{"id":2625,"date":"2011-05-02T04:44:31","date_gmt":"2011-05-02T09:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/?p=2625"},"modified":"2019-11-25T16:48:30","modified_gmt":"2019-11-25T21:48:30","slug":"what-i-miss-about-comicsmonster-s-i-z-e-monsters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2011\/05\/02\/what-i-miss-about-comicsmonster-s-i-z-e-monsters\/","title":{"rendered":"What I Miss About Comics…MONSTER S-I-Z-E MONSTERS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I miss the lurid ads with the offers that were too good to be true. If Mom came through with that check or money order, would you have really received a 7 foot tall monster-sized monster that would have impressed the crap out of all the kids and made you the undisputed king of grade school?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

N0. Mom had more sense than you did. That’s why she was Mom.<\/em><\/p>\n

This was from Charlton Comics All New Fightin’ Marines <\/em><\/strong>No. 116 from 1973-74.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>I love Charlton Comics.<\/strong> I wish they were still around. They were wonderfully low rent compared to the Big Two. <\/em>They did all sorts of comics – war, Western, funny animal, super-hero, licensed properties – and they did them on the cheap. I remember them in the spinning racks along with Marvel and DC at the drug store. All comics were crap culture at the time, but Charlton was closer to the base of that newsprint totem pole than the other guys. What was refreshing was that Charlton had no self aggrandizing editors-in-chief; no iconic characters that heirs were going to spend a mountain of dough suing people over, and, outside of Steve Ditko,<\/strong> was staffed<\/em> with creators I never heard of.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Check out this weirdly stylized nurse below. It looks like she was cribbed from a pantyhose or feminine hygiene ad from that time. She smiles serenely as this guy recollects the horrors of his battlefield experiences.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

“That’s fascinating, Lieutenant. Now make me a B.M., and you can get out of here.”<\/p><\/div>\n

Charlton was headquartered in Derby, Connecticut and they did their own printing. According to stories I’ve read, the comics were printed on a second-hand press that was previously used to print cereal boxes. From the look of some of the comics, they must have printed a lot<\/em> of cereal boxes before they started printing comics and magazines.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

I loved how they would get a little sloppy with the printing registration. This guy’s blue eyes have turned into eye shadow or process blue bruises. These comics weren’t the cream of the crop,<\/em> but they would have to do, and for 20\u00c2\u00a2, they did!
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I miss the lurid ads with the offers that were too good to be true. If Mom came through with that check or money order, would you have really received a 7 foot tall monster-sized monster that would have impressed … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31,120,335],"tags":[253,331,329,9,333,334,332,330],"class_list":["post-2625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blast-from-the-past","category-curious-clutter","category-what-i-miss-about-comics","tag-253","tag-331","tag-charlton","tag-comics","tag-connecticut","tag-derby","tag-marines","tag-spinning-rack"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1ed1x-Gl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2651,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2011\/06\/06\/what-i-miss-about-comicswhats-a-demographic\/","url_meta":{"origin":2625,"position":0},"title":"What I Miss About Comics…What’s a Demographic?","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"June 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not sure why this ad was in an issue of All New Fightin' Marines, but it was. My guess is that the Charlton boys had advertising space to fill and they filled it!","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/uglynails.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/uglynails.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/uglynails.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2650,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2011\/05\/09\/what-i-miss-about-comicsthe-98lb-weakling-epidemic\/","url_meta":{"origin":2625,"position":1},"title":"What I Miss About Comics…The 98lb Weakling Epidemic","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"May 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't think First Lady Pat Nixon fretted about this particular plague at the time. This is also from Charlton's All New Fightin' Marines No. 116 which has been a positive treasure trove for these terrific ads!","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/gain-weight.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/gain-weight.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/gain-weight.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4714,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2011\/10\/17\/vampire-blood\/","url_meta":{"origin":2625,"position":2},"title":"Vampire Blood!","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"October 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"This was sort of a forbidden fruit for kids growing up in the early 1970s. Much like the poisoned Halloween candy stories that have been circulating for decades, I remember a story going around that there was something wrong with the practical joke\/prank product aimed at kids known as Vampire\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What I Miss About Comics"","block_context":{"text":"What I Miss About Comics","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/what-i-miss-about-comics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/vampireblood-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/vampireblood-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/vampireblood-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46437,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2025\/11\/13\/dream-a-little-dream\/","url_meta":{"origin":2625,"position":3},"title":"Dream a Little Dream","author":"Joe","date":"November 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The advertisements in girl comics were always different. Whereas ads in boy's comics appealed to hapless adventurers with home built go-kart kits, antisocial ne'er-do-wells with practical jokes and future glue sniffers who had prurient interests with x-ray spectacles, girl ads were all about self image. They were either about finger\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/crash-diet-det.jpg?fit=640%2C247&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/crash-diet-det.jpg?fit=640%2C247&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/crash-diet-det.jpg?fit=640%2C247&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":38786,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2022\/09\/15\/barbershop-comics\/","url_meta":{"origin":2625,"position":4},"title":"Barbershop Comics","author":"Joe","date":"September 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Some deep cleaning in work turned up a wonderful stack of old comics. I'm not sure who the comics belonged to and nobody currently working there has laid any claim to them. I refer to this odd stack of funny books as The Barbershop Collection. Why The Barbershop Collection? This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Curious Clutter"","block_context":{"text":"Curious Clutter","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/curious-clutter\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Great Gazoo 1975","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52344126190_9e5b738b78_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52344126190_9e5b738b78_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52344126190_9e5b738b78_c.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2885,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2011\/05\/23\/what-i-miss-about-comics-untold-riches\/","url_meta":{"origin":2625,"position":5},"title":"What I Miss About Comics – Untold Riches!","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"May 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Jiminy Cricket on a CRUTCH!!! Would you just look at that fat wad of cash that chubby kid is flashing! Cripes, I'm going to give up my meth lab and get me a paper route! This particular Grit ad was in Charlton's All New Fightin' Marines No. 116 which has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Fat-Wad.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Fat-Wad.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Fat-Wad.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}