Blasts from comics’ past: Gold Key’s Dark Shadows #3, dated November 1969, with a photo cover; Dell’s Four Color Comics #510 from 1953, art by Sam Savitt; and, the only one I own a reprint of, Amazing Spider-Man #11, dated April 1964, with art of course by Steve Ditko.
Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:
It’s that time again! The Indiana State Fair is an annual celebration of Hoosier pride, farming, food, and 4-H, with amusement park rides, cooking demos, concerts by musicians either nearly or formerly popular, and farm animals competing for cash prizes without their knowledge. My wife Anne and I attend each year as a date-day to seek new forms of creativity and imagination within a local context…
One of the fair’s regular features is the antiques competition, displayed on the second floor of the Indiana Arts Building. I’ve never understood how it works, as there’s no “roadshow” involved per se. Step One: contestants bring in ancient items they unearthed somewhere. Step Three: prize ribbons are placed next to some of them. Nothing on display anywhere in the building explains Step Two. IYKYK, I suppose.
Regardless, amid the old cutlery and ’50s baby dolls and grandparents’ clothing, a few items with historical value and/or pop culture cachet will catch our attention. We congratulate the winners of this year’s Antiques We Looked At for More Than Three Seconds Contest, sponsored by Wacky Products, Inc., the makers of Happy Fun Ball™!
When we were kids, “antique” meant “things made in previous centuries”. Anything with a Founding Father on it was probably an antique.
Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower were famous before I was born. Ergo, antique.
Lincoln is even older than the Eisenhowers. Totally antique. And yet both plates hail from eras when eating dinner off an American President’s face was commonplace. Can you imagine doing that with any 21st-century President?
Naturally my eyes focused on every old comic I walked past…
Rex Allen #2, Dell, August 1951, photo cover; Four Color Comics #1290, Dell, March 1962, Tom and Jerry art by Harvey Eisenberg; and Sad Sack and the Sarge #14, Harvey, August 1959, art by creator George Baker.
I’d never heard of Rex Allen before this encounter and had to look him up just now. He was a ’50s singing cowboy who narrated the 1973 animated adaptation of Charlotte’s Web, and was one of many white people who tried to score a hit single by covering Don Ho’s “Tiny Bubbles”.
And no, that Sad Sack and the Sarge cover hasn’t aged well.
I Love Lucy #3, Dell, July 1954, photo cover; Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #78, Gold Key, 1963, art by George Wilson; Fantastic Four #243, Marvel, June 1982, art by John Byrne; and Little Iodine #29, Dell, July 1955, art by Jimmy Hatlo.
I was ten years old when that FF issue was released. I still have it and the rest of Byrne’s run, including annuals. IT IS NOT AN ANTIQUE. THIS ENTIRE COMPETITION IS A SHAM. I DEMAND TO SPEAK TO THE ANTIQUES MANAGER. I AM WOUNDED, GOOD SIR OR MADAM.
From the dark age of 1913 come the Bobbsey Twins, who were recently, radically reimagined (I Am Not Making This Up) in several episodes of The CW’s Nancy Drew.
Everyone loves old vinyl! Here, have some:
I know nothing about Connie Francis or her 1960 album, but my mom used to have that 1973 Dick Clark collection.
The Rolling Stones’ 1971 classic Sticky Fingers, with the real zipper on the cover intact.
I’ve never followed Elton John closely, but his 1975 album cover still leaps off the shelf.
Frankie Yankovic is no relation to who you’d think he’d be related to, nor is it true that they’re doing a biopic of him starring Rupert Grint.
To be concluded! Other chapters in this special MCC miniseries:
Part 1: Our Year in Food
Part 2: The Year in Food Art
Part 3: The Year of Basketball
Part 4: The Year in Lego
Part 5: The Year in Art, 3-D Division
Part 6: The Year in Art, 2-D Division
Part 7: The Year in Animals
Part 9: The Year in Miscellany
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