The Specialists

I may have mentioned it before, but one my most vivid memories of reading comics as a kid are the ads for Hostess snack cakes that were so ubiquitous at the time. Even as a kid, I knew how ridiculous they were. If you can be distracted by a handful of fruit pies dropped in your path, then you don’t deserve to be a supervillain.

I’d forgotten that there were some ads where the “delicious” snacks were used for purposes other than foiling villainous plots, like the one below, featuring The Incredible Hulk.

Hulk Changes His Mind

Let’s break this story down… Hulk is out smashing stuff — as is his wont — and complaining about how people won’t leave him alone. I’m not sure, Hulk, but maybe if you weren’t smashing stuff all the time, you wouldn’t attract so much attention.  Anyway, Hulk dislodges a young boy who happened to be sitting high in a tree. Hulk’s reaction is mild surprise, but the kid doesn’t seem at all bothered to have been knocked out of his tree and caught by a giant, green, personification of rage. Also, his backpack is absolutely loaded with cupcakes. Either he packed his own lunch that day, or he’s got the worst mom ever (or maybe the best; I can’t decide).

CupcakeTreeBoy helps Hulk protect his privacy by chucking his cupcakes over a hedge, where a bunch of guys are standing around who are apparently too stupid or too hungry to not eat food that just fell from the sky. I’m leaning toward stupidity, since they also fail to realize that you can’t chew food when you’ve got your tongue sticking out of your mouth. Also, where is this story taking place? In the second panel, Hulk is surprised to find a human “even … here“. But there’s a bunch of guys right on the other side of that bush. Maybe Hulk figured that for most people, twenty feet is just too far to walk. Come to think of it, he’s right.

So, with the help of his tree-dwelling, soon-to-be-diabetic friend, Hulk convinces a bunch of people who weren’t bothering him in the first place to leave him alone. Then Hulk punches another tree just because that’s how he rolls. You should see him on Arbor Day.

Anyway, yes, these ads were asinine, but they’re an indelible part of my memories of comics from my youth. Seanbaby has a whole gallery of these ads, arranged by character and with hilarious commentary. Check it out.