Top 5 Worst Promotional Comics
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- Опубліковано 10 лис 2018
- Promotional Comics are rarely good. Maybe it's because they're designed just to sell something or maybe the creative team rarely cares about the job. Here are five examples that are especially bad, from Avengers to Batman to X-Men to eBay.
/ comictropes - Розваги
Folks, you’re mentioning so many amazing comics. Remember that I have the Comic Tropes Crappy Comics Contest happening now. Watch the video a few weeks back about Marvel’s toilet paper comic for details!
Chris, I'm sending you one this week, along with a letter. It's not a promotional comic, but definitely weird subject matter for a DC comic. What will it be?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Edit - I'm going to hold off a bit and add another one to the package. Double the fun!
We all know Batman used the bat-credit card to pay for Onstar
The Bat-credit card is the black one, in the shape of a bat symbol!
After all, be rich is a superpower.
Radio Shack had a comic book in 1982 about the TRS-80 computer. With Shanna and Mike.
WAIT......Batman has email?
The Onstar comic was given to the kids of someone who bought Onstar. They had a whole batman gift bag for your kids.
The one that always stood out to me was Avengers - Ultron Quest. By its title, you might not realize it was a promotional comic, but then you see the brought to you by Wyndham Hotels in the corner. Ultron is about to repair himself after uploading his mind elsewhere because comic, but Jarvis only could narrow the exact point he's at to four different locations. Black Widow is confused about the fact that they're a team and can just split up, asking how they can possibly be in four places at once. Tony Stark, richest man in the Marvel universe, ends up showcasing Mr. Krabs level cheapness. His suggestion: Why, book a hotel room, of course! Not through Tony's dime, however, that's waaaayyyy too expensive for a man like Stark. Nope, he lets the Avengers graciously use his Wyndham Reward Points for free rooms. Because Tony is kind of an asshole.
Your intros crack me up every time.
One of the reasons why I love this channel!
It's more likely the X-Men killed him. Wolverine has his claws popped, so he's got him impaled through the spine. Since he just vanishes, I'm assuming Cyclops gave him a full-power blast and disintegrated him as he lay paralyzed and dying.
@ロボット鳥山 Well they all looked ready to killed him with all of them in battle poses, so I'm guessing they didn't want to show the guy getting killed
I thought the same thing. In my made up head canon, that's exactly what happened.
Idea: Make him a Batman villain. BATMAN vs. THE DIDDLER!!!
+Mark Mark Batman already has a paedophile villain in his rogue's gallery: Mad Hatter. And there's also Scavenger, an Aquaman villain, who rapes and murders children and is eventually killed by Hawkman.
But why was Beast a TV?
Captain citrus is the most powerful character in the marvel universe i cannot wait for his appearance in the mcu
I genuinely can't wait for (some) Grant Morrison(-type writer) to bring him back in about 20 years in some black comedy way.
Hes got the secret infinity stone, that glowing orange he ate was actually the orange flavoured one 😂
I think one of the worst promotional comics Ive read is a Fantastic Four shilling Office Depot. Some of the highlights include Dr. Doom "brain draining" a bunch of middle schoolers, the day being saved by a rubber band ball, and characters talking about how great Office Depots supplies are.
Do not underestimate relatively simple solutions. When Mythbusters were testing them, a surprising number (7/11, or 2/3 if you treat the ultralight tests as a single failed test rather than 2 fails and a pass) of the ideas tested actually worked.
It was office max
I was just thinking of that comic, but I couldn't fully visualize it in my mind. I have it somewhere, and another one by the WWF, not the wrestling one, it was based on animals, world wide something.
Oh hi, you've caught me still enjoying this joke every damn time.
I wouldn't say eBay is irrelevant. A lot of the way it works isn't avaliable on things such as Amazon and a lot of people still use it. Because of the individual sellers listing items it makes it a whole lot more reliable when buying. (so long as it's not a stock photo or what not.) Of course you can still get scammed, but at least it feels more personal when buying. Also, you can sometimes find a rare item unknowingly listed for a cheap price, which wouldn't occur on Amazon. I suppose OfferUp and others exist, but they're like Craigslist in being local.
@ロボット鳥山 My whole point is the used section of eBay. And what I mean by more reliable is on Amazon there is usually a base image used for a product, and you have to rely on descriptions such as "like new." On eBay, sellers show
Images specifically of what your getting. Also I would say the divide of Individual sellers to Companies is at least 50/50 on eBay.
