May 4, 2009

1970s and 80s comics ads: The severed finger (and more)

I'll never forget when I bought Iron Man #100. It was our local 7-11; I had ridden my Schwinn 10-speed up there with a couple quarters in hand, and upon exiting with this prized issue, I ran into a couple acquaintances of a good buddy of mine. I knew these guys were funny dudes, but I didn't realize how funny until they asked to see my comic ... and totally ripped on the ad on the back cover: The classic Spalding "Street Ball" featuring Rick Barry and Dr. J!! The funniest part was this panel:

How is that a 30-footer?? Look where he's jumping from! He's almost right next to the key, for cripe's sake!! A 30-footer is almost a half-court shot straight away from the basket! Check out professional court dimensions here. But hey, given the previous panel where 'ol Doc slams the balls home, they hadda make poor Rick look good somehow! (Full disclosure: I live near Philly and am a lifelong Dr. J. fan. Met him and got his autograph back in 1980.)

Then I noticed this ad after pulling that pic of Count Nefaria (from Avengers #165) for my Adamantium post:

OK, why would someone want a gag severed finger ... as a keychain?? And what "quality parts" does this "Finger Factory" use in their ... ingredients?? And last but not least, who would even fall for this??

Lastly, while combing through Deadman #1 (1985) there was this (very tiny) ad:

Twenty-four years ago and a tiny, barely noticeable ad wants $5.00 for ... magic spells. Call me crazy but it's this sort of ad that kinda makes wonder if $5.00 might actually be worth it ... !!

2 comments:

Pat said...

Heheh, I can't think of Dr. J and ads without mentioning the "Call me Dr Chapstick" ad from the 1970s.

Nice Jack Davis art on that.

Degu said...

Cool, is that Steve Garvey shooting hoops in the first ad?