BRIAN'S MONSTER BASE BASH: MEGO'S HEROES AND LINCOLN'S MONSTERS SLUG IT OUT!

Reader and monstrous toy collector Brian F, he of Monster Base NJ, has kindly sent me this fabulous snap from a 1976 Montgomery Wards catalogue, which inspired him as only Lincoln Monsters can!

Yes, the Wards catalogue shot gave American kids a mouth-watering and magnificent bust-up between Lincoln International's Monsters and Mego's Greatest Superheroes.

Robin get's to side-kick the Hunchback: Supe get's a right-hook into Wolfie but Frankie has deffo got the better of Green Goblin. He's toast!

You would never have guessed it looking at the catalogue's angelic cover!

Do you have a copy? Do you remember this catalogue?

You can see another Lincoln Monsters fan's reaction to this image on You Tube. Here's Raymond Castile.

https://youtu.be/u9lcWDutcaA?feature=shared&t=1933

The Phantom

The prototype costumed superhero, Lee Falk's The Phantom debuted in comics in February 1936.

The character fought his baddies from his cave in the fictitious African state of Bangalla and had done for hundreds of years, the first Phantom pre-dating even Christopher Columbus.

The iconography of The Phantom is in some instances ancient. His Skull ring, reserved for villains, was said to be made from the nails that crucified Jesus Christ!

Kit Walker is the 21st Phantom and as a comic character has enjoyed huge comic success, being printed in many parts of the world.

Merchandise is easy to find online and one of my favourites is part of the rack toy boom of the mid-1970's, Larami's The Phantom Jungle Play Set.

You can enjoy many more Phantom toys, some right up to date, online here on this excellent pictorial fan site:

https://thephantom.fan/collectibles/toys/

Have you any?

SUPERMAN: KINGDOM COME!

https://youtube.com/shorts/nVY9IrTMLpk?si=I6EtLZYS6LHambRS

Hi Woodsy, another brand new short from my YouTube channel, this has a custom paint finish from the graphic novel Kingdom Come by Alex Ross. Check out this artist's other work, it's very reminiscent of Norman Rockwell.

Up, up and away!

MJ

POWER RECORDS! HEROIC VINYL!

Do you remember Power records from the 1970's?

Here's the Superman single in its cover. Well several really that I got many years ago for my old toy stall. I bought about 10. This is what's left.

I've seen the Planet of the Apes Power record too, which I think is a gatefold maybe.

They covered Batman and Spidey too.

Did you have the power?

DAREDEVIL AND ELEKTRA: CANE AND SAI

I've been enjoying re-watching two old movie friends this weekend. When I say friends I mean films I saw decades ago and always liked them, namely Daredevil and Elektra. Have you seen them?

When you'd taken all you could from the X-Men and X2, with the dawn of Marvel's cinematic universe at the turn of the Millennium, Daredevil and Elektra were waiting for you to keep your leather-clad inner-hero alive and kicking.

OK, neither of them are Avengers or maybe not even A-listers but this linked pair of films really grabbed my attention way back when. 

Ben Affleck's understated and tormented Daredevil, patrolling Hell's Kitchen and being a general pain in the kneecaps for Kingpin, was just what I needed after the wild fury of Wolverine's steel claws. His playground skirmish with Elektra was, well ..... electric and the perfect cue for her own film two years later.

Elektra and me hit it off from the get go. It was her two fabulous sai, an Okinawan weapon I was fascinated by as a martial arts nut in the early Seventies. Her red garb completed the look of the ultra-lethal karate-kicking Stick-trained assassin with a heart.

Daredevil has remained a constant in the murky background of the MCU defending the Kitchen with his pals Iron Fist et al, but Elektra seems to have sadly hung up her sai unless I've missed her come-back. I for one would welcome her's and Stick's return.

Oddly I never found a single vintage Daredevil toy in all my years of car booting. OK, there's been a slew of modern figures but when I was collecting any Secret Wars 1984 figures at boot sales years ago old Fearless, below, never showed his masked face.

The first Daredevil action figure - or plastic figure - was part of the wonderful and ground-breaking range of Marx super hero mini-statues in 1966, a figure I've only ever seen in the flesh on the Olympian shelves of super dealers at Birmingham's Memorabilia.

Have you any Daredevil or Elektra collectables?

THE SAMARITAN

Now Sly Stallone is one of those Hollywood actors you either love or hate.

I love Sly. His no-nonsense minimal-dialogue style is a tonic and you always know where you are with the big guy. OK he can go off-piste and play the victim too as in the brilliant Cop Land and be all emotional as in Rocky but its when he dishes out vengeance in his explosive you-better-get-out-the-way style where he really makes his mark.

