It’s that time of year when we’re hip deep into marketing ITHACON. After all, it is just a few weeks away. One of the less glamorous aspects of marketing and promotion, in this age of digital marketing and creativity-at-our-fingertips, is the old-fashioned tactic of dropping off postcards and hanging posters at places where potential attendees might frequent. You know, comic shops, book stores, libraries, craft breweries, wineries…the list goes on and on.
And record stores, of course. There’s a local place called Autumn Leaves that sells used books and it’s “bolted on” to a place called Angry Mom that sells used records. I was dropping off postcards there and couldn’t help but notice a table in the back with stacks of all sorts of old rock & movie magazines. Music Magazines, old movie magazines and even Sports Illustrated. Everything was just two bucks.
I rescued a couple of old Rolling Stone Magazines, an SI and the very last issue of Crawdaddy. They are all glorious!
But I wasn’t expecting the comic connections that awaited me in these magazines. For example:
Clark Kent vs. Superman – Back in the day, print ads with clever headlines and words, a lot of words, extolling the virtues of the product were pretty common. The humble copywriter was a dominant creative in those days. I love this JBL ad with the superhero secret identity comparison. Could anyone ever get away with that these days?
Warp -the Science Fiction Play – I was first exposed to the stage production Warp when Mike Gold and First Comics published the comic version of it. Over the years, we’ve learned the back story of it all in places like Back Issue Magazine. I am just now seeing that Mike Gold had a fantastic story up on Greg Goldstein’s blog here all about Warp. What a history !And I think it’s so cool to see an ad for this show here on the back page of a 1973 issue of Rolling Stone.
Underground Comics- Angry Mom also had a couple boxes of Underground Comix for sale. Not usually my thing, but I was excited to find that issue of Snarf with the Will Eisner cover and the 2nd issue of Star*Reach with that gorgeous Stephanie Starr story illustrated by Dick Giordano.
Over in RetroFan magazine, we have an upcoming article with artist Adrian Ropp, who has an outstanding article reflecting on his time illustrating Pink Panther comics and interacting with fans. I need to find a way to include this wonderful Pink Panther ad from the 1985 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.
My 1985 self would be so disappointed that the 2026 version of me is most excited not by the swimsuit photos of Kathy Ireland and Paulina Porzikova, but by a Pink Panther ad for insulation and Polaroid. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
