While 1984 was an insanely banner year for television, where almost every single new series was a hit that would run throughout the rest of the decade, 1985 was more about trying to capitalize on the previous year's successes.  Though there are a few shows that could easily be deemed TV classics, a lot of the new series were either directly aping recent hits, or were trying to carry on the torch of shows that were on their last legs.

Two of the stand-out new series that would go on to help define the decade couldn't have been more disparate in theme.  On the one hand we have the Golden Girls starring Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, Estelle Getty, and Betty White, which had a much broader audience than I'd bet the studio predicted.  On the other we have MacGyver, which was finally the vehicle that would launch Richard Dean Anderson into stardom as pacifist secret agent Angus MacGyver who can solve any problem with some bubblegum, a toothpick, and a lock of his inspiring mullet.  Whereas the Golden Girls would prove to studios that age had no bearing on comedy success, MacGyver was a good 15 years ahead of it's time illustrating that there is an audience for detailed procedural science and technology outside of PBS (even if most of it's science and tech was pure hokum.)  Think about it, would we have shows like CSI and Mythbusters without MacGyver?

Getting back to the apparent theme of capitalizing on other series successes, in 1985 we were introduced to three long-running shows that were direct descendants of other productions from the early 80s.  Mr. Belvedere picked up where Benson and Who's the Boss left off, dusting his was way into America's hearts and minds, while Growing Pains introduced the world to the wicked smile of Kirk Cameron, and one of America's most famous stars, Bruce Willis, got his first big break as David Addison opposite Cybil Shepherd's Maddie Hayes in Moonlighting.  Whereas Moonlighting was aping multiple hits such as Remington Steele and Scarecrow & Mrs. King, Growing, Growing Pains was taking sight as just one show, Family Ties, stealing not only the basic family dynamic, but also the concept for it's opening credits sequence (told in a series of family photos.)  At least Moonlighting would find it's own kooky voice as the years went on, setting it apart from the series it took inspiration from.

Similarly, based on the success of the relatively new anthology series Tales From the Darkside, 1985 would see an explosion of scary and interesting anthology TV that lasted well into the 90s.  Making their debut that year were three new series, the Steven Spielberg Produced Amazing Stories, as well as two series reboots, the all new Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.  Though none of these three series would run for that long, they were the first big wave of anthology television that would be followed by shows like Monsters, Freddy's Nightmares, Tales From the Crypt, and eventually a second Outer Limits series.

My favorite new series of 1985 was also probably one of the least successful shows that year, Misfits of Science.   Starring Kevin Peter Hall (the guy inside Harry from Harry and the Hendersons, as well as the guy inside the original Predator), Dean Paul Martin (son of Dean Martin, and ex-husband of Olivia Hussey and Dorothy Hamill), Courtney Cox (yeah, that Courtney Cox), and Mark Thomas Miller (ex-bodyguard for Van Halen) as a group of super-powered scientists and their subjects.  Though Martin's character, Billy Hayes, doesn't have any powers, he leads the team consisting of his assistant Dr. Elvin Lincoln (Hall), who can shrink down in size to a mere 11 inches (Hall in real life was a towering 7' 2"), and two research subjects, Johnny Bukowski (Miller) who is a rock star that was electrocuted and now has the power as a conduit and can shoot bolts of lightening from his hands, and Gloria Dinallo, a telekinetic young girl who believes her father was an alien…

There were a few other interesting debuts in 1985.  For one, we got our first exposure to Jaleel White in Charlie in Company (four years before he’d set the world alight with his obnoxious Steve Urkel.)   We also got a chance to see a young Michael Madsen fresh off his small cameo in Wargames, in the cop show Our Family Honor.

One of the things I love about looking through these old TV Guides is getting a glimpse at the various cartoon schedules and advertisements.  In this issue we got a chance to see a variation of the 1985 CBS ad that ran in comic books back in the day. In this version we get a slightly more accurate portrait of Hulk Hogan as well as a clearly depiction of the "Monsters" from the retooled Muppet Babies cartoon.  In '85 Muppet Babies was popular enough to have a second live action half hour added to the show that revolved around the adult Muppets and a series of monster characters.  Jim Henson pulled the plug on the this addendum series after three episodes though, and the for the remainder of the season they ran two MB episodes back to back.

There's also an ad for the regular Challenge of the Go Bots cartoon (returning for a full series run after the previous year's 5-episode miniseries debut.)…

The other thing I really dig about this 1985 issue is all of the awesome artwork for shows like Knight Rider, Small Wonder, and Webster.

The art looks a whole heck of a lot like Drew Struzan's work, but I don't know for sure.  Though I'm sure its extremely cost prohibitive, it would have been so damn cool if the TV Guide company or the studios had commissioned this type of artwork for the entire season of these shows…

The last thing I wanted to point out in this issue is a series of star-studded specials that ran in the fall of 1985.   Seems like all the stations were gearing up for these gala events to get the word out on the new fall season.   Though the art is awesome in the below CBS ad, I love the NBC ad the most because of Don Johnson's swagger.  Though this is a composite shot, apparently the network wanted to play up his bad boy attitude by putting him front and center as the only guy who is too damn cool to wear a tux.  I wonder if he was all Miami Viced up for the actual special as well?

