I wanted the x-ray glasses and the sea monkeys!
Growing up in the prairie-lands of Saskatchewan, comics were a reading staple. Remember those classic ads on the back covers?
How much did you want to buy the sea monkeys and actually see them grow and frolic in their underworld castles? But the cost!
I never did get the chance to purchase them. Years later I read what one actually received was a small bag of tiny brine shrimp.
The little scalawags apparently may or may not have survived their mail journey. If they did survive the journey, generating the precise hatching conditions was difficult.
If they did hatch, they probably survived a few days at the most.
And I imagine those little sea monkeys did not frolic as saucily as the ads proclaimed.
How about looking through x-ray glasses.?
Getting revenge on the bullies who kicked sand in your face when you were a 99 pound weakling?
Comic books have carried advertisements from the silly, to the bizarre, to the extreme “what were they really thinking?” types of ads.
Here’s only a few of the thousands of resources about these curious but oh so tempting back cover comic book advertisements.
- Did you Know…?: You *Can* Judge a Book By Its Back Cover! is a bountiful resource for comic book ads.
- What about performing strong men stunts? Here’s the book about it: How to Perform Strong Man Stunts by Ottley R. Coulter
- Funtime Comics
- Amazon.com: Books: The Ultimate Guide to Sea-Monkeys
- Museum of Comic Book Advertising
Comic books read from front to back again and again. Comic books with those exotic ads. Comic book ink stained hands. Comic books hoarded underneath the bed.
And what about the conversation balloons hovering above the cartoon character’s head?
Not once did I question to why or wherefore of those silly little bubbles and the information crammed into each balloon.
I can’t remember the last time I actually picked up a comic book and read it.
HMmmm, it’s Boxing Day and I just might go to the Comic Book Shop on 4th Avenue and peruse their collection. Just for the memories, of course.