Old comic book ad for public libraries

Nick Page found this 1960s comic book advert extolling the virtues of public libraries. Especially poignant as public libraries around the world struggle for survival.

Books! And that's where I get 'em! (Thanks, Nick!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Anonymous

Dick is gonna LOVE the internet when it’s invented. He can google useless info to his hearts content, and stalking becomes MUCH easier!
zandar

@#7: I figure “welfare” is the word the average citizen would find indigestible nowadays. We’ve lost almost all sense of the original meaning.
Naberius

Hey! What gives, Dick?
freddy nono

The Funny part is that the blonde haired kid’s real name in Tim not Dick.
yri

“You see what happens, Larry?”
cellocgw

OK, this is scary: I actually remember reading that ad in comicbooks, fresh off the racks of my local drugstore. Which is worse: my obvious age, or the fact that I recall stuff like this?
peterbruells

Wikipedia to the rescue:

“Is thought that, at construction, the Great Pyramid was originally 280 Egyptian cubits tall, 146.5 metres (480.6 ft) but with erosion and absence of its pyramidion, its present height is 138.8 metres (455.4 ft). “
MarlboroTestMonkey7

Nobody likes smart asses. Dick.
gerg

“… I gotta find out what’s in that briefcase, it must be worth a fortune”
“It is! Google! And that’s where I access it”
“Huh, the internets! Well whadda you know!”
Nash Rambler

Brought to us by the combined efforts of the National Social Welfare Assembly and the Coordinating Organization for National Health, Welfare and Recreation Agencies of the U.S. Wait, you mean the government used to spend money on us?
Anonymous

The jealous frustration and morbid curiosity is palpable in that upper right illustration.
andytgeezer

Great stuff! Libraries are indeed facing a hard time, and I guess these days you could envisage the kid trailing him to an internet cafe.

I stumbled across this as I am running a little show at my local library in London about comics and we’re looking for people to support it by sending in little graphic illustrated stories of their own, which will be put on the wall in the library.

The show is called Little Big Stories, and we hope that loads of people will draw a little story on a postcard and send them to us. It could be a cool way to get your work shown publicly, and we’ve already got a few pieces in.

The show is running as part of the Graphic Novels season, and the library is putting on speakers to talk about comics and graphic novels. Full information can be found on their site at http://wcclibraries.wordpress.com/2011/02/04/little-big-stories-a-mail-art-call/

Send your postcard sized stories to us before March 11th!
Phikus

Ok, I give. Why was the briefcase so expensive?
- Naberius
  
  The books in the briefcase were in violation of copyright, making each one worth approximately one MILLION dollars! HAHAHAHAHA!!!
MatanArie

There should have been a whole series of these with the catchphrase: “Hey, what gives, Dick?”
Jardine

The tallest of the pyramids was about the size of a 50-story building–480 feet–Almost half as tall as the Empire State Building!

Was? Does this story take place in an alternate universe where the pyramids were destroyed but evidence of their height was left behind?
- Jonathan Badger
  
  There is evidence that at least some of the pyramids had gold caps, maybe adding a little to their height. Maybe the highest is only 479.8 ft or something these days…
  - AlexG55
    
    Well, the Great Pyramid of Giza is IIRC the largest, and it’s somewhat truncated…
Jonathan Badger

I can’t help noticing the unfortunately-named NGO that sponsored this ad — the “National Social Welfare Assembly”. There’s a bit of an unfortunate connotation to those first two words, and presumably within a decade or two of the ad. This organization now seems to call itself more innocuously, the “National Human Services Assembly”. Less of a fascist ring, although it sounds like an association for HR employees…
irksome

Nothing expresses one’s desire for knowledge better than the willingness to stalk relentlessly.
Anonymous

Y’all – we got a message about two separate pieces of library related legislation coming up this week:

http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=5661

1. End funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services

2. End funding for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act orders for library records