I was going through some old comics to prepare them for sale (a story for another time) when I noticed something on the cover of Strange Adventures #71, the August 1956 issue.

Floating above the image of an interplanetary clock counting down the time until the death of Earth was a banner which read “EXCITING NEWS! GIGANTIC CONTEST!” And what did you have to do to win one of those “5000 PRIZES?” Simply come up with a new slogan to describe DC Comics.

DC provided a few (rather lame) examples, such as “I buy when I see DC,” “DC Comics are Decent Comics,” and “Your reading key is the symbol DC.”

[I’m sorry the interior pages aren’t crisp and clear, but considering the comics’ age and value, scanning was out of the question, so I simply snapped the best photos I could.]

There were no details yet on how to enter. That was to come later, as announced on the cover of Mystery in Space #34, the October/November 1956 issue. Inner pages provided a list of prizes and an entry form.

What kid wouldn’t want a chance to win Sweet Sue (the Queen of Dolls) or Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy?

There was a catch, however. As you can see on the third page above, you had to submit your slogan with FIVE coupons from that month’s issues. Of course, comics were only a dime back then, but still … that seems like asking a lot.

But OK—you spent you 50 cents, sent in your coupons and slogan. Now what? Who won?

Well, since there were 5,000 prizes, there were 5,000 winners, some of who were listed in Blackhawk #112, the May 1957 issue, and announced on the top of the cover below.

It took three pages to list just some of the winners, which were split up and divided up among seven sets of comics. The list below is of those winners whose names began with O, S, V, or Z. Recognize any of them?

I couldn’t find any comic listing the winning slogan itself, but luckily, a search of the interwebs answered that question, in the only blog posting I could turn up on the subject, over at Booksteve’s Library.

The winning entry was: “For the best in comics entertainment: Superman/DC/National Comics, the Line of Stars!” (Though the suggestion offered on that site by Mxyzptlk, “DC Comics … everyone who works in management is an asshole,” is far more entertaining.)

But that doesn’t answer the question—what was the ultimate winner’s name? Who was it who actually came up with that winning slogan? Was it ever announced?

Any ideas?