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The Dark Past of Sea Monkeys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0xXKCOSZuQ


A mind-blowing look at the invention of "Sea Monkeys" and the very successful marketing of them to kids
over several decades up through the 1970's. Apparently a unique but very successful advertising vehicle
at the time.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea-Monkeys



I also never knew that Joe Orlando was the artist of the ads used.

The "dark" part comes in about 12 minutes into the video. The ironies abound.



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A 1978 (just before the implosion) DC house ad for their Direct Currents newsletter.

From BATMAN FAMILY 17, and other books that month.

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AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS ran a sporadic 17 issues, and had 2 to 3 months of previews per issue.
(August 1974-April 1978)
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=463981

Oddly, I can't find any image or info on the DIRECT CURRENTS newsletter in the ad above,
but it is said to have been published for about a year.

DC COMING ATTRACTIONS, an 8 X 11" 4-page monthly newsletter, replaced it from July 1978-1984
https://kupps.malibulist.com/2015/12/01/obscurities-dc-coming-attractions/

The DC RELEASES newsletter of monthly titles, also 8 X 11", ran from 1984-1988
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=13379021

DC DIRECT CURRENTS, a 7 X 10" full color comic size previews flier, ran from 1988-1996.
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=512681
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=13168231

DC COMING COMICS, a 1992 aborted 4-issue promotion attempt
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=19643285


I remember in the days of the DC message boards (2000-2003), they previewed monthly comics
online on DC's site, and I used to read through them. I don't know at what point they
discontinued the printed version.
I think it's a mistake not to have a page in each issue listing all your monthly releases, whether
DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Image, or whoever. Where better to promote your line, than in the
comics themselves? As is obvious, I love a lot of these ads from the 1960's/1970's era, where
they had the good sense to do so.




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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Currents


 Quote:
Direct Currents was first used as the name of a text feature appearing in DC's comics beginning in 1966.[1]
In the 1970s, the feature appeared in DC's fan magazine The Amazing World of DC Comics.[1]
From the late 1970s to the early 1980s, the name was also used for one of the features in DC's Daily Planet house ads.

From November 1976 to July 1977, DC had its own toll-free phone number called the Direct Currents Hot-Line, where fans
could hear pre-recorded messages from DC staff about upcoming titles. The phone number was so popular (it was
receiving an average of 100,000 calls a week toward its end) that it had to be shut down due to strain on the telephone
system.[2]

Beginning in 1978 and lasting a little more than a year,[3] Direct Currents was the name for a one-page newsletter.[1]
The newsletter, which was available by subscription, featured a 13" by 18" poster cover.[4]


[ Not listed, from July 1978-1984, the newsletter was called DC COMING ATTRACTIONS.

And 1984-1988, a mostly black-and-white or one-color 8 X 11 4-page newsletter titled DC RELEASES. ]



In 1988, Direct Currents became the title of a free monthly newsletter distributed by comic book stores, containing
articles about DC Comics titles being released that month as well as a checklist of the month's new releases. It was a
replacement for DC's previous newsletter, DC Releases.[1]
Unlike DC Releases, which was printed in black and white and magazine-sized, Direct Currents was printed in color and was
the size of a regular comic book. Eventually, Direct Currents contained a flipbook format, with one side containing
features about DC Universe titles, and the other containing features about titles from DC's Vertigo and Paradox Press
imprints.[5] The newsletter ran for a total of 92 issues, ending in 1995, and also produced two specials.

Beginning in November 2016, the name was used for a free quarterly magazine offering sneak peeks of every DC title.[6]
However, the book was cancelled after only one issue.[7]



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I wrote a letter during the period O'Neil began editing the Batman line, discussing how I missed the O'Neil/Adams/Novick
Batman who was more reserved and calculated, always watching from the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike.
That I missed that more controlled Batman, the relentless detective that I knew and loved.

About 4 months later, this ad came out in the DC books:





A byproduct of my letter, that the DC editorial leadership took to heart?

You make the call.



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A collection of DC house ads from the 1971-1972 period, posted by DC letterer and sometimes artist Todd Klein.
Collecting ads from that era by letterer Gaspar Saladino.




Especially memorable for me is this one, announcing the first ACBA awards in 1971, for books published in the previous year 1970 :

[Linked Image from kleinletters.com]

With,obviously, illustrations of DC artists by Neal Adams. This was published in DC issues dated Nov and Dec 1971.


