Mail-Order Mysteries: Real Stuff from Old Comic Book Ads

I IMAGINED: A cool collection of pictures and descriptions of assorted novelty items that were heavily advertised in old comic books. THEY SENT: An awesome book featuring page after page of pictures, trivia, and entertaining evaluations of mysterious, suspiciously cheap products that always seemed WAY too good to possibly be true. I fondly remember being fascinated by the ads from mail-order giants Johnson Smith, Fun Factory, etc. which could be found throughout the comic books I was reading back in the late 1970's through the early 1980's. I placed several orders back in the day, so it was a nostalgic treat to see these products included in this book, along with many, many others that I was too wise to get suckered into buying (alright, it was actually because I didn't have enough cash at that young age!) I couldn't stop reading this book! It's very hard to put down; I found myself wanting to keep turning pages to see what was next (Sea-Monkeys? Hypno-Coins? Secret Martial Arts lessons? They're all here!). I recall the same ratio of occasional gems amidst a sea of rip-offs as the author finds. In fact, it's a bit odd to feel such nostalgia about companies whose business model largely seemed to be finding ways to cheat naive children out of their allowances. I guess you could argue that it was a relatively inexpensive way for kids to learn about becoming more cautious consumers... it taught them to be wary of something that seemed too good to be true (an important life lesson that many adults have yet to learn). However, as the book notes, there were some really fun items available for low, low prices (plate lifters! magic tricks!). In fact, part of the excitement of the whole experience was the mystery... what would you actually get? How would it compare to the description, and would it actually work? For a few bucks, you'd have your answer (in four to six weeks, of course!) CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: I recommend this book to anyone who remembers these novelty advertisements, or is just curious about the merchandise they offered. "Mail-Order Mysteries" throws new light on a mysterious collection of goodies (and if you throw some light on the book's cover for a few moments, it even glows in the dark.) Unlike many of my purchases from the aforementioned novelty houses, this book was even better than I dared imagine!

For those of us of a certain age, this book will fill you with nostalgia. Kids growing up in the '60s, '70s and '80s would remember those fascinating ads found within the pages of our comic books; items like X-Ray Specs, ventriloquist dummies, dog whistles, onion-flavored gag gum, Sea-Monkeys and Hypno Coins were pitched to us, using crude line drawings and making grandiose claims about their wares. "Send us $1.50 in the mail and in 4 to 6 weeks from now you'll have a pair of plastic X-Ray glasses that will enable you to see under women's clothing!" Well, maybe they didn't actually come out and say that, but it was heavily implied. I guess that was part of the fun, though; you never really knew what you were actually getting. As for me, I'd pour over the ads with enthusiasm, ready to believe in them, my youthful imagination clearly stoked. Truth be told, I never sent away for any of these items. I would have liked to, but I had very little pocket money as a kid and my Mom was always quick to point out these items were a "rip-off" anyway. I suspected she was probably right, but that didn't stop me from being intrigued by them. Who WOULDN'T want a 7 foot tall Frankenstein monster with glowing eyes?! (Spoiler: They sent you a big poster.) Who WOULDN'T want a Polaris Nuclear Sub that seats two kids, has rockets that fire and a real periscope for only $7.98?! (Spoiler: They sent you a bunch of cardboard that you'd have to assemble into something vaguely resembling a sub.) Childhood me would have been pretty devastated if I spent my money on this junk, but the adult me loves having my many questions about these mysterious items finally answered after several decades. We all saw the ads, but what did you REALLY get when you sent your money to these novelty companies? At long last, I have the answers and most of them are every bit as underwhelming as my Mom told me they would be. I definitely recommend picking this book up if you get a chance. People my age and older should appreciate the nostalgia for this era that has sadly passed, but don't worry, you can still get scammed by misleading ads these days too, thanks to the likes of Wish and Temu. Also... and I can't stress this enough... they gave the book a glow in the dark cover! How cool is that?!

