Score a Hit with Hostess!

August 1979

Shogun Warriors #7

Well, this ad isn’t nearly as entertaining as Captain America & Nick Fury or The Penguin extolling the excellence of Hostess products, but that doesn’t make the snacks any less tasty!

Since I know pretty much nothing about sports, I wasn’t familiar with these, but apparently they were a pretty big deal back in the day! Some avid collectors would check back at the store whenever Hostess snacks were restocked, and go through all the boxes to find the ones they needed – good thing the cards were printed on the outside of the boxes, so you could see what you were getting!

Buy Me Some Peanuts and Cracker Jack(s)!

December 1983

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi #3

You know, all my life, right up until I started preparing this post, I’ve thought of this snack as “Cracker Jacks,” not the singular “Cracker Jack” – I’ve been wrong for all these years and never had any idea!

Most of us remember Cracker Jack for its “Toy Surprise” – when I was a kid, it was usually some kind of small plastic trinket. I haven’t had Cracker Jack in many, many years, but the last few times I did, I remember being particularly disappointed in the quality of the “toys” – usually just stickers. Well, as it turns out, that’s not so bad! Apparently in 2017 they replaced the toy with a QR code that allows you to download a game – lame! I feel like that takes away all of the specialness that Cracker Jack used to have.

Fly Away with Hostess Fruit Pies!

January 1978

The Secret Society of Super-Villains #12

You guys are in for a real treat this week, because I’ve got Hostess Fruit Pies for you! Back when I did my very first post, I had no idea that Hostess had actually done a huge series of comic-style ads featuring popular comic characters.

So, maybe I’m overthinking this, but why would the Penguin use cuckoo clocks to steal money rather than just regular birds? Seems to me that he’s just adding extra complication with the clocks.

 

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Actually, It’s a JPEG

May 1986

Masters Of The Universe #1

Unscramble the letters? But the first one is already a perfectly cromulent word: GIF! Could this possibly be the first-ever use in print of that term??

Just for fun, I looked up anagrams for the rest of them. It turns out that “apple” can be rearranged to “pepla,” which is the plural of “peplum,” which is essentially a type of toga, so… toga-flavored Newtons! I couldn’t find any good anagrams for “cherry,” but for blueberry, take your pick: beery blur, blurry bee, burly beer, lube berry, or rubber lye (or several other options, but the ones listed seemed like the best)! Hmm… given those options, I think I’d have to go with lube berry…

I’ve always thought that choosing fig as their go-to flavor was kind of an odd move. I did a little research, and I found a little info on its origin (apparently eating fruit and biscuits were considered good for health, and this was a convenient solution that included both), I couldn’t find any info on why figs specifically were chosen over other flavors that may have been more popular/appealing. Maybe figs were just “in” back in the 1890s?

I was actually surprised at just how little information seems to be out there on such an iconic snack – even from the brand’s own website! We all know that fig is the original flavor, and according to an ad I posted earlier, apple had already been introduced by 1985. This ad introduces cherry and blueberry, so we know those were new for 1985/’86. Apparently the current fruit lineup is: fig, blueberry, strawberry, and mixed berry. So I’m not sure at what point apple and cherry disappeared, or when strawberry and mixed berry were introduced (and I’m sure no one besides me really cares anyway!).

 

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Oreos! In!! Space!!!

May 1986

Masters Of The Universe #1

This is one of my favorite types of ads from my childhood – one that includes some kind of game or activity rather than just telling you to buy something. Though I’m not really sure why this maze is set in outer space…

Fun (or not) behind-the-scenes CBA fact: I usually try to get my ads as straight as possible when scanning them, and then make minor corrections (if needed) with software before posting. Well, I had one hell of a time with this one, because LOOK AT THE BORDERS ON THIS THING! No matter how I did it, it still looked crooked… and then I realized that the borders of the ad itself were crooked (sigh).

 

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Satisfy Your Meat Tooth!

January 1978

Secret Society of Super-Villains #12

Now I get it! So, a while back I posted this ad for Slim Jims and was puzzled about the werewolf reference. After finding this ad, it all became clear: It must’ve been part of this ad campaign, with the advertisers assuming that you’d already seen this one, and would therefore associate Slim Jims with werewolves.

Have a happy Halloween, everyone! And if a werewolf comes after you, just toss him a Slim Jim!

I Could Eat Wolverine for Breakfast!… Or a Snack…

February 1995

X-Force #43

After posting an entire series of ads from an X-Men comic, here’s an ad that actually features the X-Men! The ’90s were a good time for the X-Men – it seemed like there was every conceivable type of X-Men-branded product everywhere you turned! Well, here’s one result of that: X-Men gummy snacks!

Personally, I don’t think I’d want to put anything “X-ploding with power” in my mouth, but to each his own, I guess.

 

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Tons of Newtons!

March 1985

G.I. Joe #33

Ah, the fun of a game included within an ad! Here we get to help a pirate through a maze to find a treasure chest full of tasty Fig and Apple Newtons! I’m sure that fun ads like this still exist, just in places I don’t see them – but I just always associate stuff like this with the ’70s and ’80s.

I’ve never really thought of Newtons as cookies, but that’s how they describe them here – huh, new perspective, I guess.

Snap Into A Smoked Beef Snack!

February 1976

Claw The Unconquered #5

I’m not really sure what the deal is with talking about werewolves here – the publishing date is February, and if things were the same in 1976 as they are in 2017, that means this was probably actually published in December, so it’s not like this was around Halloween.

Based on the way they’re marketing this (comparing it to unsatisfying sugary and crunchy snacks), I was wondering if maybe Slim Jims were a new product, but it turns out I was way off – apparently they’ve been around since 1929!

And I had no idea there were so many varieties – I’ve only ever seen original and mild. Where are the pizza Slim Jims now? I want to try those!

Captain America & Nick Fury Hock Hostess Fruit Pies

April 1980

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century #7

This is by far my favorite ad that I’ve ever run across, so I thought it would be fitting for my first post. Captain America and Nick Fury use delicious Hostess Fruit Pies to save the Earth from invading aliens! Surprisingly, this didn’t come from a Marvel title (though I’m sure it was published in Marvel comics, it’s just not where I happened to find it), but from Whitman comics.

You know, the first Avengers movie featured an alien invasion (sorry about spoilers if you haven’t seen it yet, but I think it’s been long enough) – it seems like they could’ve solved their problem with much less fuss if only they’d had an ample supply of Hostess Fruit Pies!

 

Do you enjoy reading Comic Book Ads? If so, please consider supporting me by clicking here for my Amazon link – I’ll get a percentage from everything you order! Thanks!