Sometimes when I read old comics I like to look at the ads, and in particular the “house” ads, out of a sense of nostalgia.
I mean, there are the obvious nostalgic ads, like the ones for Grit magazine, or, of course Hostess snacks, the mail-order junk, and, on the house ad side, the covers and interiors of upcoming comics. Like seeing an ad for the first issue of The New Teen Titans, for example.
Beyond the nostalgic value, however, there are also the unanswered questions, like “What did those ‘x-ray specs’ actually do?”
With my recent purchase of the book Mail-Order Mysteries, I received an answer to that particular question, and others like it, but there are still some remaining mysteries in those old ads, particularly when it comes to things like contests.
For example, in an old issue of Superman, I recently saw an ad for an essay contest related to the Wonder Woman TV series.
The contest involved writing a mini-essay – under 50 words – with this, as the starting point: “The daring rescue I would like to see Wonder Woman perform is…”
One grand prize winner would win an all-expenses paid “Wonder Woman Weekend” in New York, which would culminate in the winner appearing as a character in the Wonder Woman comic.
Who won the contest? What was the winning “daring rescue” suggestion? I haven’t been able to find anything online.
It would be neat if there were someone out there reading this who knew the answer, but that seems pretty unlikely.
So it seems that it will remain a mystery to me, but even if it didn’t, there were so many other similar contests and sweepstakes over the years that I would be left to wonder about.
Still, I suppose that in this case being left to “wonder” is only appropriate.
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