July - Volume 10, Issue 7

This was a re-vamp of the Wizard "How to Draw" ad, which I think was more fitting for Animerica, with Elena the anime-style gun-toting elf chick...

August - Volume 10, Issue 8

...and this is yet ANOTHER revamp, so people would actually SEE the webpage url. I hope it's a bit more effective this time around.

September - Volume 10, Issue 9

"Even the Third Impact stops for RAMUNE!" Still one of the best ads ever, in my opinion!

October - Volume 10, Issue 10

Well, we wanted something that pushed the Japanese snacks at the time, and this was the best we could come up with that wouldn't take forever to get done... this was done in my bedroom, btw. I had to mess it up specifically for this ad.

November - Volume 10, Issue 11

The first "Lost World of Wonders" ad/comic strip! Can you tell what the staff was obsessed with at the time?

>December - Volume 10, Issue 12

We thought that the comic strip idea was a good one, so we stuck with it. Unfortunately, the "scripts" called for more text, which is hard to read in the following pictures. They printed up just fine in the magazines, but they're hard to read over the web.

January - Volume 11, Issue 1

This was the "After Christmas" ad, letting the readers know who got what for Christmas, and what they could have gotten from Lost World of Wonders instead. Poor Guy is grumbling about how all he recieved a Christmas card from 2 years ago for the holidays.

February - Volume 11, Issue 2

This is when we started discounting our products. We thought that having one of the characters do the discounting in the ad would make it a little more interesting than some splash ad saying, "Hey, our manga is 20%! Kthxbye!"

March - Volume 11, Issue 3

And here's where Elena got blamed for discounting all of our DVDs, too. Of course, even in times of stress, Guy can be counted on for comic relief.

April - Volume 11, Issue 4

The ad in which Guy actually does work! It's perfectly reasonable for Talia to assume that Guy was slacking off, though - that's all he does, usually.

May - Volume 11, Issue 5

This was the ad preparing Animerica readers that we were updating our website with a better shopping cart program, more products, and lots of other stuff. My boss's personal frustation with the sheer amount of scanning that had to be done bled into this ad.

June - Volume 11, Issue 6

We received the Copic supplies about a month before this, but didn't have enough to sell on the website yet. I figured that mentioning CLAMP in our ad might draw a little bit more attention to the fact that we stock Copic markers and whatnot.

July - Volume 11, Issue 7

This is the last advertisement featured in Animerica, advertising our special on free shipping for all manga orders. I thought it was a bit plain, but I also forgot that it was due, so I had to come up with something Johnny-on-the-spot.

Onion Ad #3

Again, poking fun at the sameness of the panels. Guy really is a trip, though. And of course we had to draw attention to the cute lil' squirrel!

Onion Ad #4

See how we kept on focusing on doing the ads on the cheap? Part of it was lack of direction, to be honest. That explains the inverted screenshot of Pacman right there.

Onion Ad #5

Yeah, we started using art from the Animerica ads, too. This was when we started to push all of the gaming stuff we just got in stock.

Onion Ad #6

Here's where we started to find a direction for the first series of ads... this also continues to establish the tone of the characters. Talia really did turn out to be quite a taskmaster!

Onion Ad #7

John wanted to voice his extreme dislike of Halloween 3 in the ad. What it has to do with the store is beyond me... I liked drawing Talia with the crowbar, though!! XD

Onion Ad #8>

Part of the reason I did the ad this way was because I assumed this was going to be our only advertising run in the Onion. Whoops.

Still, Guy sticking his foot in his mouth is always good for a laugh.

Onion Ad #9

I really dig Guy's Hawaiian t-shirt and oversized sunglasses for some reason.

Onion Ad #10

Elena and I had the same problem - we both had too much stuff to catch up on during the school year. For Elena, it was just comic books. For me, it was anime, tpbs, and video games. Luckily for Elena, Lost World of Wonders has a pull system for regulars...

Onion Ad #11

We just started getting the bulk of our Japanese snacks around this time, so obviously we wanted to advertise that. So yummy! ^__^

Onion Ad #12

We noticed that some of the ads focused more on the merchandise than anything else, which is normally a good thing. But we wanted these ads to be entertaining, too, and Guy is always good for a cheap laugh!

Onion Ad #13

"Moogle" Guy is so hot.
....
Er, I mean cute. So cute.

Onion Ad #14

We started cutting and pasting art from previous ads again. Coupled with a lack of ideas for the week, this is what resulted. I still love that Hawaiian shirt, though.

Onion Ad #15

Here is the "official" explanation for the recycled art - cutting production time! See how professional the first panel looks?!

Onion Ad #16

Yeah, this was done right before I left for vacation. I really didn't want to go, but... ::sigh:: Hence, this ad really had no point.

Onion Ad #17

And this is the ad after my vacation. Again, no point, but I liked the idea of people making up their own dialogue, if they wanted to.

Onion Ad #18

After a few ads reverting back to absolute pointlessness, we tried to do a "recommended reading" thing. Feel the obsession over Excel Saga!

Onion Ad #19

This was in recognition of the LXG movie. I really liked to movie - it was very cool.

Onion Ad #20

The sad part is that I didn't have a chance to check out half the stuff that we recommended... I had to depend on the dubious descriptions of co-workers turned fanboys.

"Maybe he should be a catgirl."

Onion Ad #21

See, I read Squee a long time ago, and I really liked it! It was hard to get the tone of the TPB across, however. Suffice to say, this ad is not one of my favorites.

Onion Ad #22

Best ad ever. Nothing's cooler than advertising school text books, followed by a Battle Royale tie-in! So good!

Onion Ad #23

Here's Guy sticking his foot in it again. Talia really does get made fun of - not that she doesn't deserve it.

Onion Ad #24

We started clearing out our Warhammer stuff to make room for other stuff - what better way to advertise that than to show Guy as a poor, struggling packhorse for the store?

"Won't you help Guy take a break...?"

Onion Ad #25

This is another "best ad ever" moment! What sucked, however, was the fact that UPS didn't bring in the TPBs the week they were featured in the ad. Stupid UPS...

Onion Ad #26

Yeah, this is another one that I didn't know much about. What I did hear, however, kind of scared me away from reading it in the first place.

Onion Ad #27

Originally we were going to do something for Supreme Power, but that was a little too violent to advertise without some sort of parental advisory, so we went with Trigun instead... Doesn't Guy totally fit as a Vash cosplayer?

Onion Ad #28

I really liked how this ad referenced Guy's cosplaying antics from the last ad. I also like how it throws Guy's sexual orientation into question yet again. XD XD XD

And who knew Elena loved the shounenai?!

Onion Ad #29

You know, I still have no clue what's going on in 1602. Maybe I'll read it if it comes out in a TPB or something...

Onion Ad #30

And here's where we pushed Hush as a must-buy. I heard it was really good. I almost bought it just for Jim Lee's artwork, but there were a lot of other things I had to get first - like my shoujo comics...

Yes, I read girly stuff. Leave me be. ;_;

Onion Ad #31

We advertised the Onion as recommended reading, simply because it was advertising our midnight sale. Unfortunately, we couldn't use the Onion logo in the ad. I didn't find out about that until it was already sent out, however. That kind of sucked.

Sheperd Express Ad (Special)

This ad was made specifically for when we won "Best Comic Book Store" in 2002. I guess we got a free advertising space or something, so I made that for the event.