Felling like a bloated, overblown spy adventure in space today.

Moonraker Bubblegum cards from Topps, 1979.  I talked about the stickers here.

So in 1983 the various companies making toothpaste decided to bring their product competition to comic book pages in the form of some dramatic stories aimed at kids.  Brushing your teeth was no longer a chore, it was WAR, and Crest and Aim were enlisting kid’s help in defeating cavities all over the country.  On Tuesday I shared a couple Crest comic ads that were a bit weird, but overall kind of boring.  Today I'm going to focus on a much cooler ad campaign from the makers of Aim, that features one of the coolest advertising gimmicks I've ever seen…

Before I jump into the gimmick, I thought I'd start with the above, which was the basic full page ad that ran in magazines during 1983.  It has an awesome concept with the sword/toothbrush battle that's unfortunately marred by the weird addition of a tube of toothpaste obscuring our view of the full action.  That aside, I love the design on the villain character, the Evil Tooth Invader.  He's a cross between a swashbuckling space pirate and the Marvel comics villain Ultron.  I honestly think I would have cared about brushing my teeth more as a kid had I thought this guy was running around causing all sorts of shenanigans in my mouth.

Anyway, the ad agency that got the Aim account was totally on their game when they decided to come up with campaign based around offering a full on, eight-page removable storybook in magazines back in 1983.  Not only was it hard to pass up while flipping through an issue of Muppet Magazine, it was filled to the brim with Jack Kirby-esque artwork that was totally leaping off the page…

The story is set in the galaxy of your mouth, near the Constellation of Teeth, on the planet Molar.  We join Jeff Smilemaker and his companions, the lovely Fluoride and their robot friend Floss, right after being defeated in a battle with the evil Tooth Invader and his Plaque Troops on the planet Bicuspid.  While resting on Molar and attending to their wounds, the three happen upon a strange crystalline creature named Sugar who they hope will help them in their battle against tooth decay.  But the three are soon besieged again by the Tooth Invader and his horde of Plaque Troops. Will sugar help them?  Will they win out against impossible odds?

Honestly, this story, though derivate of Star Wars and a million other action stories, is so damn cool I don't even care that it's an advertisement!

If all advertising was done with this level of awesome, I think I would probably have been inspired into the ad game as a career choice.  Seriously, I want another chapter in the continuing adventure of Jeff Smilemaker and the gang.  I'm curious about the time they got stuck in the pit of Gingivitis and had to fight the tribe of abscessed tooth monsters!

Seriously, I wonder if there were any other Aim storybooks created during the early 80s?

I recently picked up a big run of Muppet Magazine and while flipping through the issues I was astounded by the number of awesome advertisements.  I figured I'd share some of them here and there, and this week I thought it would be fun to take a look at some toothpaste ads.

First up we have a couple of Crest ads from 1983 and 1984 respectively.  Though using the comic layout was nothing new for companies in the 80s (just take a gander at the huge Hostess comic ads archive here at Branded), I do think there was an upswing in the trend.  Unfortunately, even though it was kind of cool for Crest to develop the idea of a crack team of cavity fighting heroes, the end result was kind of weird and boring…

Whereas the Hostess comic ads were wonderfully wacky and over the top, these two Crest ads are totally weak.  From the context clues in the two comics, I'm guessing the Crest team's home territory of Toothopolis is actually located in one of two places, either in little Chucky's own mouth, or the shared space of every mouth in the known universe which coexist on a metaphysical plane (which is in turn called Toothopolis.)  Either way it's confusing and little Chucky has been teleported into his own mouth.  Okay, I take back my initial statement, these comics are absolutely bat-shit crazy.

I love the imagery of turning a tube of toothpaste into a gun, and I'm actually surprised one of the companies didn't think to try this out in their actual packaging.   I guess some kid would want to put the toothpaste directly on their teeth and the imagery of a kid with a gun to his mouth would be kind of wrong.  Still, it exists in the comics, so we can always get our dose of unfortunate design that way.  Also, though I realize that the writer was restricted to a single page of comic storytelling, I think it's a waste to introduce an entire team of Crest heroes just to have the leader order the rest to lounge around while he single handedly goes out to fight the cavity creeps.  Kind of full of himself.  At least he lets the kid help out in the second comic...

To cap off the E.T. theme this week, here’s a better look at the wax wrapper from that Buster Browns shoe ad I shared on Tuesday.

E.T Topps bubblegum cards, circa 1982.

