LCA Ad - 1974

This was a really unique ad (click to see a readable version) sent to me a while back by F.O.A.M. member Brian "Plaid Stallions" Heiler, who is the go-to guy for any kind of licensing bric-a-brac. Thanks Brian!

For a long time, pretty much any licensed product you bought was done through the Licensing Corporation of America. As you can see from the logos/trademarks on this ad, they had a lot of big clients!

The stock shots of the DC heroes are a real mixed bag--the Superman, Batman, and Shazam! poses are stock shots you've seen a thousand times, and Wonder Woman and Robin are from Alex Toth's Super Friends logo.

The Flash has an arm that looks like it drags on the ground, and the Aquaman pose was a stock shot that showed only every so often--it can be seen on the SuperAdventure Colorforms Set, for instance.

On an unrelated note, I wonder how much demand their was for "Weird Harold" merchandise?

Warner Bros. Shopping Bag - 2008

This way cool shopping bag was being given out at the Warner Bros. booth at a licensing trade show last week, and as you can see it features the big stars of the DCU, including the King of the Seven Seas!

As cool as the bag is--and its very cool--how I got it is a more interesting story (hopefully).

Over the weekend, while trolling through eBay looking for Aqua Stuff, I saw one of these for sale, with the auction ending in a few days. I had never seen it before, so I bookmarked it and planned to go back and bid.

Then, Monday morning, I got a package in the mail with the return address bearing the name "Kupperberg." That always means something good, so I opened the envelope--and there was the bag!

I did a double--no, triple--take. The exact item I happened to be looking for, and here it was! Paul figured--correctly--that I'd want one, and he generously sent one to me. On Friday the 13th, no less, just to make things even weirder.

But the story doesn't end there! With the bag now in my hands, I planned to take a picture of it for the Shrine. I generally loathe having to do that, since the pictures I take, no matter how hard I try, always come out fuzzy and yellow-ish, and never look that good. But what choice did I have? The bag is way too big for my scanner.

Literally, the very next email I got was from F.O.A.M. member Joe Hennes, who was also at the show, and was emailing me a crystal-clear picture of the bag! Wow! Everything I needed to post about this was now provided for me by F.O.A.M. members!

When I wrote to Joe to thank him, I told him what I just wrote above, and he said: "Wow, the circle of Aquaman fans pulls through! The system works!"

It does indeed. Thanks, guys!

Licensing Magazine - July 2007

My pal Ed over at All Things Fun found this article in an issue of Licensing magazine, with this big beautiful Aquaman graphic, and gave it to me. Thanks Ed!

Since the article itself doesn't mention the Sea King by name, whoever put this together must have been some sort of an Aquaman fan, since they obviously could've chosen one of the Big Three to accompany the piece.

Aquaman has fans everywhere!

License Magazine - November 2006

One of the more unusual items I've come across--it's stuff like this that I just love ebay for; where else would I ever even see something like this?

This is the November 2006 issue of License, a trade magazine all about licensing and marketing. The industrious seller must've figured this issue of the probably-normally-pretty-dull magazine might appeal to comic book collectors. He was right.

Anyway, this issue has a 3-page article about the WB licensing/marketing some of its "big heroes" to the infant/toddler market. Along with a sidebar article with each character's bio (plus Hawkman's, who's not pictured...why no Wonder Woman?) the article mentions Mattel is "on board to create a younger, unique but complementary basic and deluxe action figure line for Super Friends." Ehh? Sounds like I'll soon be haunting the infant/toddler aisle at my local Target! (Hmm...that sounded creepy. Let's move on)

Anyway, it's an interesting article, if you're into the nuts and bolts of how stuff like this is sold. I think it's a great idea, I hope this line of toys sees the light of day soon.

And dig that cutesy Aquaman!