Sweet 70's Comic Book Finds

As my wife and I were out driving Friday, I noticed a surprising proliferation of garage sale signs in the neighborhood.  The weather was expected to be in the 60's on Saturday, so I guess people were going to take advantage of it.  So, Saturday morning we headed out for our first garage sale excursion of the 2014 season.  The first couple sales were mediocre and I didn't have much hope, but the last sale we attended had some treasures.  Among those were some 1970's comics priced at 50 cents.  These aren't worth a whole lot, but they're still fun.

In its original run, I missed Spider-woman #1 and ended up with #2.  "Spider-woman" was Marvel's rushed attempt at gaining trademark rights for the character.  Spider-man had just become a TV show and Stan Lee realized (or at least that's how he tells it) that anyone could release a Spider-woman character without any trademark infringement.

By issue 23, the banner has changed from "To Know Her is to Fear Her" to "The Mysterious".  The "diamond" corner comics always confused me.  I was used to the rectangular price/issue box in the upper left corner as seen in issue #1.  Years later, I learned these were "direct market" comics sold in comic book shops and were non-returnable, as opposed to newstand copies.  The other telling mark (literally) is the line drawn through the barcode.  Not long after this, the entire bar code would be replaced with a logo such as Spidey's head.

This wasn't really a Super-villian team up.  Actually, Dr. Doom teamed up with a few superheroes including Captain America and the Submariner (which I pronounced "sub-marine-er" as child) to defeat the Red Skull's diabolical plan to destroy the Earth.

"Mickey Mouse and Goofy Explore Energy" is one of those despised educational comics of the 1970's. Published in 1976, it covers the history of energy, the various forms available and the future.  Fascinating for a kid, right?

Here are some ads from the comics (except the Walt Disney one which had none).

Enjoy!

So if your love is a lie, which will it detect first?

Vulcan ears? Looks more like a Skrull:

"Satisfy your meat tooth"? No wonder they changed their ad campaign to "Messin' with Sasquatch."

I bought some of that Spider-man web when I was a kid.  There was no way you were hanging anything from it.

What exactly is a Zagnut anyway?  I only know it from Michael Keaton's line in "Beetlejuice": "Hey! Want a Zagnut?"

You have to hand it to these novelty companies.  They knew the male prepubescent mind.  Cases in point:

Spider-man "Spoils a Snatch".  'Nuff said.

"This isn't the poster you're looking for."

Though it was third in line (1979), Hubba Bubba was my choice in the soft bubble gum triumvirate that also included Bubble Yum (1975) and Bubbalicious (1977).

I once sewed a red ski mask in a similar fashion to the one shown above.  Yes, my dorkiness has been established.

I included this double-paged ad just to invoke a total geek meltdown.  Go!

Marvel's Treasury Edition of The Spectacular Spider-man was released in 1974 and I missed out on it.  Seeing this ad as a child, I thought I was finally going to be able to own it, even if it cost me $4.79.  I was this close to putting the order in the mail when I finally realized, it was for a beach towel.

Unlike his cousin Johnny Comelately, Tim Newcomer learned he too could earn extra money selling Blair Products.