I think I've written about this before, but there's aspect to American pop culture that I find endlessly fascinating; this deep need for sustainable continuity.   Though we're fanatics for origin stories, once an idea is set into motion we very rarely want to see it end.  So when a successful sitcom invades our television schedule, the hope is that it will be continually produced for as along as possible, ten, twenty years down the line. When it ends, there's still hope in our hearts for spin-offs, and reunion specials, and when all else fails, hopefully it will eventually end up as a big screen adaptation (which will hopefully be successful enough to garner a trilogy.)

I'm not sure what it is in our culture that makes us so clingy as an audience.  Maybe subconsciously the idea of a story having a distinct ending echoes fears of our own eventual mortality.  Maybe we just love a good success story and nothing says success like sequels and long running TV which have a validating effect on our own enjoyment.  I loved Ghostbusters something fierce growing up and I pined for the eventual sequel that seemed to take a million years to materialize.  Sure, I'd watch the original when ever it came on TV, but somewhere in the back of my mind I felt that I deserved to see the continuing story.

Battling against this cultural yearning are the hopes and dreams of the very people who makes these stories possible.  Sure, Dan Akaroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, and Sigorny Weaver seemed more than willing to make a sequel but how did Bill Murray and Rick Moranis feel?  Word is that they weren't all that keen on the idea, that as actors and creative-minded individuals they were more interested in pursuing something new, something that was interesting to them at the time.  Often this creative reluctance to suit up for a sequel is what quashes projects, but it's not necessarily the end of the story.  There are other outlets for continuity, especially for entertainment that feeds the all-ages sensibility of an audience.  The cartoon spin-off for instance.  While waiting the five years in-between Ghostbusters films, DiC started production on the Real Ghostbusters cartoon, which featured the continuing adventures of our favorite spectral sleuths.  But for various reasons the creative yearnings of writers, and the monetary needs of the studio forced the story to change.  Egon became blonde, the group all began wearing colored coded jumpsuits, Janine became a punk, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man became an ally and Slimer switched from being a chaotic-neutral villain to a bungling, Baby Huey-esque sidekick.

This leads me to the gist of today's subject, which is the continuing story of the beloved plant-friendly alien, E.T. the Extra Terrestrial in his only sequel story, The Book of the Green Planet.  Published in 1985 and written by William Kotzwinkle, the same gentleman responsible for the film-to-book novelization of the original story, Book of the Green Planet follows E.T.'s adventures after reuniting with his species as they travel back to the home planet to study the flora specimens they've been collecting from Earth over the millennia.  In the original novelization we got a peek into a different view of the movie as Kotzwinkle tended to write from E.T.'s perspective, giving the reader an insight absent from the movie.  In that book E.T. comes across as a wholly different character, at times a centered peaceful monk-like being wise beyond his ten million years of age (yup in the book he's 10,000,000 years old for crying out loud), a others a tired curmudgeon afraid of offending Elliott and his siblings as he sees them as the rulers of the planet.  It's an odd balancing act that takes a weird shift in the follow-up sequel novel.

Unburdened by adhering to a script, Kotzwinkle decides to let loose in the sequel revealing that E.T. is not merely an alien from another world, but a traveler from outside of our universe/dimension.  Kotzwinkle also decided to mold the character more into the image we get in the film, drawing him as playfully ignorant, continuously spouting incorrect English to his friends as if he had learned to master the language during his layover on Earth.  He's also shown depressed, having left his newfound friends behind, never to see them again, yet I find this awkward and weird considering that he's literally lived throughout the millennia.  Was this experience with Elliott so profound, and if so, how boring was the rest of his existence?  Besides, for a being of that age who travels through out dimensions and across galaxies with ease, isn't it a bit naive to assume you'd never see your friends again?

Anyway, the basic plot involves E.T. returning home only to be demoted for his shenanigans on Earth.  Sad and lonely, it becomes his quest to find a way to travel back to the Milky Way and to his beloved friend Elliott.  The book flits back and forth between E.T.'s adventures trying to secure a vessel to make the trip and a slightly older Elliott on Earth who is struggling with puberty and his newfound obsession with girls (which troubles E.T., through their psychic connection, to no end.)   Trying to help (but coming across as a dumped ex stalker) E.T. sends astral projections of himself towards Earth in the hopes that they will meld with Elliott's troubled soul and help him to find peace (as well as the nerve to finally step up and mingle with the girl of his dreams.)  In a sort of anticlimactic ending E.T. grows a ship (making it easier to hide from his people) and embarks on the long journey back to Elliott, though the story ends before the trip is finished leaving the book open to an obvious sequel (though unlike this one, a sequel that never materialized.)

All in all, this book (and the original novelization) gives the audience what it craves, a continuation of the story with so much more to explore.  It's weird and not much like the original film, but it is something which in and of itself is sort of a treasure.  Also, believe it or not, with the re-release of this book in 2002 there was a teacher's guide printed that has artistic rendering of a couple of the odder creatures mentioned in the book including the ellusive flopgopple!

