PS Magazine: Often overlooked, but very useful...
Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 3:42 pm
PS Magazine: The Preventive Maintenance Monthly, is a compact, pocket-sized, cartoon-filled magazine that's an official Department of the Army publication. PS provides information for all soldiers assigned to combat and combat support units, unit maintenance and supply commands.
It's called PS because the information in it is an informal supplement to existing technical publications (TMs, TOs, TBs, FMs), taking up where they leave off. It spells out safety precautions, makes corrections and changes, and explains new procedures. It's a "postscript" to official Army technical publications. But it's a postscript with a strong preventive maintenance punch.
More than 100,000 copies of PS go to field units each month. Once there, unit commanders decide how much authority to give it. It is their tool for enhancing the combat and materiel readiness of equipment in the hands of operational units.
PS's current home is Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, AL and is published by the Army's Logistics Support Agency (LOGSA). It moved there in 1993 from the Lexington-Blue Grass Army Depot, KY. Previous homes were Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD; Raritan Arsenal, NJ; and Fort Knox, KY.
https://www.logsa.army.mil/psmag/psonline.cfm
(Adobe Reader is required to view all PDF files of PS Magazine)
PS has changed little over the years. It still tries to catch the soldier's attention with a mixture of vivid graphics and color, gags, "talking" equipment and informal prose. It still aims to communicate its message as clearly and concisely as possible with both pictures and words. And it still uses fictional characters to help present that message.
MSG Half-Mast and Connie Rodd are two characters that have appeared in every issue. Both were created by Will Eisner, a corporal in World War II and a comic book artist known for his creation, "The Spirit." He first drew Connie and Half-Mast (then only a sergeant) for Army Motors. When the Army decided to start PS in 1951, Eisner was asked to do the creative art. He and his staff set the visual style for the magazine for the next 20 years.
For 10 years after that Murphy Anderson, one of Eisner's assistants and a well-respected comic book artist in his own right, did the PS art. Then Backes Graphic Productions in Princeton, NJ, did the artwork for 12 years. Today, the art task lies in the skillful and renowned hands of Joe Kubert.
Kubert has over 60 years experience as a commercial artist and has drawn most major comic book characters, including Superman and Batman. But Kubert is best-known for his work on DC Comics' war lines: "Our Army At War: SGT Rock," "The Haunted Tank," "Enemy Ace" and "Our Fighting Forces." Kubert also drew DC's comic book serial adaptation of Edgar Rice Burrough's "Tarzan."
It's called PS because the information in it is an informal supplement to existing technical publications (TMs, TOs, TBs, FMs), taking up where they leave off. It spells out safety precautions, makes corrections and changes, and explains new procedures. It's a "postscript" to official Army technical publications. But it's a postscript with a strong preventive maintenance punch.
More than 100,000 copies of PS go to field units each month. Once there, unit commanders decide how much authority to give it. It is their tool for enhancing the combat and materiel readiness of equipment in the hands of operational units.
PS's current home is Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, AL and is published by the Army's Logistics Support Agency (LOGSA). It moved there in 1993 from the Lexington-Blue Grass Army Depot, KY. Previous homes were Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD; Raritan Arsenal, NJ; and Fort Knox, KY.
https://www.logsa.army.mil/psmag/psonline.cfm
(Adobe Reader is required to view all PDF files of PS Magazine)
PS has changed little over the years. It still tries to catch the soldier's attention with a mixture of vivid graphics and color, gags, "talking" equipment and informal prose. It still aims to communicate its message as clearly and concisely as possible with both pictures and words. And it still uses fictional characters to help present that message.
MSG Half-Mast and Connie Rodd are two characters that have appeared in every issue. Both were created by Will Eisner, a corporal in World War II and a comic book artist known for his creation, "The Spirit." He first drew Connie and Half-Mast (then only a sergeant) for Army Motors. When the Army decided to start PS in 1951, Eisner was asked to do the creative art. He and his staff set the visual style for the magazine for the next 20 years.
For 10 years after that Murphy Anderson, one of Eisner's assistants and a well-respected comic book artist in his own right, did the PS art. Then Backes Graphic Productions in Princeton, NJ, did the artwork for 12 years. Today, the art task lies in the skillful and renowned hands of Joe Kubert.
Kubert has over 60 years experience as a commercial artist and has drawn most major comic book characters, including Superman and Batman. But Kubert is best-known for his work on DC Comics' war lines: "Our Army At War: SGT Rock," "The Haunted Tank," "Enemy Ace" and "Our Fighting Forces." Kubert also drew DC's comic book serial adaptation of Edgar Rice Burrough's "Tarzan."