theNoosphere.com

Charles Atlas and his miracle program was all you needed.

I stumbled on a website tonight that brought me a giggle or two.

Super Marketing: Ads from the comic books

I have powerful memories of some of these ads, and can conjure up quite a few he doesn't cover here. X-ray glasses, hovercraft, machines to turn 1 coin into 2, no miracle was unavailable if you could get your hands on a comic book in the 1960's or 70's.

Anyone else have the kind of visceral reaction I did to these ads?

I actually ordered the 'Vampire Bat' pictured below - in fact, that's the exact ad I remember seeing. I remember the excitement waiting for it to arrive, but not as much as I recall the disappointment of finding I'd purchased a little rubber bat dangling from a length of rubber band. Guess W.C. Fields was correct, a sucker really is born every minute On the other hand, the magic and promise of the ads alone, and the warm memories they bring even now looking at them, probably leads me to forgive the victimization of countless little kids, yours truly included.

Here are a couple of the ads featured (look at the above site for my favorite, an ad about 'Americas Favorite Pet!')...

Oh good lord.

When I was around four years old I wanted this so bad it actually ached. I can remember my Mom not really taking me seriously. Can't say I blame her.

Now.



I actually ordered this, which turned out to be a balloon, a sheet of flimsy plastic and some thin fishing line:



... as well as some fake blood---don't see that on the site, however. I got Mom back with that one.

The ones I always wanted but never pulled the trigger on were the lifts for the shoes, and more importantly, the ventriloquist thingy you apparently stuck in your mouth.

Interestingly enough, the ONE thing that I - to this day - always wanted from the comic book ads.....is NOT on that website.

Being the super sleuth that I am, however, I found it elsewhere. Feast your eyes, boys......

This is all well and good, but you buggers cut up the books making it harder for those of us collecting them to get complete copies!

I've got some classic comics in boxes at my folks house. I may have to do some scanning and share. I think I have the very first 'Swamp Thing' among a wide variety. Lots of 'MAD' magazine issues as well.

X-Ray glasses. Always wanted a pair but never wanted to ruin the fantasy.

I remember almost ordering the 'build you own hovercraft' instructions once. Never worked up the nerve to actually do it though. For some crazy reason it just sounded too good to be true.

do you know how much i bragged to all of my friends that i was going to raise a sea monkey city? i used to daydream about watching them build a city and how they would all colonize.

yeah, brine shrimp dont really colonize. they tend to just swim in circles

One of the proudest days of my young life was coming home from school (4th grade) and finding a package waiting for me from the Hot Wheels Red Line Club I'd joined.

In it ... my Boss Hoss. Complete with decals, "papers," you name it.

By far the best car I ever had. Smoked everything in the neighboorhood.


Vintage 1969 Hot Wheels Chrome Mustang Boss by NutmegnSassafras

Of course I had Snake and Mongoose too.

I was a red-blooded American after all.

Snake ruled.

And don't even get me started on Sizzlers.

Youngsters!...geez. I had 1/32 scale Stromberg slot cars and track-I have only been able to find one stock photo as an example-mine included a D-type Jaguar and Ferrari Testa Rossa-naturally when I got it for Christmas my dad wound up playing with it more than I did.

Awesome! I had that exact set up with the charger and the 4 way loop....wow, seeing that brought back some serious memories

Sizzlers!

Wow, they had slot cars you raced with 3D glasses? I didn't think they discovered the third dimension until, like, the 70's.

They discovered what they thought was the third dimension in the 50s and tried to convince people they had really figured it out in the 70s. But according to all the latest movies and technology articles coming out, they've only just now truly discovered it. And they're pushing it even more than they did in the 70s.