Adams also illustated a full-page house ad announcing the Alley Award winners (hosted by Phil Seuling, at the New York comic art convention, the last year the Alleys were awarded), published in issues dated Dec 1970, awarded to material published in the previous 1969 year.

https://viewcomiconline.com/batman-v1-227/ (on page 33 )


Here's a link to all the Alley awards and Shazam awards given, and to other U.S. comics awards :


The Alley awards were selected and given by fans at the annual New York comic art convention, hosted by Phil Seuling, from 1961-1969.

The Shazam awards were selected by comics professionals annually at a banquet dinner, from 1970-1974.
And after that organization broke up, there were no U.S. awards for an entire decade, until the short-lived Kirby awards in 1985 to 1987. Which were than replaced by the Eisner and Harvey awards, among others.
I kind of didn't notice ACBA's disappearance at first, because some British fans created the Eagle awards beginning in 1977, that were listed annually in Marvel Bullpen pages and letters pages, in the years after the ACBA awards ended. But these were fan awards also, not like the ACBA. But in those pre-internet days, before even the COMICS JOURNAL and AMAZING HEROES, and COMIC BUYERS' GUIDE, there wasn't a lot of knowledge about how these awards were created or annually awarded. And it was mostly a case of either Marvel or DC gloating in a house ad when they had a particularly good year at the awards, and not mentioning awards at all when they didn't, without a lot of consistency (from 1961-1984) about how or where they were awarded.

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Originally Posted by WB
Earlier in the topc, I showed the advance ad for THE SHADOW (from KAMANDI 2, Jan 1973)
that promoted it to be drawn by Berni Wrightson.

Here's a promotional ad in the months before the first issue that showed Kaluta as the series artist.

[Linked Image from 64.media.tumblr.com]

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Originally Posted by Wonder Boy
.
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/7LYbCqU9F...dtiRbVi8zp_p9hLSLDJZizGbXVvbDpeHKQ=s1600

A double-page DC subscription ad from mid/late 1972, that I find exciting because it lists all the DC titles at the time, from the era I consider, at both Marvel and DC, to have presented the highest ratio of great material coming out:

  • * Kirby's Fourth World titles (JIMMY OLSEN, FOREVER PEOPLE, NEW GODS, MISTER MIRACLE),
    * THE DEMON,
    * KAMANDI,
    * Kubert's Edgar Rice Burroughs material in TARZAN, KORAK and WEIRD WORLDS,
    * not to mention Kubert's other war material in OUR ARMY AT WAR, and Enemy Ace in STAR SPANGLED WAR,
    * JLA beginning by Wein and Dillin [ issues 100-114 ],
    * The various Superman titles with Swan/Anderson art bridging them all,
    * O'Neil/Adams and O'Neil/Novick or Robbins/Novick/Giordano in BATMAN and DETECTIVE,
    * Haney and Aparo BRAVE AND THE BOLD,
    * Wein/Wrightson SWAMP THING,
    * the great Orlando-edited HOUSE OF MYSTERY, HOUSE OF SECRETS, WEIRD MYSTERY, WEIRD WAR and WEIRD WESTERN, among other great DC mystery titles,
    * Aparo PHANTOM STRANGER, soon to have Kaluta "Spawn of Frankenstein" backup stories,
    * O'Neil/Adams GREEN LANTERN...



There was just more good stuff coming out than I knew what to do with!

Updated with a new link.

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[Linked Image from 2.bp.blogspot.com]

https://dangerousuniverse.com/wp-co...ler-The-Dark-Knight-Poster-1300x1632.jpg
https://dangerousuniverse.com/wp-co...iller-The-Dark-Knight-Poster-768x964.jpg

The advance house ads for Miller's THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, in 1986.
If we only knew just how phenomenally popular that series would be, that ended up selling out even second and third printings.

Just two years before, Frank Miller's RONIN was highly anticipated and turned out to be a poor seller, for all its quality.
DARK KNIGHT RETURNS was the polar opposite reaction, under-ordered and low expectations, whose unexpected success even generated interest in the previous RONIN series, that it never had up till that point, and generated sudden demand in all other prior work by Miller.

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[Linked Image from 4.bp.blogspot.com]





A second ad for BATMAN: YEAR ONE ( the Miller/ Mazxuchelli series that ran in BATMAN 404-407, Feb 1987-May 1987.)
I don't recall this ad at the time, maybe it ran in the fan press, such as AMAZING HEROES, COMIC BUYERS' GUIDE, or others.