As part of the impromptu E.T. week here at Branded in the 80s, I wanted to point you all at an article I wrote for the ever awesome Monkey Goggles!  Basically I spent some time talking about the benefits and pitfalls of movie novelizations as well as digging a little deeper into the E.T. tie-in written by William Kotzwinkle.  Did you know that E.T. is ten million years old?  Or that Elliott's mom is pretty damn lonley, yearning for a man and some romance?  Well you would if you'd read the book!  So go on over to Monkey Goggles and check it out…

T.L. over at Flashlights are Something to Eat has been posting a bunch of vintage E.T. goodness that I've had a lot of fun reading, so I thought I'd take a second and riff off that today.  Watching E.T. in the theater was one of those seminal movie-going experiences I had as a kid, one where I was at that perfect age where there was no need to suspend my disbelief.  Santa Claus was still real, and so was that fugly little Reese’s-Pieces-eating alien.  What I think is strange is that even though I loved that flick, and despite the fact that it was a huge mega hit which was merchandised to hell and back (E.T. even a spokesman for Coors), I never really had much E.T. swag.  I know I had a plush E.T. doll (not the cool faux-leather one, but the regular fuzzy edition), and I eventually got a copy of the Atari game with an old used 2600 console that I snagged at a garage sale, but that's about it.  I bet my mom never thought to pick any of the toys up because she figured it was too tame for my tastes, not as action packed as say He-Man or Star Wars figures.  Even so I always sort of coveted my friend's E.T. stuff though, from board games to read-along books, it all just seemed to damn cool.

Well after flipping though a bunch of older magazines lately I've come across a couple of odd bits of E.T. merchandising that I thought would be fun to share.  This first ad is for a series of E.T. branded Buster Brown kids shoes…

I'm betting this line of shoes catered more towards little girls as two of the three styles shown are distinctly feminine.  Actually, I'm kind of disappointed in the boy's pair as they're kind of bland.   Sure, there's the neat iconic silhouette of Elliot and E.T. riding a bike in front of the moon, but for all intents and purposes these are just plain brown leather shoes.  They're not even sneakers, which is more in line with what a boy would want to wear, so these were probably regulated to family parties and church.  The girl's designs, on the other hand, are pretty neat though.  The one pair has the sweet E.T. heart pattern on the bottom tread, and the other has that neat plastic decal that really shows off one's love for the little alien.

I also think it's interesting that Buster Brown decided to use packs of the Topps bubblegum cards as a sales incentive for picking up a pair of these shoes.  I mean bubblegum cards were still about a quarter a pack around 1980-1986 or so.  I'm sure the shoes were still like $20 a pair back then, so it's not like the parents were getting a deal.

**Update**  Thanks to Craig for commenting and posting a link to the E.T. Buster Brown shows commercial.  There were at least sneakers for boys...

The second ad was for a Kuwahara BMX bike.  Billed as the bike Elliot rides in the flick, Kuwahara sure wasn't working very hard to sell this fact with any sort of movie specific branding.  Not only was it sans basket (to make it a little more movie accurate), there weren't even any E.T. decals or logos.  In fact, unless you popped for an additional $3.50 for the poster, how would you ever know?  Actually, that poster seems a little weird, I mean what kid wanted a poster of just a bike sitting in some fog?  Actually, now that I think about it I would probably kill for a poster of my old GT Performer just sitting in a bank of fog, so scratch that…

I thought I'd take a moment today and put up a special Saturday post to let everyone know about some exciting updates for the Up! Fair.

We've got some ambitious ideas for what we'd like this event experience to be like for both the tabling guests and the attendees.  While we're not brash enough to claim that we're the alternative to huge established shows like the San Diego Comic Con and the various Wizard World events, we do see some areas that need improvement, in particular the role of the independent comics artists, writers, and publishers.  Typically relegated to Artist's Alleys, it's extremely tough to make a profitable go of tabling at these events because of the combined cost of travel, lodging, high table fees, and printing costs.  Breaking even at these shows is difficult enough, but on a creative level, even finding the time to get anything out of the event outside of tabling is also difficult.  Networking with other artists and writers is hard when you're stuck behind your table, and the idea of utilizing the opportunity inherent in gathering a large crowd of artists to share ideas and learn from one another is almost non-existent.

Our idea is to treat the Up! Fair, first and foremost, as an opportunity for independent artists and writers to meet up and share their passion for comics and zines through hands on workshops, lectures, and panel discussions.  We want to bring the craft to the forefront, and leave the pop culture shenanigans to the other shows.   We also want the experience to be as exciting to just  attend as a cartoonist/writer, as it is to table or to put on these workshops.  That's why we're thinking more in the direction of a conference as opposed to a typical convention.

Obviously these types of events don't happen overnight and there's always a bottom line of costs and logistics.  One of our main goals was to try and make attending this event, both for the general public and those who are tabling, to be as low cost as possible, which is why we're keeping table registration very reasonable ($50 for a full table, and $30 for a half table) and general attendance to the show absolutely free.

