Sharp-eyed readers who bought the recent BATMAN and HOUSE Of SECRETS Facsimile Editions, may have noticed that, on the ad page on the inside back cover, at the top far right (from the readers' pov) there was an empty space. (Above is the page as first published in the '70s.) I'm not quite sure why DC decided to delete one of the ads so many years after the fact, especially as none of them are likely to be valid any more, but such retroactive editing irks me somewhat. After all, a facsimile should be a true facsimile, not a partial one. In case you bought the mags and wondered what the blank space was about, that's the missing ad below in close-up.
What's your opinion on this, readers? Couldn't give a stuffed monkey (might even be one in the ads), or do you think the ad should've been left in? Rant, rave, and rage (or just leave a polite response) in our ever-lovin' comments section. And, just in case you have difficulty imagining a blank space (the inside of my head doesn't count), that's the ad page from the facsimile editions below in all its incomplete glory.
Have to say I didn't notice that on my copy . I can only think that the ad was deleted as it was advertising what is certainly now an illegal item(that I assume would have worked in reality), but seems as strange to remove it from a facsimilie edition in 2019 as it was to advertise them in the 1970s.
ReplyDeleteThey sort of covered themselves back in the '70s, PM, by saying 'Tests locks to see if they're burglar-proof', thereby suggesting the keys are intended as a precaution against burglary, rather than for committing it. It is a bit dodgy I suppose, but it seems utterly pointless to remove the ad from reprints of nearly 50 year old comics. It draws even more attention to it, and will make people dig out their original issues to check what it was.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the ad should have remained in the facsimile edition and I agree with Paul's explanation for why it was removed.
ReplyDeleteThen you're an 'agreeable' guy, CJ. However, dubious as it may have been in the '70s (and as I said, they sort of got around any potential objections by suggesting that the keys were to help prevent burglary, not facilitate it), it seems a bit redundant to delete the ad now when it's no longer valid and the keys no longer available. Go on - agree with me. (You know you want to.)
ReplyDeleteIt will be to do with some form of political correctness . Be it aiding the petty thief which is rediculous as how many houses use that type of key these days or maybe because the key hole is black. Then again do they have transgender keys... The worlds gone nuts....or is it me. Leave it for Boris to sort out
ReplyDeleteNo, LH, it's not you - the world's definitely gone nuts.
ReplyDelete"Leave it for Boris to sort out".
ReplyDeleteAlas, poor BoJo couldn't find his own @rse in the dark using both hands.
Nobody would want to find Boris's @rse, CJ - not even Boris.
ReplyDelete