Check out this newspaper advert for Vita-Pakt and Hobie skateboards. At first glance you would be forgiven for thinking this was from the 70’s, but might think this is from the 70’s, but the publication date is actually July 14th of 1968! This ad ran in the comics section of a newspaper. Which newspaper? I don’t know. Ebay sellers don’t like to reveal that because then you could just try to find the whole paper or magazine for less than the selected page they are selling. Check out Surfer Today if you’re interested in how Vita-Pakt and Hobie teamed up to manufacture skateboards in the 60’s. Keep reading if you want to see the advert.

Laugh Comics Volume 2, #6 was published in 1988. There’s no skateeboaridn on the cover, unless you count the teaser: “The mighty Archie Art Players star in the suspense thriller ‘Skateboard Scandal’.” And what is that scandal? Someone is sabotaging all the skateboards in Britain in a James Bond parody starring Archie as James Bland and Betty as Miss Henny Penny. Veronica is the Bond-girl (Bland Girl) Lord Cedric’s daughter Pamela. There’s also an ad for Archie posters (he’s on a skateboard in one of them) and an Olympic Sales Club ad where you can earn a Variflex skateboard.

4 years ago I went somewhere and cycled through the San Diego airport. There were a handful of skateboard sightings in the airport, ranging from displays in the shops, a restaurant, and some tourism focused electronic signage on the wall. I was trying to link the post about Tony Hawk’s restaurant to this post, but it turns out I never made this post, until now. These are photos from 2022, so who knows if these are still there. Someone made it point to highlight that San Diego has a history of skate culture, as if that is some sort of big tourist attraction. I mean, it is for me…

I bought this comic when it originally came out in 1987, but I have no recollection of where I found it. I wasn’t frequenting comic book shops at the time, so it’s a bit of a mystery to me. Skate Slate #1 has a glossy color cover and 32 pages of black and white illustrations inside. There are 3 main stories and a couple random pages that include character profiles, and ad for a Slate Skate t-shirt, and a call to submit your artwork. It was part of (well the entirety of) the Hot Shot Comix imprint out of Lexington, KY. It appears to be the only title or issue ever produced.

I added adverts from Skate Action Magazine to the Vintage Skatemag Advert Gallery. Skate Action was a UK based magazine that first came out in late 1988 and ran for a couple years. In issue #13 the title on the cover was changed to “SK8 Action,” but the inside pages still said “Skate Action.” I have issue #1, #5 and #14 in my collection, thanks to Steve from Jersey (UK). My copy of #1 is missing the cover spread and another 4 page spread. These 3 issues all have 56 pages. The contents are mostly color but there is a substantial amount go black and white pages in there. It’s heavily focused on the UK scene. The issues I have a heavy Deathbox presence, the Deathbox that later morphed into Flip, not Tod Swank’s early 2000’s company. This brings the grand total of adverts in the gallery to over 1300!

I added advertisements from the first two issues of Homeboy Magazine, (AKA Club Homeboy). Homeboy was first published towards the end of 1987 and lasted a grand total of 7 issues before morphing into Dirt magazine. It was oversized and had a glossy cover with mostly color newsprint inside. The photography and layout of the mag was pretty good right out of the gate, but it had one major flaw in the eyes of most skateboarders, it covered BMX as well as skateboarding. I only added the 32 skateboard related (or non-BMX) adverts in these two issues. Skateboarding graced the covers but the advertising skewed heavily towards BMX by about 4-1. Spike Jonze was on the editorial staff, as was Andy Jenkins and Mark “Lew” Lewman. A pretty decent magazine with a good vibe, but so much BMX… Check out Homeboy magazine ads in the Vintage Skate Mag ad gallery.

Jughead volume 2, number 37 was published in September of 1992. It features two stories with skateboarding in them, Love Connection, and the Things We Do For Love. There’s also a Sales Leadership Club advert in which you can earn a Nash Beach Bum skateboard.

I bought his book because I like to support independently produced skate art (and so should you…). Steve’s photos have even appeared Skateboarder, Thrasher, Juice, and the Surfer’s Journal, and most importantly (HA!) Skate and Annoy. I expected to be bombarded with photos of the Arizona pipes, and I was, but I wasn’t expecting all the additional content (pools, Love Bowls, skate parks) that qualify as the “& Beyond” in the title. I always thought these pipes were more or less in one location, but it turns out it was part of a massive project all over Arizona. One of my favorite things about this book is all the short oral histories interspersed in the various locals covered. Read the full review.

You’re looking at Sharky, Volume 1 #4 published by Image Comics isn 1998. You’d think with a skateboard featured prominently on this glorious cover that one would show up again on the inside pages. Alas, this is not the case. This is puzzling, but the whole comic book is puzzling. It’ shard to read, hard to follow, and feature a zombified (and evil) Captain America and Vampirella. Apparently Vampirella was on loan from another imprint. I’m not sure a how they got around Marvel with the Captain America zombie.

It’s a two-for from Twonks and Goob. Good stuff.