I was a Westfield Comics customer for many years in the 80s to 90s. Their monthly catalogs were fun too.

I actually have one of these (and the COA) around here, somewhere. I bought it sometime in the '80s from a friend who sold comics and books at flea markets, shows, and conventions, before he eventually opened a comic shop (he got it as part of a collection he bought to resell). Having seen the ad many times, when he showed it to me and asked if I wanted it - and he only wanted a few bucks for it (I'm guessing I was the first/only person he thought he could unload it on) - I figured sure, why not?

circa December, 1941

Heh!

Didn't see that "Circa December 1941" tag/link at the bottom and actually tracked down the cover the Batman comic book (#9) to date that photo.

That is a drool worthy collection of comics right there.

So many interesting comics in that pic. I can spot a Whiz Comics, Sub-Mariner, Worlds Finest, and more.

Early 80's ads.





1947 ad.

I think Marvel has a new line of hardcovers reprinting older comics with the ads fully reproduced unlike most omnibuses. Personally I enjoy seeing the older ads included, they were a part of the comic book experience for decades and decades.

Those might be the Taschen ‘Marvel Comics Library’ series (?), which has done a number of gigantic (bigger than omnibus), printed-in-Italy, art-book editions that are quite something to see in person, and all of the ads and letters are included (I’ve collected a ton of the publisher’s classic advertising/design compendiums over the years). Of course, the prices are steep ($200/$600), but knowing Taschen, they’ll do smaller, more affordable versions of these years down the road. If Marvel is also doing something like this currently, that’s cool too. These ones add a lot of context and do a beautiful job restoring the works while maintaining the ‘feel’ of the old books (glossy covers, faux-newsprint pages, etc).

https://www.taschen.com/en/collectio...omics-library/

I have the volume 1 of the Spider-man above and am currently waiting on a discount for Volume 2. You can usually get these for around $100 to $125 if you feel like playing the waiting game.

I personally wish they would include all the ads and letter pages for every reprint that they do. I get it if you don't that in a trade, but omnibuses should have everything!

The books from Taschen are fantastic but their size and price usually aren't for me.

Marvel Masterpieces, coming soon.

That is great but they should have just done that with the Omnibus line in the first place. Oh well.

I definitely do not see me replacing my Secret Wars omnibus with the MM version unless I can find a really good deal. And in regard to the Spider-Man one, I wish they would concentrate on getting the rest of Amazing, PP, and hopefully a Web omnibus soon that will at least carry me into 1990 when I eventually quit collecting.

I do love looking at those ads and having the letter pages. I would also prefer a matte finish over the glossy omnibus version.

The Taschen Spider-Man has glossy covers, matte interiors, and letter pages. Unfortunately, only the ads that appears on the covers are published. No original ads in the story. I just looked over my Volume 1 for Amazing and it is surprisingly light for its size. Much lighter than a lot of my omnibuses that I own. It's a goddamn gorgeous release. I would have loved the super-duper version of that release, but they price difference was not worth it in my opinion.

Most of the ads I have nostalgia for ran in the 1970s and 1980s. I have a lot of fondness for the well-known Hostess ads, they always were a great deal of fun. I want to see Alan Moore deconstruct those babies.

Seanbaby.com - The Hostess Page

Not Alan Moore, but Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon did one using characters from Preacher...

^ It's Elvis-Man!

I thought of this strip because of the "cow" "beef" conversation in the Political Forum. A classic, although a bit graphic!

Pretty sure that's from a Supergirl promo comic put out by Honda around the time of her '80s movie.