Action #305: The End

After all the battle's won, when the hurley-burley's done, we have the ads that fill up the rest of this issue.

The Space Game on the top appealed to the upper crust, both forward-thinking (outer space) and solvent ($1.98).  That was the entire "Game."  The "toys only" cost $1.50.  And just when I thought that the entire package would consist of cheaply printed cardboard, in the fine print of the ad we are assured that "All the 3-D toys above are made of unbreakable plastic."

Ah, the unordered merchandise of youth!

Likewise, the lower ad featured a bunch of stuff you could order as a "war game" or just the toys.  And wouldn't you imagine that both "Helen of Toy" and "Five Star Toys" were probably the same storefront?

Now the Army Men were the real deal!  I still have one creeping guy, bought from the downtown Kresge's as part of a big haul.  Regarding this bunch, I would suppose that the "footlocker" was probably pressed pasteboard.  Anybody know for sure?

And the knights' "Treasure Chest Case"  -- who knows?  It looks like Olde Oake, but that's the wonder of "depictions."

Inside the rear cover we have the omnipresent "mine-your-acquaintances" ad for either greeting cards or seeds.

The outside rear cover features a glorious depiction of a Revolutionary War set.  Remember when the bad guys were trying to make us pay a tax on tea?  We weren't revolting against bankers or anti-pot laws.

Should we lament the passing of the simple conflicts of the Silver Age?  Thanks to the storytelling customs of those days, a bad guy was often easy to spot as he kidnapped a child or robbed a bank or threatened to steal a da Vinci.

Nowadays the good guys are tainted; the bad guys have "justifications."  However ...

In your daily life, friends, you often have the chance to help somebody.  And if you look for those chances, you can probably distinguish them without too much difficulty.  Let somebody onto the on-ramp?  You can do that.  Pick up a stranger's dropped book?  Go ahead!

Wasn't that easy? 

Thanks for joining me on this page-by-page journey through Action Comics  #305, the issue cover-dated October, 1963.

See you again on April 4th for the beginning of April Foolishness, 2016!