Moon Knight 1980 #5 Direct ed. - reader copy - $4.00

Moon Knight chases three killers who try to hide in a haunted house.

Half-page mail-order advertisement for the Marvel Comics? 20th Anniversary Calendar 1981.

Full-page Marvel subscription advertisement offering holiday savings on twelve-issue subscriptions to selected Marvel titles.

Full-page color advertisement promoting Monogram?s large-scale plastic model kits.

Full-page mail-order advertisement for a 132-piece Roman soldiers playset from Lucky Products, Inc.

• Shop by Mail - Interior front cover. Dense mail-order novelty advertisement representative of late-1970s and early-1980s comic-book back-page merchandising. Johnson Smith Company was a long-running supplier of pranks, magic tricks, joke toys, disguises, and curiosity items, and this page shows the classic comics-ad mix of exaggerated claims, small spot illustrations, low prices, and direct-mail ordering. The ad?s ?America?s Favorite Mail Order Fun House Since 1914? line is a useful company-history detail, while the free 1980 catalog offer helps date the advertising cycle.
• Super Gifts & Gimmicks - Mail-order novelty advertisement built around late-20th-century comic-book prank and magic culture. The ad combines spy gadgets, shock gags, disguises, fake blood, exploding props, joke weapons, and ?x-ray vision? fantasy items, using dense spot illustrations and exaggerated claims typical of comics advertising aimed at children and teens. The ?some items require adult supervision? note and March 1988 expiration date are useful publication-context details.
• We are looking for a few good boys and girls - Youth-sales recruitment ad for Grit, a long-running family newspaper that commonly advertised in comics. The copy frames door-to-door or route-based newspaper sales as practical business experience for children, with parental signature required and age requirements noted by state.
• Celebrate Marvel Comics? 20th anniversary! - Marvel in-house merchandise advertisement tied to the company?s 20th-anniversary branding for the modern Marvel era. The ad emphasizes creator appeal by naming several major Marvel artists and positions the calendar as both a collectible and a celebration of Marvel?s publishing history.
• Comic books for sale - Large centerfold mail-order back-issue list documenting the early-1980s comics collector market before online sales. The ad functions as both a retail price list and a snapshot of Marvel back-issue demand, with visible premium pricing for selected key issues, creator-associated runs, and popular titles such as Amazing Spider-Man, X-Men, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Star Wars, and Moon Knight. The centerfold placement gives the ad unusual prominence compared with standard small classified listings.
• Shop by Mail - Recurring Marvel classified-advertising feature typical of the direct-mail marketplace around 1980?1981. The pages document the pre-internet comics collector economy, with numerous dealers offering back issues, catalogs, price lists, convention information, and mail-order buying/selling services. Non-comics ads for novelty products, self-improvement, school-at-home programs, music publishing, fake identification, coins, stamps, and Star Wars merchandise show how Marvel?s ad pages also functioned as a broader youth and hobbyist marketplace.
• Mighty Marvel?s Big Money-Saving Holiday Offer! - Marvel in-house subscription advertisement using Christmas wreath imagery and character portraits to frame comics subscriptions as holiday gifts. The ad documents Marvel?s early-1980s direct subscription marketing, including discounted multi-title rates, Canadian and foreign subscription surcharges, and a broad cross-section of active Marvel series available by mail.
• With friends like these? she?s bound to have enemies! - Marvel house ad promoting the launch of Dazzler #1, emphasizing the character?s integration into the wider Marvel Universe through appearances by Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man characters. The ad also documents Marvel?s direct-market support structure by directing readers who cannot find the issue locally to Mike Friedrich, Manager/Direct Sales, for a list of dependable mail-order distributors.
• Blown About - Hostess superhero snack-cake advertisement using the familiar formula of a villain?s scheme being stopped through the irresistible appeal of the advertised product rather than direct combat. The gag is built around the Human Torch?s fire powers and the thief?s oversized hair-dryer weapon, making the Hostess Cup Cakes both the story?s punchline and the resolution mechanism. The ad was first published in Micronauts #27 (March 1981) and other Marvel books that same month. It is catalogued as Marvel Hostess Ads #55 in the Marvel Database, with a cover date of March 1981.
• - Letters from Mike Sopp, Barry P. Feldmann, Steve Campbell, Steve Harper, Harvey P. Jones III, Robert Behers, Brad Keefauver, Paul Wardle, and David DeShong.
• The New Monogram Super Kits - Hobby model-kit advertisement aimed at readers interested in detailed vehicle and aircraft construction. The ad positions Monogram?s ?Super Kits? as oversized, premium plastic model kits, emphasizing scale, length, wingspan, and realism. The copyright and trademark notices identify licensed use of Peterbilt and Trans Am branding, while the note that paint and glue are not included reflects the traditional assembly-model hobby market.
• 132 Roman soldiers - Mail-order toy soldier advertisement using ancient-warfare imagery to market a large inexpensive plastic playset. The ad emphasizes quantity, opposing armies, and battlefield reenactment play, similar to other Lucky Products war-themed toy-soldier ads of the period. The rotated page layout and large battle illustration make the ad read visually like a play scene, while the coupon and ?no C.O.D.? language identify it as a direct-mail comics advertisement.