You Find THE Weirdest Things Sometimes...

...in old comic books.

These are some gems from the recent batch of old late 60's-early 70's comic books I've been cutting up for origami paper.

First up is an ad for an odd little idea: The Inferior Five.

Featuring Dumb Bunny, a dumb blonde, White Feather, presumably a coward, The Blimp, a fat guy, Awkwardman and a character called Merryman...who bears an uncomfortable resemblence to Woody Allen, of all people.

Hell, even Wikipedia thinks so:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferior_Five

But what would Woody Allen be doing in a comic book? Isn't that a little stra--wait.

Oh. Well, never mind, then. This is getting weirder and weirder.

Then a little later I found this lil' slice o' time.

Dirty Hippie? Check.
Cringingly fad slang? Check.
Obligatory 'Peace' and 'Love'? Check.
Pretty girl tossed in? Check.

I think this is the work of MAD Magazine artist Bob Clarke, it has that look. My favorite is the way they have to distinguish THEIR 'full color, 12 cent Now-Mag'. Like there are scads of black-and-white, more expensive imposters out there. Don't be fooled, kids!

Also, note the price of comic books then: 12 cents. Seems a pittance now, but remember that back then candy bars were a nickel, a can of Coke was 25 cents. Publishers were smart enough to remember that their target demographic had precious little pocket change and loads of competition for it. Not like today, where graphic novels are mostly aimed at the 20-something and up collector crowd.

Also ran across a full page posterized pic of David Cassidy, teen heartthrob of the era!

Groovy, baby.