Sea-Monkeys and X-Ray Spex

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tabby
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Sea-Monkeys and X-Ray Spex

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Sea-Monkeys and X-Ray Spex: Collecting the Bizarre Stuff Sold in the Back of Comic Books | Collectors Weekly

I yearned for these sea-monkeys sooooo much when I was a kid! I think they were advertised in the back of most comic books and I’m sure the ad was copiously printed for the sole purpose of tormenting me. I mean, just take a good look at them! While even I wasn’t quite gullible enough to believe that the artist’s depiction was a true facsimile, I felt it was definitely close enough to reality to warrant their purchase. My father said they were just shrimp and according to this article, he was correct. But how did he know that? Was it cynicism? Worldliness? Or did he at sometime purchase some? :sneaky:

The only ad of that genre that I took advantage of was found in the back of one of my father’s fishing magazines, something along the lines of “Field & Stream” or “Outdoor Life”. Aimed at desperate and young fishermen, it was a pair of glasses that boasted of enabling the wearer to see under several feet of water making it easy to spot fish. My father was an avid freshwater fisherman and I have a lot of great memories of our fishing trips. Although he wasn’t keen on the sea-monkey venture, he was willing to let me order a pair of those glasses. When they arrived, they simply looked like a cheap pair of sunglasses which is exactly what they were! Ultimately, all they did was cut the glare on the water so you could see a little better in very shallow water (about a foot) but no way would it let me see the bed of a deep river or the multitude of marine life that swam beneath the surface.

Do you remember any of these vintage and cheesy ads? Every order from them? Fess up now!

Also, I called it a comic book but to me they’ll always be “funny books”. That’s what we called them!
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