A 50th ANNIVERSARY SPOTLIGHT on the beloved advertisements…
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UPDATED 2/22/25: The beloved and ubiquitous Hostess comic-book ads debuted 50 years ago, in the winter of 1975! Perfect time to reprint this tasty morsel from Feb. 2020. Plus, check out 13 Groovy Bronze Age MARVEL HOSTESS ADS (click here) and your indispensable HOSTESS COMIC ADS Checklist (click here). You get a big delight in every bite! — Dan
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You may not know this about me but I am a snack-cake connoisseur.
Want some chocolately goodness? Go for Hostess’ Ding Dongs. Need a really bad sugar fix? Little Debbie’s Strawberry Shortcake Rolls will give you the buzz you crave. Feel like Drake’s Devil Dogs? Better have some milk nearby. Taking a walk on the wild side? Bring along some Hostess Orange Cup Cakes.
So it should be no surprise that I really dig those Hostess ads from the ’70s and ’80s that were published not just in DC and Marvel comics, but in Archie, Harvey and Gold Key issues too.
Having one of these outlandish one-pagers pop up in whatever issue you were reading was like getting a bonus back-up feature, even if the whole point was to get a generation hooked on overly sugared, diabetes-driving, chemical-crammed snack cakes.
Simply put, Hostess ads were as much a staple of the Bronze Age as, say, Slurpee cups or Sea Monkeys.
Since there are so many to choose from — more than 350 were published from 1975 to 1982, according to Mike’s Amazing World of Comics — I figured I’d do my due diligence, curate a selection and bring you 13 GROOVY BRONZE AGE DC COMICS HOSTESS ADS.
Naturally, Batman and Superman starred in a ton of them and I could have done a selection with only those two. But there was such a wide variety of characters used — even villains would headline — that I’ve opted to spread the sweetness around. Oh, and to be sure, we’ll be hitting Marvel soon.
Dig it.
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“Great Cheops!” This one was the most memorable for me — and it happens to be the first.
This is the other one I remember the most.
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MORE
— Dig These 13 Groovy Bronze Age MARVEL HOSTESS ADS. Click here.
— SWEET! Your Indispensable HOSTESS COMIC ADS Checklist. Click here.
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Source: Mike’s Amazing World of Comics. Click here.
February 24, 2020
Great memories! 350 of these were published? If 120 of them were published by DC, I’m thinking this would be an AWESOME Deluxe edition. Fill it in with some product pictures. I would so buy this! Thanks again for all you do! I nominate Dan Greenfield to write the introduction!
February 24, 2020
Ha! Thanks, George!
February 22, 2025
back in HS I did a parody of the Joker one where he got away because the fruit pies were laced with Joker venom.
February 24, 2020
These ads look so cool. I wish a professional would restore them.
February 24, 2020
I don’t remember these, and I’m kind of glad. Who knows how much more fat I would have become had I been eating all of that junk food while reading all of those comics.
I agree with Philip Gibson about how much better some of those ads would look if you used image enhancer software before posting. I got mine for free on Cnet or zdnet. It’s called FSViewer and it does wonders for old faded images like some of the pics above.
February 24, 2020
I think Batman vs the Crime Director was the best one.
February 25, 2020
Dan, thank you. I remember almost all of these when they came out. Any historical background why the quality of these ads dropped precipitously after the first one? My brain wants to blame Vince Colletta for anything sloppy in the art of these ads, but I have no direct knowledge and I want to he fair. I feel like Hostess got robbed, as if the whole idea was pitched using a well-polished mummy story with the Dynamic Duo, then a so-so inking of Curt Swan followed after the ink dried on the contract. They couldn’t get a Dillin and Laughlin team to do the Red Tornado story? Seems like Hostess didn’t get the best DC had to offer.
February 25, 2025
Who did the art on the first Batman ad? Dick Giordano? Or is it his inks over someone else?
February 26, 2025
Giordano, I do believe.
February 26, 2020
I loved those Swan-Colletta Hostess ads, Lois Lane, Hawkman, Aquaman, etc. Yes, Roger, Viinnie did ink those.
February 22, 2025
I remember Superman in “The Spy” being in one of the first comic books I read. I didn’t know lesser known characters like Plastic Man and the Red Tornado also appeared in them. How cool!
February 22, 2025
Put the Devil Dogs in the freezer.
Yum-yum!!!!!
February 22, 2025
Great memories there!
A Hostess cherry pie guy here
February 22, 2025
I remember reading these when they first came out. They reminded me of the Spider-Man stories on “The Electric Company” with their odd made-up villains like the Wall and the Birthday Bandit.
February 23, 2025
I used to love these ads! While the villains were usually ad hoc, I seem to vaguely remember one ad with a “real” villain, though I can’t remember who it was. Speaking of villains, someone should make a rogues gallery of these Hostess villains!
Maybe the reason why Hostess went bankrupt was because they ceased these ads?
February 23, 2025
Oh, wow! I remember these! But I didn’t see all of the ones here; I love the art on Hawkman (wide-open sky!) and Plas as a dessert cart is a hoot! Glad Red Tornado got a moment in the sun, but errr…a genuine homicidal maniac like that fugitive from Arkham in an ad for Hostess? LOL! (Well, he did have his own book around this time!)