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[Linked Image from i.pinimg.com]




Ad for KAMANDI 2, Jan 1973.
One that definitely lives up to the hype, one of the best issues, in one of the most fun and consistently action-packed 40 issues I've had the pleasure to read.

https://viewcomiconline.com/kamandi-the-last-boy-on-earth-issue-2/

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[Linked Image from i.pinimg.com]


Some definitely odd and goofy stuff going on in the SUPERBOY stories behind these Adams covers.
https://viewcomiconline.com/superboy-v1-153/


A favorite of mine: "The day it rained Superboys!"
https://viewcomiconline.com/superboy-v1-159/

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[Linked Image from romitaman.b-cdn.net]



My first glimpse of the Wein/Wrightson SWAMP THING series, in the months before the first issue came out in late 1972.

This ad didn't use a panel from the first issue, this is an original page for the promo ad, probably done before the first issue was even drawn.

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Originally Posted by Wonder Boy
.
{ house ad for JUSTICE INC by Kirby ]


A 1975 house ad for the O'Neil/Kirby The Avenger series (JUSTICE INC. issues 2-4).

I love how even now, you can go back through these 70's/80's issues and see tons of house ads for new series. Even 20-plus years later, many of these house ads of the 1970's 1980's and 1990's have turned me on to series I missed the first time.

House ads seem virtually non-existent in the newer titles, and I think that's a mistake by comics publishers.

More Kirby house ads for his DC titles :

https://bullyscomics.blogspot.com/2013/08/365-days-of-dc-house-ads-day-239-jack_27.html

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Originally Posted by Wonder Boy
[Linked Image from i.pinimg.com]

A 1978 DC ad.

Because every cool vampire (and kid), chews Slim Jims!

[Linked Image from i.pinimg.com]

And Werewolf !
These ran in most DC titles in issues from Dec 1977-Jan 1979. The art on both ads is by Jack Davis. Before Jack Davis became famous for his humor work in MAD, he drew horror stories for EC.
Fun and atmospheric ads, posted here just in time for Halloween.

Slim Jim ran other ads in DC books, for about a year before, and for about a year after. But these are the ones worth seeing.

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[Linked Image from i.pinimg.com]

A 1980 ad for a series that might have been, but ended up never happening. Immediately after, Roger McKenzie left as writer on DAREDEVIL, and Miller was fully occupied as both writer and artist on the series. So Marshall Rogers took over DOCTOR STRANGE with issue 48, the issue Miller's run would have begun.
Roger Stern says that Miller initially bowed out to do a James Bond story, that also never materialized.
The ad ran in issues cover-dated Jan 1981. https://viewcomiconline.com/marvel-spotlight-1979-issue-10/
Here is a black and white magazine ad for DAREDEVIL 168, Jan 1981, the first Miller issue where he was both writer and artist:
https://viewcomiconline.com/howard-the-duck-1979-issue-8/ (page 57) . The ad ran 2 months prior to DD 168.

To see what Miller could have brought to a DOCTOR STRANGE run, just look at AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL 14 (1980) and 15 (1981)
https://viewcomiconline.com/amazing-spider-man-v1-annual-014/

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Here's another Frank Miller advance ad from early 1983, for his then-upcoming RONIN series for DC:

[Linked Image from live.staticflickr.com]

RONIN 1 was cover-dated July 1983. I was absolutely blown away by this first issue, and re-read it many times. Powerful stuff. I was amazed how something so good and truly innovative could have been such a slow seller. There was a revival of interest in RONIN after Miller's far more successful DARK KNIGHT RETURNS series, after which RONIN was re-released in several collected trade editions.

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Originally Posted by Wonder Boy
Of DC's hyperbolic house ads, the Adams books I felt were among the ones
that fully lived up to the hype of ads like this one.


[Linked Image from i.pinimg.com]

Ad for STRANGE ADVENTURES 213, Aug 1968. The cover for that issue, it was nominated for an Alley Award for best cover, coming in second to Steranko's cover for NICK FURY, AGENT OF SHIELD 6.

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[Linked Image from i.pinimg.com]


The DC house ad for KAMANDI 1 in late 1972.
It looked fantastic from the ad. And when I purchased it, the issue far exceeded even those expectations.

