According to the 1976 DC Comics Calendar (posted on Monday), today, January 31st, is Mera's birthday! Happy birthday, Mera!That left me with a bit of a dilemma--there isn't much Mera-centric merchandise out there. There is, of course, the Ideal "Super Queen" Mera doll, and the Multiple Toys Aquaman playset, but those particular Holy Grails have still eluded my financial grasp (thanks for nothing, Santa). There's one other piece that features Mera that I do have, but I'm saving that for a once-a-yearly, perfectly-timed post.
But then I remembered that Mera, of all people, did star in her own Hostess ad, the ones that populated DC and Marvel comics from the mid-70s til the early 80s. Why the heck did Mera get her own ad? Beats me, it's something I'd love to know (anybody wanna write an in-depth Hostess Ads Companion book?). Why not Elongated Man? Lana Lang? Zatara?
In any case, Hostess and/or DC wasn't totally convinced Mera could carry her own ad, so they stuck an uncredited Aqualad in there, too, facing some of the goofiest villains ever seen (I'd say the goofiest, but there was the Ding-A-Ling Family). There are no art credits, but it looks to me like a Curt Swan-Vince Colletta collaboration.
(Sea culpa: I do have a comic that this ad appeared in, but it's buried in storage and I was too damn lazy to go dig it up. So I cribbed this image from Seanbaby.com's excellent, hilariously-foulmouthed Hostess page. Go check it out!)
(Note: This is the first Shrine post ever that does not mention Aquaman in any way, shape, or for--oops!)
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