Buster Brown Goes to Mars (1958)

 

This comic is a promotional comic from Buster Brown shoes. If you went into a shoe store and tried on Buster Brown shoes you would get a comic book with the name of the store stamped/printed on it. Buster Brown  (and his dog Tige) were a feature of 1950s and 1960s shoe store. In this case Buster goes to Mars and tames a space dog. But of course the adult at home doesn't believe him even though the Martians gave him a medal.

Buster Brown Goes to Mars. (Promotional comic from Buster Brown Shoe Company.) NY: Western Publishing. (16 p.) 1958. 

Buster gets to see the Dark Side of the Moon (years before Pink Floyd)

Captain Ray-O-Vac’s Adventure and Game Book (1952)

 

Sorry for the sporadic postings, I should have some lined up for the next couple of months.  Mostly there will be comic book premiums and punch out books.

To start how about "Flashlights in Space...!" This was a comic premium from Ray-O-Vac batteries company. There was not much story except how their flashlight help defeat the bad guy and get them safely back to Earth. I do enjoy the flashlight shaped rocket ship.

Captain Ray-O-Vac’s Adventure and Game Book. (Promotional comic from Ray-O-Vac Company Flashlights and Batteries.) NY: Western Publishing. (14 p.) 1952. 

A Trip Through Space with Elsie the Cow (1957)

 

This was a promotional comic from Borden's dairy staring their mascot Elsie the Cow. It contains 16 pages of "Space-Fun, Games, Puzzles, Cut-Outs." Their is not much story but it was illustrated well. I choose to included the whole comic for your pleasure.

A Trip Through Space with Elsie the Cow. (Borden promotional comic) The Borden Co. 16 pg. 1957.

Outer Space (1953)

 

An oldie from 15 years ago (The last time I blogged about this one). I found my copy of this and was able to add a lot more scans of this early space treasure.  Outer Space was evidently a give-away comic book at Atlantic Richfield gas stations. For those of you who did not know, often in the 1950s and 1960s when you got a tank of gas there were promotional giveaways. They could be comics, books, dishes, antennae balls...etc.

This is a treasury of early space flight illustrations and I assume few have seen this. So I have tried to scan as much of the comic as I could. A lot of it seems to have been "borrowed" or influenced by the March 22, 1952 Collier's issue.

Atlantic Richfield. Outer Space. New York: Vital Publications. (15 p.) 1953.

Can you imagine? A rocket could cost more than 4 million dollars! And be more than 300 ft high.

Triumph Over Space (1951)

Triumph Over Space is a lie!

Well actually it is a 1951 promotional comic book but it has very little to do with space flight. It turns out it is from Kaiser-Frazer Motor Company promoting their new car. Since space flight was the "in" thing they frame the story of the car around a Martian coming to Earth.

 So it does start the story off on Mars....

 But you do feel a little cheated (as a child of the time might have) that is is about the new Kaiser car.

 "The 1951 Kaiser is truly a triumph over space!"