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Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Atom Pop



Two "humanoid" atoms appear in the Czech 1959 comics written by Ljuba Štíplová and drawn by Miloš Nesvadba Alfík a Bětka, Atomíci (Alfík and Bětka, Atomies).







In the late 1950´s and early 1960´s there were two dominant symbols of the future: the spaceship and the atom. The term "atomic age", coined by New York Times journalist William L. Laurence, had been quckly adopted by the socialist media. Symbols of the atom were everywhere, most notable example is the Atomium monument at Expo 1958. Here are some examples of the nuclear optimism in the pop-culture. Above are two illustations by Jiří Pavlín and Gustav Šeďa for the Czech 1976 edition of Marcello Argilli´s modern fable Atomino. Atomino is described here as a "Pinocchio for the atomic age". The third picture is the cover of German 1979 edition, art by Manfred Bofinger.