Mail-order mysteries

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.