Ad-Ventures, Not ADventures

As you may know, we occasionally run ADventures - comic strips made as advertisements like Volto, "Pepsi" the Pepsi-Cola Cop, and "RC" and Quickie.

A little over 80 years back, Rafael Astarita decided to reverse the formula and make comics with pre-existing advertising figures. He called these Ad-Ventures, and they ran in Star Comics for a bit starting in 1937. It didn't last too long - only 8 episodes total. We've got 7 of them here today...

Before we continue, let's answer the most obvious WTF? that may be on the minds of some readers...

...the Gold Dust Twins sold laundry detergent. Search hard, and you might find some images with one of them scrubbed so clean he turned white. 

Now you know, and we continue...

Oops.
I'm missing issue #8 - so we must skip one.
On to the final strip from Star Comics #9 -

 Of course, these days he'd be sued out of business over Intellectual Property rights.

page art by Rafael Astarita from Star Comics #s 2-7 & 9 (1937, 1938)

Bosun Narrows?

While we're rummaging through those very early days of comic books, let's jump over to Star Comics for another odd little strip from Dick Ryan. It's 1937, and creators are still trying to get a handle on what to do with these new comic thingies.

I must admit, i feel like there's a reference, humorous or otherwise, that i'm missing for the title of this strip. The closest i get is an oblique Slings and Arrows reference, while i suspect topical wordplay is more likely here.

But, in the words of the Peter, i digress...

"Bows An' Arrows" (and variant spellings) premiered in the first issue of Star Comics and appeared in every issue for about a year. After that, it popped up now and again in titles like Carnival Comics and Jest  Comics for a total of 19 strips, if my count is complete.

Let's look at some from that first year -

For me, it feels almost like the comic book equivalent of Vaudeville. Sometimes simple and even silly, yet there's a raw purity to it that appeals. And it can be a lot of fun digging through those old comics simply because they hadn't figured out the rules yet, so anything and everything was possible.

Let's stick with Dick and revisit yesterday's tribe of Outsiders - the Missing Links - and their views of our society...

Of course, these days the question might more aptly be "Why Did You Bring America HERE?!"

page art by Dick Ryan from Star Comics #s 1-3, 5-7, & 9 and Funny Pages #s 22, 23, & 31 (1937, 1938, 1939)