Thirsty ADventures

Last time we looked at some ADventures, it was for "R.C." and Quickie. As i mentioned then, back when i drank soda my preference was for RC or Pepsi. So, i guess this time we should look at "Pepsi" the Pepsi-Cola Cop, eh?

I was actually surprised when i went gathering strips for this feature. Out of well over 100 appearances, there seem to be only 5 actual strips being repeated over and over. On the plus side, that makes them rather easy to collect and display -

Where it gets oddly interesting is back at the beginning. There were three more adverts that ran only once each and were seemingly never repeated. As a purely guesswork answer as to why, i'd suspect it has something to do with the artist on that first trio of ads - the legendary Rube Goldberg! He was already a popular media presence, and his contract may have granted him more remuneration that Pepsi wanted to spend?

No real clue, but here are those first three from 1942 -

Now i'm thirsty...

page art by Rube Goldberg and Graham Hunter for many titles (1942-1947)

Choose Your Own Introduction #01

Introduction 01:

When i was a child, my parents decided to put the family on a diet. We were in the first batch of adopters of the zero-carb diet - the horrors of no bread or pizza! (They tried a meatloaf crusted 'meatza', but it wasn't the same)

At any rate, during that time they switched over to Shasta diet sodas - a nasty little chemical concoction in a can. By the time we lived through that phase, something had changed. I thought that those nasty little sodas had destroyed my taste buds, but actually the soda manufacturers had dropped sugar for high fructose corn syrup during the interim. It wasn't until decades later drinking 'Real' Pepsi in Mexico that i figured out what had happened.

That formula change made Coca Cola undrinkable for me, giving it a cigarette ash aftertaste mixed with the chemical bite. We were living in the state of Georgia at the time - Coke Was It. Pepsi existed, but one had to forage independently for it. Eateries served Coke.

Not too many years later, we moved cross country to California. Not only was Pepsi aplenty, but there was a Royal Crown bottling plant in our new home town! To my taste buds, Pepsi and RC were fairly equivalent and both superior to all competitors i had sampled.

Now i had two favorite sodas with my preference leaning back and forth between them. RC was the outsider, so closer to my heart - but Pepsi had that nice tooled leather holster for my can.

How is one supposed to decide between the two?

Well, i know what the stars say...

...but with whom are they agreeing?

***

Introduction 02:

There is an odd category tucked into Un-Comics.

As regular readers know, Un-Comics is what we call comics that appear outside of comics, usually in magazines or books. Sometimes in boxes of breakfast pastries or cereal or packaged with a toy. Et cetera.

Today we're looking at Un-Comics that appeared in comic books. A contradiction? Well, yeah, but... there is a reasonable rationale here.
They're comics, but they were advertisements and so, in a sense, not part of the 'comic' itself. Some of them featured regular characters with ongoing adventures that lasted for years. There was a trend toward using comics to advertise in comics, and many followed the fad.

Let's look at the Adventures of "R.C." and Quickie for an example. I've spent the last couple days digging through comics during the time period these adverts ran - from 1944 to 1951 - and i've found most, if not all, of them. Two dozen one page ADventures -

 They must have really liked that one...

Now i suppose i'm going to have to start collecting "Pepsi" the Pepsi-Cola Cop, Volto, Tootsie, "U.S." Royal, Thom McAn, and some of those other ADventures...

ads from various issues of Sensation Comics, Flash Comics, Action, Adventure, Captain Midnight, Boy Commandos, Mary Marvel, Funny Stuff, Real Fact Comics, Hopalong Cassidy, Ozzie and Babs, Strange Adventures and Fawcett's Funny Animals (but they were lots of other places, too) (1944-1951)

Drink To Me Only With Kooba

I have expressed previously my great preference for original old comics over reprints, despite improvements in printing technology. One very prominent reason for that is the advertisements. They turn old comics into time capsules, capturing little bits of life that are often long forgotten.

For example, do you remember "America's Favorite Cola Drink with Vitamin B1" - Kooba Cola?

Not seeming familiar?
They even had big contests and prizes...

...and in a particularly cool move, they gave out free sodas via coupons in the comics. (Yep, one more reason to not be able to find those old books in good shape)

There was, however, one particularly Odd bit about Kooba Cola - 

It didn't exist.

See that note at the bottom of the ad above?
"If your Dealer happens to be out of KOOBA or has yet to be supplied, mail the coupon..."

The entire campaign was an attempt by Victor Fox (from whom Fox comics get their name) to create a demand for Kooba Cola, which he would then license to a soda manufacturer using the pre-existing demand to gain favorable contract conditions. Kooba may have been derived from Cuba, where Fox had sugar interests - likely tying into a further profit angle for the whole scheme. 

Had it worked out, folks would have called him genius. Instead, he just lost a lot of advertising dollars and effort, but avoided losing much greater capital investments in an actual product.

The biggest victim of the plan, besides his advertising department?

Possibly the Blue Beetle. Kooba Cola was a sponsor of his radio show - in the scripts, at least. But a sponsor that paid no advertising rate. That had to hurt. I've seen it said that caused the show to go off the air after only a few months, but also have seen reference to the show lasting for 3 years or more, broadcasting from WMCA in New York City. I'll let someone who knows radio better sort that one out.

A little bonus - as long as we're doing adverts today anyway, let's close with a sampling from the Blue Beetle radio show -

ads from issues of Mystery Men, Rex Dexter and Wonderworld Comics (1940)

(Don't) Send In This Coupon Today!

A lot of readers passing through here tend to see most all of the superhero movies released every year.

So, you all saw this one that came out in late 2018, right?

Solid arguments could be made that they handled the basic idea (localized) better than John Cleese & John Byrne. That ain't bad, all by itself. But they added their own unique spin, too.

But, we'll get to that.

As mentioned (probably too often), i'm still getting my brain back up and running around here. That being the case, i've yet to start getting ahead on the posting queue. Today was my excursion out of the cave to visit the med techs. No longer down the hill - they opened up a location outside the city limits so it's right close by. Close enough to walk, assuming the nerve damage in the feet is being nice. (Spoiler: It was)

Back to the cave now, but fair wiped as is often the case after the trek.

Those of you who enjoy doing the math likely already realize there's no real post today. Just that teaser above, a bit of ramble in the middle, and an odd little bit at the end.

What magazine do you suppose Captain Marvel (Shazam, not Kree) enjoys reading in his down time?

...

Thinking about it?

Trickier question once we factor in Billy Batson and mix with the Wisdom Of Solomon and his being in adult form while reading, as implied by the phrasing of the question.

Got an answer?

I'm guessing you picked wrong...

ad page from Rocket Kelly #2 (1945)