COMIC BOOK FLATS
"204 Pc. REVOLUTIONARY WAR SET" !
The classic Comic Ad above shows the great Revolutionary War Battle Scene illustration by famous comic book artist Russ Heath. The Ad was found in a 1974 "Porky Pig & Bugs Bunny" Comic Book by Gold Key, but it has been seen in other comics that date back at least as far as 1961, perhaps even earlier. Note Heath's "RH" initials in the lower left corner of the illustration. In some versions of this Ad, Heath's initials are covered over by the "Imaginary Battle Scene" disclaimer.
Heath was paid only 50 dollars to do this ad art. He has said that he wished he'd been paid for each printing of this Ad because it is one of the most heavily reprinted pages ever seen in comic books from the 1960's - 1980's.
Despite the seemingly huge numerical size of the Revolutionary War Flats Set, there were actually only 14 different figures in the Set and they were simply duplicated in groups of 12, 24 or 36 (half in Blue and half in Red.) Examples of each figure in the set can be seen above. Notice the detail in the sculpting - each figure, though flat, has a distinctive left and right side (or front and back.)
The British in Red have the exact same figure sculpts as the Americans in Blue, with the exception of two figures. Only the Brits have the "Hessian Troops" and only the Americans have the "Minutemen."
Top Row: Hessian Troop, Dragoon (Cavalryman), Mohawk Indian, Minuteman.
Second Row: Sharpshooter, Officer, Cannon Loader.
Third Row: Shooting Infantryman, Drummer, Marching Infantryman.
Fourth Row: Crouching Infantryman, Charging Infantryman, Fifer.
Bottom Row: Field Cannon.
Note that the Field Cannon piece is longer than all the other pieces. This allowed the Ad to state that the pieces in this set were "Up To 4" Long!" This was of course a highly misleading statement. The Field Cannon pieces do actually measure 4" but the problem was, the Ad made most kids think that the soldiers were going to be quite large, perhaps even 4" TALL! The Soldiers were about 1.5" tall in reality.
ORIGINAL BOX. Note the great graphics on the box which were obviously taken from Russ Heath's original Ad Art.
Later "3D" versions of the Revolutionary War Set are known to have come in a plain brown box.
One Odd Detail: In the Ad below, which offers the 204 Pc. Set, why do you suppose they only set up about 140 figures or so for the photo (go ahead, count 'em)? Don't the Armies on that table look a bit thinned out? Why offer such a wonderfully huge Set and then make it look smaller by not bothering to set them all up? Maybe they just didn't feel like dealing with the rather tedious chore of setting them all up for the photo. Setting up a complete display can be rather frustrating at times - especially if one or more figures falls over during set up, causing the dreaded "Domino Effect" that wipes out half the ranks, forcing one to start all over again (or to toss the entire table across the room if it has happened multiple times!)