I dunno, is it a coincidence that both EBay and Blockbuster were featured on this episode? Oh and onstar just seals the deal that Comic Tropes is working with sympathetic magic to take down one of our largest military contractors! And orange juice! COMIC TROPES YOU ARE THE DEVIL!!!
I gotta say, I gave you a thumbs up because of your name. It's fun.
@ロボット鳥山 While I agree that ebay is heading in the wrong direction and there is increased competition, it's in better shape than people know. One mistake people make is just thinking about ebay as a US corporation only. eBay does really well in the UK (and it's still doing pretty well in the US too). I worked at HQ up until a year ago. I wouldn't doubt if the company is bought out or eventually goes under but they have at least a few decades of runway. While ebay has expanded its number of large sellers, you're wrong in your assertion about the percentage. It's still largely smaller sellers, other than in areas like Business and Industrial.
I use eBay for buying nearly everything. When I got ripped off by Amazon marketplace amazon did absolutely nothing. I find eBay by far the most reliable seller of things I can find... I'm from the UK.
They should have had A.I.M. and M.O.D.O.K promote that Northrop comic.
That would be awesome
How do we know that nothrop isnt secretly apart of A.I.M. in the marvel universe, developing and selling drones, missles, planes ect to fund A.I.M.s plots
There was one where the justice league (or just green lantern?) teamed up with Jared from subway. That one aged poorly to say the least
I think Jared was also in the X-Men comic in this video!
Holy crap, that's hilarious, in a messed up way.
I was totally waiting for this to be #1 on the list, no idea how he left it out.
So I had to look this up. The justice league does team up with Jared. There's a panel of Superman shaking his had.
On a funnier note, the Green Lantern Corps teams up with Colenel Sanders.
Was it Hal Jordan? Because if it was then him teaming up with Jared makes a lot of sense...
I was going to mention the Superman comic "The Computers That Saved Metropolis" from Radio Shack. Looking it up, I discovered that it had two sequels. Unbelievable.
I think maybe one could make a moderately acceptable story where a captain Citrus would heal scurvy and improve people's immune system somewhat. Perhaps against a Skrull flu or something.
I have a promotional Supergirl comic from Honda, that promotes seat belt safety and the Radio Shack Superman issue for the Tandy computer.
I remember there being a Daredevil comic book that promoted safety towards gasoline, and it involved the titular hero fighting a villainous gas vapor named Vapora.
holycrap. I was surfing through your channel looking for a new one to watch and then boom a new video comes down from the heavens.
At 3:30am too!
SAME!
Man I'm here at work killing time on the graveyard shift and just bored out of my mind and then this notification pops up and I just appreciate your videos a lot Chris. Thanks for making my night better.
I understand you are bored, but you have to pay attention, one zombie escaping the graveyard and your town is screwed. So please, keep your shotgun at hand and make sure the dead stay dead!
ARX 351 Hey now! I resent the implication that I slack on my shift! I can be both vigilant and attentive. Is it my fault the zombie had to choose the moment this video was uploaded to escape?
Northop grumman/Avenger promotion comic seems the most insidious
Wasn't that cancelled?
I use to have a copy of that book. It was given away at nycc. However the book was quickly removed.
Reminds me of the time Disney tried to trademark the phrases "Día de los Muertos" AND "Day of the Dead" (which is the English translation) on the unders.
Día de los Muertos is like the Hispanic Halloween for those that don't know. It's literally the same thing as if Disney was trying to trademark the word "Kwanzaa".
Completely different subjects the defense contractor/promotion comic and Disney, but the mentality of it's execution are insanely absentminded.
Reminds me of the old one-page Hostess ads. Villain of the month is committing a crime and hero of the month can only stop him with Hostess snacks. In the end villain is hauled off to jail, but is happy because he got his cupcakes/fruit pies/Twinkies.
The biggest mistake behind most of these(apart from existing) is they take themselves too seriously, if they were a parody they would be much easily to digest. But trying to make it like the real comics it's just too much , it's an insult to anyone's intelligence , even little kids.
Just have to say, I love your openers. A lot of channels go really complicated with them. But yours are simple, funny, and set things up for the episode. Love em ❤️
How is a nice elderly couple trying helping a teenager creepy? Mixed signals....
You should do even more promotional comics.
it's the fact that they drove off as soon as they saw a cop
@@ItsOver9000Productions Speculation on the part of the teen. They may have driven off quick because they had already taken time out of their day to check to see if she was alright and she brushed them off, or they may have driven off normally and she was exaggerating. Speeding away from a police officer sounds more like a quick way to get a speeding ticket than anything else.
