{"id":40603,"date":"2023-05-17T07:18:39","date_gmt":"2023-05-17T11:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/?p=40603"},"modified":"2023-05-29T09:20:53","modified_gmt":"2023-05-29T13:20:53","slug":"chasing-the-cool-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2023\/05\/17\/chasing-the-cool-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Chasing the Cool Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"40604\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2023\/05\/17\/chasing-the-cool-kids\/spider-man-has-an-album\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Spider-Man-has-an-album.jpg?fit=640%2C431&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"640,431\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Spider-Man-has-an-album\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Spider-Man-has-an-album.jpg?fit=640%2C431&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-40604\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Spider-Man-has-an-album.jpg?resize=640%2C431&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"431\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Spider-Man-has-an-album.jpg?w=640&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Spider-Man-has-an-album.jpg?resize=300%2C202&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/>Back in the 1970s Marvel Comics was trying to chase an audience beyond the typical comic reader which was comprised chiefly of seven to twelve year old boys. Somebody thought a rock album based on their most popular character would be <em>far out<\/em> and would go a long way towards attracting new, hipper and happening audience to the Mighty Marvel Universe. Comics were sophisticated! They weren&#8217;t just for kids.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>My brother had this album, and while we nearly wore it out listening to it repeatedly, it was bad. The story and John Romita&#8217;s artwork that adorned the album cover and a fold-out spread were great, but the songs were terrible. Professional song writers churned out some ditties and studio musicians played them, but it was sort of cringe inducing like <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/iXcj8dFOd1E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The Osmonds<\/em><\/a>. There was never going to be a world tour or even a Grammy Award. Kids were not going to line up for tickets.<\/p>\n<p>Still, people at Marvel thought the album rocked and tried to chase down the head shop crowd with a huge color spread in this 1973 issue of <em>Creem<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Creem April 1973\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/willceau\/52902613186\/in\/dateposted-public\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52902613186_1f5b3d46ce_z.jpg?resize=492%2C640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Creem April 1973\" width=\"492\" height=\"640\" \/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>I was aware of <em>Creem<\/em>, but I had never seen this particular issue before a friend of mine snagged it from an eBay seller. The layout was beautiful within, but it was another one of those &#8220;<em>comics are really cool and you should read them&#8221;<\/em> articles that are supposed to bring in new readers. Being that comics went for 20\u00a2 back then and could be found on newsstands, it was an easier proposition. Maybe the big spread in <em>Creem<\/em> would bring in a fresh crop of readers!<\/p>\n<p>Judging from the ads in that issue of Creem, it would appear their readers had other concerns.<\/p>\n<div class=\"tiled-gallery type-rectangular tiled-gallery-unresized\" data-original-width=\"640\" data-carousel-extra='{&quot;blog_id&quot;:1,&quot;permalink&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/willceau.com\\\/news\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/17\\\/chasing-the-cool-kids\\\/&quot;,&quot;likes_blog_id&quot;:18162995}' itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageGallery\" > <div class=\"gallery-row\" style=\"width: 640px; height: 520px;\" data-original-width=\"640\" data-original-height=\"520\" > <div class=\"gallery-group images-1\" style=\"width: 281px; height: 520px;\" data-original-width=\"281\" data-original-height=\"520\" > <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-large\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/creem-classified\/\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"277\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"516\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" data-attachment-id=\"40606\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Creem-classified.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"400,745\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Creem-classified\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Creem-classified.jpg?fit=161%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Creem-classified.jpg?fit=400%2C745&#038;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Creem-classified.jpg?w=277&#038;h=516&#038;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Creem-classified.jpg?w=400&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Creem-classified.jpg?resize=161%2C300&amp;ssl=1 161w\" width=\"277\" height=\"516\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"277\" data-original-height=\"516\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"Creem-classified\" alt=\"Creem-classified\" style=\"width: 277px; height: 516px;\" \/> <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <!-- close group --> <div class=\"gallery-group images-1\" style=\"width: 359px; height: 520px;\" data-original-width=\"359\" data-original-height=\"520\" > <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-large\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/a-200\/\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"355\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"516\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" data-attachment-id=\"40607\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/A-200.