I recently enjoyed his version of the seminal Michael Caine gangster flick Get Carter, so I had no trouble opting for his off-beat super hero vehicle The Samaritan on Netflix. 

I actually thought it was a series for some reason, so I was pleasantly surprised when I realised it was a movie. They take less commitment than a full series and I had struggled watching some other online super hero series like Luke Cage and Daredevil, where the serialised format allows the directors far too much time to indulge the cast in that awful nicety, talking!

Sly doesn't say much in his action flicks and when he does it's something grunty and pithy and The Samaritan is no exception. 

I won't spoil anything, just to say I really liked this movie. It recalled that unusual Bruce Willis super Hero picture, The Guardian, where an average working Joe has non-average skills!

I've now moved onto Liam Neeson for Netflix kicks, currently watching The Marksman. Liam seems to make a film every year, sometimes two, so I've a few to catch up on since 2020!

Do you like Sly and Liam?

AN ETERNITY

I went to the pictures this week. I've not been to the cinema for ages. Hard to believe I used to go every week.

As always I went with my cinema buddy, this week to see super heroes, the Eternals. The screening we went to was a 5pm showing at Cineworld, so we had time to get a bite to eat beforehand. The current KFC TV ad campaign where gravy is poured over everything had worked his magic on us so we ate the Colonel's chicken.

We settled down for the film, which at 2 hours and 40 minutes was a long one. As soon as the lights went off I fell asleep! Going to the flicks after work is always risky!

Thirty minutes later I woke up and tried to get into the remaining 2 hours + of the film. I really struggled and I don't think my sleep was the reason.

The Eternals is a an extended spandex mess and really quite boring. Its hard to say why but for me it just was. I wasn't alone. My buddy thought so too. Not even Angelina Jolie could rescue it.

I imagine Jack Kirby's original super hero comics were much much more exciting.

Despite the movie being a let down I enjoyed getting out a lot.

Have you seen the Eternals or been to the cinema recently?

TOO OLD FOR SPIDER-MAN?

Being a Superhero film fan I saw that Netflix was showing virtually all of the Marvel Spiderman films. The last time I checked in on the webslinger was probably Toby McGuire's stint 20 years ago, the first and the one were his suit is Venomised.

For old time's sake I re-watched Toby's output, 1 and 3. Kirsten Dunst is a plausible Mary Jane and the Green Goblin family - Dafoe and Franco - are not bad at all. 

Being a fickle controller I skipped Toby's 2nd film to sample more modern Spiders, the Tom Holland catalogue in Netflix. I have to admit I turned it off. I just couldn't watch it. The actor Tom Holland looks and acts about 10 years old and realising that this would be the real target age for the movie I watched something else.

I'm just too old for Spider-Man maybe.

There's another burst of Spidey films in between McGuire and Holland but I forget the young actor's name. Wasn't he Anakin Skywalker in a Star wars flick? Are they any good?

Maybe I'll give these later Spidermen another blast when Moonbase Junior wants to watch long movies. He's only 5.

Which is your favourite Spidey readers?

MJ's Superman And DC Greeting Cards

MJ recently mentioned his Super Powers greetings cards. He's kindly sent me these links to cards like the ones he had. Enjoy!

http://mycomicboardbanners.blogspot.com/2012/05/superman-and-dc-greeting-cards-2.html?m=1

http://mycomicboardbanners.blogspot.com/2012/06/superman-and-dc-greeting-cards-7.html?m=1 

Have you any interesting greetings cards?

Pat D's Carded Ghost Rider Racer

Here my Ghost Rider friction toy Woodsy.

The funny thing is mine is different. it's a racer. Not ghost Rider!

You can tell from the helmet and a different color. I bought it about 25 years ago. A corner store going out of business and I picked it up. 

The plastic bubble had fallen off about 15 years ago. I put a few dabs of glue to hold it together. 

The bottom of the card is also shorter as you can see but this is how I got it from the store. 

Not sure what to think since I've never seen another one like this before. ..thanks Pat D

Anyone got a Fleetwood Ghost Rider toy?

[more Fleetwood Ghost Rider on the blog here]

MARVEL AND DC'S LESSER MOVIES

I have always been a fan of Ghost Rider. The combination of horror and super hero is a no brainer for someone like me.

When I had some spare dosh in the mid 00's I invested in a neat Ghost Rider carded action figure toy, by Fleetwood which really appealed to me. Amazingly I haven't sold it and its still riding round the attic looking for the contract.

I'm also a huge super hero film fan and naturally I was excited about Ghost Rider blazing a trail onto the big screen. I went to see it, with leading man Nick Cage in the title role, at the local flicks.

