Comic books will always be connected to action figures in my mind. I'm not sure if comic readers from past generations had that many toys to choose from, but Generation X sure did. Granted, you were supposed to see the cartoons first, during which they'd play commercials for the toys, then you'd go look for them at stores, and finally get everything you ever asked for, right? Well, I for one, have never seen the
Super Friends cartoon (my dad got us our
Super Powers figures, pictured at right from the book
DC Comics: A Celebration of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes by Les Daniels), neither the
G.I. Joe nor
Transformers cartoons even to this day. I've seen less than half of the
Batman Animated series and the
X-Men cartoons (I was already in junior high by this time), and I've yet to see any of the HBO
Spawn. But back to the toys, I don't think they even made a cartoon from the Marvel
Secret Wars line, and I believe that came before
Super Powers. My brother and I each got villains, Kang for him and Magneto for me. We knew that's what they were because heroes and villains were divided on the back of the package (see picture to the left). I knew my guy had to be one bad dude because his costume colors were
pink and purple.
That alone meant a life of super-fighting for him. Later on I read Jim Lee's
X-Men and learned more of the character history and now Magneto is my favorite comic book baddie from any series or publisher. I explained in last Wednesday's post that
I bought my first comic book because it had Magneto on the cover with Spider-Man, who I actually had grown up watching on cartoons with
His Super Friends. The picture below is of my toddler's action figures. From the time he could say "mama" you could ask him where his action figures were, and he would point to the shelf on the wall. I found a guy on ebay who was getting rid of his son's complete collection and I got a good deal. I've since given many away, but these are the ones, even if he never plays with them, that I want him to know. My wife says toys today are for the parents' nostalgia, not the kid's entertainment. I admit it, I'm guilty. Kids today have DVDs (not Saturday morning cartoons), handheld video games (much more convenient than the old arcade at the mall), and iPod video (
superior to Mtv in every way). God bless 'em, they're going to need it. Characters in the photo left to right are: Batman; Lex Luthor; Flash; Superman; Aquaman; Beast; Captain America; Iceman; Iron Man; Spider-Man; Green Goblin; Mr. Fantastic; Thing; Galactus
Comic books will always be connected to action figures in my mind. I'm not sure if comic readers from past generations had that many toys to choose from, but Generation X sure did. Granted, you were supposed to see the cartoons first, during which they'd play commercials for the toys, then you'd go look for them at stores, and finally get everything you ever asked for, right? Well, I for one, have never seen the Super Friends cartoon (my dad got us our Super Powers figures, pictured at right from the book DC Comics: A Celebration of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes by Les Daniels), neither the G.I. Joe nor Transformers cartoons even to this day. I've seen less than half of the Batman Animated series and the X-Men cartoons (I was already in junior high by this time), and I've yet to see any of the HBO Spawn. But back to the toys, I don't think they even made a cartoon from the Marvel Secret Wars line, and I believe that came before Super Powers. My brother and I each got villains, Kang for him and Magneto for me. We knew that's what they were because heroes and villains were divided on the back of the package (see picture to the left). I knew my guy had to be one bad dude because his costume colors were pink and purple. 
That alone meant a life of super-fighting for him. Later on I read Jim Lee's X-Men and learned more of the character history and now Magneto is my favorite comic book baddie from any series or publisher. I explained in last Wednesday's post that I bought my first comic book because it had Magneto on the cover with Spider-Man, who I actually had grown up watching on cartoons with His Super Friends. The picture below is of my toddler's action figures. From the time he could say "mama" you could ask him where his action figures were, and he would point to the shelf on the wall. I found a guy on ebay who was getting rid of his son's complete collection and I got a good deal. I've since given many away, but these are the ones, even if he never plays with them, that I want him to know. My wife says toys today are for the parents' nostalgia, not the kid's entertainment. I admit it, I'm guilty. Kids today have DVDs (not Saturday morning cartoons), handheld video games (much more convenient than the old arcade at the mall), and iPod video (superior to Mtv in every way). God bless 'em, they're going to need it. Characters in the photo left to right are: Batman; Lex Luthor; Flash; Superman; Aquaman; Beast; Captain America; Iceman; Iron Man; Spider-Man; Green Goblin; Mr. Fantastic; Thing; Galactus
1 comment:
I grew up watching He-Man. I always thought he was cooler than She-ra, but I never had any of the toys. Great pic of the action figures...it's very artistic.
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