Highlighting House Ads: Atom 2

I've said it before and I'll said it again: I love the Atom! He's one of my all-time favourite heroes but he has never had what could be described as a top tier Rogues Gallery. To be honest, it's not even second tier. Chronos is his Joker. That's a bit sad. Chronos actually isn't a terrible villain, but his costume has always left a lot to be desired. Those pants!!! This is a fun ad, though as it introduces Chronos and his time-based powers. As much as I love the cover to Atom #2, it actually does not let the reader know anything about the villain. I'm always happy whenever I see bags with dollar signs on them! This is classic early 60s DC house advertising: super busy, a variety of fonts and tons of charm.

Highlighting House Ads: Timely 1941

Here's a terrific ad from the early days of Timely Comics. It's not terribly interesting from a style point of view, but rather as a piece of history. First, note the announcement for the upcoming All-Aces Comics. Never heard of it? Well, nobody ever saw it. I believe that this was the original working title for All-Winners Squad. Also note the 'Imitators Beware' section, which is a stern warning to other publishers cranking out patriotic heroes. Timely is conveniently ignoring the fact that they ripped off MLJ's The Shield. Ain't history fun?

Highlighting House Ads: Suicide Squad - 1987

While we are on the subject of Wanted posters, I think I should mention this great house ad from 1987. I absolutely adore this series and this was a terrific way to announces its arrival. I recently watched an episode of Justice League Unlimited with Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and crew and it made me want to dig out my back issues and revisit the entire run. This was a very exciting era for DC comics, and the concept for Suicide Squad was absolutely brilliant. So is this house ad.

Highlighting House Ads: Charlton's Action Heroes 1967

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you are fully aware that I am a pretty big fan of Charlton's Action Hero line. Readers were bombarded with new heroes in the 1960s, but this small collection must have stood out as quite unique. When I see them all together on one page, the thing that really strikes me are the cool costume designs. Perhaps none of these became as iconic as Superman or Spider-Man but each of them, from the minimalist Peter Cannon (with a tip of the hat to Lev Gleason's Daredevil) to the Eastern influenced Judo Master, really stand out from what we were seeing at the Big Two. I'd love to get a poster of this one and put it up on my wall. I only wish they'd found room to include Sarge Steel. While I am generally not a fan of Stan Lee's constant hype about the greatness of Marvel during the 60s, I do find the 'And They're Not Half Bad' line to be a bit too far down the other end of hyperbole spectrum. A truly odd choice of words.

Highlighting House Ads: Superman 1957

Ones of the things that I enjoy about house ads is that they a truly a snapshot of a moment in time. Here's one that would have been published in late 1957. What we can tell from the ad is that the George Reeves TV show has not yet been cancelled  and that the Lois Lane comic has yet to his spinner racks. Both of those events would occur in 1958. A little more digging shows that the comics pictured here have a December, 1957 cover date. There's nothing all that special about the add, but I find the word 'Still' to comes across as a bit desperate. I also find it interesting that Superboy is not included in the ad, either in his eponymous series or Adventure Comics. It's funny how a simple little ad can get the gears of the brain rolling.

Highlighting House Ad: Ozma of Oz

For me, some of the most fascinating house ads are for projects that never came to fruition. I am a big fan of the two Treasury sized Oz books, as Baum's work is perfectly suited to an over sized Four Color treatment. As I understand, Marvel was under the false impression that Ozma was in the public domain and have Roy Thomas and Alfredo Alcala work on the adaptation. The whole thing was scrapped when it was revealed that there was indeed a rightsholder. I a

m not sure if the pages were all completed and, if so, where they are now. I'm certain Thomas would have covered this at some point in the pages of Alter Ego.

Highlighting House Ads: 1979 JLA/JSA Crossover

I really think that DC ran some of its best ads during the 1977-82 stretch, back when they were pimping Dollar Comics, 8 Page Bonuses etc... This particular ad might win the award for most characters feature in a one-page ad, especially once you include the ones features on the two covers. For those of you in the know, the death at issue hear may not have been all that shocking as it involved a fairly minor character (although, I've got a soft spot in my heart for him), but it was still a death and that was a rarity in the Bronze Age. To be perfectly honest, there's way too much going on here, and the use of stats from other sources creates a certain artistic inconsistency. This ad does make me wonder, however, when the JLA/JSA crossover was mentioned for first time. Also, who wrote the Superman dialogue? He sounds a only a 'thou' or two short of Thor. 