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[Linked Image from i.redd.it]

Another double-page ad from the "Clark Bar Superhero Sweepstakes" contest.
From HOUSE OF MYSTERY 260, Sept 1978.
And DETECTIVE COMICS 479, Sept-Oct 1978.
And BATMAN 303, Sept 1978.
And SECRETS OF HAUNTED HOUSE 13, Sept 1978. And probably all DC titles that month.

I saw the original art for this ad sold recently, and is attributed in the listing to "Neal Adams studios", whether that includes Neal Adams himself, or just those working for him at Continuity Asssociates. It looks to me like it most likely includes Dick Giordano, and possibly Mike Nasser. Bill Sienkiewicz, Bob Wiacek, Bob Mcleod and others were also working there at the time. I love these ads.

I already posted a bunch of them on the previous page, double page ads, featuring both Marvel and DC characters.

It was hilarious in one blog post I read about them, one guy said for all the promotion, there was no one who was ever visibly awarded the winner.
So they might have promoted it, without actually ever giving away any prizes. If you look at the prizes they were offering, it certainly wouldn't have bankrupted them to give away the prizes offered.

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Originally Posted by Wonder Boy
Fred Hembeck chimes in:

http://www.proudrobot.com/hembeck/clarkkent.html

Running at the time the Clark Bar contest ads were appearing in DC titles.
And with links in the left margin for all Hembeck's other strips that ran in DC's monthly editorial pages, in the 1979-1981 period.

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Originally Posted by Wonder Boy
Here's an un-photoshopped version of the 1982 Michael Golden house ad for Marvel I posted above.

[Linked Image from i.pinimg.com]


Not as big, but in its original form.

If you want to track this one down, a few weeks ago I went through my collection, and saw it in these issues :

MARVEL SUPER SPECIAL
21 (CONAN movie adaptation, Aug 1982)
22 (BLADERUNNER adaptation, Sept 1982)
23 (ANNIE movie adaptation, Sept 1982)
24 (THE DARK CRYSTAL, Mar 1983)

And
MARVEL NO-PRIZE BOOK 1 (Feb 1983)

Others too, I'm sure. But those are the ones I can vouch for.

And this enlarged image...
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/91/22/c1/9122c1705ee0004c5522cb920655138c.jpg

...that from the more recent Marvel logo, was published at least 20 years after the original subscription ad.
It looks like it could have been a signed print, or been printed as a giveaway at a comics convention.

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One of my favorites, an ad that ran in all the Nov 1982 Marvel comics, an SQ productions ad that offered a very inexpensive (but also very nice) Michael Golden poster.
[Linked Image from lh6.googleusercontent.com]

And here's the actual poster, in its full 11" X 17" size...
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-...1600/golden+-+marvel+universe+-+1982.jpg

This below blog post link shows you the complete poster, with SQ Productions promo-pages attached. Basically, it's a foldout poster of four 8 X 11 pages, the center two being the poster, inside the larger 8-page foldout catalog. SQ productions actually went out of business (briefly) in the 2 or 3 months after this promo was offered. I spoke to several who ordered it and never received it. I ordered one, and looking again at the comic ad, liked it so much I later submitted a second payment for a second poster. Then a long silence, thinking I'd never receive it.
And one wonderful day, I found both of them in my mailbox, mailed in two separate decorative envelopes (shown in linked photos).
http://marvel1980s.blogspot.com/2011/05/1982-michael-goldens-marvel-universe.html?spref=pi

In particular I recall the ad ran a month after DOCTOR STRANGE 55, because that issue had a gorgeously illustrated Golden story, at a time (1981-1982) I consider the absolute peak period of Golden's work.
https://viewcomiconline.com/doctor-strange-v2-master-of-the-mystic-arts-55/
(DOCTOR STRANGE was bi-monthly, so the ad appeared in the month between issues, in other Marvel titles: )
https://viewcomiconline.com/power-man-and-iron-fist-1978-issue-87/

A Michael Golden DOCTOR STRANGE PORTFOLIO, another collection of exceptional Golden pages, was released about the same time.
https://capnscomics.blogspot.com/2013/01/doc-strange-by-mike-golden.html

Another example of Michael Golden's peak work is AVENGERS ANNUAL 10, out in Oct 1981 :
https://viewcomiconline.com/avengers-v1-annual-010/


