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Saturday, July 21, 2012

Adventure Comics # 245, February, 1958


Here's another example of the influence of giant monster movies on DC comics of the fifties. The ad that follows the Superboy story offers up even more evidence of the sci-fi movie boom being reflected in the books.






Friday, July 20, 2012

Adventure Comics # 244, January, 1958


Here we have the January, 1958 issue. More than 2 decades have passed by this point as ADVENTURE COMICS has just zipped on through, seemingly oblivious to much of the controversy surrounding comics. The Golden Age characters are long gone and the Silver Age characters have started popping up...and yet Superboy, Aquaman, Green Arrow and Speedy haven't left. They've sailed right through from Gold to Silver!





This Aquaman tale may have been inspired by the popularity of giant monsters in movies of the 1950's, arguably started by GODZILLA earlier in the decade,







Someone else who reinvented himself for the television age was Walt Disney who expanded not only onto the tube but into a theme park! A heavily cross-merchandised theme park!


Thursday, July 19, 2012

Adventure Comics # 243, December, 1957



Now its TOYS from Krypton! Was there nothing that didn't survive that horrendous blast...besides Jor-El and Lara apparently?



Note the emphasis on the fact that he is also a TV character. In point of fact, the series was nearing the end of its run. Reeves' unfortunate death a little over  a year later precluded rumored new episodes but the reruns are most likely still being seen somewhere even today!


Science toys and erector sets were big back then. Educational toys that were also fun. Nowadays, you only get that for the littlest kids.




This being the December issue, it was on the stands at Halloween of '57 which explains the presence of this BINKY Halloween PSA. Not sure how to explain the odd choice of ultra-realistic artist Ruben Moreira to draw it, though. 



Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Adventure Comics # 242, November, 1957


Again? Already. Turns out there were an awful lot of survivors from Krypton! This one actually reminds me of the first appearance of Mon-El. Meanwhile, down the line, Aquaman has clowns. Seriously.


















Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Adventure Comics # 241 , October, 1957


Were comics sales down? Notice that there's an ice cream coupon advertised at the top of the cover. The very first thing a potential buyer would see on the rack was that mention of an ice cream coupon. What kid could resist it?



And here's the coupon itself. worth a dime if you use it at Dairy Queen before the end of October, 1957


What's with the hats? Here he's back to the red one just in time to meet "Queen Arrow." 








You might recall that a staple of early issues was the magic trick pages. Here's the first one we've seen in quite a while.