Having gone down memory lane recently with a certain armored arch-villain, it seems fitting to shed some light on some of Marvel's relentless house ads, which were unavoidable when turning the pages of stories published during the Silver and Bronze Age periods. On occasion, such ads featured new art tailored to the caption(s) provided; but often it was one's skill with existing art placement, combined with whatever copy had been prepared and the creativity of the letterer, which were depended on to make the ad come alive and tempt the reader.
Of course, whatever form the final product took, looking over the copy was almost a reading experience in itself--at times even tapping into whatever was trending in pop culture at the time.
Hopefully Sonny and Cher were Marvel fans and didn't object to the for-profit allusion to their song title. On the bright side, the company was in the clear when tapping the drug culture with a blatant reference to the "Marvel mind explosion," daddy-o.
Having done one of these compilations with a focus on the supernatural, it looks like one such ad managed to slip through our grasp, as Vincent Price would say.
I don't know how Dr. Strange would feel being associated with Dracula and the Ghost Rider in terms of distinguishment, but in 1977 his bi-monthly series probably wasn't in any position to turn away potential readership.
Perhaps if his book gave more attention to his training in the martial arts, he would have been in a position to capitalize on the martial arts craze of the '70s as portrayed by Marvel:
The tone of this particular ad seems to suggest that martial arts battles generally took place in the dead of night under the glare of street lights--either that, or Shang-Chi just ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time here.
More crazes were in the offing thanks to both film and print media, featuring adaptations of the works of Edgar Burroughs, Robert Howard, and George Lucas. I'm not clear on whether Tarzan and John Carter were lucrative projects for Marvel, but in Star Wars and Conan the company no doubt struck gold.
Also apparently contributing to Marvel's "treasury" were its series of Treasury Editions--mostly comprised of reprinted material, but on occasion featuring original work (even when adapting someone else's original work).
The successful Marvel "style" was given its day in a series of ads which spotlighted random books currently on the rack--almost always a full-page ad, if I recall correctly.
A nice nod to creativity came in the form of ads which featured characters appealing directly to readers, such as these dual ads for the Power Man and Iron Fist book (though in this case it's not so much an appeal as it is an offer of "friendly" advice for one's own good).
Suspense also carried an appeal for readers who were interested in the new and the different--aspects that the new character of Rom and especially Jack Kirby's concept of the Eternals had to offer.
And speaking of the new and the different, the X-Men also benefited from ads--particularly when it came to crossover events that involved X-titles which could do with more exposure.
Crazy, the satire/humor magazine of the '70s which imitated the content of periodicals like National Lampoon, Mad, et al., had decent sales for nearly the length of its 94-issue run (in addition to two "super-specials"). It's interesting to speculate if ads which tempted us to indulge our inner "crazy" helped to make that happen.
One of my favorite ads from this period turned out to be an ad for the new Amazing Adventures title which originally split its format between the Inhumans and the Black Widow. If memory serves, it could usually be found at the end of a letters page in various books, but it might have also been sharing a full-page ad with something else. Along with its graphics taken from both the splash page of its first issue as well as a page from Amazing Spider-Man #86, what looks to be Sam Rosen's lettering does an excellent job of grabbing the reader's attention.
8 comments:
Always an enjoyable read! Ironically, the ad for Claremont/Byrne/Austin's X-Men features Dave Cockrum art. I also appreciate your embedded links - I haven't read your pieces on Marvel's Treasury Editions, of which I still have several, so I'm looking forward to those. I do remember walking an hour each way as a child to buy the first Hulk Treasury Edition, long before today's easy order/easy pay/fast delivery world.
I agree, Anon, I think Dave Cockrum rated at least a mention in that ad (if only a nod for the promotional art), in light of all that he contributed to the book. Such a talent to the company, and to the industry.
Great post Comicsfan.
The use of credits is one of the more interesting aspects of the house ads.
Generally it seems like Jack Kirby and John Buscema were considered a selling point by the 70s, and then you start to see more creators credited near the end of the decade. A welcome development, which I guess tracked the changing nature of the readership.
Its kinda surprising at least Steve Gerber's name didn't appear on the Howard the Duck ad, as the comic was seen even at the time as something of a breakthrough hit with an older audience (iirc around that time Omega the Unknown was originally hyped as "from the creator of HTD").
Mind you, and not that I particularly want to knock anyone, but I have to say that I doubt back then "by Roger Slifer and Ron Wilson" would have persuaded me to part with my hard earned 12p...
-sean
That's a fair point about the HTD ad and Gerber's name, sean--perhaps they felt that HTD was enough of a seller him(it?)self (to say nothing of the Defenders, though by the time of the Treasury Edition Gerber's run on that title was coming to an end).
I remember the ROM one like it was yesterday!
I remember THE WIZARD OF OZ Treasury Edition too but did I see it advertised in a US Marvel comic or a British one (was it even available in Britain)? The ad calls L. Frank Baum "the American Grimm" but I think his books were condemned in the McCarthy witch-hunt era for being too socialist - I can't find any confirmation of that on Wikipedia but it does say that in 1890 Baum called for the extermination of all Native Americans, which I didn't know!
And using skewed logic to justify it at that, Colin--and the man was adamant. I was absolutely stunned at reading those words.
Paul Smith here: You posted the Hulk-Lover's "Tales to Astonish" ad a couple months early. While it would make a great April Fools joke, the fact is I was 10 years old when that book came out and still two years shy of becoming a Marvel Zombie.
Colors on the Hulk are, I believe, by Gerry Turnbull who is probably responsible for the ad mock-up as well.
Happy Trails
Smitty
Interesting bit of trivia, Mr. Smith! (And thanks for the additional info regarding Mr. Turnbull, as well.) :D
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