Highlighting House Ads: Power Records DC Heroes

If you're at all like me, you were completely obsessed with those Books & Records set put out by Power Records in the 1970s. They were ad-free save for some super cool house ads. This one is taken from the back cover of the story entitles Robin Meets Man-Bat. To my eyes, the folks at Power Records had more faith in Metarmopho than did the powers that be at DC/National. Here, he's treated as an equal to DC's triumvirate. In the comic book world, he'd have to wait a few more years to even be considered as an Outsider. I find it very interesting how folks in other media thought Rex and Plas had quite a bit of potential. The same goes for Aquaman - he often seemed more successful on TV than he did in comic books. The design here is quite simple, but the beautifully symmetrical stretchers really catch your eye and help frame the image. Good stuff.

Highlighting House Ads: Danger Trail #2

You've heard the phrase 'A Pictures Says a Thousands Words', right? Well, a picture accompanied by a thousands words must be even better. Actually, I really like this ad because it serves as such great snapshot of the 1950s. Like the James Bond films of the 60s, this series served as a sort of travelogue for passportless readers, taking them from London to Argentina. This must certainly contain one of the small handful of US comic book stories to take place in Trinidad. I have no idea why this series didn't catch on as the stories were fun, the artwork was great and ,with these ads, they were really doing their best to sell kids on the exciting international adventures contained within.

Highlighting House Ads: ACG's TrueVision

Everyone knows that there was a big 3-D craze in the early 1950s. Many of you will also be aware of the fact that comic book publishers hopped aboard the bandwagon by inserting 3-D glasses in certain (higher priced) books. American Comics Group joined the trend in a rather unique way. Rather than go the traditional route, ACG developed TrueVision, a rather innovative way of giving more depth to the comic book page. This house ad gives the reader of a good sense of the TrueVision effect, with the black border and porous panel borders acting as a trompe l'oeil. I've only owned a few of these books over the years, but they are really fun and the effect is quite cool. It is, however, a lot of black ink and if the pages are deteriorating at all, you can wind up with black fingertips.

Highlighting House Ads: Brawny Stan for Pizzazz

Full disclosure here: I've never read an issue of Pizzazz. If fact, I have no recollection of ever seeing copy of it for sale back in the day. I had, however, seen plenty of ads relating to this magazine. I'm can't think of any book that was pimped as much as Pizzazz in the late 70s. What I really love about ads featuring Neel Nats is how buff and manly he's made to appear. As we all know, he was always a pretty slim guy, but I can picture him telling artists 'add more muscle'. This one is ridiculous, as Stan looks like a lumberjack with giant hands. Typically, I'm fine with made up words, but Pizzastic is beyond terrible. Also, who is standing on Iron Man's foot? No one looks close. Is 'sounds great' supposed to be funny because DD is blind? Who knows? It is all just late 70s Marvel nuttiness. Don't you miss it?

Highlighting House Ads: Ripley's Believe It Or Not (1979)

This ad has always given me the creeps. It may be the disembodied eyeball and it may be the disembodied teeth, but I truly think the creepiest thing about this image is the disembodied hair. So weird! I bought a lot of Gold Keys back in 1979, as I think they were widely available in 3-packs. I really dug Star Trek, Twilight Zone and UFO and Outer Space, but I also wound up with a lot of funny animal books by virtue of those packs. This ad is a slightly revised version of the cover to Ripley's Believe It Or Not #38 (February, 1973). I can understand why they decided to stick with this image, as it has a better shock value than many of the other covers from this series, which often featured Victorian-era ghosts whom were often more elegant than eerie. What surprises me the most is that this ad ran in every Gold Key title. I was recently flipping through an old Daffy Duck book with my 3-year old daughter and we stumbled upon this image. I'm sure that I've scarred her for life.

Highlighting House Ads: DC's 1975 Adventure Line

Was this DC's greatest house ad of the 70s? It's one of the first one I remember, and it still intrigues me to this day. I don't think I had ever seen so many characters crammed onto a single page. I am not sure how for how long this ad ran, but I it showed up in quite a few of the earliest books I remember owning. I know that it was supposed to be announcing the short-live Adventure Line, but I was just as intrigued by the other image. I had never seen Deadman before, and he really stood out from the other heroes. I was not familiar with the Mystery characters, but they certainly disturb my young mind. I became quite familiar with the Adventure Line characters at a early age because these books were regular habitués of my local comic shop's 10 cent rack, as well as the comic box in my grade school's rainy day room. This ad made me very curious about the Avenger and the Stalker, and those remain my two favourite titles from this fun line of comics.

