Here is the last page of “Clark Kent’s Great Superman Hunt” from Superman 180, along with the next page in the comic.
That little bit about teasing the reader to guess whether Clark or Superman was the TV imposter is a great little lagniappe, a little extra for the reader, or as they used to call it on the Borscht Belt, a bit of “chicken fat” to improve the flavor.
The bottom half of the page is an exemplary model of “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” In 1965, a very low-tech approach was used (crossing your eyes) to demonstrate how you got one treat into another one (a Tootsie Roll into a Tootsie Pop). Nowadays, they use computer graphics to put a pretzel into an M&M. Same idea, eh?
The next page features Rocky and Bullwinkle touting Cheerios. Every one of these ads featuring Moose and Squirrel had the same formula, with Rocky as the straight man and Bullwinkle blundering into SOMETHING and, in the last panel, saying, “…but they should watch where they’re going!”
Don’t you wish Congress could learn that trick?
In our next post we will begin the thrilling tale of “The Girl That Was Mightier than Superman!”
