365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 361: Um, maybe we shouldn't start out 1967 by killing off all our heroes

House ad for Action Comics #346; Detective Comics #360; and Adventure Comics #353 (all February 1967); printed in Blackhawk #229 (February 1967)
Comic cover art: Action #340 and Adventure #353: pencils by Curt Swan, inks by George Klein, letters by Ira Schnapp
Detective #360: pencils by Carmine Infantino, inks by Joe Giella, letters by Ira Schnapp
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 360: The Human (and Kryptonian, and Martian, and Amazonian, and Atlantean, and Apokoliptan) League

House ad for The Brave and the Bold #28 [Justice League of America] (February-March 1960); printed in Batman #129 (February 1960); comic cover art: pencils by Mike Sekowsky, inks by Murphy Anderson, colors by Jack Adler (?), letters by Ira Schnapp; ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp


House ad for Justice League (1987 series) #1 (May 1987); printed in Batman #406 (April 1987); ad art from the cover of Justice League #1: pencils by Kevin Maguire, inks by Terry Austin


House ad for JLA (1997 series); printed in Superman Adventures #6 (April 1997); ad art: pencils by Howard Porter, inks by John Dell

365 Days of DC House Ads, Christmas Bonus: What the Dickens?

I know this will make it 366, but I couldn't let the holiday season go by without posting this classic ad which I forgot to post until now.


House ad for Teen Titans (1966 series) #13 (February 1968); printed in Adventures of Bob Hope #109 (February 1968)
Comic cover art: pencils and inks by Nick Cardy, letters by Ira Schnapp
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 349: Santa and Rudolph cosplay the closing scene from Dr. Strangelove

House ad for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer #9 (December 1958); printed in Flippity & Flop #43 (December 1958)
Comic cover art: pencils and inks by Rube Grossman (?)
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 342: Rudolph ruins the mint condition of your comic book and laughs about it

House ad for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer #10 (December 1959); printed in Sgt. Bilko #16 (November-December 1959)
Comic cover art: pencils and inks by Rube Grossman (?)
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 338: Hey girls, comics!

House ad for Lois Lane #5 (November-December 1958); printed in Lois Lane #4 (September-October 1958)
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 331: Underground Comix

House ad for Showcase #48 [Cave Carson: Adventures Under the Earth] (February-March 1964); printed in Challengers of the Unknown #36 (February-March 1964)
Comic cover art: pencils and inks by Lee Elias
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 329: The second-most important wedding that happened on November 25

House ad for Batman #122 (March 1959); printed in Detective Comics #265 (March 1959)
Comic cover art: pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Stan Kaye, letters by Ira Schnapp
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp
Happy anniversary, Randi and John!

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 328: Is the answer "he poops his little bat-pants?"

House ad for Batman #147 (May 1962); printed in Detective Comics #303 (May 1962)
Comic cover art: pencils and inks by Sheldon Moldoff, letters by Ira Schnapp
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp,

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 326: He's the hero that beats up men and animals! Nobody really likes him.

House ad for Showcase #66 (B'wana Beast] (January-February 1967); printed in Metamorpho #10 (January-February 1967)
Comic cover art: pencils by Mike Sekowsky, inks by Joe Giella, letters by Gaspar Saladino
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 323: We at DC celebrate the loss of four pages

House ad for 80-Page Giant #6 [Superman] (January 1965); printed in Detective Comics #335 (January 1965)
Comic cover art: pencils by Curt Swan, inks by George Klein, letters by Ira Schnapp
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp
Not to be confused with the first 84-page Superman Annual, which came out four years earlier.


Cover of Superman Annual #1 (August 1960), pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Stan Kaye, letters by Ira Schnapp

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 314: Superman Understands Phrases Entertain and Relax

House ad for Superman #193 (January-February 1967); printed in Detective Comics #359 (January 1967)
Comic cover art: pencils by Curt Swan, inks by George Klein, letters by Ira Schnapp
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 308: Tomorrow's Election Day will probably not be this goofy...

...but please don't forget to vote anyway!


House ad for Swing with Scooter #4 (January 1967); printed in falling in Love #88 (January 1967)
Comic cover art: pencils by Joe Orlando, inks by Mike Esposito, letters by Ira Schnapp
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 307: Orin Greatly Regrets Everything

House ad for Aquaman #31 (January 1967); printed in Batman #188 (December 1966)
Comic cover art: pencils and inks by the late great Nick Cardy
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 305: The very definition of a quickie wedding

House ad for The Flash (1959 series) #165 (November 1966); printed in Detective Comics #356 (October 1966)
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp


Cover of The Flash (1959 series) #165 (November 1966), pencils and inks by Murphy Anderson

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 302: Happy 25th Anniversary, Batman

Here's a double-header...or is that a two-face???...of house ads pitching the Batman 25th anniversary issue! Which is full of glittery, silver reprints. Hey, in those days there weren't trade paperbacks, so this was a dandy gift from Batman to us! No cake was included, sadly.



House ads for 80-Page Giant #5 [Batman's Silver Anniversary] (December 1964); top ad printed in Detective Comics #334 (December 1964), bottom half-page ad printed in The Atom #16 (December 1964)
Comic cover art: pencils and inks by Win Mortimer
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 301: Purple sky all in my brain / Lately things just don't seem the same

House ad for Mystery in Space [Ultra the Multi-Alien] #104 (December 1965); printed in Hawkman #11 (December 1965)
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp


Cover of Mystery in Space #104 (December 1965), pencils and inks by Lee Elias

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 297: Bizarro-World Fonzie endorses this comic

House ad for World's Finest Comics #163 (December 1966); printed in Jimmy Olsen #98 (December 1966)
Comic cover art: pencils by Curt Swan, inks by George Klein, letters by Ira Schnapp
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 295: You can cut off all my fins but to your ways I will not bend

House ad for Showcase #69 [Dolphin] (December 1968); printed in Teen Titans #18 (December 1968)
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp (?)
Okay, I'll confess it: the cover of Showcase #69 is one of my very favorite comic book covers, and the thing is, logically this shouldn't work. There's a huge amount of white green space (that would normally be filled with blurbs), the "Dolphin" is odd and unpolished, and speaking of logos: that hand-lettered "Showcase Presents"...well, that's not the professional, sharp lettering you normally get on a DC cover. It, in fact, looks straight off of a Charlton cover. And yet I think it's an absolutely gorgeous comic book cover...well, maybe it's the leggy aquatic girl in denim cut-offs. With the heroine wearing Daisy Dukes and a wet t-shirt, I am amazed this comic didn't sell one bajillion copies. (I'm just surprised it got past DC editorial with no blurbs on the cover!)


Cover of Showcase #69 [Dolphin] (December 1968), pencils and inks by Jay Scott Pike; possible clean-up inks by Dick Giordano

Wait, this cover was drawn by Jay Scott Pike? Well, there's your reason right there. National shoulda hired more artists who were fish.

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 293: It's raining men! Hallelujah!

House ad for The Flash (1959 series) #110 (December 1959-January 1960); printed in Batman #128 (December 1959)
Comic cover art: pencils by Carmine Infantino, inks by Joe Giella, letters by Ira Schnapp
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp