# Did you ever buy anything from those old 70s era comic book ads? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-books-manga\ **Created:** [June 1, 2022, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505 "2022-06-01T13:42:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/61 "2022-06-02T14:19:15Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > My younger sister collected stamps. Being around 8 years old, she would just take whatever canceled stamps were on my parent’s mail. In the back of a magazine or comic book, there was an ad for collectible stamps. All you had to do was send in a quarter or maybe 50 cents and you would get a bunch of stamps (I don’t remember how many). I convinced my sister to order them. Well, she got an envelope full of stamps (there were some pretty interesting-looking ones) but she also got a bill for them. I wish I could remember how much it was, but it was enough that my parents weren’t too happy about it. I don’t recall if she got to keep them or if my mom sent them back. We have a famous philanthropist here in Rhode Island. [Allen S. Feinstein](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Feinstein) started his fortune by selling stamps in the back of magazines, These were very beautiful stamps that had little or no value but it made him millions. At least he’s giving a lot of it back. > [@](#): > > Much of Feinstein’s wealth came from selling [philatelic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philatelic) ‘collectibles’ through newsletters independent of the stamp collector community under a business model in which purchasers had a one-year money-back guarantee, including a “[Face on Mars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_on_Mars)” stamp set issued by [Sierra Leone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Leone) promoted with a claim that the value of the stamps would soar once alien life was discovered on Mars, a claim which has garnered him criticism. Feinstein’s stamps have been valued at prices lower than his newsletters predicted. ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/62 "2022-06-02T14:20:23Z")
Yes, still looks kinda deceptive. Anyways, a lot of people like to be fooled. I really didn’t mind the Sea Monkeys too much. At least they were alive. Sea Monkeys required you to add water conditioner or some such for the first couple days, then add the Sea Monkeys. One clever thing that I heard they did was slip some Sea Monkey Eggs into the first pouch of conditioner. That way they had time to grow a bit before you started looking for them in a couple days. Of course a couple days to a young kid is like a couple weeks. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/63 "2022-06-02T14:21:14Z")
My brother and I bought literally tons of stuff out of comic books. X-Ray Specs, the fake $1 million dollars (1840), toys, gadgets, you name it. He even bought the Universal Bodybuilding program. It was like 5 bucks a week and every week for 12 weeks they would send him a lesson plan in booklet form. He did the method that did not require weights. You used things around the house like chairs and broomsticks and such. Believe it or not he actually built himself up pretty good over the summer of ‘82 when he was sixteen. His arms got huge! ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/64 "2022-06-02T14:28:22Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Damn, I want that 2-person Orca sub! Alas, mini subs have been struck off the chick magnet list since that guy in Denmark did for subs what serial killers did for van conversions. ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/65 "2022-06-02T14:31:59Z")
From the submarine website - Does this one look a bit dangerous? > **[The Flying Hovercraft - Hammacher Schlemmer](https://www.hammacher.com/product/flying-hovercraft?refsku=11990&xsp=1&promo=xsells)** > > This is the hovercraft that glides over land and water yet also soars in the air up to 70 mph with the aid of integrated wings. A 130-hp twin-cylinder, liquid-cooled gasoline engine -- turbocharged and fuel-injected -- drives its 60" wood/carbon... ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/66 "2022-06-02T14:36:58Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > He even bought the Universal Bodybuilding program. It was like 5 bucks a week and every week for 12 weeks they would send him a lesson plan in booklet form. He did the method that did not require weights. You used things around the house like chairs and broomsticks and such. Believe it or not he actually built himself up pretty good over the summer of ‘82 when he was sixteen. His arms got huge! My dad got picked up a Joe Weider weight set somewhere cheap when I was pretty little. My older brother never used it but a couple of years later I began to follow Joe’s prescribed workout course, for a minute or two. More years went by and at 16 I began to work on the body that would one day look like a pale white version of the Hulk. But it took more than that skimpy weight set and I couldn’t get any more real weights right away so I found some info on the Charles Atlas Dynamic Tension technique of exercise and worked my way up for a while with that until I could locate more weights and eventually go to a gym with the real stuff. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/67 "2022-06-02T15:01:21Z")
> [@Mikemike2](#): > > From the submarine website - Does this one look a bit dangerous? Several of those rich people water toys sound like accidents waiting to happen. The Orca sub that dives and jumps out of the water? Every all-sports lake around here is a madhouse of boats pulling tubers and wakeboarders, going every which way, and collisions are fairly common even with craft that’s always above water. Plus, it hydroplanes up to 50 mph(!). The ‘world’s fastest amphibious car’ goes up to 44mph on water. It’s shaped sort of like a Jeep-- not the slightest bit aerodynamic (aquadynamic?). If a wave catches the front of that thing I imagine it could turn into the world’s fastest tumbling deathtrap. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/68 "2022-06-02T16:45:07Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > The 2-person sub is $90,000.00 > The 5-person sub is $2,700,000.00 > But if you sign up for their e-mail list, you can get $10.00 off! > What a bargain! Meh, that’s in the neighborhood of my comic book toy budget. Of course, my comics were upscale. Instead of X-ray glasses, they sold Pet-scan (positron emission tomography) glasses. I saw the good stuff with those. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/69 "2022-06-02T16:50:49Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > Instead of X-ray glasses, they sold Pet-scan (positron emission tomography) glasses. I saw the good stuff with those. 😀 So your “PET Specs” were kind of like this, huh? What every comic book-reading preteen boy back in the day was hoping the ‘xray specs’ were actually going to do 🤨 > **[Airport screeners now able to see through clothes](https://www.wsfa.com/story/9769439/airport-screeners-now-able-to-see-through-clothes/)** > > A new generation of airport screening machines are so high tech, some fear the images they produce are borderline pornographic. ---
