PS Magazine - The Preventative Maintenance Monthly
Kirt's Cogitations™ #328

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A few times in the past I have mentioned the U.S. Army's long-running comic-book-style of training material for vehicle maintenance. It began in 1940 under the title of The Army Motors and ran through the end of World War II. In June 1951, at the beginning of the Korean War, the publication was re-introduced as PS Magazine - The Preventative Maintenance Monthly, where the "PS" part stands for "Post Script," a la the "p.s." you might put at the end of a written letter. In this case the "p.s." is a post script to the regular Army vehicle maintenance manuals. I recently happened to run across the RadioNerds.com's extensive section on PS Magazine, and it is a treasure trove of downloadable PDF versions of the magazines.

As you can see from the cover illustrations and the contents, its appeal was primarily to the predominantly male vehicle maintenance force that comprised the Army at the time. Primary characters of the publication included the very moody Master Sergeant Half-Mast McCanick (half-mast, as in a sign of mourning, and McCanick for "Mechanic," get it?), the Sad Sack-like Private Joe Dope maintenance guy, and of course the voluptuous Connie Rod (grease monkey slang for "connecting rod," which is probably an unknown entity to many youngsters). Of course such an approach would be utterly unacceptable today because of exploitation claims, but in some aspect the use Connie Rod is more of an insult to the intelligence of the men who did the maintenance. Ms. Rod was the highly capable, highly knowledgeable, and highly refined star of the series, while the other characters followed her lead. I could theorize on what the equivalent person might look and act like today, but that could get me into trouble (although I'm overly concerned about it).

The fact is that PS Magazine - The Preventative Maintenance Monthly really was a well-done informational publication which filled a vital need at the time. Connie Rod's character began an evolution to a more politically correct figure in the 1980s, including transitioning to a civilian, as evidenced by the decade step in cover art shown below. Many new characters were introduced in the 1990s. The final print edition of PS Magazine - The Preventative Maintenance Monthly was November 2019 - issue number 804. It is now an online publication, "No more hand-drawn cartoon illustrations or technical art" and, "More emphasis on trends." (is that Taps I hear in the background?)