Marvel's Super Slurpee Fun Game

What's the ad for?

7-11's Super Slurpee Fun Game
Year
1981

Spotted in...

The Scoop

To celebrate the near start of summer I thought I would share this Marvel Slurpee ad/contest. Your chance to win thousands of dollars in cash. I like the instructions on how to play...

"With the edge of a coin, gently scratch-ff the gold squares on the front of your game card."

Like that needs explaining? Then again, this was 1981. Perhaps the concept of scratch-and-win was new. When I was a kid in junior high (Calgary, 1989/90), Hostess potato chips ran a contest featuring a scratch-and-win Nintendo Power Pad. Every card was a winner; you just had to scratch the correct squares to get matching symbols. Someone in my school came up with the idea of carefully placing pieces of Scotch Tape onto the squares and then slowly pealing the tape off. A thin layer of the silver scratching material would come off with the tape. Now if you held the Power Pad game card up to the light, you could make out all the symbols hidden underneath. Most cards won you a free bag of chips or a bottle of pop but soon kids started showing up with wearing Nintendo swag (T-shirts and hats). It was a good run for us and I'm sure we all gained a few potato chip pounds but when your young it didn't matter, we were outside riding our bicycles and playing street hockey all the time anyway.

Then in the fall a new contest started. In each bag of potato chips was another scratch-and-win game card, this time featuring NHL teams. Same concept, this time match the team logos and win something. Every card was a potential winner. We tried the same trick again but it didn't work. The game cards were now made of thicker paper. There was no way you were going to see through these ones. I wonder how much money Hostess lost because someone decided to "save" costs on thinner paper.

I find it hard to believe that it was only the population my junior high whom were doing this. Did anyone else remember doing this? There were even rumors of a local kid ratting us out by telling Hostess what we were doing, which in turn lead to the thicker paper being used for the next contest. Supposedly he received boxes of free chips and stuff. In retrospect I don't think that was the case but you never know.

Secret Wars Action Figures

What's the ad for?

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars Action Figures.
Year
1985

Spotted in the inside back cover of...

 

The Scoop

We've featured ads about Marvels Secret Wars in the past and here is another. This time it's for the Secret Wars toy line from Mattel. One thing I don't understand is why Dr. Doom wants to make the earth into a living TOOOOOMB. What good what that be? Who wants to rule a living tomb. What is a living tooooomb anyway? Only thing I've heard of being refereed to as a living tomb is a sixteen years heart after a three-month break-up. Maybe that's Dr. Doom's problem. He just needs a rebound to soften his heart and get over his lost love...wait what?

Questprobe - Become your favorite Marvel Character

 

What's the ad for?
Questprobe Marvel computer adventures
Year
1986

Spotted in

The Scoop

 Questprobe were a series of video games designed and released for the Commodore 64 and Atari systems. Three games were released along with comic book tie ins. The first game was released in 1984 and was based on the Hulk.

The next game, also released in 1984, featured The Amazing Spider-Man.

Finally in 1985 the third game, featuring the Human Torch and the Thing of the Fantastic Four was released. 

 Each release of a game was accompanied by the publication of a comic book.

There was plans for twelve games but during the production of the fourth game, one based on the X-Men, the company went bankrupt. It was all over in two quick years. The X-Men comic was already completed and found it's way into Marvel Fanfare #33. Interesting to note that this ad was published after the demise of Adventure International, the company ran by Scott Adams who developed the Questprobe games.

Marvel Galaxy of Super-Stars

Year
1982

Spotted in

 

Hulk it for Halloween!

What's the ad for?
Marvel Character Halloween costumes
Year
1975

Spotted in

A little late I know but I just came across it last night. Flame Retardant for Safety!

Marvel Mutant Massacre Map

Marvel's Mutant Massacre. Found in X-Factor #9. 1986

Star Comics

From 1985 comes a Marvel house ad for the Star Comics line. The line started the year before in 1984 and primarily featured adaptations of children's cartoons and toys. The only one I remember reading was Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham. I was immediately fell in love with the play on words...Porker! Spider-Ham! How can you not love that...

