Comics Ad Men

by Steven Brower

A collection of famous cartoonists applying their talents to the advertising world. Comics and modern American advertising exploded into the public conscious at much the same time in the early 20thcentury. Long unseen and collected now for the first the gorgeous, funny, attention-grabbing comics, cartoons and illustrations from the OTHER career of comics creators Jack Davis ( Mad ), Al Capp ( Li’l Abner ) John Romita ( Spider-Man ), Mort Meskin ( Sheena ), Ross Andru ( Spider-Man ), Sheldon Moldoff ( Batman ), Neal Adams ( X-Men ), Noel Sickles ( Scorchy Smith ), Stan Drake ( Blondie ), Joe Simon, ( Captain America ), Basil Wolverton ( Mad ), Dik Browne ( Hagar the Horrible ), Clifford McBride ( Napoleon ), Hank Ketcham ( Dennis the Menace ), Lou Fine ( The Spirit ), Dan Clowes ( Ghost World ) and many more. Black & white illustrations.

Genres: Comics

144 pages, Paperback

First published December 4, 2019

Reviews

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

An examination and archiving of comics used in advertising could be an absolute goldmine, especially when you think of the thousands of advertisements within comic books and the great animated commercials like Hawaiian Punch and M&Ms, and those fabulous psychedelic 7up ads.

This book barely scratches the surface though, focusing mostly on the side-hustle aspect of these famous cartoonists working for, or creating their own ad service and storyboarding agencies. Interesting for sure, but I’d rather he had added 200 more pages of Jack Davis’ material. (Was anyone better than Jack Davis?!)

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly an art book, documenting the advertising side-careers of several comic book illustrators throughout the '40s, '50s and '60s. There's an introduction, but it's brief, poorly written and more interested in dropping creator / firm names than sharing much actual insight. The collected works themselves are often painfully soulless and generic, the kind of stuff one might click their tongue over as they flip annoyedly to the next page of a dusty, dog-eared silver age funny book. Spider-Man hawking Hostess sweets, burly woodsmen endorsing their favorite brand of cigarette, loosely-related lifestyle illustrations meant to accompany a self-serving advice column... that sort of thing. There's also a decided lack of true star power. One or two entries from heavyweights like Neal Adams or John Romita, but dozens from their fill-in artists and castoffs from the Sunday newspaper. I don't know that this material really needed to be archived.

[Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very fun and very thought provoking about US culture, men and women, selling OTC medicines... Smoking! Recommended!