How DC used to promote their comics

[The Darknight Detective]

Is this what became Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ?

No, Great Adventure is in Jackson, NJ. My family and I went there numerous times back in the '70s and '80s. Another park we went to was Jungle Habitat in West Milford, NJ, which featured the Warner Brothers cartoon characters.

[The Darknight Detective]

It's not complete without the dapper solar-umbrella extended.
Now he's ready....

"One small step for (a) man, one giant leap for humiliation!"

[Jim Kelly]

Pity the poor toy manufacturers who burn the midnight oil thinking of Superman toys they can sell.

1940


1956


1979

[Güicho]

Pity the poor toy manufacturers who burn the midnight oil thinking of Superman toys they can sell.

Yeah most kids got by just tying a large towel or sheet to their back.

1956

Once the utility belt theme caught on, everybody got one, no matter how little sense it made

[Güicho]

1979

Loved the Corgi vehicles.
Wish we'd gotten an Arrow-car/Arrow-plane a Canary-cycle, and Batgirl cycle in the line.

Of course the large Corgi Batmobile with slasher blade and rocket lunchers was the holy grail

[Gaastra]

How about some atom ads?

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[SJNeal]

^ ^ ^

I loved both of the 90's Atom specials! Gonna have to dig those out of the long box for a re-read soon...

[Jim Kelly]

How about some atom ads?

This might be one of the few times where a super-hero who didn't have trunks was given trunks. But thankfully they went back to the original Gil Kane design--which I maintain is the best design for the Atom, in part because it's so simple.

This means an artist can draw him fairly small and he still looks okay.

[Gaastra]

"Have you seen superman lately?" Well have you?


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What some kryptonite? (just pinkie swear you won't use it for evil.)

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Supergirl meets wonder woman.

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[DevilBat66]

I have a great love for the Aurora hobby kit ads because they usually appear on the back covers of the comics. And I know the months that comics came out by the ad on the back. Even for older comics that came out before I was buying any, the ad instantly identifies when it was.

The OG Superman hobby kit from 1964--art by Curt Swan.



This ad from 1967 had a good representation of all the kits--



Not DC related hobby kits, but DCs carried this ad in 1971. Lucky for me it appeared inside the comics. If it had been on the back cover, I would have had to hide it from my mother--

That brings back some memories!

Had all the Marvel and DC ones except Wonder Woman which I never saw. I'm guessing they werent still producing her in 74-75 when I was getting these from my Gramps.

Had quite a few of the Monster ones. Always wanted that Vampirella but never got her either.

Not pictured but I also had a cool Star Trek one with Mr. Spock shooting a 3 headed snake.

Then there were the Aurora Dinosaur kits....I had almost all of them too.

I lived with my Grandparents and my pop would pick me up a model everytime he went to the hobbie store.

[The Darknight Detective]

Had quite a few of the Monster ones. Always wanted that Vampirella but never got her either.

Heh. Never saw her in the local department stores back then. Besides, I'm pretty sure my mother would have said no to purchasing that.

Then there were the Aurora Dinosaur kits....I had almost all of them too.

The snap-together ones? For my seventh birthday back in '72, I got the Allosaurus, Neanderthal Man, and also the Saber-Tooth Tiger.

[Gaastra]

Isn't Vampirella a good guy? Never read the 60s comics but the 90s ones she was a good guy. Why is she a bad guy here?

[The Darknight Detective]

Isn't Vampirella a good guy? Never read the 60s comics but the 90s ones she was a good guy. Why is she a bad guy here?

She was good back in the '70s when this ad was created, so you got me.

[Jim Kelly]

Yeah, I didn't know anything about Vampirella back then except for that ad. Since the art doesn't look like anything that would appear in the Warren magazines, I would guess that whoever created it for the ad company didn't really know a lot about Vampirella other than her strange taste in clothes.

It was pretty shocking to me when I came across it in the comics--maybe the Comics Code was letting DC put racier ads in their comics. At the same time as that ad, the July 1971 cover dated DC issues also had this ad for the movie ZEPPELIN, which was nearly as shocking for my young mind:

[The Darknight Detective]

It was pretty shocking to me when I came across it in the comics--maybe the Comics Code was letting DC put racier ads in their comics.

1971 was the year the CC was revised, so it's fair to assume it never would have appeared the year before.