Within 20 pages, I saw these three ads and was struck by how expansive these three advertising campaigns really got in the 80s.

Elfquest is still going strong. Interesting to note that this ad is for the novelization of the first storyline, not the original comic itself. It’s assumed that you already know about that.

Zippy feels like he’s everywhere now, but this ad feels like the cult property is struggling to sell out – hence the joke about merchandizing. This joke also pokes fun at the fact that the ad is running in Heavy Metal, which merchandizes everything.

Kitchen Sink was still pushing Eisner’s stuff very heavily at this point. Last month was the Art of Eisner, this month it’s Spirit reprints. Great stuff, but maybe not exactly what Heavy Metal readers are looking for.

(Heavy Metal issue #69, December 1982 – Pages 6 Elfquest ad, 19 Zippy ad & 24 Spirit ad)