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"500,728\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"A-200\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/A-200.jpg?fit=206%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/A-200.jpg?fit=500%2C728&#038;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/A-200.jpg?w=355&#038;h=516&#038;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/A-200.jpg?w=500&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/A-200.jpg?resize=206%2C300&amp;ssl=1 206w\" width=\"355\" height=\"516\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"355\" data-original-height=\"516\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"A-200\" alt=\"A-200\" style=\"width: 355px; height: 516px;\" \/> <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <!-- close group --> <\/div> <!-- close row --> <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back in the 1970s Marvel Comics was trying to chase an audience beyond the typical comic reader which was comprised chiefly of seven to twelve year old boys. Somebody thought a rock album based on their most popular character would &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2023\/05\/17\/chasing-the-cool-kids\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40604,"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":[253,17,312,726,9,2895,43,1344,308,643,480],"class_list":["post-40603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blast-from-the-past","category-curious-clutter","category-what-i-miss-about-comics","tag-253","tag-cartoon","tag-comic","tag-comic-book","tag-comics","tag-creem","tag-humor","tag-magazine","tag-marvel","tag-spider-man","tag-usa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Spider-Man-has-an-album.jpg?fit=640%2C431&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1ed1x-ayT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8672,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2012\/07\/02\/lps-or-tapes\/","url_meta":{"origin":40603,"position":0},"title":"LPs or Tapes?","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"July 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Decisions -- decisions! Do you go with the tapes or the LPs? You get the album cover and the inner sleeve with the album, but 8-track tapes are really cool. They're sort of futuristic the way you just push them into a player, and the music plays. If you had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;What I Miss About Comics&quot;","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\/07\/LP-ad-full-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/LP-ad-full-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/LP-ad-full-2.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":40603,"position":1},"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 &quot;What I Miss About Comics&quot;","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":37973,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2022\/06\/22\/what-i-miss-about-comics-perfectly-legitimate-ads\/","url_meta":{"origin":40603,"position":2},"title":"What I Miss About Comics &#8211; Perfectly Legitimate Ads","author":"Joe","date":"June 22, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This along with a number of other classified style advertisements for perfectly legitimate products and services appeared in Marvel Spotlight No. 25 published by Marvel Comics in 1975. It was a comic adaptation of Ray Harryhausen's 1958 fantasy epic The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. My guess is that Marvel was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;What I Miss About Comics&quot;","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\/2022\/06\/AUTHENTIC-LOOKING.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/AUTHENTIC-LOOKING.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/AUTHENTIC-LOOKING.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6705,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2012\/02\/20\/comic-movie\/","url_meta":{"origin":40603,"position":3},"title":"When The Comic Was Better Than The Movie","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"February 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I was leafing through some old comics looking for something that would fit this category when I came across this ad: Gene Colan's recent death had brought about a number of articles and posts in appreciation of the great one's art. Those articles as well as a recent reading of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;What I Miss About Comics&quot;","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\/02\/J2-041.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/J2-041.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/J2-041.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":43541,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2024\/07\/11\/the-frankenstein-monster-in-color\/","url_meta":{"origin":40603,"position":4},"title":"The Frankenstein Monster in COLOR","author":"Joe","date":"July 11, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This panel from The Frankenstein Monster No. 10 published by Marvel in 1974 screamed out to me. I miss traditional comic coloring! It is so much better than the overwrought digital coloring found in modern comics. Art by John Buscema \/ inks by Giacoia and Esposito \/ Color by P.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;What I Miss About Comics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"What I Miss About Comics","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/what-i-miss-about-comics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Panel from Frankenstein Monster No 10","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53846466278_dac245c5d2_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53846466278_dac245c5d2_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53846466278_dac245c5d2_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8126,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2012\/05\/21\/inspiration-ghost-rider\/","url_meta":{"origin":40603,"position":5},"title":"Inspiration for The Ghost Rider?","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"May 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the older and most beloved comics in my collection is a Ghost Rider comic that my older brother bought, read and tossed at me. I was immediately struck by the dynamic cover by the incomparable Gil Kane and intrigued by the flaming skull guy riding a really boss\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;What I Miss About Comics&quot;","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\/05\/Bike-Decals-detail.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40603","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}