Saturday, July 8, 2017

Dating the Federal DC's: Rock Video

In my overview of the Federal Marvel advertisements I noted that the Battle of the Sounds ad could be found on the rear cover of issues dated June-August 1985.

These issues also carry one of the three variations of the Rock Video ad on their inner front cover:

 Rock Video [1]
June 1985

  Rock Video [2]
June 1985-August 1985

I've verified these by cross referencing with a number of issues.

You'll note that June 1985 issues could have either variation of these Rock Video ads. When I first noticed this I thought there was a bug in my system, but this may actually be helpful  - I think it may indicate whether an issue was released early June or late June. I say this because this combination of ads can be further distinguished by whether the rear inner cover contained one of the following ads:

 A Fantastic Rock Poster Magazine

Rock Poster Magazine

In other words, a Battle of the Sounds issue from June 1985 may contain a pairing of either Rock Video [1] and A Fantastic Rock Poster Magazine, or Rock Video [2] and Rock Poster Magazine. Given that issues containing Rock Video [1] and A Fantastic Rock Poster Magazine are also related to the Stars & Rockers ads for issues published March-May 1985, I surmise their appearance in June 1985 alongside Battle of the Sounds ads is a carryover from that period before settling into the Rock Video [2] and Rock Poster Magazine pairing.

I mentioned at the beginning that there are three variations of the Rock Video ad but I have only referred to two so far. This is the third:

 Rock Video [3]
February 1985

The Rock Video [3] ad predates issues containing Rock Video [1] and [2]. It appears on the inner front cover of issues with the  Stars and Rockers [1] ad on the rear cover and the 24 Rock Post-Cards ad on the inner rear cover - but I will detail that pairing in a separate post. 

And yes - I really should have designated Rock Video [3] as Rock Video [1] - but let's call it the  Earth 1/Earth 2 Syndrome.

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