Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jul 5, 2025 | 7 comments

SCOTT SHAW! SATURDAYS…

By SCOTT SHAW!

Over the seven decades I’ve been reading “funnybooks” (as they were called in the 1950s), I’ve realized that sometimes the advertisements in certain comics are every bit as memorable, weird, or cool as the stories themselves. (Y’know, the ones you’ve never read again.) Here are some of the ones that have been stuck in my head.

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Aurora Marvel Superheroes Model Kits. These late ’60s kits’ original boxes’ art were all dynamic and all by Neal Adams. Why Aurora used such a bland ad is anyone’s guess. And as for the blurb, “More of the FANTASTIC FOUR coming soon —”? No, that never happened, dammit.

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The Disturbing Kool-Aid Clown. In the early 1950s, this toothless greasepaint ghoul was on the back covers of many Dell comics. Yes, this nameless joker is kinda disturbing… but his illustrated portrayal remains outstanding!

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Judy and Jim Defy the Savage Gorilla! That must be a terrible zoo; not only is that cage defective, it allows humans to bring weapons into the park. Those smiling police must have been inhaling Cloverine* Salve (you barely noticed its appearance here, right?) That’s the sort of thing that happened all the time back in the 1950s.

*Not to be confused with Wolverine

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Combo Man May Look Like A Hero, But Inside, He’s Kinda Cheesy. This 1990s mega-mashup is eye-catching and his design is  quite well done, but he’ll never beat Jack Kirby’s Super-Adaptoid. And with a heart of cheddar cheese and armor made of pretzels, shouldn’t Combo Man be holding up a huge mug of German beer?

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“Live Delivery”?!? Mailing live capuchin monkeys, chihuahuas, cameras, and radios in trade for enlarging photos and promoting Dean Studios remains one of the craziest scams in comics… but what’s the story behind the teacups??? I also wonder how many kids experienced “functional freeze” after opening the boxes bearing small and vulnerable animals? (Note that this late 1950s ad does not promise “Guaranteed Live Delivery.”)

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Junior Astronauts Space Ship. This might look great, but in reality, the personal rocket is only made of “brightly colored fiberboard” AKA cardboard, with a few battery-run plastic gizmos, imagination not included. “How thrilled he’ll be as he checks his antenna screen, consults his star map of space and blasts off! How important he’ll look as he works his disintegrator gun and bomb bay doors, going forward and backward, banking left and right to return victorious from his conquests of space.” That’s a lotta fertilizer, Flash Gordon.

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Nutty Putty. This was a ripoff of the more popular Silly Putty, the result of a WWII engineer who was working for the U.S. War Production Board to create an alternate substance for synthetic rubber. It turned out to be bouncier and stretchier than rubber, with the useful super-power of picking up the images off of newspapers and comic books. But here, it just looks more like a clamshell full of un-specified poop.

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7 Gigantic Dinosaurs for $1.00. “Thrill to their fascinating names! Command these fun-loving pre-historic monsters to your every prank! Toss them in the air and they always land on their feet… swinging and swaying in every direction without tilting over. Great for children! Terrific for parties! Colossal for adults!” Yup, they’re merely balloons — er, “molded one-piece quality latex” — with dinosaur images printed onto each balloon. Of course, this was back when balloons ruled the earth.

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Big “Bob” Frankie Model Kit. As a kid, I couldn’t afford $4.98 for this – “I have comics to collect too, dammit!!!” – and as an adult, I decided that I didn’t need one of these after all. Why? After seeing online photos of the “almost-two-feet-high” plastic icon, I realized that this sculpt reminded me more of comedian Bob Newhart rather than Boris Karloff! Please note that this ad has a strong Neal Adams vibe, but only on “Big Frankie.”

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Serve the LORD and You Can Have These PRIZES! I assume that’s the fist of God that’s smashing “crime, graft, dope, and war,” so why do “boys, girls, men, and women” need to sell religious mottos to win prizes? The world might be on fire, but it looks to me like the Big Guy has things under control… apparently except good ol’ greed! Holy crap!

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Blasto. During the 1990s, video games and snacks were the primary advertisements in comics. I’ve worked in advertising, and I seriously doubt if elderly people in cosplay sold many Blastos, but this old fart – I’ll turn 74 in a few months – still enjoys seeing people older than me getting made fun of.

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Aurora Batman Model Kit. Before Batmania was at its full-blown campiest and manufacturers were taking full advantage of it, Aurora’s Batman kit first appeared in hobby shops in 1965, the year before ABC’s TV series premiered. Unlike their Marvel model kits ad, this was was a new image of Batman by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson… but what’s with the tree? I guess they needed something to ensure his balance, but even then, the Caped Crusader was known as an urban costumed hero, not Smokey Bear.

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Bedrock Blizzard Pebbles Cereal. As I’ve mentioned, I worked for the Ogilvy-Mather ad agency for a decade as a senior art director for Post Cereals, mostly for the Pebbles cereal brand. Before then, I often worked freelance on them too. I created concepts, scripts, storyboards, character models, and layouts for their TV commercials, as well as Pebbles package art, in-box giveaway prizes, and comic book ads, among other things. Many of the ads were panels, like a comic book page, but this one needed to put across the “frost” theme. It’s one of my favorites because I asked our son Kirby to draw most of the falling snowflakes. He was approximately 7 years old at the time.

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MORE

— ODDBALL COMICS: Harvey’s BUNNY — the Queen of the In-Crowd! Click here.

— ODDBALL COMICS: Wallace Wood’s BUCKY RUCKUS. Click here.

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For over half a century, SCOTT SHAW! has been a pro cartoonist/writer/designer of comic books, animation, advertising and toys. He is also a historian of all forms of cartooning. Scott has worked on many underground comix and mainstream comic books, including: Fear and Laughter (Kitchen Sink); Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie); Simpsons Comics (Bongo); Weird Tales of the Ramones (Rhino); and his co-creation with Roy Thomas, Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew! (DC).

Scott also worked on numerous animated cartoons, including producing/directing John Candy’s Camp Candy (NBC/DIC/Saban); Martin Short’s The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley (NBC/Hanna-Barbera Productions); Garfield and Friends (CBS/Film Roman); and the Emmy-winning Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies (CBS/Marvel Productions), among many others. As senior art director for the Ogilvy & Mather advertising agency, Scott worked on dozens of commercials for Post Pebbles cereals with the Flintstones. He also designed a line of Hanna-Barbera action figures for McFarlane Toys.

Scott was one of the comics fans who organized the first San Diego Comic-Con, where he has become known for performing his hilarious Oddball Comics Live! slide shows.

Need funny cartoons for any and all media? Click here! Scott does commissions!