Of Superheroes, Product Placements, and PSAs.

March 16, 2005 2:44 PM

Of Superheroes, Product Placements, and PSAs. A nostagia-filled gallery of comic book covers with all your favourite (and no so favourite) spandex-clad superheroes shilling everything from Hostess cream-filled Twinkies to saying no to crack.
posted by Sully (12 comments total)

Holy crap, I remember getting the Spidey "Crisis at Cape Canaveral" comic at the dentist's and reading it in the car after we got stuck there by a hail storm.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 3:09 PM on March 16, 2005

Wow. I actually read a lot of these. Scary.
posted by bardic at 4:12 PM on March 16, 2005

This just goes to show that when Superheroes shill, we all lose.
posted by fenriq at 4:13 PM on March 16, 2005

Thanks in part to my religious upbringing, the Mother Teresa and Francis comics are some of the only comic books I actually own.

Oh yeah, and I also have that Captain America one about drugs. If I recall, drugs give the pitcher a billion mph fastball which beans the catcher, his other teammates beat the crap out of him with baseball bats, and Captain America does a grand total of fuckall except wench about how you shouldn't do drugs.

I can imagine throwing together a trite script like these, but can you imagine having to be the guys who have to storyboard, sketch, draw, and ink this crap?
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 5:11 PM on March 16, 2005

X-Men: Heroes for Hope was partially written by Harlan Ellison, drawn by Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz.

If I recall correctly, it wasn't half bad.
posted by grabbingsand at 5:19 PM on March 16, 2005

I remember the religious Archie comics from CCD and Vacation Bible School. My girlfreind teaches high school in a tough neighborhood of the Bronx and some of her remedial students are really into comic books and she buys them issues to encourage them to read. Apparently, the most popular title is...the Archies. Go figure.
posted by jonmc at 5:23 PM on March 16, 2005

I remember the religious Archie comics from CCD
You mean these?
posted by undule at 6:16 PM on March 16, 2005

Death Talks About Life: Gaiman's Death discusses HIV and the proper use of condoms. Special cameo appearance by John Constantine and a banana!
posted by SPrintF at 7:12 PM on March 16, 2005

The X-Men at the State Fair of Texas
Good God, I can understand the other comics about stopping drugs and crime and abuse, but what the hell is this? What sort of sick creature pitched this idea, and got it completed and published?
posted by Sangermaine at 11:45 PM on March 16, 2005

If you're interested in this sort of thing don't forget to check out Seanbaby's Hostess page; scans (with commentary!) of all those awful one-page ads where crime would be thwarted by the judicious use of Hostess products.
posted by jtron at 8:15 AM on March 17, 2005

Great link. Much laughter was had.
posted by Outlawyr at 8:22 AM on March 17, 2005

It makes me feel young again. Kids love free comic books even if they're shoddy.
posted by GeorgeHernandez at 11:53 AM on April 7, 2005