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Post by Farrar on Feb 16, 2019 12:36:46 GMT -5
Here's an ad I saw in a lot of my Marvel comics, for the Strat-O-Matic baseball board game. Now this particular ad was just for an informational brochure about the game and I don't think I ever sent in the coupon to get any info, but once I became a baseball fan Strat-O-Matic became a must-have for me. I begged my parents to buy the game, as it was available in the large toy/game store in my neighborhood.  So for Christmas or my birthday my parents gave me Strat-O-Matic as a gift. Well, I was never so disappointed in my young life. This "thrilling" game involved throwing dice to determine whether your selected players reached base (single, homer, walk, etc.) or made outs (strikeout, fielder's choice, double play, etc.). But the biggest problem  in my eyes was that the player pool was largely 1960s vintage and I got the game in the mid-1970s, so I had no attachment to the older-or-by-then retired players, many of whom I hadn't heard of at that time (nor had most of my friends), since I was a relatively new fan of baseball. Later on I would become interested in baseball history, but here I just wanted a game that included my favorite, contemporary players! |
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Post by Rob Allen on Feb 16, 2019 15:21:32 GMT -5
So for Christmas or my birthday my parents gave me Strat-O-Matic as a gift. Well, I was never so disappointed in my young life. This "thrilling" game involved throwing dice to determine whether your selected players reached base (single, homer, walk, etc.) or made outs (strikeout, fielder's choice, double play, etc.). But the biggest problem in my eyes was that the player pool was largely 1960s vintage and I got the game in the mid-1970s, so I had no attachment to the older-or-by-then retired players, many of whom I hadn't heard of at that time (nor had most of my friends), since I was a relatively new fan of baseball. Later on I would become interested in baseball history, but here I just wanted a game that included my favorite, contemporary players! For a few years I spent as much time on Strat-O-Matic Baseball as I did on comics, and I remember the players being contemporary. The company released new cards every year, reflecting the most up-to-date statistics on each player's performance. Your set must have been sitting in that toy store for a decade. The Strat-O-Matic company still exists, and they still release the new player cards every year, on the last Friday in January. Wikipedia says that hundreds of fans show up at the company's headquarters on that day every year. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strat-O-Matic |
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Post by beccabear67 on Feb 16, 2019 15:27:27 GMT -5
I used to see those $&^#ing GRIT ads in every bloody comic for years. Has anyone ever even seen one of these Grit newspapers? I liked the Polaris Nuclear Sub that seats two kids ad.  And probably they got something like this...  Similar ad here, more military madness?  The best thing about those Image 1963 comics might be the fake ads. Avengers #1 1/2 had some too! |
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Post by beccabear67 on Feb 16, 2019 15:43:33 GMT -5
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Post by Farrar on Feb 16, 2019 16:06:06 GMT -5
For a few years I spent as much time on Strat-O-Matic Baseball as I did on comics, and I remember the players being contemporary. The company released new cards every year, reflecting the most up-to-date statistics on each player's performance. Your set must have been sitting in that toy store for a decade. The Strat-O-Matic company still exists, and they still release the new player cards every year, on the last Friday in January. Wikipedia says that hundreds of fans show up at the company's headquarters on that day every year. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strat-O-MaticAh, good to know that the stats were updated. I realized later on that my set must have been a remainder. But in retrospect, while I was disappointed with the game, when I played it with my father it also provided me with a crash course in recent baseball history, as my dad of course knew the older players. And to this day my family never gets tired of reminding me how badly I wanted that Strat-O-Matic game! Wish I had kept the game, but it eventually suffered the same fate as my comics  |
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Post by tarkintino on Feb 16, 2019 16:35:48 GMT -5
Also those Superheroes ones they said were okay to put on walls!   Great memory! My family had some of those superhero stickers. They were from a company called Our Way Studios. You could find them at most department stores, but I remember Toys R Us having a tall endcap with them, and it was such a great thing for a very young comic fan, as most of the images were some of the greatest character licensing art of the 60s and 70s. It was like comic corner symbols jumped from the cover to that large format, where every line and detail could be seen. Here's a couple of examples--   [/quote] |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Feb 16, 2019 17:10:22 GMT -5
Has anyone ever even seen one of these Grit newspapers? Nope, never - and I used to wonder if it was even a real thing or some kind of scam. However, not only did Grit exist, it was apparently a weekly newspaper really popular throughout the 20th century in small towns and rural areas throughout the US (like the one I grew up in, although, like I said, I never saw it anywhere back then). And it still exists today, although now it's a glossy bi-monthly magazine. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Feb 17, 2019 16:05:29 GMT -5
This, by the way, is just one of the oddest things I've ever seen advertised in a comic book. I never understood the appeal:  |
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Post by Chris on Feb 17, 2019 19:41:04 GMT -5
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Post by Mister Spaceman on Feb 23, 2019 22:02:48 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2019 8:22:51 GMT -5
Hey Kids, want a grenade for $1.00 Own a piece of Krypton!  You can be James Bond 007 ... with this Spy Radio Pen Here!
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Post by tarkintino on Feb 24, 2019 9:02:13 GMT -5
Hey Kids, want a grenade for $1.00Own a piece of Krypton! As a kid, I thought that was the coolest piece of merchandising from anything Superman-related, and I wanted one. That never happened , but in recent years, I've seen a few for sale at conventions and eBay, and its not as impressive as the ad sort of leads you believe it was. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2019 9:50:24 GMT -5
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Post by MDG on Feb 24, 2019 11:05:25 GMT -5
Hey Kids, want a grenade for $1.00Own a piece of Krypton! As a kid, I thought that was the coolest piece of merchandising from anything Superman-related, and I wanted one. That never happened , but in recent years, I've seen a few for sale at conventions and eBay, and its not as impressive as the ad sort of leads you believe it was. I bought one at the theater where I saw Superman: The Movie. The box didn't use any Superman imagery. |
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Post by Mister Spaceman on Feb 24, 2019 11:53:02 GMT -5
The actual figures must surely have disappointed in comparison to the Russ Heath art.  |
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in my eyes was that the player pool was largely 1960s vintage and I got the game in the mid-1970s, so I had no attachment to the older-or-by-then retired players, many of whom I hadn't heard of at that time (nor had most of my friends), since I was a relatively new fan of baseball. Later on I would become interested in baseball history, but here I just wanted a game that included my favorite, contemporary players!
