1966

This bottom ad is unusual, in that you've got Superman and Lois flying in just to promote Scooter! Ah, the stuff The Man of Steel had to do in those days...

1964

I love that G.I. Joe ad...

1968

The Beginning of the End

It's been one year and one month since I started Coming Super Attractions!, so this seems like as good a time as any to announce that CSA will be wrapping up one month from now, on February 16th.

I never had any real idea how long I planned to keep CSA going when I started it. Within a few months of its creation, I had had scanned in enough DC house ads to keep it going at least two full years.

With The Aquaman Shrine, I Am The Phantom Stranger, and Rob Kelly Illustration taking up a lot so much of my time, I never felt like I could give CSA my full attention. And since I have another blogging venture planned to start fairly soon, I felt like one had to go.

So for the next month, I'll be taking a sort of "Everything Must Go!" approach, and posting multiple ads every day, to show off everything I have still in my "To Post" folder. As a wise man used to say, be here, it'll be fun!

Jimmy Olsen/Showcase - 1965

Showcase/Sugar and Spike - 1969

That Dolphin ad is quite unusual, one of the many out-of-the-box ones DC tried for its Showcase stars.

I guess it didn't work too well, since Dolphin never got a return engagement as a solo star...*sigh*

Showcase/Adventures of Jerry Lewis - 1965

I love that DC buck--I'd use that as real money if they'd let me.

Happy 2009 everyone!

Humor Titles - 1967

Poor Fox and Crow--they don't even get to appear in an ad for their own book!

Showcase/Hot Wheels - 1970

Showcase: I Spy!/Sgt. Rock - 1964

I love that I Spy ad--I've always wanted to pick up that particular book, just based on the ad and the cover.

Showcase: Firehair/World's Finest- 1969

This doesn't have anything to do with the ad, but the story in that issue of World's Finest is insane--it features a panel where an autopsy is performed on Superman, but was considered "so gruesome" by the editors that its entirely blacked out with a big "Censored" box over it. Weird stuff...

Showcase: Maniaks - 1967

The Maniaks! Where's their uber-hip Vertigo relaunch??

Showcase: The Spectre - 1965

Showcase: Metal Men - 1962

Showcase: Johnny Double - 1968

DC's Showcase book ran a lot of really interesting and/or bizarre material, especially in the late 60s. And the ads, like this one, were just as innovative.

Plus, it rhymes.

Dr. No - 1963

Definitely one of the more curious publications in DC's history--Dr. No?!?

I've heard some rumor--I can't quite remember it all now--that had something to do with someone at DC in the late 1960s going through old files and discovering that, connected to publishing this book, DC in fact had the rights to make James Bond comics all through the 1960s, during what was arguably Bond's most popular time. And they never noticed! Arrrgghhhh!!

Showcase: Jason's Quest - 1970

This is one unusual ad!

Showcase - 1978

Showcase: Dr. Fate and Hourman - 1965

Courtesy Master Designer Ira Schnapp, an ad with a lot of text crammed into a small space, yet it reads perfectly and the design and color are flawless.

Showcase: Hawkman - 1978