Friday, July 29, 2016

Memories of Li'l General




In the Summer of 1973, the summer after my junior year of high school, my mother (temporarily) dragged me away from my first girlfriend (in Massachusetts) in order to visit the condominium Mom had bought the year before in Florida. (My mother had agreed to reside in Massachusetts, you see, long enough for me to graduate high school in May of 1974. So she actually purchased her new home when I was in tenth grade!)

Never mind.

Anyway, a week or two in Florida meant that I'd be doing without one, and hopefully only one, of my teenage addictions. I've already told you that I'd be doing without my girlfriend. I was hoping that I wouldn't be deprived  of my new comic book supply as well.

My worries were short-lived, as you've no doubt assumed. Unlike now, where comics are almost exclusively found in comic book specialty stores, back in the 1970s comic books were a staple of newsstands, convenience stores, and the like.

Not far from my mother's condo was one of those little convenience stores, a chain called Li'l General. Researching that chain online has yielded relatively few results. I have no idea how long this store operated, but it seems to have run somewhere down South between the late 1960s and early 1970s. (If anyone knows different, please contact me! Seriously!) And then, who knows?

Now, in order to eliminate any confusion, I should point out that there has been a franchise operating as Li'l General Convenience Stores, based in Woonsocket, R.I., since 1970. Different business entirely.

Anyway (he said again), Li'l General insured that I wouldn't miss any of my comic favorites from Marvel and DC. I don't recall the specific "look" of the store; I do remember some of the comic titles I bought while there, but I'll spare you the details.

In recent years, as I said, I've done research on the internet and found precious little about Li'l General. But I've started a small collection of sorts, a collection which includes the three matchbooks pictured below, all of which were purchased on eBay.



And as for the red felt figure of the chain's mascot, the li'l general himself, sitting at the start of this post? I picked that up in "my" Li'l General store back in 1973!

The following two ads were scrounged from the internet.

 


And that leaves us with the next beauty. A few short years ago, I found two photos of the front and back of a Li'l General yo-yo! Surely this was a rarity, the Holy Grail for Li'l General collectors (of which I would be one of less than a handful, I assume).


But it gets even better, fellow babies! Look what I just scored on eBay! A Li'l General yo-yo of my very own, complete with its original package.


Now, with this post, I'm going to increase the hits you get when you do a Google image search for "Li'l General." So if anyone (besides myself) cares, and remembers this long-forgotten chain, they may just contact me and share their memories.

Trivial? Well, of course! In fact, the main reason I posted this is to have all these illustrations online for my own purposes. But if I've entertained you at all with all this rambling today, so much the better. 

Thanks for indulging me, or should I say, thanks for your time.





Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Jack Davis, 1924-2016, R.I.P. ~~ A "Comical Wednesday" Post


Artist Jack Davis has left us at the age of 91.

To call Jack Davis a "comic book artist" would be belittling his other illustrations over the last 60+ years. You may not recognize the name, but I guarantee you've seen his art before... in MAD Magazine, TIME, TV Guide, etc., etc., etc.!

Back in the mid-1970s, I was at my very first job (at a grocery store) and noticed Jack's art on the cover of the latest TV Guide. I told a co-worker that I recognized the artist's work, and the kid flat-out refused to believe me. The nerve.

Here's just a few examples of Davis' work!


















Thanks for your time.

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Separated at Birth (or Something)?


Well, I suppose if you're rebooting the franchise, it's okay to reboot the posters, too...


There's a thin line between homage and rip-off, IMHO. When it's as obvious as this one, we're stuck with calling it "homage."

Thanks for your time.

Monday, July 18, 2016

Things Get Lost... (a/k/a "HELP!")


Several weeks ago, I was nominated for something called The Liebster Award. I ever-so-reverently copied and pasted the rules in my Blogger "Drafts" section so I could fulfill the requirements for accepting this award at a later date, but I did not include a link to the original post that someone used to nominate me with, if that makes any sense. In fact, I don't even remember who nominated me for this award (although I have it narrowed down to a few)!

If you are the person in question, could you please help me out and send me a link to your original post?!?

Thanks for your time.

P.S. ~~ Stop the presses! ...or something.  I remembered who nominated me and I looked through her older posts to find the post in question! Yay! So sometime relatively soon, you'll find my post about The Liebster Award!

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Noel Neill, 1920-2016, R.I.P.



I've been relaxing and doing little online during the past few days, but I post about comics often enough so that few would forgive me if I didn't write about the passing of Noel Neill, best known for playing Lois Lane in the The Adventures of Superman TV series of the 1950s. Ms. Neill had a long and varied career before landing the part of Lois in two Superman movie serials. Actress Phyllis Coates played Lois when Superman got his own series, but when Ms. Coates left the role after one season, Noel Neill again took up the reins.

Ms. Neill was 95. We've lost far too many celebrities lately, but one is heartened somewhat by the fact that she'd lived such a long life.






Thanks for your time.
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