Friday, December 29, 2017

Groovy Posts of Christmas Past: Presents and the Comicbook Ads That Made Me Want 'Em

Happy Holidays, Groove-ophiles! For the rest of the week we're gonna be showcasing Posts of Christmas Past--in other words, re-runs or reprints of some of Ol' Groove's fave posts from Decembers other than this one. ;D Hope you enjoy 'em!

This one's from December 18, 2010!

Ho, ho, ho-wzit goin, Groove-ophiles! Ol' Groove spends a lot of time yakkin' about the covers, and splashes, and stories, and art in our beloved Groovy Age comics, but I don't seem to spend enough time on the ads. The ads were as much a part of the fun (sometimes more) of the comix experience as any of the rest of the aforementioned items. Heck, I remember buying a few comics just for certain ads! Crazy, huh? Crazy like a fox, baby, 'cause when you handled those ads the right way, you could lay some heavy hints on your parents for Christmas goodies! For example...









How 'bout you, Groove-ophile? Did you find any of these awesome items under your tree?

See ya Monday in 2018 for our first new post of the New Year!

17 comments:

  1. That ad for the Daisy BB gun struck a nerve with me as a kid, I remember keeping my room spotless (a big accomplishment for a young boy lol

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  2. Major Matt Mason was the toy of my boyhood. I still remember getting that case with Mason inside with the nifty Moonsuit and the Rocket Sled. I played with him until the wires in his little legs and arms broke. Just this Christmas I got word from one of my daughters that the other had remarked on Spirograph and I picked up one for her. The other daughter got a Lite*Brite and we've had tons of fun with these retro games. Who needs video games -- bah humbug!

    Rip Off

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    1. I started with Billy Blastoff and worked my way up to MMM. Man, I loved those toys. I had the big MMM spaceship/glider. Just got my grandkids a Lite*Brite. Next Christmas they're getting a Spirograph. We had cool toys in the 60s and 70s!

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  3. LOVE those vintage ads, looking back now it seems bizarre and extremely irresponsible to advertise a bb-gun in a comic book. The 70's truly were a strange time.

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  4. You'll shoot your eye out!

    M.P.

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    1. I had two Daisy bb-guns, actually, both a pistol and a rifle. Never shot my or anyone's eye out. In fact, most kids I knew had a bb-gun, but we never heard of any problems. Maybe we were taught to be careful back then...? ;D

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    2. Stupid me decided to shoot at a bug crawling along our driveway. Let me tell you a bb ricocheting and hitting me on the forehead was no fun. Sometimes you wonder how we survive our childhoods.

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  5. Hey Groovalo- I dig the nostalgia! No Johnny Lightning? Lol!

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    1. Nope, I was a strictly HotWheels kid. Well, and SSP racers. Rarely ever even got any Matchbox cars, either.

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  6. In kindergarten or first grade, I saw another child who had a stretch armstrong injury. I didn't see it happen, but I did see blood running down their arm.

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    Replies
    1. Wow! Again, that's the first I've ever heard of a Stretch Armstrong injury. We had one; I'm pretty sure the only way anyone could have gotten hurt with it is if we smacked each other in the face with it--which come to think of it...

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    2. as I recall, as many as four small kids were pulling it in all directions when the arm tore off, snapped back and smacked the kid in the arm.

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  7. Wow. I remember that Ready Rangers ad and thinking how odd it was that they kept saying 'Ready Rangers' all the time.

    This brought back a memory of an advertising insert in a comic from sometime early in the Groovy age. Like another newsprint comic of all comic style ads in the center of the comic. I remember the Chip Away ad being in it. I have no idea what comic that was in, likely a DC or a Gold Key around the time of Superman 269. Odd that I just remembered that now.

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  8. The catalog I saw was probably either this http://www.weirduniverse.net/blog/comments/kenner_1973_toy_catalog_1 or this http://www.ep.tc/kenner-catalog/

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  9. That Smash Up Derby with the Bug and the pickup was one of the greatest Christmas presents I ever got. I wish I could remember whether or not I first saw it in a comic ad.

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  10. I often wonder how many boxes of Chip Away were sold. When I saw the ads for it as a kid I thought it was a really poor concept for a toy (Much like how Lite-Brite could only be used once for each picture). If I could unburden myself of my deprived childhood. My parents didn't have much money when I was growing up. So there were no Rockem Sockem Robots, Zeroids or Aurora models with the cool comic inserts. Sob. I'm surprised I've grown up as well-adjusted as I have.

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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


Note to "The Man": All images are presumed copyright by the respective copyright holders and are presented here as fair use under applicable laws, man! If you hold the copyright to a work I've posted and would like me to remove it, just drop me an e-mail and it's gone, baby, gone.


All other commentary and insanity copyright GroovyAge, Ltd.

As for the rest of ya, the purpose of this blog is to (re)introduce you to the great comics of the 1970s. If you like what you see, do what I do--go to a comics shop, bookstore, e-Bay or whatever and BUY YOUR OWN!