Comic Book Zen :: Make Like a Banana and SPLIT!

From Captain Marvel (no, not that one, or that one either!) Volume 1 Number 4, November 1966.

BONUS Comic Book Zen, from the same issue:

Haha 'Tinyman.' Best villain name ever. Is it any wonder he went back to school to become an attorney?

Your Friendly Neighborhood Playskool Heroes

Holy heroic confusion, Batman, could this really be? Has Spider-Man joined the ranks of the junior JLA?

Well, sort of. You see, Hasbro/Playskool, not to be outdone by Mattel/Fisher-Price, has itself just released kid friendly action figures/playsets ala Imaginext's DC Super Friends line.

Sporting the same type of articulation as the later Imaginext releases (in other words: shoulders, head, hips and wrists,) the first run of these guys (according to the back of the box) includes two-pack figure sets with the likes of Captain America and Wolverine, Hulk and Thor, Iron-Man and Dr. Doom, and the set I picked up; Spider-Man and...

Green Goblin!

Green Goblin has a non removable pumpkin bomb in his hand, and comes with a glider that he can ride - held on by the peg on the glider and the hole on his foot.

'Outta the way, runt. This gliding greenbean is mine!'

'Take your time, Birdman. I prefer to tussle with (Cat) women anyways.'

Almost exactly like the Imaginext superheroes, the Marvel Playskool Heroes figures are a little smaller and 'slighter,' if you will, when played with...I mean compared against...the DC Super Friends Imaginext figures. Which actually works perfectly for a character like Spider-Man who is himself a teenager, and will probably work well with Wolverine too, who is supposed to be short. These guys were at Toys R Us in the preschool toy aisle next to the Imaginext stuff. They are $6.49 for a two pack at my TRU, not a bad deal for two figures, but you know as time goes by Spidey and Iron-Man are going to be packed in with everybody and you'll probably eventually have ten of each! Regardless, I REALLY wanted Captain America and Wolverine, but for some reason that was the only set shown on the box that they didn't have on the shelf.

There are also a couple vehicles which come with different versions of their respective characters - the Iron-Man that came with a car was quite different than the one from the two-pack, while the Spidey that came with a Spider-copter only differed slightly (the spider-symbol may have been the only difference in fact.) At least they are giving us adult collectors...I mean 'kids'...yeah, kids...something unique right out of the gate. That's cool.

On the package it also says to check out www.playskoolheroes.com, but as of this posting there is nothing there but an announcement page.

Oh and one more thing: Playskool / Hasbro - if you are listening...the times they are a'changin' - don't wait until this toyline has been out for years before you give kids a female in the line. Bring them early and bring them often. I promise you won't regret it!

Captains America

On last Friday's Friday Breakage at Articulated Discussion Wes called me out on my description of my recent Marx Marvel Superheroes finds, saying "There’s a part of me that strongly doubts the reported size of these things — size comparisons with modern 6″ figures would have been awesome — but they’re still pretty cool finds." 

You dare question the great and powerful BubbaShelby?!?!?! Haha just kidding, a size comparison would have been keen, right?

Right.

So here ya' go:

Here's the Marx Captain America and the Marvel Legends 1st appearance Captain America side by side!

I tried my best to pose Cap like Cap to show that yes, these guys are for all intents and purposes in the same scale.

No trick photography here folks. That's how big these things really are!

Would I lie to you?