Mail-order mysteries
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Rediscover your sense of wonder!
Generations of comic book readers remember the tantalizing promises of vintage novelty advertisements that offered authentic laser-gun plans, x-ray specs, and even 7-foot-tall monsters (with glow-in-the-dark eyes!). But what would you really get if you entrusted your hard-earned $1.69 to the post office?
Mail-Order Mysteries answers this question, revealing the amazing truths (and agonizing exaggerations) about the actual products marketed to kids in the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. Pop-culture historian Kirk Demarais shares his astonishing collection, including:
100 Toy Soldiers in a Footlocker
Count Dante’s World’s Deadliest Fighting Secrets
GRIT
Hercules Wrist Band
Hypno-Coin
Life-Size Monsters
Mystic Smoke
Sea Monkeys
Soil From Dracula’s Castle
U-Control Ghost
Ventrilo Voice Thrower
...and many, many more!
With more than 150 extraordinary, peculiar, and downright fraudulent collectibles, Mail-Order Mysteries is a must-have book comic book fans everywhere. Trust us.
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Cheesy ads promoting questionable items have appeared throughout the history of comic books. In the Mail-Order Mysteries, Kirk Demarais supplies a chronicle of the more popular and infamous products. Each item he lists includes:
* the original ad,
* a picture of the actual item, and
* text broken into three or four parts: WE IMAGINED, THEY SENT, BEHIND THE MYSTERY and CUSTOMER SATISFACTION.
I remember seeing these ads in my youth. I used to think lucky American kids had access to the most fantastic novelties. X-Ray Spex, the Charles Atlas body building course, sea monkeys, an ant farm, or X-ray spex, boxes of soldiers, the list goes on. These legendary novelties and, as it turns out, questionable products at unbelievable prices not available here in the UK. But after reading this book it turns out that this limited access was in fact a blessing.
Lots of fun and worthy of your cash.
