Nuclear Age, 1945–80.” The Historian, vol. 69, no. 4, 2007, pp. 728–752. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24453578.
This reading discusses the profound ways the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in the Second World War impacted life and culture around the world. The bombs represented a new age in humanity; one of seemingly limitless power and destruction, and no defense against it. Such an impactful event had notable effects on the media and art of the time, especially in Japan.
The Americans occupied Japan for six years following the bombings, and during this time there was a censorship on anything atomic bomb related. After this time, content on the matter started to emerge in many forms, particularly in comics. The popular Japanese comic style, manga, actually originated during the time of the American occupation. This is an interesting form of art that we have not touched on in our class, but they were widespread, easily consumable, and told contemporary stories, and for those reasons they proved to have influence.
One specific hero that emerged from Japanese comics at this time was Astro Boy. Known originally as Ambassador Atom, Astro Boy was a superhero who had a variety of powers akin to Superman, and the source of these powers was atomic energy. He was robotic but shared human emotions and often time acted as an ambassador for humans when alien interactions occurred. These comics warned against humans abusing technology and they called for the peaceful coexistence of all groups.
Astro Boy was an example of an Atomic Hero but perhaps an even more well-known character out of this time period was the Atomic Monster, Godzilla. He was a prehistoric monster brought back to life by radiation. The scientist who ultimately invents the weapon to destroy Godzilla warns of its power and warns that if there are more hydrogen bombs there will be more radiation monsters.
This reading shared similarities to the series The Hiroshima Panels from a content perspective, but there are also several differences. The Hiroshima Panels tell a darker story and one that is uniquely from the Japanese perspective. While the focus is mainly on Japan and the U.S., the reading tackles what impacts the atomic bombs had on the whole world. The reading is also focused on the mainstream artistic response to the war, which it covers well.
