{"id":3722,"date":"2011-08-29T04:44:25","date_gmt":"2011-08-29T09:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/?p=3722"},"modified":"2023-02-25T09:49:33","modified_gmt":"2023-02-25T14:49:33","slug":"what-i-miss-about-comicsbecome-the-deadliest-man-in-the-world-by-mail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2011\/08\/29\/what-i-miss-about-comicsbecome-the-deadliest-man-in-the-world-by-mail\/","title":{"rendered":"What I Miss About Comics Martial Arts Lessons on 12″ Long Playing Records"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Learning the martial arts and becoming a Master of Men<\/strong> was within your grasp thanks to a correspondence course and a long playing 12″ 33 1\/3 RPM instructional record which could be had for unbelievable price of 16\u00a2 a lesson!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I wonder if students taking the course had the problem of the record skipping due to all of the jumping and flying kicks.<\/p>\n

I like this illustration which is only a small portion of the full page ad. It looks like a real comic pro did it. The gal in the mini–dress looked like she was copied from John Romita work. She could be Gwen Stacy’s sister. The guy with the club and the skull jacket sort of looks like a John Byrne drawing. It’s a guess on my part.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This was from Giant-Size Fantastic Four No 4<\/strong> which came out in 1975. Right off of the bat, do you notice something wrong with the cover?<\/em>\"\"<\/a>Where’s the Invisible Girl?<\/strong> No<\/strong>, that’s not what I was getting at.
\nWhat’s with Johnny Storm’s<\/strong> red outfit? I always wondered about this myself. I had just started reading Fantastic Four and never knew, but that’s also not what I was alluding to.
\nNotice Ben Grimm’s<\/strong> hand?
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Four fingers!<\/strong> Where the hell is my No-Prize?!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

My other problem with the cover is that the newsstand’s owner had a penchant for marking up the comics with a grease pencil. He was old as the hills, and I guess his eyesight was failing him. He’d circle the prices so he could more easily spot them. I was horrified! Didn’t he realize that he was destroying the value of a potentially priceless artifact? Of course, I didn’t take a whole lot of care of it in the past 36 years.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I usually bought my comics from Davis Drug, but if they were out of a title, I was forced to go across the street to the grease pencil guy in the newsstand. It’s funny to think of it now. There were 2 places to buy comics in a small town in New Jersey in the 1970s. The mind boggles!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learning the martial arts and becoming a Master of Men was within your grasp thanks to a correspondence course and a long playing 12″ 33 1\/3 RPM instructional record which could be had for unbelievable price of 16\u00a2 a lesson! … 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_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[31,120,26,335],"tags":[233,556,264,681,312,9,374,675,677,678,679,308,122,676,680,225],"class_list":["post-3722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blast-from-the-past","category-curious-clutter","category-stuff-joe-likes","category-what-i-miss-about-comics","tag-1970s","tag-556","tag-264","tag-68-page-giant","tag-comic","tag-comics","tag-correspondence-course","tag-fantastic-four","tag-karate","tag-kung-fu","tag-martial-arts","tag-marvel","tag-new-jersey","tag-newsstand","tag-record","tag-vinyl"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1ed1x-Y2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41584,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2023\/09\/27\/a-james-bond-bait-and-switch\/","url_meta":{"origin":3722,"position":0},"title":"A James Bond Bait and Switch","author":"Joe","date":"September 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I remember seeing this issue of The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu back in 1975 sitting on a shelf among lurid detective magazines and other black and white comics like Creepy and Eerie at Davis Drug in Westville, NJ. I was never a fan of Marvel's line of martial arts\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\/2023\/09\/Deadly-Hands-007.jpg?fit=575%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Deadly-Hands-007.jpg?fit=575%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Deadly-Hands-007.jpg?fit=575%2C750&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35354,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2020\/11\/21\/peace-through-superior-firepower\/","url_meta":{"origin":3722,"position":1},"title":"Peace Through Superior Firepower","author":"Joe","date":"November 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"So for a $1.98, am I protecting myself and my loved ones with steely fists or a board I can carry anywhere? I saw this tiny advertisement which I have enlarged in issue #186 of The Incredible Hulk published by Marvel Comics in 1975. Comics were printed quickly, and --\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\/2020\/11\/Peace_Power.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Peace_Power.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Peace_Power.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8561,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2012\/06\/25\/the-last-thing-i-remember\/","url_meta":{"origin":3722,"position":2},"title":"The Last Thing I Remember…","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"June 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"...was laughing hysterically at this guy's hair-do. Besides ads for practical jokes and opportunities to get paid in cash or prizes for selling newspapers\/greeting cards\/seeds, a lot of ads in comic books were aimed squarely at the 98lb weakling tapping into adolescent power fantasies and the possibility of becoming so\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\/2012\/06\/Count-Dante.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Count-Dante.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Count-Dante.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12574,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2013\/04\/08\/chicks-dig-locksmiths\/","url_meta":{"origin":3722,"position":3},"title":"Chicks Dig Locksmiths","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"April 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Am I the only one getting a Ted Bundy vibe from the fellow featured in this ad? The happy locksmith appeared in one of many home correspondence course ads that appeared in comics for decades and seemed to dry up some time during the 1980s. I often wonder about these\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\/2013\/04\/Omega-8-1977.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2777,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2011\/05\/16\/that-johnny-paycheck-moment\/","url_meta":{"origin":3722,"position":4},"title":"What I Miss About Comics – That Johnny PayCheck Moment","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"May 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Having a bad day, Bunky? Well, fortunately for you that comic book that you brought to accompany your liverwurst sandwich and bottle of Faygo orange soda on your lunch break may hold the solution to all of your problems! Along with the instructions as to how to become a man\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/paycheck.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/paycheck.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/paycheck.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":40739,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2023\/06\/08\/look-whats-happening\/","url_meta":{"origin":3722,"position":5},"title":"LOOK WHAT’S HAPPENING","author":"Joe","date":"June 8, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"LOOK WHAT'S HAPPENING to this iron-thewed titan on the beaches of California that's NOT HAPPENING TO YOU as you leaf through a comic-book at your dead-end job as a gas jockey. Don't FORGET the windshield, genius! Ah, if only... Back when comics were printed on newsprint and sold for pocket\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\/2023\/06\/LOOK-WHATS-HAPPENING-DETAIL.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/LOOK-WHATS-HAPPENING-DETAIL.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/LOOK-WHATS-HAPPENING-DETAIL.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\/3722","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=3722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}