The origin of the Marvel Try-Out book

Back in March I featured an ad for the Marvel Try-Out Book. Well now Jim Shooter, the man behind the project has written about the nexus of the book. Read about it here.

Marvel Comics Ad Survey

What's the ad for?

Marvel Comics Ad Survey

Year
1985

Spotted in

The scoop

 In 1985 Marvel asked their readers what kind of ads they wanted to see in their comics. Did anyone send this survey in? What ads did you want to see? Which are your favorite now?

New Universe Supersleuth Sweepstakes

What's the ad for?

New Universe Supersleuth Sweepstakes
Year
1987

Spotted in

The scoop

I have never read any of the New Universe so I know absolutely none of the answers to the questions featured in this contest. Jim Shooter has mentioned that he plans to cover the history of the New Universe in his blog. I believe that the Valiant universe that he created a few years later was what he had hoped the New Universe would end up becoming. I was a big fan of the early Valiant comics. I think I will have to pick up some of the old New Universe titles.

Marvel trading cards

Don't tell anyone but I once paid a grade school classmate $10 to steal me a box of these cards...Can you identify who all the hands belong to?

Marvel Artists Self-Portraits

Click to enlarge

What's the ad for?

Marvel Artists Self-Portraits
Year
1971

Spotted in

The scoop

Marvelmania was Marvel's in-house fan club. They released a lot of different merchandise but according to Mark Evanier plenty of kids sent money but never received anything. I wonder if these Artist Self-Portraits were ever actually made and sent out. Has anyone ever seen these around on eBay or something?

As a bonus I've kept the Mighty Marvel Checklist which appeared directly above the ad.

House Ad- The 1990's -Ravage 2099

So I finally found a Marvel house ad and it's a bad one. Ravage 2099. This book stank. Ravage was created by Stan Lee and was the first new creation in the Marvel 2099 family of books. Read this article for more information. Bad book....really bad book. Were they trying to go for a Jonah Hex look? Yikes.

House ad - The 80's- King Conan

House Ad - 1980's - Marvel Treasury Edition #28

I remember my mom picking this up for me when I was a kid. I was almost a 100% DC fan and this was the first exposure to Marvel outside of the old Spider-Man cartoon. Jump over to Jim Shooters blog where he just finished going over the genesis of the project and all the drama that went with it. 

House Ad - 1980's - Power Man and Iron Fist

House Ad - The 1980's - Coyote

From 1983 comes an ad for Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers Coyote.This book was on Marvel's creator owned line Epic. Read about the origins of Epic over at Jim Shooters blog. This is a book I'd like to read someday.

House ads - The 70's - Rom

In 1979 the world was given...ROM! Both a toy and a comic. What a novel concept. Check out Jim Shooter's fascinating blog to read more about the creation and inception of ROM.

House ads - The 1960's - Avengers King Size Special # 2

Avengers King Size Special # 2 from 1968.

Marvel Try-out book

What's the ad for?
The official Marvel Try-out book
Year
1987
Spotted in
Conan the barbarian giant sized annual 12, Marvel
The scoop

When I first came across this ad I thought it was for the contest that Marvel held using this "try-out" book. The original book was published in 1983 with the winners being announced in 1986. The concept was developed by then editor Jim Shooter. The book described the various jobs of writer, penciller, inker, letter and colorist and provided pages to do the work on. You would submit your work with the prize being a regular professional assignment being to complete the Spider-Man story used in the try-out which was to be published the following year. The issue was never published which I guess makes it a no-prize.

 

The winner of the penciller category was Mark Bagley who went on to have a successful career in comic books including a famous run on Ultimate Spider-Man with Brian Michael Bendis.

 

This ad, however, is from 1987, a full four years after it was first published and the contest was over. I guess they were just trying to unload some unsold copies.