Top 5 Wildest Comic Book Gimmicks

It used to be that a comic book doesn't get read if it doesn't get sold. And in a market with a surfeit of comics jostling for its place in the spinner rack or shelf, comic book companies needed to be a little creative to part fans with their hard-earned cash.

And creative they became. Through the years, everyone from Archie to Zenescope enticed readers to buy their comics by making them special in exciting, strange, and wacky ways. From gold foil covers laced with actual gold to Scratch & Sniff stunts, comic books were awash with some of the craziest gimmicks ever.

So, what are my picks for the wildest comic book gimmicks? I rate them now, so you won't have to!

5. "3-D" COMICS

In the 1950s, "3-D" was all the rage. Movie studios rushed to make movies using this newfangled tech, which made moving pictures "pop" from the screen like it was in three-dimensional space when you wear special glasses. Comic books cashed in on this rising craze starting with Three Dimension Comics #1, a move as short-lived as its profitability. Didn't stop the comics industry from trying to making it work, though.

The eye-popping 3-D gimmick has popped up in everything from Superman to Spongebob, with mixed results. Older 3-D comics were groundbreaking pieces of history, while newer 3-D attempts added nothing to the comic aside from the novelty. And God forbid you lost the 3D glasses, leaving you with an unreadable mess of a comic book!

4. COMPUTER-GENERATED COMICS

Even with the release of the Apple Macintosh, the first computer with a graphical user interface, the idea of a fully computer-rendered comic book was a pipe dream in the 1980's. That is, until software designer Mike Saenz released Shatter in 1985, the very first computer-generated comic book.

Shatter and most of its contemporaries looked exactly how you imagine a comic made on a rudimentary graphics editor from the 80s would look. It didn't stop Saenz from making more, even doing Iron Man: Crash for Marvel in 1988. Other companies tried their hand at it, from Reactor's Donna Matrix (also by Saenz) to Batman: Digital Justice by DC Comics, but the method never caught on nor made waves. Still, they're neat pieces of comic book history!

3. SCRATCH & SNIFF COMICS

Have you ever wished you could smell the hero's surroundings while reading a comic book? Well, since the invention of "Scratch & Sniff" technology, now we can—for better or worse!

One of comics' weirder gimmicks, scratch-and-sniff comic books gave us a new vector to experience them through. Marvel's The Ren & Stimpy Show #1 was famously polybagged with "air fouler" in its first issue, which you could only smell when you opened the bag, followed by Ren bemoaning the comic's trashed value.

DC Comics chose Harley Quinn to get her own "Rub N' Smell Spectacular," in which you can take a whiff of scents that include leather, pizza, and even a bit of the devil's lettuce to better immerse yourself in what she goes through in that issue.

And by the way, they also released a Harley Quinn "Fartacular" recently. Good luck scrubbing that from your nose mind.

2. COMICS WITH ACTUAL BULLET HOLES

Comics in the 90s was an era of extremes and extravagance, with everyone and their grandma wanting a piece of the then-profitable pie. This was the era of every gimmick under the sun to sell comics, from gatefold covers to die-cut issues—to comic books sold with an actual bullet hole in it!

In 1993, Adhesive Comics had a crazy idea to distinguish themselves from the very bloated comic book market: print 3,000 copies of Jab #3 and shoot it with a gun. To their credit, they didn't just shoot at it willy-nilly. They actually incorporated the bullet hole into the stories inside, adding a new dimension to the reading experience.

And in a brilliant (or insane) case of catering to their market's preferences, Adhesive even gave the readers the choice of caliber to shoot the comic with! Now I wonder which of today's comic books would benefit from a bullet hole?

1. COMICS MIXED WITH HUMAN BLOOD AND ASHES

When comic book creators talk about pouring their blood, sweat, and tears into a story, they don't mean it this literally. In 1977, comic book fans headed to the newsstands to pick up a copy of Marvel Comics Super Special #1, which featured the shock rock band KISS. It was a pretty standard celebrity comic book except for one thing—the ink used to print it was mixed with the band's own blood!

In one of comicdom's wildest promotional gimmicks, members of KISS had their blood drawn and personally poured vials of it into the barrel of ink used to print the first issue of the Marvel comic! This isn't the last time human remains found themselves in a comic: the late great Marvel comics writer Mark Gruenwald loved his work on Squadron Supreme so much that, as per his will, his ashes were mixed with the ink used to reprint his Squadron Supreme series in 1997. Talk about immortalizing yourself in a comic book!

What are your favorite comic book marketing gimmicks? Let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading and stay safe out there.