The Mighty World of Marvel: Incredible Hulk cover art

Posted on December 30, 2014 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

For me, one of the bonuses in collecting retro advertising is all the interesting and varied comics and magazines I get to flick through. When presented with new materials my first impulse is to train my eyes upon the adverts on offer. After this it’s the turn of whatever other delights are contained within: comic strips, articles, interviews, photos, puzzles, posters, catalogue inserts… and of course the cover itself.

So I was pretty blown away by these Hulk covers from UK’s The Mighty World Of Marvel dating between 1974 and 1978. Featured artists / inkers are Herb Trimpe, Sal Buscema, Pablo Marcos, Tom Palmer, Al Milgrom and Ernie Chan.

1974. Herbe Trimpe.

1976. Herb Trimpe.

1977. Al Milgrom.

1977. Sal Buscema.

1977. Pablo Marcos.

1978. Sal Buscema / Tom Palmer.

1978. Pablo Marcos.

1978. Sal Buscema / Tom Palmer.

1978. Sal Buscema / Ernie Chan.

1978. Pablo Marcos.

New ads: BMX, Monogram, Solido, Corgi, Britains and Matchbox

Posted on December 27, 2014 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

The latest haul of vintage comics to arrive at TVTA towers consisited of no less than 54 issues of Pif Gadget all dating from the late 70s! That’s enough vintage comics to wallpaper the great wall of China ten times over and big enough to see from Mars!!

Wooof and I have already started the long task of scanning some of the great ads found so far. Featured in this post are just a few from the haul – including big brand names such as Matchbox, Corgi, Britains and Solido. Also included are two English language ads found in the archives featuring BMX team Columbia and a really cool Monogram RC! Enjoy.

US. Hex N° 7. 1986.

UK. Dazzler. 1982.

France. Pif Gadget. 1977.

France. Pif Gadget. 1979.

France. Pif Gadget. 1978.

Stretch Armstrong and his Elastic pals

Posted on December 22, 2014 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Stretch Armstrong was a toy figure made of plastic, rubber and gel and was designed to expand from its ‘prone’ pose of around fifteen inches up to a full-stretch of around four or five feet. This popular toy and its derivatives was first released by Kenner in 1976 and licensed around the world by many companies such as Tsukuda (Japan), Lili Ledy (Mexico), Harbert (Italy) and Meccano (France) to name a few. The advert below shows the French Meccano version from 1978 (Elastic Man) and also features Stretch Monster (Elastic Monstre) – one of the many Stretch Armstrong alternative figures.

Stretch Armstrong / Elastic Man. France. Pif Gadget. 1978.

Feel the love or feel the pain? Got to love this brilliant detail pic from the main advert.

The next advert is from 1979 and features Elastic Hulk and Spider-Man – two of the ‘Mego Elastic 8’ which also comprised Batman, Superman, Plasticman, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and Casper.

Elastic Hulk and Elasic Spider-Man. US. Spiderwoman. 1979.

For further reading check out this awesome site: Stretch Armstrong World

Stretch Armstrong Wikipedia

Star Wars Weekly: a selection of comic cover art

Posted on December 17, 2014 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Star Wars Weekly was a Marvel UK comic about Star Wars. It was first published on February 8th 1978. The comic reprinted the monthly Marvel US issues, as well as offering original stories. Included in the comic were other strips from Marvel’s stable such as The Micronauts, Deathlok, Star Lord, Warlock, Tales of the Watcher and others.

Star Wars Weekly N° 1.

Star Wars Weekly #1 was published on 8 February 1978. It came with a free cut-out X-Wing Fighter. The artwork is credited to Howard Chaykin and Tom Palmer – see photo above.

The remaining pictures are random covers I’ve scanned from my collection to hopefully show a broad range of the art teams behind these works. Featured artwork comes from Carmine infantino, Frank Springer, Gene Day, Pablo Marcos, Michael Golden, Terry Austin and others.