If you read the dialog, there's definitely something a little off about them. Personally I think it seemed more like they mistook her for a hooker, but yeah, probably not all that nice.
Not all IRL dangerous people are gonna wear a mask and be actively creepy. It's good to tell children to be wary of everyone
*Captain Citrus appears*
Iron Man: "What the f***k smells like floor cleaner around here?"
I'm surprised that Superman meets the Nestle Quik Rabbit didn't get a mention.
Great video though....but I did get a kick out of those live action Batman OnStar commercials.
Hey....I just thought of something. Did you ever consider doing a related video of the best and worst of Hostess Fruit Pies ads in Marvel Comics? lol
They did DC Characters as well
I remember that one, it was terrible.
www.thepitchkc.com/news/article/20567170/twinkies-save-walter-white-and-jesse-pinkman-from-a-life-of-methmaking is the best one obviously
"You caught me engaging in the Purge" :P I'm very glad I randomly discovered your channel thanks to your Phoenix Jones interview. Speaking of pervert info-comics, there was an even more difficult to read one featuring Power Pack. I don't recall how I came across it, yet it happened. In the very same comic Spider-Man revealed some tragic elements to his backstory that I believe have never since been acknowledged.
Also... "...that really old movie - the Empire Strikes Back..." Man, I love how you don't even pause to acknowledge you're referencing something.
But also, Combo Man and the Avengers/military promotional comics belong on this list... especially Combo Man. He's a kid who gets pretty much every super power from eating radioactive combos. In the various military promotional comics, basically what happens is Captain America, Thor, etc. end up stymied, so then a junior member of the armed forces has to step in and be "the real hero."
Another awesome video, Chris! I agree with the points you made but the one that always turned me off was the "dumbing down" of the main heroes. I guess times were tough and even the comic industry had to whore themselves with other corporate entities to turn a buck. I didn't read too many promo comics but I remember the one-page ads for Hostess cupcakes or Twinkies back in the day. I always wondered how Spider-man fit into his suit after eating as many Twinkies as he did HahA! Thanks for posting, Chris!
Actually destroying comics to make your own collection rarer makes some odd sense.
P.S. Citrus Man's arch-nemesis is Doctor Scurvy! LOL
Another great video! But I don't think Beast was using a hologram to disguise himself as a TV - he says he was using a hologram "projector" which projected a hologram of Beast through the boy's TV screen - that seems to make more sense from the panels you showed, but heck that comic is crazy enough maybe the panels you didn't show were even more muddled (how would a hologram projector send the hologram through someone's TV???)
But still, h'e was watching a young boy in his room...just as creepy.
@@alanbear6505 - well, PLUS it's still nonsensical - how does a hologram "projector" allow you to see through a TV, and how did he know to look through THIS kid's TV at the right second?!? Ridiculous!
The Beast is the ultimate creepy crawler . . .
@@Ektalon - and here we thought it was Gambit that was the lewd one...
@@Ektalon Watch Pryde of the X-Men and pay attention to Nightcrawler...you may just change your mind about that.
I vaguely remember Superman and maybe Wonder Woman shilling for Tandy computers.
But I just loved the Big Boy comics that the fast food chain gave away. Also the cool Atari comics. I have the collected Swordquest comics which featured art by George Perez. The recent Swordquesr comic was actually also really great. I didn't read the Centipede series, but I heard good stuff.
And I'm really hoping that Atari Force comes back into print. I loved that book as a kid.
I appreciate how genuinely entertaining and funny your videos are. Thank you!! I always watch a new video
"Jubilee, aren't you a vampire?"
"I wasn't one then."
"Oh...Hey, doesn't your son become some kind of X-Iron man guy?"
"Yes."
"Wow...your life is WEIRD."
Wow. Over here in the UK we never had these *promotional comics* so seeing these is an eye opener. Great video as per usual.
Mad respect for your channel. Just one question... how do you keep track of all these different universes?
In 1992 I sent away for a Charleston Chew double-sided Marvel comic. I don’t recall a mention of Charleston Chew in any of the four stories (Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, Silver Surfer, Wolverine/Jubilee) but that last one had Sam Keith art. So.... that was cool.
Chris thanks for another great video presentation. Entertaining, informative, and funny! I was wondering... Do you think any of these kinds of comics will ever be worth money in the future given that they are also sign of the times?
Reminds me of those Hostess snack ads in the later 70s early 80s comics
Great episode! I’ve terrible one or two page ads like this, but I didn’t realize there were entire books! So painful!
I now remember that Captain Midnight was the mascot for Ovaltine. I had a coloring book of his as a child.
dude I’ve been watching your channel from the start. Wow when did you get to 32,000 subscribers. That’s great. You look much happier. I’m glad for you.