Comics-reading kids of a certain age wasted away many an idle afternoon and/or rainy Saturday with friends, passing around the latest issues of their favorite 4-color heroes and wondering - often aloud to one another - just how amazingly cool (or unbelievably dumb) the junk in those goofy, weird, wonderfully tempting splashy ad pages in the back of those comic books might be. If you were one of those kids, then MAIL-ORDER MYSTERIES will have you INSTANTLY time-tripping back to those cherished days of your misspent youth. Regrettably (or happily I suppose?), I never actually ponied up my tiny allowance to purchase any of those cleverly mis-advertised baubles... but I willingly confess to spending many an hour reading and re-reading those funtastic ads, wondering... wondering... This terrific must-own book solves the mouth-watering mysteries of most of those mail-order enigmas from the good old days, most with head-shaking, hope-deflating, bittersweet "I just KNEW it was a gyp!" moments. LOL. Seriously, this has to be one of the most fun and interesting books I've gotten my hands on in YEARS. What I wouldn't have given to have had this back then. I would have been a genuine Criswell jr.! MAIL-ORDER MYSTERIES is the real-world comicbook equivalent of Marty McFly's Sports Almanac! If you even pondered taking a chance and plunking down your hard-earned allowance on such mysteries as "7ft monsters YOU control" or your very own "Polaris Submarine" or those quintessentially perverted girl-peeping x-ray gogs, then you simply gotta buy this book. It will instantly become a touchstone tome, eagerly passed between you and your old grade school chums. Unlike those perplexing too-good-to-be-true items taunting you from the dusty backpages of Marvel & DC (and Harvey, and Charlton, etc.) comics, this book, MAIL-ORDER MYSTERIES, is absolutely worth... Every. Single. Penny.

Having read comic books from the late sixties to the late seventies, I saw almost every one of the items reviewed by this great book and wondered more than once how great it would be to have a remote-controlled ghost or a footlocker full of a hundred soldiers and their vehicles. However, even a few dollars were hard to come by in my family and I never ordered any of these seemingly great toys or gags. But, I still wondered over the years about them and how cool they all seemed. This book answers all of my questions and reassures me that I saved my money. The author reviews each product with the following structure: what the ad promised, what the reader expected, and what the reader actually received. It turns out that the remote-controlled ghost was merely paper on a string that you had to swing around your head and the army soldiers were extremely thin and short so they could fit into a tiny foot locker. In fact most of the stuff for sale turned out to be junk (my parents were right), but this book delivers on its promise: it has great reproductions of ads for several dozen products as well as pictures and reviews of the actual products. I can't say how much I really enjoyed having my curiosity satisfied at last. If you read comic books during the 1940s-1990s, I think this book will bring back fond memories for you.

The book is well-illustrated with quality bounding. This is something that would look very nice on the coffee table and would spark some interesting conversation. However I was a bit disappointed with the amount of info in the book. Would've been nice to have had a round-a-bout date as to when these ads were in circulation. Also some background info(if possible) on the manufacturers of these quirky items would've been appreciated. But all in all this is still a cool book with some interesting nostalgia.

A cynical friend who received an allowance from his parents, and was able to buy some of the stuff advertised in the back of the comic books, warned me that the "200 lb Test Fiberboard" the "Polaris Submarine" was made from, actually meant "a cardboard box". I didn't have $6.95 when I was in the 4th grade, so there was no chance I would ever learn that costly lesson on my own. If only I could turn back time! "Mail Order Mysteries" includes the only known photograph of the actual submarine extant. What would this piece of nostalgia bring 50 years + "four to six weeks" later? Dennis was also kind enough to warn me about the "X-Ray Specs" (a fly's wing embedded in plastic to simulate the bones in your hand if you stared hard enough). By the time I reached high school and was earning a few dollars in the evenings, I was at last able to indulge in an occasional purchase from the legendary Johnson Smith catalog. Soon I was walking the halls to the "click-click" of a tin-toy pedometer, listening to the ear-piercing screech of the not so "silent" dog whistle (the dog never even lifted his ear, but every human in the house could hear it from upstairs to basement), and trying to figure out how to open the "mystery" pocket knife. My dreams of building a racing car were quickly dashed when the mail-order instructions started out "Go to your neighborhood junkyard and pick up a Model A Ford chassis". By the 1970's, the antique car collectors had long since snatched up those relics. As I thumbed through the pages of Kirk's wonderful book I was amazed at just how much of this stuff I did own at one time, or remembered seeing at friend's houses. I don't think today's kids will ever experience the excitement of waiting for treasures in the mail the way my generation did. On the other hand, there is always "amazon.com", a one-click, and then sit back and wait in pleasant anticipation for a book like "Mail Order Mysteries" to show up.

