HOLY BAT SIGNALS: IDEAL 1966 JLA BATMAN PLAYSET ON CELTICA RADIO

 

I mention these on our latest July Radio Celtica SWORDcast - figures and vehicles from the stupendous 1966 JLA Batman Playset by Ideal. This was the first lot I ever bought on Ebay 0 in 2000 - and went on, after enjoying them for ten years, to re-sell them in 2010. The somewhat chewed orange chappie pictured above is the one and only Key Man.

 

 

I first came across this line in 1996 in the wonderful US reference book Comics Collectables and Values. Not strictly action figures, these early Ideal sets were clearly the forerunners of action figure lines like Mego and Kenner, which surfaced years later.

 

 

They are a complicated but fascinating toy line to collect, which I only dipped my toe into. With various cards, boxes, combinations and names it's easy to get confused and misname them, so you'll need a good reference point to start. Mine was the above mentioned book but there is lots of info about these toys online nowadays.