Redartz: Throughout their history, comics have been published in a variety of formats, shapes and sizes. There have been digests, magazine size issues, mini comics, promotional comics, giveaway comics, book-and-record comics, and so on. If you're like me and enjoy variety, you find these variations to be a lot of fun. Sometimes tough to read (those Marvel Mini-Books from the gumball machines could only be opened for reading by separating the pages, essentially), but certainly a cool offshoot from standard comics fandom..All of the below illustrated examples are items I've encountered, some of which I've owned. The Spider-Man vs. Prodigy giveaway is....rather odd. A sex education pamphlet from Planned Parenthood; it did have art by Ross Andru.
The Jonny Quest mini came packaged with VHS tapes of the original tv series; there were four each adapting an episode of the program.
The Justice League/Secret Origins mini was sold at candy counters in the late 70's. As were the Marvel Amurol mini's, which actually came with a piece of gum.
The Simpsons mini is identical to the regular standard size release but doesn't contain the fake newspaper insert.
The Big Boy comic was always a treat to be anticipated when our family dined at "Frisch's", somehow this one avoided food stains.
Those are just a few of the stories behind these eclectic gems . There are many more; and that's where you come in. Did you have any of these unusual, out-of-the-ordinary type comics? What other ones have you encountered? What's the strangest comic form you've come across? This week let's examine these 'obscurities' of the comic world...
