 To express his anger at the US military's nuclear tests in the Bikini Atoll in 1946 English-born artist Laurence Hyde produced a wordless novel in 1951 called Southern Cross. In 118 silent pages, the book depicts atomic testing by the US military and its effects Polynesian island inhabitants. While it had no direct effect on comics at the time, it has come to be seen as a precursor to the Canadian graphic novel.