While we're trying to cover the majority of the costs associated with the fair (we're certainly taking a loss on this show), we do need some help making the event the best that it can be.  Earlier in the week we put out a call to cartoonists and writers for help with creative donations to the show, in particular sketches, finished comics work, or a couple copies of your independently published comics, mini-comics, books, or zines for distribution to guests and attendees of the Up! Fair.  On the one hand, these artistic donations will go towards helping to get the word out on independent publishing, giving everyone who comes to the show an opportunity to sample the rich and diverse landscape of comics and zines that exist outside of mainstream publishing.  On the other, it's an opportunity to get your work out into the hands of the public in a much more personal method than just name dropping and link exchanges.

We also decided that in lieu of straight up monetary donations, we want to raise some money for the event by providing an opportunity to help out, but also by getting some great rewards in the process.  On Friday afternoon we launched a Kickstarter Pledge drive to help raise some funds for the show.  For those unfamiliar with Kickstarter, basically it's an online fundraising platform partnered with Amazon.com that allows monetary donations in exchange for tiered rewards.  Basically it's an all or nothing deal.  We set a monetary goal and a drive end date and if we make our funding by the date we receive the money to help with the Up! Fair.  If not, all pledges are cancelled.

The exciting part for me is that after only 8 hours our project met its minimal fundraising goal!  I can't even begin to thank everyone who helped make that possible, and so quickly even.  Much like the Grinch, my heart grew three sizes bigger knowing that we're putting together a project that people are excited about helping to make a reality, and honestly, November 19th can't get here soon enough. 

But the work isn't done yet, and this is where we're going to get a little PBS for a second.  Though we've reached the initial funding goal, we still need help with the Kickstarter pledge drive to make the event all that it can be.

I'd like to remind folks that there are a lot of cool things you can purchase through this pledge drive.  The system we've set up is tiered, and with each step up in the pledge amount you'll receive all the stuff in the tiers below.  Here's some of what's available…

For $5 you'll be listed in the event program as an integral supporter, as well as receiving a link on the soon to be constructed Friends of the Up! Fair page on the website.  Oh and our honest, undying and heartfelt gratitude.

For $15 you'll receive a one year subscription to the forum access on the Art & Story website, which has an awesome and growing community of like-minded artists and writers, as well as being listed in the event program as an integral supporter, as well as receiving a link on the soon to be constructed Friends of the Up! Fair page on the website.

For $35 you’ll receive a hand-sewn plush Ink Monster (Oghma, the mascot for the Up! Fair), made with love by my talented wife Carrie, as well as the forum access and being listed in the program and on the website.

For $75 you'll receive an inked sketch from one of the Up! Fair organizers (Sara Turner, Jerzy Drozd, Mark Rudolph, Kevin Cross, Anne Drozd, or even me if you'd like), as well as a plush Oghma, forum access and being listed in the program and on the website.

For $135 you'll receive a one-year subscription to Art & Story Supreme (29 comics and writing process podcasts a month and tutorial videos to boot), as well as an inked sketch from one of the Up! Fair organizers (Sara Turner, Jerzy Drozd, Mark Rudolph, Kevin Cross, Anne Drozd, or even me if you'd like), a plush Oghma, forum access and being listed in the program and on the website.

For $200 or more you'll receive a limited edition screen-printed poster for the Up! Fair event hand done, drawn and designed by the wonderful Cricket Press, as well as a one-year subscription to Art & Story Supreme (29 comics and writing process podcasts a month and tutorial videos to boot), an inked sketch from one of the Up! Fair organizers (Sara Turner, Jerzy Drozd, Mark Rudolph, Kevin Cross, Anne Drozd, or even me if you'd like), a plush Oghma, forum access and being listed in the program and on the website.

The beauty of Kickstarter is that you can also pledge any amount you'd like, so as little as a dollar would help to make the Up! Fair that much more awesome.  Also, none of this money is going into our pockets, it's all being funneled into the show to cover the costs of printing programs, signage for the event, promo materials like buttons, food for the tabling artists and guests, materials for the workshops, badges, and much more.  If you enjoy independent comics and publishing, please consider helping out.  I honestly believe that when it comes to events like this that it's not about the organizers, it's truly about the community of people coming together to share their passion for art and creativity.  This show is about every single person who supports it and attends, and it can send a clear message that there is a better way to celebrate independent publishing.

To sort of keep this week's McDonalds posts going I thought I'd take a minute to share some awesome trading cards from the impressive collection of the one and only Brandon of the Waffle Whiffer Zone.  Brandon's site and Flickr feed have been a constant source of inspiration on Branded for the last four years and change.

Since I haven't been able to find a physical example of any McDonald's branded wax packages, I figured the next best thing would be to take a look at some trading cards the company produced in Cleveland, Ohio back in 1974.  These promo cards are all themed with specific iconography of the area including the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (behind Grimace), Hale Farm & Western Reserve Village in Bath, Ohio in Summit County (behind Mayor McCheese), the Cleveland Health Museum and Education Center (behind Officer Big Mac), the Great Lakes Historical Society Museum in Vermilion (behind Captain Crook), the Cleveland Zoo in Brookside Park (behind Ronald McDonald), and the Blossom Music Center, located between Cleveland and Akron (behind a very laid back Hamburglar.)

