Batman 426 and 427 (A Death in the Family)

What's the ad for?

Batman issues 426 and 427. The A Death in the Family story arc.
Year
1988

Spotted in

The scoop
This is the first house ad featured on Four Color Promises.  A House ad is an advertisement promoting another book by the same publisher. This particular ad was for the controversial story arc A Death in the Family . The story arc features the death of Batman's sidekick Jason Todd (aka Robin) at the hands of the Joker. The controversy arises from the fact that Robins life was held in the hands of fans. Using two 900 number fans could pay fifty cents to cast there vote as to whether Robin lives or dies. Fans voted for Robin to die...

Jason Todd did return fifteen years later as the Red Hood. Still a very powerful story.  

Super Powers Collection

What's the ad for?

Super Powers Collection of action figures
Year
1985

Spotted in

The scoop
The cool thing about the Super Powers Collection was the secret moves each figure had. For instance if you squeeze Superman's legs together the figure performed a super punch. If you squeezed Hawkman's legs together his wings would flap! Squeeze Wonder Woman's legs together and her arms raise up to block invisible bullets. If you squeeze my legs together you just hurt my nuts...


A note of trivia, Jack Kirby received one of the few royalties in his long career from the redesigning some of his characters.

Spider-Man the video game for the Atari 2600

What's the ad for?

Spider-Man the video game for the Atari 2600
Year
1982

Spotted in

The scoop

The Spider-Man video game! Once again an early and crappy attempt at making a comic book video game. This one looks like it has as much potential as E.T

Go Voltron Force

What's the ad for?

Voltron toys
Year
1986

Spotted in

The scoop
Here is something I didn't know. The Voltron cartoon was actually a re-cut mix of two Japanese cartoons Beast King GoLion and Armored Fleet Dairugger XV. This was done by Peter Keefe. See his picture below. Now that's a mustache!

The source material was heavily edited to get rid of the violent scenes and with no way to translate the originals from Japanese, the plot was primarily surmised  and all new dialog was created. Voltron is credited with introducing Japanese style animation to North American audiences.

The toys were pretty cool together but kind of lacked something when solo. I only had the red cat which made up the right arm. Poor me...

MASK toys - "Discover the Illusion"

What's the ad for?

MASK action figures, vehicles and play-set.
Year
1986

Spotted in

The scoop

M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) was a cartoon that ran from from 1985-1986 (75 episodes). This ad is for the toys which interestingly enough actually outlasted the cartoon. I remember when I first saw the commercial for these toys (see it here), I really wanted them. They were kind of like Transformers but with people inside. Then a friend of mine got Rhino (Semi truck) for Christmas...I was really disappointed with it. For some reason I thought the figures were the same size as G.I. Joes. Instead they were mighty small. I never did end up getting any MASK toys but I do remember liking the cartoon.

Columbia House

What's the ad for?

Columbia House
Year
1973

Spotted in

The scoop

For the first time ever, I give you a two page ad. Who out there used to belong to the Columbia House Record/cassette tape/CD club? Here's a better question. Who out there actually fulfilled the agreement to buy 8 more records/CD or in this case 8-track cartridge/tape cassette/7" reel-to-reel?  7" reel-to-reel?!? According to Wikipedia, these were all the rage in the mid-sixties but with the introduction of the 8-track and the tape cassette they had all but disappeared by the time this ad was run. With the internet and iTunes Columbia House has disappeared. I think I recall joining twice...not sure if I ever fulfilled my part of the agreement.

Popeye the video game

What's the ad for?

Popeye the video game
Year
1984

Spotted in
Uncanny X-men #182, Marvel Comics
The scoop

Another Parker Brother advert to go along with Q*Bert and Frogger. Better known as a cartoon character, the beloved one-eyed, middle aged, funny talking, large forearmed sailor started out as a comic strip...so it's a video game based on a comic! When I was a preschooler there was two things I loved. Superman and Popeye. I was four and a half when I went to see Robert Altman's Popeye in the theatre. I loved it! The next Halloween I went dressed up as Popeye. My mom put skin coloured nylons on my arms and stuffed them with cotton to look like I had large forearms. She even drew anchor tattoos on them. My dad made a corncob pipe for me...out of a real corncob! I have a picture of me in costume somewhere. Man, did I ever have cool parents.