DOCTOR STRANGE 55 came out just a few months after some of Golden's other outstanding work, in MARVEL FANFARE 1 and 2.
https://viewcomiconline.com/marvel-fanfare-1982-issue-1/
https://viewcomiconline.com/marvel-fanfare-1982-issue-2/

There were two more short inventory stories by Golden in MARVEL FANFARE 4, that look like they sat in an inventory file from the time Golden first entered comics in 1977.
FANFARE dug up quite a few of these inventory stories by various artists.
https://viewcomiconline.com/marvel-fanfare-1982-issue-4/
Another Golden inventory story, "Huntsman", saw print in BIZARRE ADVENTURES 28 in 1982, clearly a fill-in story intended for the short-lived LOGAN'S RUN series, also from 1977, and most of those issues were by George Perez / Klaus Janson (issues 1-5), then Sutton/Austin (issue 6), and Sutton/Janson (issue 7). .
https://viewcomiconline.com/bizarre-adventures-issue-28/
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Logan-s-Run/Issue-1?id=130474
https://viewcomiconline.com/logans-run-1977-002/

And one last 32-page Golden masterwork, that he clearly labored over off and on for 8 years before submitting, in MARVEL FANFARE 47, well worth the wait.
https://viewcomiconline.com/marvel-fanfare-1982-issue-47/

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[Linked Image from 2.bp.blogspot.com]

Another from that peak period, a Golden pin-up page poster of the early Avengers.

Published in Fantaco's CHRONICLES series, issue 4 (the AVENGERS issue), dated June 1982.
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=304161

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[Linked Image from i.redd.it]

A hilariously strange ad that ran in DC comics dated July/August 1975. I've given a link to it previously, here's an image you can see here.

An uncomfortable-looking housewife in her kitchen is asked: "Are your children ASHAMED you never finished high school?"
Guilting and shaming people to buy their product !
The ad was so incredibly tasteless, it only ran the one month, and was abruptly pulled.
Although Wayne School ran ads for their correspondence courses for many years before and after.

Some issues it appeared in include :
JUSTICE INC. 2, a bi-monthly cover-dated July-Aug 1975.
GHOST CASTLE 2, July-August 1975
HOUSE OF MYSTERY 233, July 1975.
DETECTIVE COMICS 449, July 1975.
BATMAN 265, July 1975.
And other monthlies (July) or bimonthlies (July-August) cover-dated the same month.

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[Linked Image from vignette.wikia.nocookie.net]

The first ad for O'Neil/Kaluta's THE SHADOW, in early 1973.







[Linked Image from farm6.staticflickr.com]



The final ad for THE SHADOW issue 1 right before it came out, displaying the cover by Kaluta.

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Originally Posted by Wonder Boy
Probably the most famous comic book ad of all, Charles Atlas' "The insult that made a man out of Mac."

[Linked Image from media.comicbook.com]
Originally Posted by Wonder Boy
Originally Posted by Wonder Boy
Here's an article that collects a bunch of the ads I recall from that era.
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/sea-monkeys-and-x-ray-spex/

I think probably the best-known comic book ad is "Hey Skinny", the Charles Atlas bodybuilding ad. And a variation of it, "The Incident that Made A Man out of Mac". Where some musclebound guy on the beach kicks sand in a skinny guy's face, and then he takes the mail-order musclebuilding course, comes back to the beach and kicks the musclebound guy's ass. And his girlfriend comes back to him saying "Ohh Mac! You're real man after all!"

I re-read PLOP 2, published in 1973, including a story by Sergio Aragones, "Hey Skinny!", that parodies the above ads. Initially following the ad storyline, a skinny guy is bullied, is rejected by his girl for not being manly enough, then meets a scientist who offers him to experiment with a formula that is supposed to, Captain America-like, almost instantly grow his physique and give animal-like virility.
He daydreams before taking the formula that he'll turn into a werewolf and rip the big muscular guy who bullied him to shreds. In the next panel the girl who spurned him, who left him for the bully, now cuddles him adoringly saying "Ohh Mac! You're a werewolf now!"

Great stuff.

The full issue online for PLOP issue 2, with the aforementioned "Hey, Skinny" parody story by Aragones, :
https://viewcomiconline.com/plop-issue-2/

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Originally Posted by Wonder Boy
Here's a really poster-worthy 1993 house ad by Arthur Adams.

https://www.bedetheque.com/media/Versos/Verso_392721.jpg

[Linked Image from townsquare.media]

Never bought SHOWCASE 93, but love the ad!

