The End(?)

So… I’ve been putting this off for a long time, but I need closure and I think you guys deserve it too. This is the end of Comic Book Ads… at least for now. Maybe someday I’ll come back to it, but I wouldn’t want to commit to anything.

Why? Well, a number of reasons, the biggest being that while I still love the ads themselves, posting them has started to feel like more of a chore than a hobby. I don’t really know what changed, and I’m sorry that it did, but that’s just the way it is.

Secondly, my ancient scanner stopped working, and since this was pretty much the only thing I ever used it for, I don’t really feel the need to replace it.

And thirdly, I’m at 87% capacity on my WordPress site, and I’m not willing to pay in order to keep posting more stuff. (And I’m not willing to delete anything, since I always intended for this to basically be a historical archive.)

I’m proud to say that I’ve presented every single ad published in 14 different comics books:

• X-Men #1: September 1963
• Jungle Action #2: December 1972
• Claw The Unconquered #5: February 1976
• The Secret Society of Super-Villains #12: January 1978
• Shogun Warriors #7: August 1979
• Buck Rogers #7: April 1980
• Star Wars: Return of the Jedi #3: December 1983
• G.I. Joe #33: March 1985
• Masters of the Universe #1: May 1986
• Visionaries #3: March 1988
• Wonder Woman #37: December 1989
• X-Force #43: February 1995
• Deadpool #1: January 1997
• Thunderbolts #10: January 1998

I like to think that these represent a good cross-section of pop culture across these decades.

These past four years have been a fun ride, and thank you to everyone who’s shared it with me! I encourage you all to seek out weird, wonderful comic book ads on your own by supporting your local comic book shop!

Take care!

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.

How Dare Life Get in the Way of Comics?!

Sorry, loyal readers, but life is kind of crazy at the moment, and I don’t really have time to devote to Comic Book Ads for the time being. I’m hoping that things will get back to normal by mid-February (but hopefully even sooner)!

If you need your vintage comic ads fix, I recommend Comic Book+ – they’ve got tons of vintage public domain comics that you can read for free, and they include the ads! Fun stuff!

Help Support Comic Book Ads with Amazon!

Big news, everyone! Now you can help support Comic Book Ads by clicking on my link whenever you shop at Amazon! It won’t cost you anything extra, but it’ll give me a small percentage of everything you spend (which I would really, really appreciate!).

As of right now, it only works for Amazon’s U.S. site, but depending on how things go, I might set it up for Canada and the U.K. as well.

Also, I’m currently working my way through all my old posts to add the link. I’ve gotten the most recent ones, but it might be a while before I get to some of the older ones.

Anyway, I hope you’ll think of Comic Book Ads the next time you shop at Amazon!

Thank you!

Fail!

Sorry, guys, but WordPress is giving me errors when I’ve been trying to upload my pictures, and I haven’t really had time to look into it yet, so there will be no ad today. 😥

In the meantime, here’s a picture of a cat reading a comic book!

Enjoy!

Pulling Ads with Four Guys!

I’ve recently discovered some kindred spirits in Four Guys And A Comic – apparently these guys have a podcast, and occasionally have a “Pulling Ads” feature where they share their favorite ads from classic comics!

My personal favorites here are the ones for government surplus and the space playset!

I guess there are two more episodes out now, but I haven’t had a chance to watch them yet, so no spoilers, please! 😉

Happy Anniversary to Me!

Yes, it has been one year since I first started this blog! Thank you to all three of you who actually read it! In the past year I’ve published 64 posts, and a whole lot of cheesy old comic book ads. What have been some of your favorites?

Anyway, I hope that this year will bring even more posts, more visitors, and most of all, more awesome, nostalgic ads!

Scaling Back

Sorry, guys, but I seem to be having a hard time managing my time properly these days, so rather than promising two ad posts per week, for the time being I’m just planning to post new ads on Fridays. If I have any other sort of announcements or related material, I’ll post that on Tuesdays, or if I have a little extra time, I may slip in an actual post on a Tuesday, but for right now, Fridays are all I’m promising.

Battle of the Sea-Monkeys

I’m attempting to get back into the swing of things and start posting on my regular schedule again. So here’s a semi-post to get things started – not actually a comic book ad, but a fascinating article about the comic book ad mainstay, Sea-Monkeys, and what has happened to the creator’s widow in recent years. Thanks, Lura, for sharing this with me!

The Battle Over the Sea-Monkey Fortune

Failed!

It’s Tuesday, and I have no new post for you today, and to all two of my loyal fans, I offer my deepest apologies. I’ve been incredibly busy lately (stupid real life interfering with my blog!), and next week is going to be even busier, so it looks like I probably need to take a couple weeks off.

But I promise that I will return, and as I’m getting close to the end of some of my original batch of comics, I’m going to be scanning some new ones in soon, so that’s pretty exciting!

Check back in a couple weeks, and I promise to have more stuff for you then.