More nostalgia from the 'Somethings Missing' files:
Ya' gotta remember all of those cool offerings that regularly lured the youth of America into sending off a few coins (or a buck or two) to score some really neat swag to fill the rest of your day - - - You know, when you weren't actually wasting time reading comics.
Magic Cards, Onion Gum, Monster-size Monster pin-ups, Silent Dog Whistles, Whoopee Cushions AND every kids dream .... X-Ray Specs. Comic books used to carry literally pages of this type of advertising and while I don't know of anyone who ever REALLY ordered any of these gags, it was comforting in a twisted-sorta-way to know that you too, could print your own pile of cash with a 'Jack Pot Bank' for less than two dollars.
I'm sure the revenue from these ads underwrote the cost of printing the comics - back in the day - but for some reason the publishers purged these somewhat lurid ads long ago. Sadly, somewhere along the way, when these old staples fell by the wayside, comic books stopped being considered magazines and picked up the all-too-weird designation of pamphlets.
Don't ask me to explain that?
1 comment:
Vintage ads in gold and silver age comics are fun and to me always seemed an essential part to the appeal of those old books. Look through a modern, over priced comic these days and the obnoxious ads contained (on every other page no less!) do nothing more than ruin the flow of the main story you're reading. It's iritating to be asked if I "Got Milk?" just as Wolverine is about to go ballistic.
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