One of the things that I love about these cards is that the art is so simplified and interesting.  It's the same aesthetic that draws me to bubblegum card wax package art. It’s much better than the art in that 1980 Calendar I shared on Monday too.

Heartfelt thanks go out to Brandon for letting me use the images from his Flickr feed.  You should definitely take a moment and visit him at his site, Waffle Whiffer Zone for some amazing nostalgic ephemera…

A quick aside from this week's McDonald's shenanigans to make a call out to all independent artists and writers out there who are interested in helping out the Up! Fair.  In order to cover our operating costs, we'll be auctioning off artwork from guests and co-organizers of the event.  If you'd like to donate a piece of original artwork for the auction, you can send it here:

Cricket Press

PO Box 21952

Lexington, KY  40522-1952

No need to frame the piece or prepare it in any way.  Just send it in sturdy packaging with your name and website info clearly indicated so we can credit you as a supporter of the show.  The piece can be anything you wish; a piece of brand-new artwork that promotes our theme of independence, or a page from a comics or illustration project you've worked on in the past.  We only ask that the piece not feature any characters from any established publishers.  The artwork will be auctioned off on the Up! Fair website.  Deadline for donations is November 1st, 2010.

We're also looking for your independently published works! 

You can help us demonstrate the wonderfully diverse world of entertainment in self-publishing by donating a copy or two of your own work.  We're accepting any independently published comics, mini-comics, or prose books to be distributed to the guests of the event as well as the general public.  You can send any donated books to the address above.

All material supporters of the event will get a mention on our “Friends of the Up! Fair” page along with our undying gratitude.  So don't forget to include your website information!

And thanks in advance for your support of the Up! Fair!

Since I decided to empty my backlog of McDonalds related ephemera this past Monday, I thought I'd also spend a little time talking about the weird craziness of the fast food giant trying a bit too hard to reach out to kids and families in the 80s.  On Monday, I mentioned an ad for a McDonald's branded storybook and record series that was at the back of one of the yearly coupon calendar.  To me it seemed like Micky D's was overstepping their bounds by taking it upon themselves to offer educational children's books outside of their restaurants.  Heck if these were part of a Happy Meal I probably wouldn't think anything of it, but because they were sold in bookstores and the like it just seemed wrong.  Well, the weirdness didn't stop there.  In fact in 1987 McDonalds was also getting into the fashion industry as well…

Dubbed McKiDS (not to be confused with the 1992 NES game of the same name), McDonald's partnered with Sears on a line of branded clothing for kids 1-7 years of age.  The tagline for the collection was, "Fun Clothes for Small Fries".  Thoguh they were branded with McDonald's iconography, they were really a product pushed by Sears, and the management of the fast food chain was really only involved in a consulting and licensing capacity.

Branding on clothes is obviously nothing new, but an entire line of children's clothing like this from a company that specializes in burgers and fries is just weird.  Not even addressing the idea of a creepy mustard and ketchup-colored adult clown thinking about playing dress-up with our children, it points to the fact that some companies can easily lose sight of what it is they do well in the race for more money.  It was another step into that distopian future ideal of countries run by single corporations providing us with everyting from the food that clogged our arteries to the healthcare that cleared them.  McHousing, McClothes, McFood, and McEntertainment.  I'm not the kind of guy who typically puts on a sandwich board and grabs a bell, crying out to his fellow men about the evils of corporate America, but things like this really do scare me a bit. 

What's even more confusing to me is that even though the clothes all featured the iconic golden arches logo somewhere, a lot of what's in these two ads looks like regular non-branded clothing.  If you're going to go so far as to introduce a line of McDonald's clothes for kids, why wouldn't you make the best of the stable of iconic characters you own?  What parent is so into McDonalds as a trusted company on that kind of level?  Only 15% of the clothing featured images of the McDonaldland characters (according to some articles I dug up), so even going past the parents, why would kids want these clothes either?  This just makes it seem kind of devious, as if the company isn't interested in spreading their brand, just positioning themselves for new revenue streams in a monopolistic maner.  It's the Wal-Mart effect.

Apparently there was a slew of similar clothing lines coming out in the late 80s including Jell-O branded toddlers garments, Coca Cola clothes, as well as a line of Burger King kids and teen clothing.  I don't remember any of this at the time (well, I do rememer oversized Coke sweaters and sweatshirts), so I'm wondering if it didn't catch on at the level were it was really country-wide?  When looking up the clothing line on the interwebs I found a ton of articles about a re-launch of the McKiDS line back in 2004 mainly launching in other countries, so my guess is that it originally petered out pretty quickly here in the States.  I wonder if this is still an idea the company is pushing?