**Author:** ![Pazu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pazu/32/15522_2.png) [@Pazu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pazu)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/70 "2022-06-02T17:03:16Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > I got the 100 pc Toy Soldier set and I was a bit disappointed. The scale was off on everything and the soldiers were all two dimensional. I liked the planes and ships though. That the pieces were all 2D would explain how they could pack all of that into a “footlocker” measuring 6.5" in greatest dimension (see measurements on the ad). When I was a kid, I always wondered how they could fit all that into a box that small. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/71 "2022-06-02T17:08:03Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > but where they crossed the line was saying they could be “trained”. I received a Sea-Monkey set as a gag gift from my secretary when I was in my 20s; I actually did use it, and had a little plastic tank full of brine shrimp on my desk for a couple of months. From what I recall, the “training” was described in the instruction booklet, and it had something to do with brine shrimp being light-sensitive; if you shined a flashlight into their tank, you could get them to follow the light around. But, yes, that ad, among many other exaggerations, likely suggested to impressionable young people that they could be “training” their Sea-Monkeys to do all sorts of tricks. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/72 "2022-06-02T17:11:30Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > But, yes, that ad, among many other exaggerations, likely suggested to impressionable young people that they could be “training” their Sea-Monkeys to do all sorts of tricks. Yeah, my dreams of running a Sea Monkey Circus like a miniature Sea World, charging long lines of neighbor kids 25 cents admission and making a fortune, were horribly dashed. 😄 ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/73 "2022-06-02T17:18:13Z")
> [@solost](#): > > So your “PET Specs” were kind of like this, huh? What every comic book-reading preteen boy back in the day was hoping the ‘xray specs’ were actually going to do 🤨 Exactly! We didn’t want to see the bones. We wanted to see the soft (…and supple) tissue _above_ the bones. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/74 "2022-06-02T17:42:59Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Yeah, my dreams of running a Sea Monkey Circus like a miniature Sea World, charging long lines of neighbor kids 25 cents admission and making a fortune, were horribly dashed. That reminds me of the first time I recall being conned. I was 5yo and attended a backyard “circus” put on by a group of pre-teen girls. They charged 25 cents to view a _“monster with tentacles”_ inside their tent. I paid the 25 cents (which I was supposed to use to buy cotton candy and popcorn) and entered the freak-show tent. The “_monster_” was 2 pairs of hands thrust into a hole in the tent with wiggling finger _tentacles_. It was at that moment I realized this was a vicious world. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/75 "2022-06-02T17:59:41Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > It was at that moment I realized this was a vicious world. It’s a lesson we all have to learn eventually, and usually the hard way 😞 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/76 "2022-06-02T19:15:14Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > the “training” was described in the instruction booklet, and it had something to do with brine shrimp being light-sensitive; if you shined a flashlight into their tank, you could get them to follow the light around. Phototaxis in invertebrates is a behavior used in neurophysiology to study how learning happens. Take your research organism and measure how quickly it moves toward light. Then pair light repeatedly with a negative stimulus. Later show that the organism moves more slowly toward light, compared to controls, etc. Finally, show a difference in a cell in the organism’s nervous system. Voilà, you’ve shown how learning occurs. ---
**Author:** ![Tarataratara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tarataratara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarataratara)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/77 "2022-06-02T19:36:06Z")
I’m an easy mark. The talk about Sea Monkeys made me curious to see how much a kit sold for these days (about sixteen dollars on Amazon). I got excited when I saw this grown your own prehistoric sea creatures kit. Brine shrimp again. [https://www.amazon.com/Discovery-Prehistoric-Creatures-Horizon-Group/dp/B08GYH7DZ1?th=1](https://www.amazon.com/Discovery-Prehistoric-Creatures-Horizon-Group/dp/B08GYH7DZ1?th=1) I have to respect the company that is selling grown your own snail kits for ten dollars and not including any snails. You get a plastic bottle and I think some tweezers. > **[Aqua Dragons Deep Sea Habitat - Moose Toys](https://www.moosetoys.com/our-toys/little-live-pets/aqua-dragons-deep-sea-habitat/)** > > How to hatch and grow your own underwater dragon world! Little Live Aqua Dragons are cute and amazing tiny dragon sea creatures that hatch, live and thrive! The Aqua Dragons Deep Sea Habitat Tank is a special aquarium a light to make your tiny... Edit: Ooh! I could grow some little live aqua dragons! ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/78 "2022-06-02T19:42:18Z")
Grow Your Own \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ kits: [https://www.thisiswhyimbroke.com/grow-your-own-escargot-kit/](https://www.thisiswhyimbroke.com/grow-your-own-escargot-kit/) Of particular interest are the fake weed, the hairy beaver, and the Grow a Pair of Balls kits. This must be the new comic books ads. ---
**Author:** ![Tarataratara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tarataratara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarataratara)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/79 "2022-06-02T19:43:48Z")
I see a crystal growing kit. Those never worked for me. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505/80 "2022-06-02T20:16:03Z")
> [@Tarataratara](#): > > got excited when I saw this grown your own prehistoric sea creatures kit. Brine shrimp again. No, it isn’t. > **[Triops Vs Sea Monkeys](https://redpox1st.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/triops-vs-sea-monkeys/)** > > Which is the best “Instant Pet” ? Through the century’s mankind has searched for that ever elusive holy grail of pets which is a cool pet that requires minimal maintenance and won… > **[How to care for Triops? The Ultimate Guide - My Triops](https://mytriops.com/how-to-care-for-triops/)** > > This document was largely put together from extrapolating information in scientific journals regarding triops biology and rearing them in laboratory [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-buy-anything-from-those-old-70s-era-comic-book-ads/965505.md?page=5)