Have enough decades gone by that it’s safe for me to admit I never liked Ovaltine? Luckily, that didn’t stop me from writing and editing The Captain Midnight Action Book for Sports Health & Nutrition, an 8.5″ x 11″ 128-page trade paperback about … well … exactly what it says in the title.
It was never meant to be an in-depth look at any of those things, more a kid’s book crossed with a coloring book, filled with basic trivia and facts. The book was illustrated by Don Perlin, then known best for Marvel’s Werewolf by Night.
I put the project together for Marvel in 1977 after the company was contracted by Ovaltine to create the book around its famous character. I’m no longer sure whether this was ever for sale in bookstores, or if it was only available as a self-liquidating premium in exchange for labels and a couple of bucks. All I know is that not that many of them must have been sold, because after all these years it’s considered extremely scarce by at least one auction site, where it sold for $55.00.