Wrapping up our look at the first SUPERHERO MERCHANDISE catalog that was put together by Ivan Snyder for his mail order operation that eventually transformed into HEROES WORLD. This is the section that transitioned more into published work, books on comics and back issues and the like. And it’s worth pointing out that, in 1976, this was really just about all there was in terms of such volumes. The same thing goes for all of the merchandise on the earlier pages–high-quality items such as are ubiquitous today were a real rarity in the 1970s for comic book-inspired merchandise. And there was no death of crappy cheap plastic toys that would have a Superman or Spider-Man sticker stuck onto them in an attempt to make them more appealing to children.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
Wow, now this takes me back! As a kid, catalogs with comics or comic-related merchandise were non-existent so when I’d get these or see the ads in my comics, I used to spend so much time just looking at them over and over, wishing I could afford to buy everything I wanted. Of particular interest to me were the Marvel Treasury editions and the Origins trades. I still own all the original copies of the Treasuries and Origins books that I was fortunate enough to afford at the time. Many are beat to hell, but they still hold a special place in my collection.
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It’s interesting (to me, anyway) that in the ads for the posters, the Marvel artwork looked legitimately like actual poster art reduced to size, but the DC art looked like something someone drew quickly to fill those spaces. Someone didn’t even try with that Batman & Robin pennant.
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