Goofy Comic Book Advertising from 1953

One of the bonuses that you get as a comic collector is seeing all of the crazy advertising that used to be printed along with the comics in days gone by.  Pick up a Marvel comic from the early 1970's and you are likely to see Arnold Schwarzenegger with some beautiful blonde on his left shoulder while he flexes his right bicep.  "Yes...you too can be like Arnold if you buy the "He-Man" program"...blah, blah, blah...(some things never change)

In the 1950's, it was no different.  The Charles Atlas he-man stuff (an example shown here) started way back...I have seen it in comics from the 1940's...not sure if it was there before that.  Given that Charles Atlas was born in 1892 though...I suspect one can find this sort of thing in earlier comics as well.

The other ads in the comics will range from the practical (small business ideas for kids), to the absolutely ludicrous (see below).  Todays example comes from Justice Traps the Guilty issue 54.  Printed in the summer of 1953, this issue has a bunch of stories adapted from "True Police and FBI cases".  It's this sort of thing that was partly responsible for the initiation of the comics code in 1954...parents felt their kids were being exposed to to much crime.  But the editor of the magazine clearly thought that adults were reading these books too.

This ad really speaks for itself.  Enjoy, as you are transported back to the era of the "Hair Destroying Germs"!!

Until next time...