Yes, I misspelled “Palisades.”
My blogging time is going to be somewhat curtailed over the next couple of days, so don’t expect to the typical Progressive Ruin Wall O’Text™ at least ’til Friday, thanks to some too-early morning appointments over the next couple of days.
So let me answer Wayne’s question very briefly here, where he asks if anyone’s seen the Palisades Park coupons you used to see in Silver Age DCs ever clipped out.
I actually wondered about this myself about a year and a half ago on the Twitters, on the slightly broader topic of finding clipped coupons in comics:
And as you see there, the answer is “nope,” presuming that most of the comics I’ve come across were not from the general area of said park, thus presenting a reduced incidence of clipped coupons. Or kids didn’t want to cut up their comics, which is also possible given the number of surprisingly not-cut-up comics I’ve encountered in collections over the decades. Not saying there were none, but not nearly as many as you’d think, especially with the puzzles and dioramas and whatnot you’d see in Dell Comics, which practically begged kids to ask their parents for permission to use the scissors.
Okay, the primary exception to this is Incredible Hulk #181, which, like, 90% of the time is missing the Marvel Value Stamp. DARN YOU SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL FANS! …Actually, my theory as to why we see H181 missing the stamp so often where other comics with stamps usually still retain them is because H181 still has significant value and remains sought after even without the stamp. Most other Marvel books with the stamp cut out get tossed in the dollar box or just tossed out…okay, maybe not “tossed out” but boy they don’t go for much, usually.
Anyway, off track, and I want this short. Any of you notice Palisades Park coupons missing from your books? Just curious if anyone’s noticed this.
1) A big part is probably that the coupon would only be of use to anyone living in the NYC area.
2) They also ran Palisades Park coupons in matchbooks. And it was a LOT of them from what I remember. So who would need to clip a comic?
Only tangentially related, but I’d like to cast a vote for you making a guest appearance on the Never Ending Reading Pile podcast with Greg Araujo & Sean Ross. That would be a real great comic book team-up!
One potential reason it’s not as common to find an old comic with a cut out coupon could be bc the reader who would take scissors to their precious funnybooks might also be the reader who sees a comic as disposable entertainment – pick up some comics from the newsstand, read through them, toss em’ & pick up the next week’s haul. I have no evidence for this either, it’s just a theory.
I always wondered about the subscription order forms (my hesitation over cutting up my comics was one of the things that kept me buying them at the drug store instead of subscribing)
Do you ever find those cut out?
Or did such comics just wind-up in the 4-for-a-quarter bins followed by oblivion?
— MrJM
Hey, Mike! Thanks for posting that. In the last post, Rob S. mentioned seeing a few clipped coupons but he lives in Pennsylvania.
It just amazes me on what the ratio would have to be to run the ads in every book and, as you mentioned, know that most likely the only coupons clipped would be from the NYC area. I suppose it is just an age thing, but I recall those more than I even think about the Value stamps. That’s just me, I never hear Palisades mentioned much, if at all.
Which got me thinking, and I’ll have to look it up, but in 1976 I’m fairly certain different DC titles had banners which were numbered, I don’t know if they were trying to emulate the Value stamps.
I’m pretty sure those banners you remember, Wayne, weren’t numbered but lettered. I think if you collected enough to spell out SUPERMAN, you were able to enter a contest related to the movie. Those, I don’t recall every seeing cut out.
Oh, and since I’m replying to you here, I figure I’ll supply a link to the DC Sea World ad, circa 1977 or so. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these cut out, either. It could be that 75 cents was just too chintzy a discount, even then.
(Or maybe not; I couldn’t find Sea World prices, but I found a list of Disney World prices since it opened, and it cost SIX DOLLARS to get into the Magic Kingdom in 1977 — up from $3.50, when it opened in 1971. So maybe a $15 or $20 equivalent today… assuming Sea World tickets are comparable, which they probably aren’t quite.)
Regardless, here’s the ad I was talking about:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/m93tg/dc_comics_sea_world_ad_from_1977/
“H181 still has significant value and remains sought after even without the stamp”
True!
Allen M:”One potential reason it’s not as common to find an old comic with a cut out coupon could be bc the reader who would take scissors to their precious funnybooks might also be the reader who sees a comic as disposable entertainment”
Makes sense!
@misterjayem: “I always wondered about the subscription order forms”
I dunno about mike, but I’ve seen those cut out a few times- usually in lated 70’s though early 80’s Marvel comics.
Rob S.: “Sea World.. ad”
Superman looks REALLY STUPID on water skis.
I vaguely remember photocopying a Marvel subscription form at my Dad’s office in 1984 when I was 11. I don’t think it was my idea to photocopy it, but maybe the form suggested it? Maybe one of my parents did?
Makes me wonder how many other forms or coupons were copied — instead of clipped — and used that way. Some places probably only accepted originals, although if they’re getting the business why would they care either way?
Rob S.: It’s like I’ve seen that in a different context. If they handled their advertising different than PP, we have the Shedd Aquarium, and that was a big draw from other states besides Illinois.
I suppose I could be imagining a World’s Finest cover from early on, when it was Superman, Batman, and Robin throwing snowballs or rolling dice. The pirate means nothing to me. By 1975 we had Great America which then became Six Flags Great America. There was a water park there, so I don’t think Sea World bothered with the Midwest.
I forgot about the banners being for the Superman film. Since Chicago is plague town again, I might spend the afternoon reading up on these various ads. Back to Palisades Park, I would bet I have several hundred comics (at least) that have the ad for PP.
I am old enough to have actually known people who cut the pin-ups out of early Marvel comics to tape up on their walls.
So yes, people did use to cut comics.