I caught it again last night on UK TV and realised that there is something different about certain Marvel movies like Ghost Rider.

Some don't have the flickering Marvel comics pages device at the start and there is clearly a smaller budget being spent.

There may also be something about the lighting, a sort of vaseliney haze across these movies but that could just be me.

These Marvel 'B-movies' I would say include Ghost Rider, Ghost Rider 2, The Punisher, Man Thing and the recent Venom to name a few.

These are clearly 'lesser' movies in the eyes of Marvel I'd say and seem to be secondary to the big hitters like Captan America, Iron Man, Spidey and the Avengers.

I suppose the same could be argued about DC. There are many DC 'B-movies' like Swamp Thing, the early Superman films and Supergirl.

Maybe its just a timing thing. More recent films get bigger budgets?

What do you think about these 'lesser'movies from Marvel and DC?

VIBRANIUM

Vibranium is the super rare metal Cap America's shield is made of.

I assume its a made-up metal from the comic world periodic table.

Even so it sounds impressive. Like those scientific claims made by cosmetics companies on the TV.

Science like skin boosting earwax bubble technology or eye peeling jelly factor or lipid eating onion compound.

All very believable.

Which new elements, metals, technologies and compounds would you come up with readers?

VENOM

I've just seen Venom at the flicks.

Its stars hard man Tom Hardy.

Its not a straight Marvel movie which I found odd. No flickering marvel comic pages at the start. Venom was a McFarlane creation so that might explain it. Stan Lee does make an appearance though.

An odd super hero-villain Venom is like a Spiderman in black and brandishinga a huge mouth full of sharp chompers. It's actually an alien symbiote that attaches itself to a human host. It eats heads.

But rather than spoil any more Venom for now I wondered if you have been Venomed yourself yet?

SUPERHERO TOYS, GAMES, BOP BAGS CATALOGUE

I bought this from America in the early 00's for my old UK toy stall.

Its a comic style catalogue of Super Hero games, toys, books and games from the 1976.

It looks like a comic.

But its a catalogue!

There's a Spider-Man web shooter and Ricochet Racers ...

There's some Space 1999.

There's posters...

...a Batman ceramic clock and Marvel Mood Rings!

...Super Hero T-shirts

And the back cover, super hero baby rag dolls!

For some reason this catalogue comic just never sold on my toy stall and its still with me!

Have you any Super Hero toys, games or collectables?

Tales of Wolverine

There have been many plastic Wolverines.

Marvel Super Heroes, Projectors, X Men to name but a few.

Fans love the guy. Ol' Canuckle Head is up there in the premier league of heroes. Maybe even top!

Some fans collect everything. Check out Radapaw's inspirational collection captured on his ace website http://wolverine.radapaw.com/index.html

My favourite Wolvie is without doubt the first real plastic figure of them all, the Secret Wars one from 1984.

It's a simple hunk of coloured plastic, a muscular design and smooth to the touch. It's not big either like all the Secret Wars Range

As with many of my fave toys this figure was the first Wolverine I ever found at a car boot sale and also the first Secret Wars. I fell in love with them both back in the early 1990's.

Over the next few years I found a few more Secret Wars figures like Kang, Captain America and Doctor Doom to mention a few. Much harder to find were the lenticular shields that came in the bubble cards but with perseverance it was possible and I found quite a few.

I added many other SW collectibles to my horde back then: a clock,  the comics and a Panini Sticker book, together with an annual.

My red letter day came when I went to Toys R Us in Birstall, Leeds back then. The clearance shelves were a treasure trove for the figure fan like me and all mint boxed. I walked away that day with a Secret Wars Doom Roller, Doom Cycle, Turbo Cycle and Spider-Man Motorbike.

These were joined by a Defenders of the Earth Mongor, a Marvel Super Heroes Captain America Turbo Coupe and last but not least a Secret Wars Rucksack!

Sadly none of this cool stuff is at Moonbase anymore. I've moved house since those heady days in the  90's, run a toy mail order service, had toy stalls at fairs, had an Ebay Shop and sold everything.

But with the release of each new X Men and Wolverine Movie like Logan currently clawing its way into fans' hearts I always think back fondly to that first loose Wolvie I ever found from Secret Wars back in 1990.

Do you like Wolverine readers?

WONDERING ABOUT WONDER WOMAN

Recently I've been enjoying Wonder Woman the TV series on the Horror Channel.

The gorgeous and multi-talented Lynda Carter plays Wonder Woman and despite there being several more actresses who have tried on the red knee boots, its Lynda who I think of when I imagine the super heroine.

Being a Golden Age hero created in the 1940's, like Captain America and co, Wonder Woman fought the USA's arch-enemy of the day, the Nazi's. The TV series was set during World War II for the first series before shifting to the 1970's.