Anyway, this is about a video game. I never played it. You can try it here.... pretty lame.

Polaris Nuclear Sub

What's the ad for?

Polaris Nuclear Sub
Year
1971

Spotted in
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen # 140, DC comics
The scoop

Seeing this ad make you instantly thing of a rip-off. "Sturdily constructed of 200 lb. test material". Yeah it's called cardboard. Then I found this photo over at www.boingboing.net and it changed my tune. Sure the Polaris Nuclear Sub  was made of cardboard and maybe the torpedoes didn't actually fire. Did the controls really work and what did they control? What about the periscope? Sometimes none of this kind of stuff matters. I mean look at that kid...he looks happy to me.

Tengen games for the NES

What's the ad for?

Tengen video games for the NES
Year
1989

Spotted in

The scoop

Tengen was a company formed by Atari to handle the software side of the company. At the time Nintendo had a crazy licensing policy where developers had to sign a contract restricting the software developer to only releasing five games per year and that they would only develop games exclusively for the NES for a two year period. A chip called the 10NES was also mandatory in each licensed cartridge. If the chip wasn't present the game wouldn't play. 

Tengen tried to negotiate a better licensing deal but Nintendo wouldn't budge. Therefore Tengen developed the Rabbit chip which allowed their unlicensed games to be played on the NES. It was also discovered that Tengen obtained the patents used to make the Rabbit chip illegally.I won't get into the lawsuits that followed but the distinctive Tengen black cartridges were not just for looks. 

Anyone who was a kid in the late eighties that had a chance to play Tengen`s Tetris before it was pulled from shelves knows that it was the superior game over the Nintendo version. An interesting part of video game history.

Sea-Monkeys!

This one has been a long time coming. Sea-Monkeys. Everyone knows about Sea-Monkeys. Probably one of the most cleaver marketing schemes ever. Sea-Monkeys are a brand name for Brine Shrimp. This is what a Brine Shrimp looks like.

 

 

They do not look like this...

Or this...

You see the cool thing about brine shrimp is that they enter a state of cyrptobiosis, a natural state of suspended animation, which makes them able to be dried and shipped through the mail. Yes, old Harold von Braunhut knew what he was doing when he started selling them as Sea-Monkeys back in 1957. They are in fact still being sold. Heck there was even a live action show based on the Sea-Monkeys in the ad. Howie Mandel was in for god sake. Bloody brilliant that's what it all was and still is...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle NES game

What's the ad for?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle for the NES
Year
1989

Spotted in
Conan the Barbarian #221, Marvel Comics
The scoop

This game was hella hard. I remember my friends and I playing this game and never really making it very far. Now that I think about it the game kind of sucked.You can judge for yourself here.  I love the way you can play java versions of these old NES games. Oh Internet how I love you. The reason I thought about posting this ad was that I read yesterday over at Comic Alliance that IDW will be publishing a new TMNT series as well as reprinting the old Archie title. From the article...

"More than 25 years since the iconic heroes debuted in black-and-white comics by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, the new series will be what IDW calls a "re-imagining" of those original indie comics, as opposed to the more broad-based humor stories that followed the franchise's pop culture explosion in the late 1980s."

Bubble Yum Dream Fun Room

What's the ad for?

Bubble Yum
Year
1979

Spotted in
Conan the Barbarian # 106, Marvel Comics
The scoop

Bubble Yum held this contest entitled "Number Yum" in 1979. You could win a jukebox and a pinball machine. Pretty cool. To enter you had to count the number of times "Number Yum" was said in either the TV or radio commercial. I actually wrote Hershey's to see if I could find out who won the contest. Unfortunately no one was able to help me. I couldn't find the "Number Yum" commercial but this one is interesting.

Q*Bert

What's the ad for?

Q*Bert
Year
1984

Spotted in

The scoop

 Part of a series of ads for Parker Brothers games. I've already featured Frogger a little while back. Here's Q*Bert. Go give a try here. As Jian Ghomeshi likes to say, "Happy Friday"...