Turns out Batman the master of gadgets just buys his gadgets from retailers 🤣🤣🤣
Totally spot-on! Love your commentary on things comics!
One miss, though, IMHO, is your eBay comment. It's the best place to get an obscure comic book (my black and white indie comics from the '80s collection is growing bigger every month!) and keep track of comic book prices.
After that mascot taught me how to use the web-site, I'm a pro!
You didn't mention those "comics" they used to give out at Radio Shack where Superman (with assistance from Supergirl and sometimes Wonder Woman) and some random kids would solve crimes by using a TRS-80 computer. The artwork wasn't bad, but the stories were pretty terrible.
Lol, I love his opening jokes.
Rosena Mann I'm currently working on a compilation of them
@@miffedakko9312 pls do
@@miffedakko9312 Hook me up with that stuff once you're done with it.
Time to dive into another great Comic Tropes episode. I love the evolution of the set Chris!
I remember reading one way back about Daredevil up against a sentient carbon monoxide cloud, which he couldn't see though echolocation. The moral was to keep the batteries in your detector fresh, though I don't know how he ended up beating it.
My first comic was a promotional for twinkies where Aunt May gets twinkie inspired Capt. universe like powers.
Back again just to tell you I'm obsessed with your intro. Gotta get a 10 minute jam goin adterwrds.
The Collection Eater Guy was probably destroying comics to “preserve the value” of his collection.
I can't remember who the sponsor was, but there was a shit tier Black Panther comic 2 years ago that was so bad I just had to brain dump it if I were to continue having the will to live
Revisiting my haul from Comic Con this year, I came across a an Avengers/Western Union Comic. WU is mentioned on the first page (with various shots of the logo all throughout the background of the rest of the comic) and the last page, with the rest of the comic focused on Captain America and Nova fighting the Wrecking Crew. I was impressed just how much it was a straight up Avengers comic with the promotional work kinda taking a back seat.
Could you do a video on Brian Michael Bendis? I feel he's the writer I see people hate on the most, but remains extremely successful.
The Creeps that tried to get Jubilee actually showed up in a later marvel comic. They appeared in the horror centric Scream: Curse of Carnage, in a really creepy way. Pretty cool to see characters created for a throwaway kid friendly PSA show up in a story over 20 years later
I know I have said it before but I really enjoy the different and always Really funny ways you introduce the topic for each episode.
You rock chris
There’s a Judge Dredd half page strip advertising Jolly Green Giant sweetcorn. Not quite the same as the comics you have here, mainly because it was not a ‘promotional’ strip, it was a punishment!
In the late 1970’s, the then publishers of 2000ad (the comic which ran / runs the Dredd strip), where taken to court due to 2 episodes of the Dredd Cursed Earth saga. In it Dredd faces a number of characters who straight up resemble Ronald MacDonald, the Michelin Man, the Jolly Green Giant and other corporate mascots.
In the true 1970’s punk ethic of 2000ad / Judge Dredd, it’s an on the nose satire on consumerism and corporations. Unfortunately in this case Dredd wasn’t the law and the strip was banned from being reprinted (however they were finally reprinted in 2015) and Judge Dredd himself was forced to eat sweetcorn. And like it!
Kinda wish Captain Orange was instead named something stupid like “Orange Torch” to parody Green Lantern
The FAn Art work sections and the tie-in promo to the prize were well-done.
I think we've tittered at how buzzed you got during the old episodes. They kind of split by when you added the new intro, roughly.
One of my most favorite channels on UA-cam for sure. Consistent quality videos
Great video! I think it would be fun to see a "Best Promotional Comics" video, although it might be hard to find more than a couple. I recall a Marvel sexual-abuse awareness comic from the 80s featuring Spider-Man and the Power-Pack that, if memory serves, was actually pretty decent.
www.dccomics.com/blog/2017/06/28/back-by-popular-demand-dc-and-kfc-re-release-critically-acclaimed-comics-tease-new
Commenter: Who wants to watch a Comic Tropes episode at 3:30 in the morning?
Me: Oh Boy 3:30am
Why would eBay be on it's way to dying? Sure, there are a lot of other websites out there such as Amazon, Craigslist and so on - but there is no other single website that can offer the same variety as eBay.
Oh Hi! You caught me wondering if you'd cover the 70's Hostess adverts that seemed to be in every Marvel & DC book in the late 70's?
It is disappointing how much I am bothered that I cannot find a copy of the eBay comic
"Instead of calling the CDC, he eats it." lol...
