Adventures of the Big Boy 2 2

[Jesse-Lee]

I shared this in the Silver Age forum, but thought it could be fun to share here too - has anyone else found any local promo comics like this?

I found this for $2 at a local Half Price Books and thought it was pretty cool. The indicia says "copyright 1964." I love how it has the local Milwaukee and Wisconsin Big Boy locations. The last Big Boy in Milwaukee (and I believe Wisconsin) closed its doors in 1995, but a new location opened last year in Germantown, Wis.

[Dr. Love]

The Busters were all about local branding - on the front cover, no less

[KCOComics]

My local comic shop was selling a 50s comics promo from the electric company about the dangerous of live electrical wires. 

The cover art was actually pretty cool and it was cheap. I should have grabbed it. 

[marvelmaniac]

$2.00 is a GREAT price for issue 88.

Growing up in Phila. in the 60's Bob's Big Boy was my favorite restaurant, my memory was that the big boy statue was 30' tall, I was a bit disappointed as an adult when I found out it was only 7' tall.

However, I started collecting the "Adventures Of The Big Boy" books back around 2005 or so (no longer buy any issues), the series runs from 1957 - 1996, I was/am only interested in the books between 1957 and 1965 (we moved in 65 so no more Bob's Big Boy. )

I currently have the majority of the issues from 61-99, 58 is my oldest.

[Jesse-Lee]

On 6/17/2022 at 10:00 AM, marvelmaniac said:

$2.00 is a GREAT price for issue 88.

Growing up in Phila. in the 60's Bob's Big Boy was my favorite restaurant, my memory was that the big boy statue was 30' tall, I was a bit disappointed as an adult when I found out it was only 7' tall.

However, I started collecting the "Adventures Of The Big Boy" books back around 2005 or so (no longer buy any issues), the series runs from 1957 - 1996, I was/am only interested in the books between 1957 and 1965 (we moved in 65 so no more Bob's Big Boy. )

I currently have the majority of the issues from 61-99, 58 is my oldest.

Thanks for sharing this! It was one of those books that I knew zero about, but when I saw it, it felt like something I should pick up for the price - I love the "old Americana" feel around the Big Boy stuff. I've only eaten at a Big Boy twice - once on the way to Detroit and once in Cleveland.

[marvelmaniac]

On 6/17/2022 at 11:04 AM, Jesse-Lee said:

Thanks for sharing this! It was one of those books that I knew zero about, but when I saw it, it felt like something I should pick up for the price - I love the "old Americana" feel around the Big Boy stuff. I've only eaten at a Big Boy twice - once on the way to Detroit and once in Cleveland.

Those books hold a lot of fond memories for me, I also collected other books from my childhood that no one else would be interested in such as Beany And Cecil and Tom Terrific, Enjoy that book and hopefully there are books out there that bring back fond memories for you, that is what this is all about.

You are not going to do all of the puzzles and games are you? 

[Jesse-Lee]

On 6/17/2022 at 10:41 AM, marvelmaniac said:

You are not going to do all of the puzzles and games are you? 

Ha! No, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that no one else had done them either!

[lordbyroncomics]

Marvel started out packaging the early Big Boy comics. Stan Lee and Bill Everett did early stories. Ditko was doing art for them in the mid 2000s'.

Smilin' Ed was a regional children's show host in the 1940s' on radio. I learned about him by reading a massive Old Time Radio encyclopedia back in my twenties that described him as "one of the favorites of the radio uncles" which was a sentence I always remembered as it delighted me with that phrasing.

Manny Stallman, who was a really great journeyman artist who worked at Tower in the Sixties was the writer/editor/artist of the Big Boy stuff for years and years and apparently really loved it. Premium comics are very interesting because of the work; they're often overlooked in comics history though there's been a few books about them over the last few years.