The only Wonder Woman collectable I've ever owned was a loose action figure from the Super Powers line by Kenner from 1984. This was back in the late 1990's/ early 00's when I flirted with the idea of collecting the whole Super Powers range. 

I often saw the whole amazing collection at the annual Memorabilia fair at the NEC, where Wonder Woman, complete with her oft-missing Lasso of Truth would be rubbing perfect shoulders with Superman, Batman and The Flash.

[pixabay: public domain]

Whilst watching the TV series I have wondered whether the producers would have used the Super Powers toy if it had been available to them years earlier. Models were used in the show my favourite is this Invisible Jet. "Wonder" what the figure actually was? Mego?

Lynda Carter went on to enjoy careers in both fashion and singing and has remained a pop culture icon popular with fans.

Wonder Woman, like all her DC pals, is enjoying a resurgence of interest and will lasso our mortal minds once more this month when Gal Gadot tries on tiara in the much anticipated blockbuster Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Have you got a Wonder Woman collection readers?

ROB T'S MARVELOUS MARVEL COLLECTION

Hi Woodsy, saw your Blog post Today..so I've attached a couple of pics of my comics and Superhero stuff..its all i collect now (and its enough!).

Loving the Blog, 

Rob T

WONDER WOMAN'S TRANSPARENT FUSELAGE

Just watching the bodacious Linda Carter in Wonder Woman on the Horror Channel. Seeing it reminded me of how much I loved Super Heroes on TV and in comics as a kid. One of my prize possessions was the Fantastic Annual 1968 with the Mighty Thor and his hammer on the cover.

Its odd though. I didn't really have many Super Hero toys as a kid in the Sixties. I only really got to see and handle vintage Super Hero toys much later when I was an adult, as a collector and a toy dealer. In the Nineties and Noughties I grew to appreciate the smooth lines of the Secret Wars figure line and the sheer comprehensiveness of the Super Powers and Marvel Super Heroes ranges.

In order to recognise these toys I bought Tomart's Action Figure Digest regularly and bought a whole fist full of books, many of which I still have.

Watching Linda Carter again  also reminded me that there was one toy I never got to handle, although I saw it, which is strange in itself. I'm talking about Wonder Woman's Invisible Jet by Mego as part of their 1976 Comic Action Heroes line. A bit Probe Force 3-like, the jet was an ultra sleek rocket plane made of see-through plastic, the ultimate stealth craft.

Have you been lucky enough to own one readers? Any chance of a photo for the blog? And do you collect Super Hero stuff?

SUPER POSTSCRIPT

Hi Woodsy,
            I'm sorry I don't have any pics of the Mego Wonder Woman Invisible Jet. I have been a life long fan of superheroes though. My childhood fave being the silver age Captain America. 

I've attached two pics which you're welcome to add to the blog if you wish. Pic one - my early attempt to draw Cap and Thor (age 10). They're now framed behind glass - a reminder of wonderful times.  

Pic two - the spirit of Cap still burns bright in our my home. 

I'm blessed with an exceedingly tolerant Mrs. K!

Regards, Tony K

THOR HE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW

Just watched THOR: THE DARK WORLD, which apart from the London distractions, I enjoyed thoroughly. Thor has always been a popular Marvel character and stands tall in the pantheon of super hero toys. Despite never owning any I have admired them from a distance for years.

Marx rule the halls of Asgard when it comes to Thor toys. The THOR wind-up figure from Marx in 1968 is credited with being not just the first THOR stand-alone figure but one of the earliest examples of what we now call action figures.

One of my favourites has to be the Marx Thor Scooter from 1967, a gorgeous looking plastic toy which came both carded

and boxed.

In 1968 Marx also gave the namesake of Thursday his own tin tricycle to get around on and You Tube provides us with a glimpse of the pedaling Thunder God.

There are hammer-blows more Thor toys by Marx and many other manufacturers.The Marx range from the 1960's is covered in this lavish Schiffer book in the Moonbase bookshelf, Marx Toys Robots, Space, Comic, Disney and TV Characters.

My own favourites will always be the cheaper-looking rack toys, which are comprehensively listed in this other book on my shelf, the well-thumbed Comics Collectibles and Their Values.

Do you collect super hero toys and collectibles readers?

Strong Guys

I've always enjoyed the complex super powers of comic super heroes. Equally though, I like sheer brute force in my comic heroes and of course, the villains.

So who is the most brutish, the strongest?

Leaving Superman aside, there are so many to choose from: the Thing, The Hulk, Beast, Abomination, Bane to name just a few.

What do you think think, who'd out-clobber them all?