Also linked above is the back cover of SHOWCASE 93 issue 1, the same art without the ad text on it.

Here is the ad as it originally ran, in CONGORILLA issue 3 (on page 34, toward the end).
https://viewcomiconline.com/congorilla-issue-3/

And what the hell, here's the entire 12-issue SHOWCASE 93 series :
https://viewcomiconline.com/showcase-93-issue-1/
The first issue has Arthur Adams front and back covers, with interior story and art by Moench and Hannigan. And different artists almost every issue: Hannigan (issues 1-4), Kireon Dwyer (5-6), Klaus Janson (7-8), Cary Nord (9), Bill Willingham (10), Bob McLeod (11-12). Plus more random backup stories by other artists each issue, the most interesting for me being Travis Charest.

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[Linked Image from i.pinimg.com]

A fan press 1981 house ad for Marvel 's 20th anniversary by Frank Miller.
From a time when Miller was doing a ton of covers for Marvel titles, and many of them quite nice, on unexpected titles like ROM, MACHINE MAN, SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, MARVEL SPOTLIGHT, INCREDIBLE HULK, POWER MAN IRON FIST, SPIDER-WOMAN, X-MEN and what-not.

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[Linked Image from i.pinimg.com]



A really fun house-ad for Marvel by Marie Severin, that ran in the Overstreet Price Guide.

In the tradition of Marie Severin's work in Marvel's parody title NOT BRAND ECCH 1-13 (1967-1969)
https://viewcomiconline.com/not-brand-echh-issue-01/

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[Linked Image from berkeleyplaceblog.com]

A loveably wacky Fred Hembeck house ad for Marvel, that ran in Marvel's August 1979 issues.
Some telltale signs of the era it was published, the giant kicking leg, from the short-lived SHOGUN WARRIORS,

And also kicking a leg is Tarzan from the tail-end of Marvel's TARZAN run (love the little monkey next to him, struggling to kick a leg with his taller compatriots!)
And the sub-atomic MICRONAUTS, made visible with a convenient magnifying glass!

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[Linked Image from 2.bp.blogspot.com]

A house ad for CONAN THE BARBARIAN from 1970, for issue 2.
In the very early Barry Smith days, before he was even Barry Windsor-Smith.





Another of my favorite ads, this one a subscription ad for SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN magazine,that ran in the 1986-1989 period while Larry Hama was editor of the book:
"NEVER HAS SO MUCH SAVAGERY COST SO LITTLE !"

https://viewcomiconline.com/savage-sword-of-conan-v1-126/ July 1986
https://viewcomiconline.com/savage-sword-of-conan-v1-145/ Feb 1988
https://viewcomiconline.com/savage-sword-of-conan-v1-164/ Sept 1989

lol

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[Linked Image from 4.bp.blogspot.com]


Greetings culture lovers !

A great Marvel subscription ad by Marie Severin, that ran in Marvel's Oct 1980 issues.
https://viewcomiconline.com/marvel-two-in-one-issue-68/

Hosted by an unusually (for that period) articulate Hulk, with an appreciation for the finer things in life, such as reading Marvel comics and never missing an issue.

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[Linked Image from littlestuffedbull.com]

When Kirby made his departure from Marvel to DC in 1970, this was the first ad that heralded his arrival at DC. It ran in PHANTOM STRANGER 8, July-August 1970, and other DC titles that month.
https://viewcomiconline.com/supermans-pal-jimmy-olsen-v1-130/
https://viewcomiconline.com/adventure-comics-1938-issue-395/

I was amused at how Kirby's arrival at DC was announced, almost as if it were the second coming of Christ. And they don't even say Kirby's name, I thought maybe because the DC contract papers were just signed, and Kirby hadn't announced his departure yet to Marvel.
Kirby's first issue for DC was 3 months later in JIMMY OLSEN 133, cover-dated Oct 1970.
https://viewcomiconline.com/supermans-pal-jimmy-olsen-v1-133/

Followed by JIMMY OLSEN 134 in Dec 1970.
And then FOREVER PEOPLE 1 and NEW GODS 1, both Jan 1971.

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Soon after followed by this....