@comictropes I love your stuff keep it up!
immediate like for that opening! love your content so far.
Thanks for all you do to educate us. You come off as a good guy
I love how every intro to Comic Tropes is the "so bad its good" feel.
The Blockbuster thing might be because their free service they offer with safe a kid where you could have videos made in case your child was abducted, the news would have video ready pronto.
I remember having to get money orders at the gas station to buy the stuff I won on eBay. Good times. Great video as always!
"Hank, we've had word you're doing that thing with the TV again"
"Hey, I gotta make sure those boys are safe... it's my duty and..."
"You're relapsing again, aren't you?"
"Yes. I need help."
I read a Harley-Davidson tie-in Avengers comic once. It was ok. It basically just had Captain America and Black Widow use Harley-Davidson bikes in a couple of the panels. They didn't even talk about them or anything.
Jesus, I just (briefly) talked about the On-Star Batman comic being my first comic book ever in a video, about a month ago, and UA-cam now recommended this video to me. It's like it doesn't want me to ever forget...
On the other end of the spectrum, you could do a video on the awesomeness of the old school Hostess ads!
I remember those citrus fruit comics being handed out at my school for no apparent reason. I also remember visiting a friends' house seeing he has a copy, and then reading it 4 the lulz.
Your openings are gold
Don’t forget the DC/Subway promotional comic where Superman shakes hands with Jared Fogel
“I’m pretty that sure rape isn’t a super power.”
- Our host, Chris
Woah, the pervert in the X-Men comics is so "ugly people are evil."
Dollar General was giving away a short comic where Spiderman defends a Dollar General
Love these videos man, thank you
It's not really comparable to what you've got here, but Lego had a really good comic book in the early 2000s that went along with their "Bionicle" line of sets. It was written by Greg Farshtey and had a couple of different artists, all of which are pretty great imo. I don't know if it's the type of thing you'd review, but if you want something fun to read on the side that's meant to promote a bunch of Lego sets it's really great. One of my favorite comic books that I read as a kid. They have all the books on biomediaproject.com/bmp/comics/ if anyone wants to take a look.
The bionicle comics were better than any promotional comic had the right to be lol
darth salad I’d say the bionicke comics belong to the larger grouping of licensed properties like GiJoe and Transformers when it comes to comics, and a lot less than these promo throw away books
The bionicle comics are the best promotional comics, hands down.
Not gonna lie, Captain Citrus seems like a wholesome comic rather than shilling a specific product. Reminds me of those classic "Don't forget to take your vitamins, kids!" types of comics.
Can't wait to see you talk about X-Statix! Some of my favorite comics right there
Great video; keep doing you man!
I have a special place in my heart for Chick-fil-A's super hero cow comics.
I give you points for trudging through this. I think everclear would be a stronger drive for this collection.
I see I'm not the only night owl thankful for some delicious content dropping in the wee hours. :D
I always loved the Hostess ads in comics that had some hero taking out a villain with cupcakes or Twinkies.
I've got an old Jones Store Co promo comic that was released in Kansas City. It features Spiderman and the Hulk... can't recall who they were fighting, but basically it's Peter Parker taking Bruce Banner clothes shopping after he turns back to normal from the Hulk.
I like how they put "not for resale" on these issues. I think that goes unsaid.
I demand to see a team up between Combo-man and Captain Citrus
Maybe a super-team with the Kool-Aid Guy, and the Michelin Man.
The Onstar Batman actor was Bruce Thomas, not ”nobody”.
C’mon he even has a name combining two generations of Waynes.
He was in ”Legally Blonde 1 and 2, Hall Pass” and ”Army Of Darkness-Evil Dead III”.
I sometimes feel Americans conflate ”actor” and ”celebrity”, you can, but dont have to be both.
I have never seen the commercial,but i have seen him in the movies.
Captain Citrus! The secret weapon to defeat Thanos in Avengers Endgame!
Chris likes comics AND wrestling! (He was wearing a Bullet Club shirt in the intro) THIS IS AWESOME!!!
The power of cringe on display from these promo comics was high.
Although I still have a few promotional comics, I used to have alot more. In fact, at one time I had at least 10 copies of a Radio Shack promotional comic produced by DC. It had Superman on the cover, and the story involved TRS-80 computers saving Metropolis. I eventually gave them all away. Anywho, eBay dying? News to me. I buy back-issues via eBay quite alot.
“You just got citric acid in my eye!”
If I come back and somebody gets the reference, I owe you a coke.
awesome video and channel. liked and subbed
eBay on its way to dying? What