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Mail-Order Mysteries: Real Stuff from Old Comic Book Ads?
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X-Ray specs, learn kung-fu in your bedroom, Dynamic tension, Sea monkeys!
This book covers a lot of these ads along with what you actually received if you sent off for the products (crushing disappointment I imagine).
There is a book devoted to this topic: Mail Order Mysteries by Kirk Demarais My wife got it for me for the holidays a couple years ago as I am a bit of a comic book nerd. It's a lot of fun for a walk down memory lane.
There's a book called "Mail Order Mysteries" by Kirk Demarais where he shows what you actually received if you ordered stuff from those old comic book ads. As you would expect, most of it was absolute crap.
o.m.g. I like how they always had these super epic battle depictions in the comic books, with battleships sending their barrage in the distance and a total beach landing and assault in progress, with fortified artillery batteries, etc. They even listed all the cool shit you'd get.
I used to fantasize about setting it all up in my bedroom or something and stage my own D-Day for endless hours of play. I was big into HO-scale trains as a kid (thanks to my dad), so I figured this set had to be somewhere along the same scale... which meant the vehicles, landing craft and battleships would be HUGE! Yet I never ordered it.
I found out decades later that a good friend of mine did order it, and he described them the same way you did. Total womp womp.
There's a really good book out there by Kirk Demarais: Mail-Order Mysteries: Real Stuff From Old Comic Book Ads that totally investigates and debunks a lot of those old toys (including this set, of course).
Yet, in answer to your question if I'd ordered anything? Yes, in 1979 (8 yrs. old). A trick baseball. I put a quarter in an envelope with the little cut-out purchase label and mailed it out. I never received it.
Sea Monkeys do deliver their promise, in the sense the eggs will hatch with little difficulty and the little creatures will show some growth. Yet keeping them alive for more than 4-5 weeks (let alone see them multiply) before algae contamination wipes them out remains a mystery.
There's a full book assessing what you really got from those old novelty ads: https://www.amazon.com.br/Mail-Order-Mysteries-Real-Stuff-Comic/dp/160887026X
The mail-order ads from the the comic books always fascinated me, but as a kid I never had money to order any of the stuff: X-Ray specs, Sea Monkeys, Giant Frankenstein posters, etc, etc.
There is a great book called "Mail Order Mysteries" by Kirk Demarais that shows what you actually received if you ordered this stuff, and (not surprisingly) most of it was a huge rip-off.
For example, here's what the X-Ray Specs actually were - major letdown.
Those ads from the back of the comic books always intrigued me, but (thankfully) I never had extra money to order any of the stuff: X-Ray specs, Sea Monkeys, 100 Plastic Soldiers, Giant Frankenstein posters, etc, etc.
The book "Mail Order Mysteries" by Kirk Demarais shows what you actually received if you ordered this stuff, and (not surprisingly) most of it was a huge rip-off.
For example, here's what the X-Ray Specs actually were - major letdown.
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