House Ads and Comics! 2 2

[Hepcat]

My earliest memory of being enthralled by a DC house ad was when I viewed this one in early 1962:

Wow, the dynamic and exciting Atom now in a title of his own! And here's a scan of the actual comic:

[Hepcat]

This was another ad running in the same issues that sparked an unrequited desire in me as a kid:

Here's the copy I acquired some 25-30 years ago:

Edited April 21 by Hepcat

[Shadow]

On 4/16/2024 at 1:15 AM, Hepcat said:

I'm a great fan of the house ads comic publishers once ran to promote other issues from their own comic line. In particular the ones that letterer and logo designer Ira Schnapp did for DC between 1940 and 1967 were works of art and very often left me with a palpable desire to acquire and read that particular comic.

So show off your favourite house ads by any publisher here with your present day copy of that same comic if possible!

I'll start. I still remember the day in 1964 that I first saw this ad in an old Blackhawk comic in the waiting room of the Ontario Conservatory of Music on Dundas Street in London prior to my weekly accordion lesson:

It left me longing for a copy of Justice League 3 but at the time I thought that particular issue was gone forever in the mists of time. I've had that issue now since 1980-81 but I'd still like a better copy!

That is not a bad copy! When I got back into collecting 30 years ago, this was the one I bought. I have a VG which I bought for $30. I was 28 and had more cash than my teenage self...   My earliest JLA prior to this was #15. I now have all of them which makes me happy. 

[Robot Man]

[ganni]

Remember this ad back in the 70s? As a kid in the 70s, comic books is like a box of chocolates,  You'll never know what you're going to get.

Wonder who were the target readers...and who was crazy enough .....

 

 

 

[Ken Aldred]

[Ken Aldred]

[royaluglydudes]

On 4/20/2024 at 8:48 PM, ganni said:

Remember this ad back in the 70s? As a kid in the 70s, comic books is like a box of chocolates,  You'll never know what you're going to get.

Wonder who were the target readers...and who was crazy enough .....

 

 

 

10 day free trial... 

[Hepcat]

Here's another house ad I admired that appeared in the very same comics as the "Atom" and "Hawkman" ads above:

Edited April 22 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

On 4/20/2024 at 8:48 PM, ganni said:

Wonder who were the target readers...and who was crazy enough .....

Whoever wanted a woman with no fuss, no bother I'm guessing.

Edited April 22 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

The DC house ad that impressed me the most in the spring of 1962 though was this one:

 

Since I've already posted the Atom and Hawkman comics from which the images in the above ad were taken, here's the Aquaman comic:

And here's a Metal Men comic:

Edited April 23 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

The "Tomorrow's Stars Appear Today" ad was on the inside front cover of many/most DC comics with a cover date of June 1962 such as this one:

This was the ad on the inside back cover of those issues:

This ad's first appearance was on the inside back covers of DC comics with a cover date of February 1962 such as this one:

Two things to note though. First of all DC's claim of "For the best in comics entertainment" was probably dead-on accurate at the time. Dell had self-immolated by raising the price of its comics to fifteen cents in December 1960, Archie and Harvey had much more limited product lines targetting a generally narrower demographic, and Marvel wasn't putting up much of a fight yet. The Fantastic Four had gotten their uniforms only that same month in issue #3. 

Secondly Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, the Fox and the Crow, and Sugar and Spike are all featured but Wonder Woman is not despite her status as one of DC's iconic characters! Editor Robert Kanigher was of course busy running the Wonder Woman title into the ground at the time. He wasn't sure who made up his target market so he tried to target everybody and ended up missing them all. Neither did already legendary war hero Sgt. Rock appear in the ad. I would have replaced Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis with Wonder Woman and Sgt. Rock.

This message was on the inside front covers of the DC comics cover dated February 1962:

Very sad. 'Nuff said.

Edited April 26 by Hepcat

[ganni]

[Hepcat]

I found this other ad which appeared in the same DC comics as the "Tomorrow's Stars Appear Today" ad powerfully compelling at the time:

Wow! Baseball Coins! Just like the Shirriff/Salada Hockey Coins that had been so popular with young boys in Canada over the previous two winters.

I wondered immediately whether the coins would just be offered in the States, but within a week or so I found out that they'd not only showed up in bags of Shirriff Potato Chips on local store shelves, but that Mike M. from just down the street already had some! Mike being over a year older than me was always into the cool stuff first it seemed. Well I had to start collecting the Shirriff Baseball Coins and I did, but I didn't get beyond four or five because other interests/collectibles including the 1962 Baseball cards and the Jell-O/Hostess Potato Chips Aircraft Wheels were competing for my dimes. I do have a set now though which I acquired more than 35 years ago:

Edited April 27 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

The comics such as this Flash which had the "Tomorrow's Stars Appear Today" ad:

Also ran this ad with Superman himself inviting readers to visit Palisades Park:

It ran in DC comics through the warm weather months including in the first DC comic I ever bought:

But it was of value to only certain lucky Americans living in and around New York City in the days when New York was the place to be.

