The comic, featuring Joe, a blonde kid with an eye patch, and his gang, debuted in 1953. In the crowded chewing gum market of the 1950s, Topps used the comic to distinguish Bazooka from other brands. The jokes produced more groaning than laughter, and included a fortune.

Characters and story Mort, a gangly boy who always wears his red turtleneck sweater pulled up over his mouth. Hungry Herman, Joe's tubby pal. Jane, Joe's girlfriend.

Sadly, Topps eventually stopped making Bazooka Joe comic strips with the gum, but in recent years, they started doing Bazooka Joe "throwback packs" that had comic strips with gum in them.

Bazooka parent company Topps (yes, company that also makes Major League Baseball cards) axed the comics as part of a brand refresh in 2013 - apparently agreeing that, yes, maybe Bazooka Joe wasn't as hip as he used to be. But at the same time, taking away the comics also stripped away part of Bazooka's identity.

During World War II, "bazooka" became the universally applied nickname of the new American anti-tank weapon, due to its vague resemblance to the musical instrument invented and popularized by 1930s American comedian Bob Burns.

The bazooka was the first weapon of its kind - that is, the first infantry weapon capable of reliably destroying a tank - and it inspired the German Panzerschreck and Panzerfaust. The latter was the first rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) and thus the progenitor of the most common infantry antitank weapon from the 1960s on.

She has a boyfriend named Gerald, who in many ways is Lotta's opposite. He is a shy, diminutive boy with glasses, and he is not very strong. Lotta and Gerald have many adventures together and frequently dress up to imitate their favorite comic book hero, Flying Man.

Funds advised by Apax Partners LLP (“Apax”) announced today that they have completed the acquisition of Bazooka Candy Brands (“Bazooka” or “the Company”), a portfolio of leading non-chocolate confectionary brands, from Michael D. Eisner's Tornante Company and funds affiliated with Madison Dearborn Partners (“MDP”).

Bazooka (chewing gum)

All of the company's Bazooka products – regular and sugar-free gum, and Gum Pops – are produced in Tunisia. The standard Ring Pop products are made in Scranton, Pa., but variations on the Ring Pop (such as different shapes for seasonal offerings) are made in Thailand and China.

noun. ba·​zoo·​ka bə-ˈzü-kə : a light portable antitank weapon consisting of an open-breech smoothbore firing tube that launches an armor-piercing rocket and is fired from the shoulder.