Author Topic: Old Comic Book Ads  (Read 1027 times)

Ben

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Old Comic Book Ads
« on: May 30, 2019, 10:43:52 AM »
Or more precisely, the ads in the back of comic books. Probably only the older folks here remember these. I never really read comic books, but subscribed to Analog (pulp sci-fi stories) as a kid, and they had these in the back there too. I distinctly remember asking my mom if I could order some of them, but I don't think she ever let me.  :laugh:

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/sea-monkeys-and-x-ray-spex/
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lee n. field

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #1 on: May 30, 2019, 11:29:24 AM »
Or more precisely, the ads in the back of comic books. Probably only the older folks here remember these. I never really read comic books, but subscribed to Analog (pulp sci-fi stories) as a kid, and they had these in the back there too. I distinctly remember asking my mom if I could order some of them, but I don't think she ever let me.  :laugh:

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/sea-monkeys-and-x-ray-spex/

I subscribed to Analog from about 1968 on (through to the late '90s some time).  I don't recall this kind of stuff.
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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #2 on: May 30, 2019, 11:32:22 AM »
I remember Sea Monkeys being available at Toys R Us when I was a kid.  And yes, I fell for that complete waste of money.

Ben

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #3 on: May 30, 2019, 11:33:20 AM »
I subscribed to Analog from about 1968 on (through to the late '90s some time).  I don't recall this kind of stuff.

Maybe it was in the back of Boys Life then? I may actually have some old Analogs in a box somewhere, I'll have to look. I could swear it was in the older Analogs (or maybe Asimov's I got that too). I could swear it was in one of the "pulpy" magazines though.
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Unisaw

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #4 on: May 30, 2019, 11:40:47 AM »
I vaguely remember seeing an ad for a Gemini space capsule.  Like the Polaris submarine ad, I'm now sure it was a glorified cardboard box.
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HankB

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #5 on: May 30, 2019, 11:41:29 AM »
I remember some of those comic book ads - I never ordered anything from them, but a couple of kids on my block did; general kid consensus was "WHAT A RIPOFF!!"

Now, if I had been just a little older, I would have been saving up my allowance and chore money for some of the stuff pre-1968 gun books advertised from places like Klein's or Hunter's Lodge.
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WLJ

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #6 on: May 30, 2019, 11:42:26 AM »
I actually tried to get the Polaris submarine but they mailed me back they no longer had them.
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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #7 on: May 30, 2019, 11:53:59 AM »
Those ads were great.  They promised so much.  I got the Sea Monkeys and was sorely disappointed with the little blobs floating around.  I could barely tell the difference between the creatures and the stuff they were fed. 

I really wanted the x-ray specs so I could take them to the beach and check out the babes!
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K Frame

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #8 on: May 30, 2019, 12:36:17 PM »
I don't remember any ads like that ever running in Boy's Life. I can't imagine that the BSA would have encouraged scouts spending money on absolute crap like that.
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Hawkmoon

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #9 on: May 30, 2019, 12:59:23 PM »
I subscribed to Analog from about 1968 on (through to the late '90s some time).  I don't recall this kind of stuff.

By 1968 I had gone to Vietnam and returned. That kind of stuff dates to the 1950s. I remember the Sea Monkey and Charles Atlas ads very well. I never saw the Polaris sub ad, though.
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Hawkmoon

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #10 on: May 30, 2019, 01:01:55 PM »
I don't remember any ads like that ever running in Boy's Life. I can't imagine that the BSA would have encouraged scouts spending money on absolute crap like that.

Not then, but they do now. Take a look at the official BSA hatchet of today compared to the Bridgeport hatchets that were the official BSA hatchet when I was a kid.
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MillCreek

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #11 on: May 30, 2019, 01:35:31 PM »
I remember the sea monkeys, xray glasses and the submarine that was a cardboard box.  I also remember the prank soap that turned your hands black when you washed with it. 
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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #12 on: May 30, 2019, 02:06:19 PM »
Never saw the submarine, but the sea monkeys, x-ray glasses, and black soap ads were still around in the late 70's
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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #13 on: May 30, 2019, 02:38:51 PM »
My big thing was an Atomic Ring, around 1950? or so.

Supposedly it was a tiny scintillometer in a little tube consisting of a tiny lens supposedly focused on a little screen with "atomic material" embedded in it that would make the screen sparkle when an atom decayed. Just like in the atomic bomb.

This all was mounted on an adjustable ring.

Instructions said to use it in a dark room and allow yourself to get used to the dark.

Well, I stayed in the dark for a while, looked into it, no sparkles.  Stayed in the dark for a longer while, still no sparkles.

Stayed in the dark for a still longer while, still no sparkles.

Never did see any scintillations in it.  And I hadn't been that dark-adapted since just befpre I was born.

Terry, 230RN

ETA I can't believe they're still selling the darned things.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=kix%20atomic%20ring
« Last Edit: May 30, 2019, 04:48:56 PM by 230RN »

Calumus

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #14 on: May 30, 2019, 08:34:24 PM »
Sea Monkeys were around in the 80's too. I remember their ads in Groo the Wanderer. Never got them though.