One Interesting thing I'd like to note about the above ad (outside of all the grouchy Big Brother talk) is that it featured two discontinued characters from the McDonaldland crew, The Professor and Captain Crook, but surprisingly did not feature Ronald McDonald.  I bet there was some market research done that pointed to the fact that parents might not have been interested in a clothing label promoted by the iconic clown.  On the other hand, I wonder why they brought back some characters that they'd made efforts to remove from their branding?  Also, is it just me or, in the above ad, does Mayor McCheese seem to think this whole thing is a bad idea?

A Little while ago I shared a vintage McDonalds calendar from 1979.  I actually managed to get that calendar in a lot with others from the early 80s, so today I though I'd share some more.  Most of these calendars had some sort of gimmick (like the hidden messages and pictures in the 1979 edition), but the 1980 edition was a lot more straight forward featuring general history trivia as a theme (as you can see from the Christopher Columbus, Wright Brothers, and George Washington images on the cover…)

The artwork on this calendar is pretty weird too.  It has sort of a stained-glass vibe, but it also reminds me of the Count Morbidia pages in Dynamite magazine.  McDonalds wasn't a huge part of my life growing up as my parents didn't care for fast food, so most of my memories are of times when I'd tag along with friends and of the various television commercials.  Part of this un-exposure comes with an unfamiliarity with some of the McDonaldland characters, though I do think the early 80s was also a time when McD's corporate was culling the bunch so that didn't help either.  Because these characters seem so strange to me I find them endlessly fascinating, in particular the human characters like Captain Crook and The Professor.  I also think it's fascinating that half of the cast were villains intent on stealing your food.  The Fry Guys (called Goblins in this calendar) would snatch your fries, Grimace would take your shakes, the Hamburglar burgled your burgers, and Captain Crook wanted to frisk you for your fillet-o-fishs.  With all these food-napping shenanigans going on it's a wonder that anyone wanted to visit McDonaldland.  Seems like more of a mid-level hell to me…

The one thing that I also found a little strange was that as soon as Birdie the Early Bird showed up on the scene (introduced in 1980, but she doesn't appear on a calendar until 1981), Officer Big Mac was forced into early retirement.  Hope he kept his pension, though I'm betting Mayor McCheese found a way to funnel that dough into his own personal money bin.

Though I tend to try and stick with a mainly analytical/nostalgia-ridden eye towards the stuff I write about, I can't help but slip into Robot Chicken mode every once in awhile (Kickin' Jeans anyone?)  So when I saw this 1981 animal-themed Ronald McDonald Coloring Calendar I did a double take of creepy-clown proportions.  How were kids not crapping their pants and crying when they set eyes on that cover?  If the big-eyed Ronald wasn't enough, the realistically rendered animals with the human eyes would have sent chills down my spine.  Seriously, what's up with that panda and fox?  Eloping anytime soon?

There really wasn't a gimmick with this calendar either except its theme and the fact that it had a cut-out mobile on the back cover…

This edition also featured an ad for a branded read-along book and record set called the Ronald McDonald Discovery Series.  Personally I think this is a little weird.  It's not that I'm against branded characters shilling products to kids; I love 80s cartoons despite all the merchandising.  I think it bugs me that this series isn't about selling hamburgers, and instead seems to be education in nature.  It just doesn't seem right for Ronald to lead kids on this journey.  I mean if it were ever the responsibility of a parent to step in and take center stage, it's when teaching their kids about the basics of the world.  That aside, I'm dying to see what these books looked like…

Though I do have a copy of the 1982 calendar, I'm going to save it for another post as it's a variation on the Little Golden Sticker Fun books from the 70s-90s and feels like it should be discussed in a Peel Here column.  Instead I'll skip ahead to the last calendar in my collection, the 1983 Ronald McDonald Space Explorer Coloring Calendar with Magic Rub 'n Discover Spots…

First off, I love the Space Ronald theme for the calendar.  It's almost as if McDonaldland was in another galaxy and this is how Ronald gets from home to Earth to shill his burgers and chicken nuggets.  As we can see in the below coloring page Ronald decides to take a trip around the galaxy with all of the Mcdonaldland villains.  Strange…

Maybe he was planning on flying them all to Mars where he's leave them stranded in a big pile of red space dust.  Hey, maybe that cosmic face everyone sees on the planet is really a giant temple built to Grimace?  Anyway, the main gimmicks in this calendar are the magic rub and discover spots, which is a technology that I hadn't seen before.  Basically, there are missing images and text in the calendar that are surrounded by a dotted line.  By rubbing a coin over the area the images or text "magically" appear.  I'm not sure if it's the age of the paper or if the trick was always sort of subpar, but it's kind of difficult to see the revealed images, even with photoshop enhancement…

It is an interesting idea though…

The other thing that was really interesting about this 1983 calendar is that it came with two sets of coupons, one for McDonalds food products and another that were actually rebates for a series of Mattel branded products.  Actually, most of the other calendars also came with McDonalds coupons that you could redeem throughout the year, but this was the only one with a toy company tie in as well.  It was kind of neat to see rebates on Masters of the Universe figures and playsets, though at a combined rebate of $2.50 I'm betting not many kids or parents sent them in…

On Wednesday I'm going to share some more McDonalds craziness, so stay tuned for that.

