I hated going to the dentist when I was a kid. Not much has changed as an adult, but I really hated it as a kid. I had a ton of cavities and when I had to have a filling, I always had this thing wedged into the jaw of my mouth, called a raincoat. Having it inserted hurt like hell and I still think to this day it's been a leading contributor to my TMJ.
But one of the things I really enjoyed about the dentist was getting the free prize at the end of the visit. You always got 3 things: a new toothbrush, a sticker, and a comic book of your choice! For an avid collector like myself, it was the ultimate score and probably the only reason I didn't hide or run away when it was time to visit the dentist. Amongst the comic heroes I could choose from were Donald Duck, Casper, Richie Rich, and the Archie Gang. After picking one of those beauties, it was fun times in the car ride home.
Sadly, those days are over. All I ever get from visiting my dentist now is that little goodie bag with a toothbrush, some floss, and a tube of toothpaste. True, I am extremely vigilant with my dental hygiene these days. I pride myself in staying away from those darn cavities. But I would gladly give up the free toothpaste to get a comic book for all my dental troubles.
A few months ago, I found this activity comic at a thrift store. Sure, it has zero value, some of the pages have been colored and filled in, and the cover has a grease penciled price of 10 cents on it. But this is one of the comic books I remember getting as a kid.
I particularly remember this book for a couple of reasons. Every year a couple of dentist assistants would come to my school and do a little presentation on how to floss and brush your teeth. ( I still remember the song "wiggle giggle, wiggle giggle...1-2-3" as a way to remember how to clean each tooth.) This book was one of the items they would pass out after the lecture. Casper's Activity Book was also an incentive at my dentist that if you choose it, you could pick 2 bonus comics instead of just one. 3 books for a visit that normally would net me just one book? Yes, please. Needless to say, I racked up a bunch of these activity books.
Drawn in stark black and white, it stars Casper the Friendly Ghost, his ghoulish brothers, and some other guests. Filled with your standard activities: connect the dots, word scramble, mazes, pages to color, and matching, one activity that was always included and I just despised, were the jumbled pictures. With that you either had to copy by hand or cut out and glue. Mine never came out right and cut up a comic book? Are you crazy?
This little booklet was a fun little trip down memory lane. Too bad you don't see many dentists giving away free comics anymore and if they do, well I just happened to pick one who didn't. It's too bad that those type of freebies don't occur to adults. Like I said earlier, I'd gladly choose an activity book like this in order to get two more instead of that stupid toothpaste goodie bag.
Worth Consuming
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
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