Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Highlighting House Ads

I love house ads, as they serves as a nostalgic snapshot; providing a window into the publisher's world at that point in time. This ad from Beware Terror Tales #6 is a great example of a Fawcett pre-code horror house ad. The designer was wise enough to keep the focus on the superb Norman Saunders cover to Strange Stories From Another World #3, but added the right amount of framing detail. I really the zombie and the ghoul on either side of Saunders' cover and I'd be interested to know if these were drawn for this ad (and by whom) or if they were just taken from some interior art. The person writing the copy for this ad had a real flair for the dramatic - "is to pry loose the musty coffins" - I love it! Can you imagine how awesome it world it must have been when this type of book was actually on sale at your favorite newsstand?

1 comment:

rok said...

For whatever reason I always loved the house ads in Silver Age DC books. Great lettering and I could only imagine what the books themselves were like since I couldn't buy comics on a regular basis then.

rok