The book is in sections. Super Powers and Special Abilities, War Zone, House of Horrors, High Finance, Better Living Through Mail Order, Top Secret, Trickery and Oddities.In each, the ads from cartoon books are reproduced and there is commentary on what a customer REALLY gets. I will just focus on a few. Superpowers and Special Abilities covers Aqua-Spex, Hypno-spex, Hypno-coin, etc and also in this section are ads for jiu-jitsu, ketsugo, and other combat styles plus muscle building programs such as the one ran by Charles Atlas. The War Zone section includes little plastic figures such as "132 Roman Soldiers", "204 Revolutionary War Soldiers," "104 King's Knights," "100 Toy Pirates" with color photos of sample figures. The 100 Little Dolls collection is in this section for some reason. The House of Horrors is where to find the Monster Size Monsters (a green Frankenstein's monster and Boney the Skeleton), Monster Ghost, 7 Foot Life Size Ghost, Life Size Moon Monster, How to Draw Monsters, 7 Gigantic Dinosaurs, Genuine Soil from Dracula's Castle, horror records, rubber masks, vampire bat and other goodies, and there are photos of what one really gets. Overall, a fun book.

As a kid, I ordered plenty of this stuff. My older Brother was a comic book fan, and when I got my hands on his comics these pages were the first place I would go. This book hits all the popular offerings. If you were from that era you will immediately recognize the ads. For each item the author documents what the typical expectations were for the buyer and contrasts them with what they actually ended up sending you. Some hits and some misses. For some of the items you may have ordered as a child, you may or may not agree with the author's assessment. For example, for me I *Loved* the 'Monster Ghost' and yes, even though just a Spooky looking balloon, glowing eye decals, big sheet of plastic, and some fishing twine, I had great fun with it in our dark basement and actually ordered it 3 times during my young life. It was great for me to see what I would have actually gotten for items I recall reading about, and in some cases, desperately wanted but never were able to get. The 'Submarine big enough for two with a missile launcher and periscope' was one such item for me. If you ever dreamed of ordering from these pages or actually did, this book will bring back some great memories and it is well worth the purchase price. They also did an extremely creative thing with the outside cover that I only discovered by accident after dosing the lights after a nights reading. Just another bonus from an extremely enjoyable book!

Bought this out of interest. Excellent new condition upon arrival and delivery was prompt. No problems and its good for laughs. Definitely recommend it.

Ich legte mir vor einigen Jahren mehrere Hundert Groschenromane zu, auf Flohmärkten usw.- Flash Gordon, Horrorgeschichten usw. keines davon las ich, ich wollte nur die Anzeigen gucken, die es hinten in solchen Heftchen immer gab. Bestellt habe ich nie irgendetwas davon. Dieses Buch versammelt nicht nur solche Anzeigen aus amerikanischen Heftchen und Comics, sondern auch gleich noch Bilder und Beschreibungen der dort angebotenen Gadgets, Gimmiks und Spielzeuge. Immer schon wollte ich wissen ob und wie die Röntgenbrillen funktionieren- dieses Buch erklärt es. Es ist ein Riesenspass da reinzulesen, Nostalgie pur für mich. Man bekommt hier ein knallbuntes, liebevoll geschriebenes Bilderbuch voller kleiner Wunderdinge. Und als wäre das nicht schon genug- der Einband leuchtet im Dunkeln. Ich liebe es. Dieses Buch ist bislang mein Highlight des Jahres- besser geht eigentlich nicht. Schon der Blick ins Buch hier bei Amazon ist ein Spass- und zeigt recht gut, was den Käufer erwartet. Wer des Englischen nicht mächtig ist, bekommt leider die sarkastisch- ironischen Beschreibungen nicht mit, aber auch als Bildband taugt das Ganze schon. Für kleines Geld bekommt man hier ein Buch voller kleiner Wunder in passendem Layout, aufwändig farbig gedruckt und gebunden. Unbedingt kaufen. Hier gefiel mir einfach mal alles, Thema, Stil, Aufmachung, Verarbeitung, Preis. Toll!

Just ordered this - am in a fever of anticipation....ironic perhaps ? As a kid in the sixties I was thrilled by Ditko, Kirby and even some D.C. titles - comics were a fantastic escape into colour from the sepia smog of late sixties into early seventies. I used to envy the American kids who had easy access to these epics, and also to saturday morning cartoons..and..and these - Charles Atlas muscles and sea monkeys, an ant farm, or X-ray spex, boxes of soldiers and ..and...this book will be a thrill and a buzz...and yet.. as burnt-out adult in the middle aged dregs of disillusion and the first intimations of despair...to see what these ads actually really meant...a loss of nostalgic innocence...and here I am...anticipating with mounting excitement the wonders this book will reveal.. delightful treasures, but be careful what you wish for

Un libro bellissimo per chi, come me, è attirato da trucchi, magie, attrezzi curiosi e insoliti. Veste tipografica eccellente

少年時代のワクワク感を、思い出しました。内容も濃いのでとても楽しめました。お薦めです。