Comic book adds were one of the few pleasures we never knew we were having in the 70s and 80s. One of my favorite ads thats on the back of at least 75% of my comic book collection. A few years back i ran a short course at the wea here in adelaide on the history and appreciation of comic books in general. Vintage comic book ads that were too good to be true. A comic book or comicbook, also called comic magazine or simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes.
Here are a 10 crazy vintage comic book ads i recently stumbled across. Young boys reading superhero comics saw a lot of body building ads and ads to get taller, thinner, and richer. Gone are the days of ads for tv star posters, bubble gum and various and sundry gimmick products. These toys were called comic book combat flats in the advertisements of the time.
Cheesy ads promoting all sorts of questionable items have appeared throughout the history of comic books. In some ways, the entertaining comic ads brought back to life the feel of the classic advertisements featuring snake oil medicine, over. Far more than just a mere listing, each item includes the original ad, a picture of the actual item, and exploratory text broken into three or four parts. These classic ads in the back of comic books tricked kids from the 50s through the 80s. Shop for books at and browse categories like young adult books, childrens books, mystery books, adult coloring books and cook books. The heyday of comic book mail order ads lasted from the 1950s to the 1980s. This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Truth be told, after 1984, quite a few comic book ads were paid for by sponsors of whatever company paid the ad space inside the books, as well as on the back cover. That money back guarantee was also a sham, since you had to pay for the return postage properly packaged and insured. Fantastic ads like these ruled the back of my beloved comic books with every issue. Being born and raised in scotland meant an intermittent supply of such comic books capers. The wait could take forevereven upwards to 6 to 8 weeks. The below images are ads for martial arts courses that appeared in comic books and other magazines of the late 50s through the early 80s. No advertisements to own a nuclear sub or army tank can be found nowadays.
If we dont, add it to your want list and well notify you when its in stock. In the back pages six ads are reproduced from comics, typical examples that seduced americas youth mostly boys of course and if you want to see more of these check out hey skinny great advertisements from the golden age of comic books, a large size paperback that reprints in colour comic book ads from the forties and fifties. The ebay item number can be found in the middle of the listing page, inside the item description tab. Usps media mail regulations comics general cgc comic. And when i thought about it further it seemed a rather silly career optionthere was no pay.
Comic books from the era featured ads with the image of count dante striking a menacing pose, grabbing the attention of young comic book readers. Those little soldiers from the backs of comic books. Apr 9, 2020 back of the the book advertisment in old comic books and magazines. Please help out our channel by donating to our patreon page. See more ideas about old comic books, old comics and comic books. Many of these amusements and gizmos are now highly collected by baby boomers. Obviously being a superhero was not all it was crackedup to be. And be sure to check out the full list of kitschy comic book novelties below. Have you ever bought anything from a comic book ad. I was never going to be spidermanno matter how i tried to swing from washing lines or scale neighborhood walls or tumble out of trees. And a sevenfoot submarine you and a friend could pilot. Part of this course entailed me showing a pile of scans of books, australian, usa and otherwise. View market values for books, store your collection, and meet fellow comic fans. If you were a regular reader of comic books in the 60s and 70s, you probably couldnt help but notice the recurring ad that offered you your very own kidsized polaris nuclear submarine all for the low price of about seven bucks.
Comic books usually have advertising and even if vintage comic books and the ads are no longer applicable, all comic books are serialized, therefore not eligible for media mail prices. While most people saw these items as ripoffs, gimmicks, and junk, others now look back fondly on them. Back in 1970 i was 1415 i did purchase the charles atlas course. Many kids who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s saw ads like this on the backs of comic books. For all the deserved praise we bestow on the front covers of comic books, sometimes the advertisements on the back cover are almost just as visually striking, impactful, and interesting as what. If they dont, its a shame, because a lot of the enjoyment came from these strange little adverts directed at kids. There were several, including one thatresembled a comic book page. Comic book ads have taken a dramatic shift over the past several years. Comic book ads from the1950s and 1960s barrys pearls of. Advertisements in comic books have promised unbelievable products for decades. The bright yellow background ads featuring a smiling o.
