Batman battles a terrifying enemy with Hostess Twinkies

This corny advertisement hails from the April/May 1975 issue of DC Comics' "Beowulf."¹ It's one of the early installments of a long-running series that featured myriad comic-book characters touting the benefits of Twinkies, fruit pies and other Hostess products that generally aren't good for you.

In this one, an Adam West/Burt Ward-looking Dynamic Duo come across an ancient and dangerous (and English-speaking) mummy and narrowly avert death by giving him a box of Twinkies. Everyone lives happily ever after.²

The Hostess comic-book advertisements are so well-remembered that there are plenty of websites where you can find more information.

Perhaps the best is the (R-rated and hilarious) Seanbaby's Hostess Page, which claims to document every Hostess advertisement ever produced. Sean and his gang provide irreverent off-color commentary and analysis for each of the Hostess ads, too.³

Some other Hostess/Comics websites of note include:

• A no-frills but comprehensive TomHeroes.com page
• Topless Robots' (also R-rated) "The 10 Dumbest Comic Book Hostess Ads"

Now, go enjoy some Twinkies -- the eternity-lasting treat for an eternity-lasting tomb-dweller!

Footnotes
1. This was actually the very first issue of "Beowulf: Dragon Slayer." It wasn't long before the very last issue, either. The series lasted only six issues, and in that short time it mixed in monsters and genres at a schizophrenic pace. According to Wikipedia, Beowulf "encounters Dracula, a mysterious Lost Tribe of Israel, Ulysses accompanied by a troop of anonymous Greek Warriors, Egyptian/Sumerian space aliens straight out of Chariots of the Gods, and the lost city of Atlantis" during the short run of the comic. The first comic introduces Beowulf this way:

"A distant past shrouded in the mist of time; when men lived savagely in the shadow of all-mighty Wyrd, the God of Fate, and in the terror of Satan, Dragon-Lord of the Underworld.

When the earth was no more than a few tribal lands cast in the darkness of mystic lagoons, fog-cloaked swamps and devil-haunted castles!

A time of villains, demons, spirits of evil -- and the blood-beast Grendel!

A time of heroes, kings, warriors of the good -- and the noble savage -- Beowulf!"

Here are some previous Papergreat posts involving comic books:

• The wonderful world of comic book advertisements
• Finding a new job in 1973 with Spider-Man's help
• A gratuitous post on "The Avengers" designed to draw web traffic
• Halloween Countdown #7: Pimples? Blackheads? Freckles?
• Halloween Countdown #14: Live Mystery Egg

2. SPOILER ALERT: This is also the exact plot of Christopher Nolan's upcoming "The Dark Knight Rises."
3. For example, with regard to "Batman and The Mummy," Seanbaby points out: "Robin, if you carry a Special Mummy Ray Gun around with you, it had better [bleeping] work on mummies."