Journey into Comic Oddities with Brian Beck: Promo Rarities

Posted on January 12, 2020 by Comicbookscalping Leave a comment

Comic books crossing over with the corporate world isn’t a new thing. Basically, at the beginning of the medium, promotional comic books were being produced by various corporations. The oldest CGC Graded book to get a 10.0 grading was a promotional comic “Kolynos Presents the White Guard #1” Published by Whitehall Pharmacal company in 1949. There are a ton of promotional comics out there, and most go overlooked but have niche collector’s that are always hunting out the harder to find ones. Here’s a short list of some to be on the lookout for!

.
.
Captain Impulse Goes To Court #NN – Very few of these comic books were produced. This book was allegedly written by Jon Favreau during his college days. I don’t know how accurate that is, but he was in the area it was published at the time and the front cover does have “Favreau ‘91” in the bottom right corner, and these facts/theories alone have some people hunting them.

Combo Man #1 – Marvel teamed up with the mediocre snack food Combos, and created a hero that was a “combo”-nation of all Marvel’s popular heroes – Rick Wilder. This book features his the first appearance of Rick Wilder – also known as the Combo Man. This is a smaller book. I’ve seen them sell for as much as $40.

Commando Trade Paperback – This is one I wanna hunt down. A promo comic book for Arnold Schwartzenegger’s action pack classic. (My neighbor must be wondering why I’m yelling “Get in the chappa!”). This is a very small mini comic book that came with the 1986 Diamond Toymaker Arnold Schwarzenegger action figure.

Degrassi : The Next Generation – Ok, so I loved Degrassi. Like, I loved it so much I actually watched the Next Generation, etc… (I was in my 30’s). This would be a cool book to have. Probably wouldn’t be impossible to get a Jimmy “Drake” Brooks autograph in the Toronto area, either.

The Wonderful World of Buckethead – This is a promotional comic about the guitar virtuoso that was a member of the “new” Guns N Roses, and performs with a KFC bucket on his head, and often in an actual chicken-coop. It’s a weird ass book! It features artwork from Sandman’s Dave Mckean. This 16 page comic was originally given out as a promotional item for Buckethead’s “Monsters and Robots” album.

.

.

Eye Magazine #2 (Amazing Spider-Man Birth of a Super-Hero mini comic insert) – Issue two of the Eye Magazine from 1969 included a retelling of Spidey’s origin in a mini comic insert. The Magazine with the insert intact is a tough find, but the mini comic alone can reach three figure prices raw.

Google Chrome #0 – This comic book created by Scott McCloud was given out as an advance promo to show retailer’s how Google’s web browser Chrome would work. Most of these were thrown away, and they command huge money in high grade.

Brer Rabbit American Dairy Association giveaway featuring Uncle Remus– Dammit! If I can’t watch South of The South on Disney +, I guess I’ll have to settle for this late American Dairy Association presents Uncle Remus and Brair Rabbit in Ice Cream For The Party from 1955. With Disney attempt to deny the existence of the film, I suspect there will be people wanting to buy these, and they are already highly sought after.

Wolverine Special #102.5 – Possibly one of the rarest Wolverine comic books out there. This was a retailer incentive for retailers who would pre-order cases of 1996 fleer ultra x-men card set to get one copy of this book. A tough, always in demand book, that often sell for several hundred dollars.

Space Ghost Coast To Coast #1 – This was a promotional book put out by Cartoon Network to promote Adult Swim and the Space Ghost Coast to Coast character. While this isn’t the first appearance of Space Ghost – it is the first appearance of the new reimagined character who helped changed adult animation for years to come. This is a very hard to find book and this show still has a very strong cult following.