[Linked Image from i.pinimg.com]

Kirby's first issue on his move to DC, in JIMMY OLSEN 133, Oct 1970.
https://viewcomiconline.com/supermans-pal-jimmy-olsen-v1-133/



I was amused by the similarity of the first "The Great One is Coming" ad to these overtly bible-referencing house ads, for Spire Comics (Archie comics' brief Christian line) in 1974.
https://2warpstoneptune.com/2015/08...-al-hartley-spire-christian-comics-1974/

"Great Snatch" could definitely have a different meaning in the current era.

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"The Great One" likewise has a multitude of others taking claim on that title.

[Linked Image from 2.bp.blogspot.com]


[Linked Image from 1.bp.blogspot.com]

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Do People Believe the "Big One" is coming?
[Linked Image from blog.jumpstartinsurance.com]

I'm sure a lot of guys would like to give her the big one.

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[Linked Image from flashbak.com]

Who fantasizes about creating shrunken heads? Kathy Griffin, perhaps.
Kids had the option to create shrunken head-type equivalents with this kit, using apples, in this 1975 DC comics ad.
Illustrated by Mort Drucker, another MAD magazine alumni, like Jack Davis above.

From the back cover of KAMANDI 36, Dec 1975, and other DC issues from the same month.
https://viewcomiconline.com/house-of-mystery-1951-issue-238/
https://viewcomiconline.com/1st-issue-special-issue-10/

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[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

From 1988, the ad where DC promoted a Jim Starlin/Jim Aparo 4-part story in BATMAN 426-429, where readers could call in and vote whether Robin (at that time Jason Todd) would live or die at the end of the story.
And as we all know, readers overwhelmingly voted to kill the kid.

I thought it was a wild story by Starlin, particularly the odd pairing of the Joker with the Ayatollah of Iran.
After the 4 issues were published, Starlin was a bit ticked off, having believed he was writing a milestone in comics history, and then DC management immediately announced another Robin, to replace the one just killed. When Starlin appealed to DC management to not immediately launch a new Robin, an executive said "Hey, we have to, his picture is on a million lunch boxes!"

The Mignola covers on BATMAN 426-429 were also nice, and gave the series a standout look.
I was only disappointed with Aparo's art, which for some reason had visibly declined by that point.

All 4 issues can be read online at :
https://viewcomiconline.com/batman-v1-426/

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Here's an interesting progression of house ads for Kirby's JIMMY OLSEN run, these ads ran in other titles :

Ad for JIMMY OLSEN 133 (that ran in BATMAN 226, Nov 1970)
https://viewcomiconline.com/batman-v1-226/

Ad for JIMMY OLSEN 134 (ad ran in UNEXPECTED 122, Jan 1971)
https://viewcomiconline.com/the-unexpected-v1-122/

Ad for JIMMY OLSEN 138 (ad ran in UNEXPECTED 125, July 1971)
https://viewcomiconline.com/the-unexpected-v1-125/

Ad for JIMMY OLSEN 140 (ad ran in FOREVER PEOPLE 4, Aug-Sept 1971)
https://viewcomiconline.com/forever-people-1971-issue-4/

Ad for JIMMY OLSEN 142 (ad ran in DETECTIVE COMICS 416, Oct 1971)
https://viewcomiconline.com/detective-comics-1937-issue-416/

Ad for JIMMY OLSEN 143 (ad ran in ADVENTURE COMICS 411, Oct 1971)
https://viewcomiconline.com/adventure-comics-1938-issue-411/

Ad for JIMMY OLSEN 144 (ad ran in HOUSE OF MYSTERY 197, Dec 1971)
https://viewcomiconline.com/house-of-mystery-1951-issue-197/

Ad for JIMMY OLSEN 145 (ad ran in STRANGE ADVENTURES 234, Feb 1972)
https://viewcomiconline.com/strange-adventures-1950-issue-234/

Ad for "Jack Kirby's FOURTH WORLD Blockbusters" (ad ran in JIMMY OLSEN 148, April 1972, and FOREVER PEOPLE 8, Apr-May 1972)
https://viewcomiconline.com/forever-people-1971-issue-8/


Plus a lot of other similar ads that ran over that period for FOREVER PEOPLE, NEW GODS, MISTER MIRACLE, SPIRIT WORLD, IN THE DAYS OF THE MOB, the KIRBY UNLEASHED portfolio, and some ads for THE DEMON and KAMANDI that I already posted above. Some of which ran in the same issues with these.

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