Get in on the latest original romance, comedy, action, fantasy, horror, and more from big names and big names to be made just for webtoon. If you read a comic book between the 1940s and 1980s then you were inundated by cheap looking ads for everything from toy soldiers to girlenticing muscles. Fruity and cocoa pebbles were a huge sponsor of getting print ads inside comic books and magazines, and chances were that if you picked up an archie comic printed between 1988 and 1991, you would see at least one appearance by fred and barney on the back of the comic. Most comic book lovers pledge allegiance to either dc comicsfeaturing that famous alien from krypton and aquaman, among many othersor marvel comics, which gave us the webslinging spiderman, the new mutants and patriotic captain america. If kids were feeling pickedon at school, they could learn the worlds deadliest fighting secrets and take back the power for free. Mans account of ordering a live monkey from comic book ad. Many of these ads didnt even use the characters inside the books. If youre looking for a hard to find back issue, we probably have it. As was typical with comics back in the day, you would almost always find an ad page inside with the publishers hawking their monthly subscriptions. Like every other young lad dreaming of adventure, i would read spiderman, superman and the hulk comic books as a form of escapism. I keep seeing all the neat ads when the back covers are shown and it got me wondering how many people actually purchased something from a comic book ad. A lot of ads in old comic books just wanted your money.
With ebay, you dont have to choose sides, because we have plenty of any option. Before hitting doublefigures in years id given up on joining the the avengers or the justice league and was happy just to read of their incredible adventures in the pages of comics. When i was a kid, my brother collected comic books. In the lavish mailorder mysteries, demarais supplies a chronicle of the more popular and infamous products.
I dont want to burst mr barrys bubble, but there is no way that jump shot was a 30. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and written narrative, usually, dialog contained in word balloons emblematic of the comics art form. Six years ago, artist and historian kirk demarais, who runs the brilliant gen x nostalgia site, secret fun spot, became determined to uncover the truth behind these comicbook. Simpson to advertise a line of cleats for football and baseball. Most of these magazines way back then were brought over to glasgow as ballast on cargo ships delivering goods and produce from america and beyond. A tribute to comic book back cover advertisements panjo. Any item that can apply for periodicals is not eligible for media mail and comic books are periodicals publications. I was never really a fan of the stories except superman and richie rich, but for some reason i loved the advertisements. See more ideas about comic books, vintage advertisements and classic comics. It wasnt just us that remembered, kaxe member melanie from brainerd called in her memory of her miniature monkey capricorn. I wasnt into comic books back when this issue was on the stands, but if i had beenand had the money, i would have subscribed to several of the titles listed. My enthusiasm for imitating peter parker always ended in disaster and bruised limbs.
Choose from our affordable domestic and international shipping options. Vintage 100piece toy soldier set with footlocker storage. Comic book resources has a fantastic firsthand account of ordering a live miniature monkey from a comic book advertisment. If christmas was the atomic bomb, ordering dumb shit from comic books was like scattering happy landmines throughout the year. A lot of us just looked at them and wished we had the scratch to get them. Probably because its drawn by mad magazine superstar jack davis. We offer modern, bronze age, silver age, and golden age comics. The ads were usually over the top in their promises to teach you how to smash bricks with your head, turn invisible, fight 12 attackers at one time, and kill a man with your pinky finger. At least, thats what vintage comicbook ads would have you believe.
And the ads in the back of comic books like xray specs, throw your voice, charles atlas and your new real live, miniature monkey. I think that ads from comic books are uniquely fun pieces of history, and my goal is to share them with others who appreciate them like i do. At some point my brother and i were lucky enough to get our parents to. Sprinkled amongst the exploits of these superheroes were advertisements with grandiose claims of miraculous muscle development, xray glasses and the wonders of keeping pet sea monkeys. The strange world of comic book ads say no to crack. Oh well, that was the charge, and thats what we had to pay.
Thus comic books became common ground for people searching for the sensational and those wanting to sell it to them. In todays comic books you dont see the advertisements you used to no ads with outrageous promises to be taller or more muscular. They were sold by mail order forms and were often found in the back of popular comic books, just like mine were. Every gallerys images are by their original company or artist.
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