Star Wars Weekly N° 65. May 23. 1978. Artwork by Frank Springer. A somewhat grisly cover! Judging by the expressions on the faces of Han and Chewie I think they agree.

Star Wars Weekly N° 65. May 23. 1979. Artwork by Frank Springer. A somewhat grisly cover! Judging by the expressions on the faces of Han and Chewie I think they agree. Death by Stone Mites can never be pleasant.

Star Wars Weekly N° 66. May 30. 1978. The follow-up to issue 65 and another Frank Springer cover featuring Han and Chewie in combat.

Star Wars Weekly N° 66. May 30. 1979. The follow-up to issue 65 and another Frank Springer cover featuring Han and Chewie in combat.

Star Wars Weekly N° 70. June 27. 1979. This cover is credited to Carmine Infantelo and Gene Day and features two great images of Princess Leia.

Star Wars Weekly N° 70. June 27. 1979. This cover is credited to Carmine Infantino and Gene Day and features Princess Leia battling alone on the factory planet Metalorn.

Star Wars Weekly N° 79. Aug 29. 1979. I like the 'psychedelic' feel to this cover featuring Luke, R2-D2 and the Millenium Falcon in the background and the sinister brothers Tagge in the foreground. This is another Infantino / Day cover.

Star Wars Weekly N° 79. Aug 29. 1979. I like the ‘psychedelic’ feel to this cover featuring a training Luke, R2-D2 and the Millenium Falcon in the background and the sinister brothers Tagge in the foreground. This is another Infantino / Day cover.

Star Wars Weekly N° 96. Dec 26. 1979. It’s Han and Chewie again. For the artwork Infantino is joined by Pablo Marcos.

Star Wars Weekly N° 114. Apr 30. 1980. Echoing Luke and Leis's famous grapple-hook swing to safety in the original Star Wars film, this cover bt Infantino and Day sees the Skywalker siblings hanging on a wire in the Lost City of Space.

Star Wars Weekly N° 114. Apr 30. 1980. Echoing Luke and Leia’s famous grapple-hook swing to safety in the original Star Wars film, this cover by Infantino and Day sees the Skywalker siblings once more hanging on a wire – this time in the Lost City of Space.

Star Wars Weekly N° 115. May 07. 1980. The follow-up to issue 114 sees Luke and Leia battling the . This cool cover is by Infantino and Day.

Star Wars Weekly N° 115. May 07. 1980. The follow-up to issue 114 sees Luke and Leia battling an ‘Energy-being monster’. This cool cover is by Infantino and Day.

Star Wars Weekly N° 116. May 14. 1980. Luke and Leia find themselves in an organic mess. Artwork credited to Michael Golden and Terry Austin.

There were many great artists who worked on these comics along with strong writers, letterers and toners. I’d recommend checking the issues out – especially some of the original stories that appear and introduce us to an intriguing range of new characters and worlds.

Non-toy ad Tuesday: Cheers! Retro drinks from around the world…

Posted on December 8, 2014 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

It’s time to dust off those vintage bottles of pop and booze we found in the cellar of TVTA towers as we bring you another Non-toy ad Tuesday… retro drinks from around the world!

First up is 1987 sporty beverage Faxe Kondi – presented here by budding young goalkeeper Mikael and Danish International and Manchester United football player Jesper Olsen.

Denmark. Anders. 1987.

1982 and another Danish drink ad. This one is cheerfully called Jolly Cola and continues with a sporty theme – sailing. Just look at the way that young sailor is necking his bottle of JC … he’s sure to get some additional ‘wind’ assistance later 🙂

Denmark. Anders. 1982.

Moving on to some harder stuff – alcohol. This French ad for personalised Kronenbourg beer tankards is aimed at a military-interest audience. The ad is featured in a 1979 issue of Képi Blanc, a journal created in 1947 by the French Foreign Legion (légion étrangère).