Did any of you other comic fans here get to visit Palisades Park? Did any of you actually clip the coupon from a comic for your free passes? 

Me I could only envy those big city American kids because my sleepy old London town had only the Western Fair and that was for just ten days every September:

The Western Fair though compares very favourably to most American state fairs in size. Quite simply I didn't realize that I was growing up in both the best of places and the best of times. Not only were stores chock full of everything from penny bubble gum to returnable bottles of soda pop in ice water coolers to potato chips with coins free inside to scoop ice cream for even a nickel, but of course there were the comics, Mad magazines, hockey and other bubble gum cards and model kits. And best of all, there was no helicopter parenting back in those days. A kid was free to be a kid. Out you went in the mornings on non-school days to play all day returning only when it started to get dark. Once again you never know what you've got till it's gone.

Edited Sunday at 05:32 AM by Hepcat

[Phicks]

On 4/28/2024 at 12:36 AM, Hepcat said:

The comics such as this Flash which had the "Tomorrow's Stars Appear Today" ad:

Also ran this ad with Superman himself inviting readers to visit Palisades Park:

It ran in DC comics through the warm weather months including in the first DC comic I ever bought:

But it was of value to only certain lucky Americans living in and around New York City in the days when New York was the place to be.

Did any of you other comic fans here get to visit Palisades Park? Did any of you actually clip the coupon from a comic for your free passes? 

Me I could only envy those big city American kids because my sleepy old London town had only the Western Fair and that was for just ten days every September:

The Western Fair though compares very favourably to most American state fairs in size. Quite simply I didn't realize that I was growing up in both the best of places and the best of times. Not only were stores chock full of everything from penny bubble gum to returnable bottles of soda pop in ice water coolers to potato chips with coins free inside to scoop ice cream for even a nickel, but of course there were the comics, Mad magazines, hockey and other bubble gum cards and model kits. And best of all, there was no helicopter parenting back in those days. A kid was free to be a kid. Out you went in the mornings on non-school days to play all day returning only when it started to get dark. Once again you never know what you've got till it's gone.

I grew up down the road from you in St. Mary’s, and if we didn’t make it to the CNE in Toronto, then we went to the Western Fair.  I understand it was exactly the same rides, just shipped down HWY 401.

[Hepcat]

It was at a Lithuanian kids' summer camp in July of 1962 that I read my first Justice League comic:

It not only left me craving more DC superhero comics but had me wondering where Tootsie Roll Ice Cream Bars were sold and whether they were any good:

So does anyone here remember Tootsie Roll Ice Cream Bars from your own neck of the woods? Were they as good as advertised?

[Hepcat]

One of the comics I bought within a week or so after my return from summer camp in July of 1962 was this one:

'

It contained this ad for Adventures of the Fly 21:

Oh yeah, wow! I would have been all in for those adventures of the heroic Fly! Sadly though the issue had hit newsstands at least six weeks previously and I never saw a copy at Les' Variety, Lamont & Perkins Pharmacy, Ken's Variety or any of the other outlets I commonly frequented:

So just another one of my many childhood unrequited desires.

Edited Tuesday at 05:19 AM by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

Among the DC comics I bought in July 1962 was this one:

It had this teaser ad for Comicpacs:

Hey, wow! Four comics in one shot and a penny cheaper to boot! But wait a minute here. How do you know which comics you're getting on the inside of the bag? What if you get one you already have or something yucky like Dobie Gillis or Bob Hope? I'll pass and pick my own.

 

[Hepcat]

The Flash 139 that I bought at Ken's Variety on Wharncliffe Road in July of 1963:

Contained this very enticing house ad:

Well, yes! It went without saying that I absolutely, positively had to know the origins of the heroic Kid Flash and Elongated Man plus the dastardly villainous Mr. Element and Super Gorilla Grodd. I couldn't find it though at either Ken's or Les' Variety stores since every store didn't necessarily get even one copy of every comic and of course the one copy could have been swiftly snapped up by another kid. I "scoured" a whopping total of three or four different variety stores in my neighbourhood plus another three or four outlets downtown trying to find this Annual without any luck. For whatever reason I didn't think to devote an afternoon to riding my bike around to the other eighteen or so variety stores and drug stores that stocked comics in the square mile or so of my school district. 

I didn't secure a copy until sometime in the 1990's:

That opened the flood gates for me as far as Giants were concerned. Within a few years I acquired all the Flash, Justice League and Brave and the Bold 80-Page Giants and 100-Page Giants plus many more from both DC and other publishers.

 

Edited 18 hours ago by Hepcat