Earlier this week I was at a Starbucks and caught a glimpse of a woman and her son, who was probably between 7 and 9 years old. He was keeping himself busy while his mother chatted with a friend. The young boy was reading a comic book; I watched as he turned to the end and began reading the ads on the last page. Suddenly his eyes grew large and he interrupted his mother: "Mom, I can buy a real ranch in Texas for just $5. Can I have $5?". I was so stunned that I didn't even hear his mother's response. It did not surprise me that he was able to buy a ranch for $5. What surprised me was that this was one of the same comic books ads I remembered back when I was a kid. I started to think about the other ads, which brings me to another scintillating edition of: The Saturday Seven: Favorite Comic Books Ads
#1 Sea Monkeys. How I loved Sea Monkeys. I'm actually considering ordering some now, not for me of corse, but for Dr Wang.
#2 Instant X Ray Vision- I was convinced these would work.
#3 Own a Real Texas Ranch- yeah but what can I do with one square inch of land?
#4 No Cost Miniature Monkey- What the___????
#5 Imitation Vomit- Thankfully its not the real stuff they are selling. This is one time I DO want the cheap imitation knock off from China!
#6 Monster S-I-Z-E Monsters
#7 Automatic Firing Tripod Machine Gun- what every kid needs.
Bonus Entry: Free One Million Cash- uh, OK....suuuurrrrreeee. How stupid am I, working for a living when I should have just responded to this ad.
Thanks for reading..do you have any find memories of ads in comic books? C'Mon, leave a message, or just say hi.
Rick Rockhill
well rock mine came not from a comic book but a true confessions. it was the mark eden bust developer. it was twenty bucks and came in a plain brown wrapper, like your postman would give a fig!
ReplyDeletethanks for the laugh...
smiles, bee
hehehe, you hit all the ones i coudl remember. my other comic book memories include my grandparents letting my buy them when they took me away for weekends. also, i loved using silly putty to lift the images and then stretch them into weird shapes. finally, i still remember a sleepless night spent in terror after reading a vampire themed comic book when i was about 10.
ReplyDeleteLOL. Rick this is too funny. what a trip down memory lane! I remember seeing a bake set in the back of Archie comics that I sent away for, and when it arrived it was teeny tiny miniature, like thimble sized! I was so devastated.
ReplyDeleteOh I yearned for Sea-monkeys. My mum was undaunted and refused to allow me the cash to purchase my dream.
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago, as a secret santa gift at work, I received a sea-monkeys world aquarium. I heard angels sing and felt the pure joy of childhood flooding back across all of those years.
I wish I'd listened to mum. The crashing disappointment... sob...
Oh, I definitely remember most of those. And my experience with sea monkeys was much like darth gateau's. All that build-up and then... nothing. Just some specs in the water and eventually a lot of algae.
ReplyDeleteYes, Mom was right. Sometimes.
I remember the sea monkey ad, and I always wondered what they would be like, but I never indulged. Perhaps for the best...
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting. Things are looking up!
Hey Rick :)
ReplyDeleteI never read comic books as a kid--and I also never had any sea monkeys...
Methinks I should get some sea monkeys for my chilis. I think they would like them.
--snow
Love, love, love the ads. But what comics did you read. My favorite was Betty and Veronica or Archie and Jughead. Oh, Richie Rich was pretty good, too.
ReplyDeletei am so thrilled you left a comment on my blog.. i have never been here and i am soooo missing out!!! thank you for stopping in and leaving this path back to you!!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Rick--
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting on my blog! That comic book thing really did shoot me back to childhood. I used to read Dennis the Menance and Ruff comics. My older brother had Mad Magazine and I remember that you could fold the back cover a certain way and it would make a picture of a cartoon nude chick or something like that!!
Stop over again! Saly :)
OMG! I totally wanted sea monkeys when I was a kid! I never did get them. I still don't know what they are or what you actually get. Darth?? Tell me what they are!
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting a comment at my blog! I just checked out this one--very interesting! I'll definitely be coming back to read more.
ReplyDeleteHi Rick, thanks for visiting my blog.
ReplyDeleteI hate to admit it but I remember most of these ads from the comics I liked to read as a kid. I even sent for the sea monkeys hoping they were tiny little monkeys to play with. I was a little disappointed when they turned out to be dust that used to be shrimp.
I have comic book memories. My dad was an insurance collector in DC and had a debit. That's what his route was called. He used to bring home comic books, and I was his only child who read them. It was our 'thing'. My favorites were Spiderman, Superman, The Fantastic Four, etc... I wish I still had them. I don't remember the ads!
ReplyDeleteOMG! they have the same ads here in Indian versions of comic books! Exactly the same!!!
ReplyDeleteunbelievable!
Hello there, thanks for coming to say hi to me. Adverts from the past oh but hey there are still using some of them! Now I must be getting old because I can't remember any others!
ReplyDeletethink i going to have to link you!
I can remember when I used to wait for my allowance to go to 7-11 to get my Archie Comic book for tehe week. I always wanted Sea Monkeys so when it came to getting my step son a Christmas Gift I thought of them and sent away for some (I didn't realize you could get them at Hobby Lobby)
ReplyDeleteBe careful when changing the water!
my brother and I used to trade comic books and read them all summer long, non-stop. what great memories. We used to scrape up money, loose change whatever to try to send away for the stuff in these ads! My dad would always just shake his head.
ReplyDeleteomg yessssss sea monkeys...I had forgotten all about them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the stroll down memory lane. Used to love to read about Archie and the gang.
My favorite was Yubiwaza, the one-finger Japanese martial art that allowed you paralyze an enemy with one jab.
ReplyDeleteOMG!! I totally remember them now..thanks for the great walk of memories..
ReplyDeleteespecially with the Xray glasses..I too thought they worked...stuck in between the pages of my Betty and Veronica, Archie and Reggie, and Jughead stories.. :)
Always,
Crusty~