Tri-Color Brian Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Here's the Dennis Fish in the Face Here's my Cole copy It's scary how we collect a lot of the same stuff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Here's the Dennis Fish in the Face Here's my Cole copy It's scary how we collect a lot of the same stuff... Have you guys ever been seen in the same room at the same time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 We have been seen together at Terry's California show in Yorba Linda, but no one knew who we were. We're secretive like that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 We have been seen together at Terry's California show in Yorba Linda, but no one knew who we were. We're secretive like that... That's how you guys find such good stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thunsicker Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 It's scary how we collect a lot of the same stuff... That's just the way things happen. My collecting focus almost exactly matches this guy who I'm stalking too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 (edited) So...you collect comics too? Wow, we should hang out sometime... Edited March 27, 2015 by tricolorbrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hap Hazard Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 here's a interesting ad from a 1959 sci fi digest, has anyone ever seen this item, and Yes I'm talking about the "stuffed " Girl's Head wall trophy Robotman ever seen this, no their isn't any on ebay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmehdy Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 100 of the best pages ever posted on this fourm..cong to all and hope to get to 200.....keep up the good work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmpknface Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 here's a interesting ad from a 1959 sci fi digest, has anyone ever seen this item, and Yes I'm talking about the "stuffed " Girl's Head wall trophy Robotman ever seen this, no their isn't any on ebay. This is just awesome. Someone watched Psycho too many times. Here's my ConR fish cover, since we're sharing: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Calhoun Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 the “Life-Like Lady’s Legs!” kinda cinches that it's same folks... from NY Post 10/2/2011 Mail-Order Mysteries Real Stuff from Old Comic Book Ads! By Kirk Demarais Insight Editions These days, the mailbox is all about bills, junk mail and unwanted West Elm catalogs that seem to arrive four times a week. But there was a time when the lowly mail slot was about loftier things. It was about potential, even wonder. It was about dreams. Sea-Monkeys. Joy buzzers. One-hundred toy soldiers for $1.25. All of these novelties and much more could be ordered cheaply from ads placed in comic books during the heyday of the mail-order toy era from 1950 through the mid-’80s. The offers came from mysterious-sounding companies, often based in New York City and its surrounds: Slimline, Lucky Products and the completely inscrutable Department F. Thomas Wegman, whose late father, Edwin, ran one of the bigger companies, Honor House Products, out of warehouse in Lynbrook, LI, says it was mostly just a job to his dad. “I don’t think he ever made a ton of money out of the mail order,” Wegman says. “It was a business, but it wasn’t a multimillion-dollar thing.” The elder Wegman founded Honor House in 1951 (he had an uncle that dabbled in mail-order before him) and sold cheap goods often imported from Asia. The company lasted until the mid-1980s when the rising price of postage and comic books killed most novelty mail-order companies. (Edwin Wegman then went on to start a pharmaceutical company called BioSpecifics that operates out of the same building as the novelty business once did.) Honor House and the other purveyors sold different wares, but they all had one thing in common: The ads were perfectly crafted to fuel a child’s imagination, and more often than not, exaggerated what they delivered. “Genuine soil from Dracula’s Castle!” “7 Gigantic Dinosaurs for $1!” “Life-Like Lady’s Legs!” A record of these wonders is collected in “Mail-Order Mysteries” by Kirk Demarais, out this month. The book reprints the vintage ads and reveals the actual toy delivered. Demarais collects the novelties, many of which are bought from eBay and, because of their disposable nature, are now rare. (He was outbid at $365 for a “U-Control 7-Foot Life-Size Ghost” — basically a trash bag on a string — that originally sold for 95 cents.) Demarais takes us on a tour of some of the more recognizable items. X-RAY SPEX These cheap plastic glasses (which were later made of cardboard) promised “amazing X-ray vision instantly!” but all they really offered was a disappointing illusion accomplished by using bird feathers slotted into the small hole in the lens. The feather would refract light, creating the appearance of two offset images. “The Spex exemplify our naive hope that this stuff might work,” Demarais says. “By the time I saw that ad, I knew X-ray vision wasn’t possible, but you still have this hope.” One bright spot — the glasses, $1 when they first appeared, go for $50 on eBay today. SEA-MONKEYS The dormant brine shrimp, which come to life when placed in water, were first marketed by Harold von Braunhut in 1960. (Von Braunhut was a New Yorker and also the inventor of X-Ray Spex.) Ads for the Sea-Monkeys once appeared in 303 million pages annually. “Customer