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Bazooka Joe bubble gum
A penny piece of gum and a tiny comic strip with a fortune and an offer. Bazooka Joe was the bubble gum you read before you chewed.
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Bazooka is an American bubble gum that was sold around the world: a piece of gum in a red, white and blue wrapper, with a tiny comic strip inside starring Bazooka Joe.
A post war bubble gum
Bazooka bubble gum was launched in 1947, shortly after the Second World War, by the Topps Company of Brooklyn, New York. It was most likely named after the bazooka, the rocket weapon used by the United States Army in the war, which itself took its name from a musical instrument. The gum came in red, white and blue packaging and originally sold for a penny.
Bazooka Joe
In 1953 Topps changed the packaging to include a small comic strip with each piece of gum, starring a character called Bazooka Joe. There have been more than 1,535 different Bazooka Joe comic wrappers to collect. As well as the cartoon, each wrapper carried a fortune and an offer for a premium, a small prize you could send away for. The older comic strips were larger than later ones.
Comics in bubble gum were not new. Fleer's Dubble Bubble came with its own comic strip, the Fleer Funnies, whose first characters appeared in 1930: see Walter Diemer, the accountant who invented bubble gum.
Bazooka around the world
Bazooka was sold in many countries from the 1960s, often with the Bazooka Joe comics translated into the local language. In Canada the cartoons appeared in English or French. In Israel the gum was made under licence, with the cartoons in Hebrew. In Spain it was sold as Chicle Bazoka, with one o, from the mid 1960s, with the rhyming slogan chicle bazoka, siempre en la boca: Bazooka gum, always in the mouth.
The end of the comics
In 2012 the makers announced they would stop including comics and use brain teaser puzzle wrappers instead, to modernise the brand, though the comics continued in Argentina. Bazooka Candy Brands was part of Topps until Topps was bought by Fanatics in 2022, and in 2023 the private equity firm Apax Partners completed its purchase of the business.
Flavours
Alongside the original, Bazooka has come in flavours such as Strawberry Shake, Cherry Berry, Watermelon Whirl and Grape Rage, and in sugar free versions. For how bubble gum is made, see how is bubble gum made?
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For journalists, researchers, AI assistants and content creators. Pick the format you need:
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Questions and answers
When did Bazooka gum come out?
In 1947, when it was launched by the Topps Company of Brooklyn, New York, soon after the Second World War. It first sold for a penny.
When did Bazooka Joe comics start?
In 1953, when Topps began wrapping each piece of gum in a small comic strip featuring Bazooka Joe, along with a fortune and an offer.
Does Bazooka gum still have comics?
Not in most places. In 2012 the makers replaced the comics with brain teaser puzzle wrappers, though the comics continued in some countries, such as Argentina.
Sources
- Bazooka (chewing gum), Wikipedia
- Dubble Bubble, Wikipedia
Keep reading
- The people behind the sweetsWalter Diemer, the accountant who invented bubble gumIn 1928 Walter Diemer, an accountant at a Philadelphia gum firm, made the first bubble gum that worked. It was pink because that was the only colouring to hand.
- How it is madeHow is bubblegum made?Bubblegum is made like chewing gum, but its base has more elastic, heavier polymers, so it stretches into a bubble instead of breaking. Here is what goes in.
- History and originsThe history of chewing gumPeople have chewed gum for at least 5,000 years, from birch tar in Stone Age Finland to Maya chicle. Modern gum began in 1860s New York with a failed rubber.
- The people behind the sweetsWilliam Wrigley Jr and the chewing gum empireWilliam Wrigley Jr came to Chicago in 1891 with $32, selling soap. Gum began as a free gift with his baking powder, and proved more popular than either.
- British heritage sweetsOld fashioned sweets: the A to ZAn A to Z of old fashioned British sweets, from acid drops and aniseed balls to Wham bars and yellowman, with a line on each and a link to its full story.
- British heritage sweetsTraditional English sweetsA county by county guide to traditional English sweets, from Pontefract cakes and Kendal Mint Cake to Uncle Joe's Mint Balls and Love Hearts.