Bugs Bunny #213 is from October, 1979. It was published by Western Publishing under the Gold Key and Whitman labels, the former in newsstands and the latter in poly bags for stores. A disapproving Elmer Fudd looks on as Bugs prepares to go into a double-truck carve grind in the pool he must have drained. That wascally rabbit… There are no other skateboard illustrations in this issue except for the one in an Olympic Sales Club ad that features a California Free Former plastic skateboard.

Actress Halle Berry has been hanging out with physical trainer Peter Lee Thomas doing things like getting fit and skateboarding, promoting a “digital health, awareness, and wellness community.” Community is a new word for shop these days. These pics are from her Instagram feed.

It’s 1965, a time when seeing your friend on a skateboard is still so exciting that it would make you run after him on the street. This is #43 of the Life With Archie series that started in 1958. November, 1965 was a big month for skateboarding in the Archie Comics Group. There was skateboarding on the cover of Jughead #136 and a cover with a story in Tippy Teen #1, a title drawn by the recently defected former Archie artist Samm Schwartz. Sam is credited with developing the Jughead character into a headliner instead of just a bit character.

Cheryl Blossom #26 was published in 1997 by the Archie Comics group. I figured this would be cheap enough to pick up being it’s relatively new-ish and this era of Archie… who still reads them? Turns out the going price for this is about $30 when they are available. Apparently this issue had shorter print run than the others, go figure. Fortunately the digital version is available for $2. This issue features a story called Skateboarding’ Blossom.

Frank is a private label brand for Canadian Tire, an automotive company (?) that somehow has a long history of retail stores as well. I mean sure, Panasonic made stereos and bicycles so…. Tires, paper towels and potato chips! The Frank brand has amusing packaging, with the character Frank essentially being the anthropomorphized version of whatever they are trying to sell. Hence, Hank is on a roll, Hank Brings Home the Bacon, Hank turns spuds into studs. What’s the translation for “ne se roule pas les pouces?” Don’t roll thumbs?

– Thanks to Darren Haugen for the pic.

Classic surf music from the Hi Tide Recordings label and the The Volcanics latest release Concrete Carver. This is not an advertisement, I just happen to enjoy some surf music mixed into my library. During covid I discovered thier label mates the Surfrajettes and have been listening to surf music a little more than usual lately. Album art and music video after the jump.

As a kid I can remember seeing ads like this in the back of comic books and other publications aimed at adolescents. The gas is, you send away for some sort of sales kit, most likely a catalog and some motivational text, and then you could sell greeting cards and who knows what else to all your neighbors and extended family in hopes of earning enough credit to get some free stuff from the advert. It was your job to take the orders, collect the money, send it to the company and then deliver everything when they mailed it to you. This scheme for using a child labor farm sourced from comic books has been around for a long time, probably dating back to the 40’s with Grit, which amazingly, is still a thing. The practice of bribing kids with the potential to earn prizes probably had it’s heyday during the 60’s and 70’s. Here are 2 examples from the late 80’s and early 90’s in which you can earn a Nash or Variflex skateboard.

Happy Halloween bummer. D.H. Peligro passed away this weekend. Plastic Surgery Disasters had a major impact on this editor and his world view… The impact has not worn off. All those parents groups were right, punk rock does poison your mind!

This is a good one. Lyons Maid is an brand of ice cream that started in 1925 and was retired in 1998, only to be revived a decade later. During their heyday in the 70’s they used to have all kinds of collectable cards and wrappers, including the Junior Champs Supercards seen here. These are easy to find for sale at anywhere from about $10-$70 for this particular card, or $20 for the complete set of 10 differnt cards, so go figure. The interesting thing is that almost every listing dates these to 1983, which seems unlikely given the content of Tony Alva’s card, and the inclusion of Pele in the set (retired in 1977) as well as some other athletes who were also at their peak around 1976-77. One possible explanation is that these might be reissues of a Tonibel series from 1979, in which case, wow… super lazy. By 1983 the “Yellow Betty” was no longer brand new and was called just a plain old frontside air. Makes you wonder if Tony was actually interviewed about this, and if so was he pulling their leg or was it actually briefly called the Yellow Betty, or was it a prank by someone in the art department?

There’s a lot of staged vintage celebrity skateboarding photos, but somehow this one was new to me. It’s a 1977 picture of Runaways drummer Sandy West taken by Michael Ochs. Sandy was known as the Runaways Wild Thing. She died in 2006 from lung cancer. An alternate shot, plus a bonus pic of bassist Jackie Fox on a balance board after the jump.