satisfaction was initially heartbreaking then heartwarming,” Demarais says. “The ad did deceive a lot of people into thinking they’d get big sea creatures. They were microscopic, but if you keep them alive long enough, you did bond with them.” 100-PIECE TOY SOLDIER SET Probably the original mail-order novelty. Texan Milton Levine, a soldier home after WWII, read in a magazine that plastic toys would be a boom industry in post-war America. He teamed with his brother-in-law to offer these cheap Army men produced at the same factory that made Cracker Jack toys. One crucial bit the ad failed to disclose: the soldiers were flat and barely qualified as 3-D. Other variations included 132 Roman Soldiers and 104 Kings’ Knights. “They were super-successful,” Demarais says. CHARLES ATLAS FITNESS PROGRAM The iconic ad was inspired by an actual incident from the life of Angelo Siciliano, who grew up to be Coney Island strongman (and bodybuilder forerunner) Charles Atlas. “I didn’t really have bullies picking on me, but I loved the idea of overpowering my enemies,” Demarais says. “That comic demonstrates wish fulfillment so dramatically in a few panels.” The company is still active today, and the fitness book, which once cost 10 cents, now retails for $49.95. BUILD A WORKING LASER PISTOL What could be simpler? Send the company your $2 and in return you’d receive detailed blueprints for building your own laser gun at home. Imagine the fun of vaporizing your friends and teachers. Only problem was, the impossible-to-follow plans detailed how to rig a plastic toy gun to project a harmless beam of light using a flashbulb, copper wire and other materials. The ad claimed the technology was used by the Argonne National Laboratory (home of the Atomic Bomb), but for what? Finding their keys in the dark? Other offerings in the ludicrous build-your-own line included a hovercraft and an Apollo lunar module. SECRET AGENT SPY CAMERA It only cost a buck, but the palm-sized camera actually took pictures. The drawback is that it required hard-to-find miniature film, and the photos — even back in the day when film labs were common — were tough to get developed. The camera’s cheap design also caused it to leak light, often ruining the film inside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 27, 2015 Author Share Posted March 27, 2015 Here's the Dennis Fish in the Face Here's my Cole copy It's scary how we collect a lot of the same stuff... Thanks Brian. Yeah that's the Dennis issue I was thinking about. Now, I gotta get a copy. Should be easy and cheap you say? These are the kind of books I seem to go nuts finding... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 27, 2015 Author Share Posted March 27, 2015 We have been seen together at Terry's California show in Yorba Linda, but no one knew who we were. We're secretive like that... Careful, don't start any rumors. By the way, Hap Hazzard was there too. We all love the "weird" comics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 try donald duck 54 as well. Great fishing cover and classic "Forbidden Valley/ Pickled Rutabaga" story. One of barks' best I like that one too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 (edited) We have been seen together at Terry's California show in Yorba Linda, but no one knew who we were. We're secretive like that... Careful, don't start any rumors. By the way, Hap Hazzard was there too. We all love the "weird" comics. Yeah, I saw Hap there, but i did not reveal my true identity...in fact, I did not even talk to him, I just listened as he BS'd with a customer. We all need to keep low profiles or people will start following us around looking for deals.... (thumbs u PS- jlee was there too...incognito...with his son, also incognito... Edited March 27, 2015 by tricolorbrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 (edited) Thanks Brian. Yeah that's the Dennis issue I was thinking about. Now, I gotta get a copy. Should be easy and cheap you say? These are the kind of books I seem to go nuts finding... I might have a duplicate of that one...yep, I do...here it is, let the bidding begin... Edited March 27, 2015 by tricolorbrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 27, 2015 Author Share Posted March 27, 2015 Thanks Brian. Yeah that's the Dennis issue I was thinking about. Now, I gotta get a copy. Should be easy and cheap you say? These are the kind of books I seem to go nuts finding... I might have a duplicate of that one...yep, I do...here it is, let the bidding begin... If you want to part with it, PM me! Maybe this will be easier than I thought! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 27, 2015 Author Share Posted March 27, 2015 Like Bedrock said way back on page 3 or 4 "Just wake up and put up what you want" So, this is what you're getting today. Giveaway books with new covers put on by advertisers. Here are a few I've got. This shoe store giveaway has a 1954 Mickey Mouse issue with front cover missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 PM sent... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 27, 2015 Author Share Posted March 27, 2015 This one has a 1950's Roy Rogers comic inside. I have a few of these. One has a Superman and one has a Mighty Mouse. Circa 1954 all with front covers missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 27, 2015 Author Share Posted March 27, 2015 I can't remember the contents of this one. It just has such a garish cover I thought I'd put it up here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