Today on Wax Paper Pop Art, Indiana Jones.  The first wrapper is a little boring, if only because Topps/O-Pee-Chee used a glorified photocop in the artwork instead of loosely re-drawing the image.  I'm much more interested in the crude, simplistic renderings with these wrappers, or at least re-drawn images.  Photo quality is just sort of lifeless…

Raiders of the Lost Ark from Topps (O-Pee-Chee in Canada), 1981.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom from Topps, 1984.  I talked about the stickers here.

Thinking about some magical food moments from my past I can't help but immediately gravitate towards the splenderferious invention that graced America's freezers in 1982 (by my best educated guesstimates), the Pudding Pop.  Sure, there are other frozen treats that I love, Screwballs, Otter Pops, and Slurpees, but sucking on a pudding pop was like having a symphony in your mouth and it always played the theme to Star Wars.  Seriously though, there was something magical about the smooth, velvety texture of a good pudding pop that other treats (Fudgsicles and ice cream bars) just couldn't match.

Growing up there was only one pop in my household's freezer, the Bill Cosby endorsed Jell-O Brand Pudding Pops from General Foods.  Introduced in 1982, these frozen treats were originally available in three flavors, Chocolate, Vanilla and Banana.  Personally I was a vanilla man, though I have a vague recollection of eating a banana pop or two.  One of my favorite food related sense memories is of the thin coating of ice that would envelop the pudding pops.  It was always fun to see if you could loosen it in an entire sheet and slide it off the pop.   This ice coating also made for a great makeshift wall between the bottom of the pop and the stick so that the pudding wouldn't melt directly onto your hand if you decided to savor the experience.

Though Jell-O was the only brand in my house, there were others available, in particular Swiss Miss, which had a much more robust variety of flavors…

I've had a tougher time trying to nail down the date that these Swiss Miss Pudding Bars were introduced, but I'm betting it was in and around 1982 as well based on this television commercial.  The ad above is from 1984 and features no less than eight different varieties including chocolate, vanilla, chocolate covered chocolate & vanilla, chocolate chip, fudge swirl, and chocolate toffee covered chocolate & vanilla.  There were also sugar-free varieties (mentioned on the back of this box in Jason Liebig’s collection.)  On a side note, I really dig the older style Swiss Miss mascot design because she was a claymation style puppet.  Drinking Swiss Miss hot chocolate back in the day was like sipping on a Rankin/Bass Christmas special, and ever since they switched to a more realistic rendering it's just never been the same (even if it is only in my mind.)

I think it's interesting that the print ads for Jell-O Pudding Pops strayed away from using spokesman Bill Cosby, and instead focused on the guilt-free aspect of the frozen treat.  As this above ad from 1984 showcases, the pops only had 90 calories and apparently were just as good as eating an apple or a banana.  Insane nutrition claims aside, I do have to admit that, that is one heck of an attractive calorie count.  It brings to mind the other Jell-O frozen treat introduced in the 80s (1981 according to the Jell-O website timeline which suspiciously doesn't even mention pudding pops, but I'm betting it was also in 1982 alongside the pudding pops), the Jell-O Gelatin Pops as seen in this 1985 ad…

These fruit pops were only 35 calories and were a much slower melting bar because of the added gelatin.  According to the above ad, General Foods also produced chocolate covered Jell-O Pudding Pops, though I don’t remember ever seeing those for the life of me.

Unfortunately, sometime in the early 90s Jell-O Pudding Pops seemed to disappear from our grocer's freezers.  My guess is that after the line-up of General Foods brands were merged in with the Kraft family of products in the mid 90s (as Phillip Morris owned both by that time), their frozen treats were dropped as Kraft didn't really have a market share in the sweet end of the freezer section.  As far as the Swiss Miss bars go, your guess is as good as mine.  It wasn't the last time we'd see Jell-O Pudding Pops though.  They made a small comeback in the early 2000s under both the Jell-O and Popsicle brands, but they weren't the same product.  Offered in a slimmer Fudgsicle-like stick, the flavors and consistency just weren’t the same.  There's also a Jell-O branded pudding pop maker for kids, though I'm guessing it's not much different than sticking a pudding cup in the freezer.

Today there are still some brands of frozen pudding pops though, mainly Kemps and Blue Bunny, but this summer Coldstone Creamery is also presenting a variation on the Pudding Pop with Jell-O branded pudding ice-cream.  It's not the same, but it's as close as we're going to get.

Here are some Jell-O Pudding & Gelatin Pop commercials to take you back to the 80s for a few minutes: 1982, 1983, 1984, 1984, 1985, & 1986.  I wonder if Bill Cosby misses these pudding pops as much as I do?