Highlighting House Ads: Shogun Warriors

Marvel was already knee deep into licensed properties by the time they started the Shogun Warriors series, but for some reason this one really click with me. I had a few of the toys (Dragun, Great Mazinga and Godzilla) and I absolutely adored them. Whatever happened to them? Mom? Anyway, I was pretty stoked about the comic series, as I was enjoying the Godzilla one. This ad certainly added fuel to the fire. While Herb Trimpe may never be mentioned in the same breath as Jack Kirby or Joe Kubert, he was certainly a very capable and versatile artist. I'm guessing that's why he was the go-to guy for Marvel on so many of its licensed property titles. How could any 7 year old have passed on this one? It's a very nicely designed full-pager, but I must admit that it is a bit text heavy. A nice, simple "They're Here!" would have sufficed.

Highlighting House Ads: 1942 Lev Gleason Ad

Here's a fun house ad from 1942. The use of the 'film strip' technique for the Boy Comics is pretty novel here, and has a real Showcase #4 vibe. When that was used for the first time? The copy is quite terribly lettered as the spacing makes it difficult to read. The Daredevil Comics ad is interesting, as it is pre-Little Wise Guys by just a few months. I also really like how they proclaim that the editors have signed the Pirate Prince and Dickie Dean to 'lifetime contracts'. Those strips were terminated in 1945 and 1947, respectively.

Highlighting House Ads: Marvel 1979

Look at all of these wonderful books. I have a ton of comics from 1979, but somehow I don't own a single one of these books. How did that happen? I was young back then, and even something as inexpensive as $3.95 would have seemed outrageous to me. It's too bad that none of these ever ended up under my Christmas tree, though. I'd really love to have that Surfer book. I've admired it for ever, but have never come across a bargain copy. That boxed set of Origins and Son of Origins would be pretty sweet, too. I think Marvel has reprinted the How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way in recent years, as I believe I spotted it recently at an LCS. I don't know if 1979 has been remembered "for the greatest Art Classics ever" as the hyperbolic text claims, but it should features some pretty cool collections. The thing I love the most, is that Simon & Schuster picked up the postage. Where's my time machine?

Highlighting House Ads: DC in 1966

Even without the Go-Go Checks, 1966 would have been a pretty far out year at DC. This was the year they tried to get super hip with their house ads, and often tried to incorporate the letters 'D' and 'C' into the ads. This a perfect example of the kind of house ad you'd see in summer of 1966. Half page, and on-third page ads were everywhere throughout your average comic. This was a far cry from 10 years earlier when you'd be hard pressed to find a single house ad in a book. A little competition from Stand and the gang will do that to you. Of course, there is plenty of truth in advertising here -as those 80-Page Giants were plenty entertainin'.

Highlighting House Ads: DC Summer 1952

Here's a wonderful ad featuring the cover to two rare gems. Perhaps already seeing the Comics Code Authority on the horizon, DC really focused on the words 'Mystery' rather than 'Horror'. was obviously trying to sell it's horror and mystery titles This ad features the cover to the second issue under the Sensation Mystery banner. It's a beautifully designed Murphy Anderson piece with nice inks by Sy Barry. Also highlighted is the debut issue Phantom Stranger, with its very atmospheric cover by Carmine Infantino, inked again by Sy Barry. I'll never understand why these titles never took off. Perhaps it was because they did not focus on the gore of their competitors, or perhaps it was simply because DC/National knew that the horror trend was about to run its course. Either way, this house ad serves as a nice piece of history, hearkening back to a time when these two rarities could be had for 20 cents.

Highlighting House Ads: Crimebuster's Paper Drive

Here's a great WW2 era ad featuring Crimebuster, the star of Lev Gleason's Boy Comics. I assume that CB (as he's known among his friends) takes the name of his comic book quite literally as he only seems to be addressing 'fellers'. I love the breaking of the fourth wall here, as CB's earnestly lectures the reader on the importance of paper. I never knew that 'most of the wood choppers' were off finding the war, and that was the key reason behind the paper shortage. You will note that CB never tells you to turn in your old comic books; just magazines, newspapers and such. They move on to pure scare tactics in the captions, stating that without more paper 'we won't have any more comic magazines'. Oh, the horror!

Highlighting House Ads: Atlas-Seaboard Magazines

While Atlas-Seaboard may not have had all that many great comics, they certainly had some cool house ads. Here's a small one that ran as a half-page ad, trumpeting the company's line of black and white magazines. This simply designed, yet effective ad by Ernie Colon showcases three titles, one of which you may not recognize. I assume that at some point, it was decided that Tales of the Sorceress would work better simply as Devilina. I'm sure there's an interesting back story there, as is usually the case with Atlas-Seaboard. This one also ran in some of the color comics at the time. It's too bad they couldn't find room for either Gothic Romances or Movie Monsters in the ad.