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #15 on: May 30, 2019, 08:47:20 PM »
I was always tempted by the "Build your own Hovercraft!" ad.

Never ordered it, but was tempted.
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charby

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #16 on: May 30, 2019, 11:18:53 PM »
I don't remember any ads like that ever running in Boy's Life. I can't imagine that the BSA would have encouraged scouts spending money on absolute crap like that.

Boy's Life Circa 1984-1992, I remember the build your own hovercraft ad, a $4 swiss army knife, live chameleon with free food, a weather balloon, a solar balloon and the inside of the back cover of jokes, gags and magic tricks (Johnson Smith Company or Abracadabra Shop).

https://books.google.com/books?id=vWYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=joke/magic+company+belleville+il&source=bl&ots=nHpxlk2ZR9&sig=ACfU3U2jhZvyulqnp2UDm8u98TgOZNBNxA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi8ob7A5sTiAhVPbKwKHayXCPsQ6AEwDHoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=joke%2Fmagic%20company%20belleville%20il&f=false
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freakazoid

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #17 on: May 31, 2019, 12:48:07 AM »
I remember seeing these types of ads in the back in the 90's. I remember ordering sea monkeys, but I'm pretty sure that was through one of the school book order things as I don't believe I had ever ordered anything off of the back of the comics. I thought the "sea monkeys" were pretty neat. Had them, and they multiplied, for a quite a while.
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T.O.M.

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #18 on: May 31, 2019, 09:19:02 AM »
What I remember were ads for "pellet guns" that always caught my attention in the comic books.  Like this set being discussed in this threat at AR15.com

https://www.ar15.com/forums/general/Who_remembers__4_95_pellet_guns_from_andamp_quot_Guaranteed_Distributorsandamp_quot__/5-1885287/

I always wants a couple of these.  Mom said no, time and again.  When a buddy got one of the revolvers, I was suddenly happy Mom said no.  Piece of junk...
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Ben

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #19 on: May 31, 2019, 09:20:15 AM »
Boy's Life Circa 1984-1992, I remember the build your own hovercraft ad, a $4 swiss army knife, live chameleon with free food, a weather balloon, a solar balloon and the inside of the back cover of jokes, gags and magic tricks (Johnson Smith Company or Abracadabra Shop).

https://books.google.com/books?id=vWYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=joke/magic+company+belleville+il&source=bl&ots=nHpxlk2ZR9&sig=ACfU3U2jhZvyulqnp2UDm8u98TgOZNBNxA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi8ob7A5sTiAhVPbKwKHayXCPsQ6AEwDHoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=joke%2Fmagic%20company%20belleville%20il&f=false

Then maybe it was Boys Life where I saw the ads and not Analog. I got the magazine in the early 70s during my limited stint in the Scouts.
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WLJ

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #20 on: May 31, 2019, 09:32:57 AM »
Rather surprisingly interesting video on the history of Sea Monkeys
I thought from the title it was going to be some PETA  oh no he killed hapless brine shrimp! type video. Nope, the guy who started SMs had a rather dark side to him.

The Dark Past of Sea Monkeys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0xXKCOSZuQ
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230RN

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #21 on: May 31, 2019, 08:48:23 PM »
Anyone remember the Geniac(?) "computer"?

It was really just a kit where you could set up a bunch of rotary switches to demonstrate logic/truth tables.  Not a computer, but it demonstrated logic.I ordered my first chemistry set from the Porter Chemical Company in Hagerstown Maryland.  Odd that I remember that.

Terry

Ben

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #22 on: May 31, 2019, 09:48:54 PM »
I ordered my first chemistry set from the Porter Chemical Company in Hagerstown Maryland.  Odd that I remember that.

Terry

I absolutely attribute the beginnings of the SJWs, zero tolerance in schools, diversity, and every other lame ass leftist namby pamby safety blanket to the demise of chemistry sets. I still remember that my first set (late 60s) kept me entertained and taught me many things over hours and hours of experiments. I still remember trying to combine the sulfur and potassium nitrate included in it with my dad's charcoal briquets.  :laugh:

Those chemicals, bunsen burners, and all the other educational "but dangerous!" stuff turned more kids into competent scientists (or just well educated people) than that fraud Bill Nye ever did or will.
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lee n. field

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #23 on: June 01, 2019, 01:34:59 PM »
I absolutely attribute the beginnings of the SJWs, zero tolerance in schools, diversity, and every other lame ass leftist namby pamby safety blanket to the demise of chemistry sets. I still remember that my first set (late 60s) kept me entertained and taught me many things over hours and hours of experiments. I still remember trying to combine the sulfur and potassium nitrate included in it with my dad's charcoal briquets.  :laugh:

Those chemicals, bunsen burners, and all the other educational "but dangerous!" stuff turned more kids into competent scientists (or just well educated people) than that fraud Bill Nye ever did or will.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._C._Gilbert_Company

Yep.  I had a chemistry set.  And Lincoln Logs, an Erector set, and tinker toys.  And a microsocpe, with some pre-made slides.  All kinds of crap around the house.
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Unisaw

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Re: Old Comic Book Ads
« Reply #24 on: June 01, 2019, 01:57:42 PM »
Lee N. Field: check on all of those. We must be roughly the same age.
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