Captain Action
Type | Ideal Toy Corp. |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Availability | 1966–1968 |
Materials | plastic |
Captain Action was an
Historical overview
Toy developer Stan Weston went to Hasbro's Don Levine with the idea of an articulated doll in the form of a soldier — a basic figure, and with limitless accessories. Levine and his Hasbro team took the concept, making it into G.I. Joe, the first modern action figure for boys — and the first to carry the action figure generic name, an attempt to remove the term "doll" from a toy for boys. Weston took his money from the G.I. Joe venture and founded his own licensing company, representing DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and King Features Syndicate.
After the success of G.I. Joe, Stan Weston's company,
The figure itself had a rather sad and worried expression, a strange shaped head (so the masks of the various heroes would better stay in place over it) and a more detailed musculature than G.I. Joe's. The original Ideal base for the line was Captain Action in his blue and black uniform, with lightning sword and
In 1967, Captain Action proved popular enough to expand the line, adding a partner, Action Boy, and an enemy, Dr. Evil, a blue skinned alien with large bug eyes and an exposed brain, wearing a modified
After just a couple of years, the Captain Action line declined in sales. As a result, Ideal Toys discontinued it in 1968. Though Captain Action was produced for only two and a half years, the characters and accessories have become amongst the most fondly remembered, and expensive to obtain on the collector's market, action figures of the era.
Throughout the 1970s, Captain Action leftover uniforms and boots were used on knock-off, blow-molded figures from China (where the original was cast and assembled) and Ideal itself reused the original body molds to rush a Star Wars-like toy to the market, the Knight of Darkness, in 1977. Captain Action collectors would buy the figure (cast in black plastic) often using the hands to replace the sometimes missing hands of the vintage figures.
Captain Action returns
After 30 years off the market, Captain Action was revived in 1998, by retro toy company Playing Mantis. In addition to Captain Action and Dr. Evil, costumes released boxed with Captain Action figure were
2000s–2010s
Since 2005 Captain Action Enterprises holds the licensing rights and has been producing an array of new merchandise, including statues, toys, comics, trading cards, collectibles and apparel.
In March 2011, Round 2 Corp. and Captain Action Enterprises announced plans for a redesigned 1/6 scale Captain Action figure.
In other media
Comic books
DC Comics
[Editor Mort Weisinger] called and asked if I'd like to create a new character. I said yes — then he said, "Okay, his name is Captain Action(?!). He has an Actionmobile, a kid sidekick named Action Boy(??!!), a pet Action Panther and a secret Action Headquarters(???!!!) and, by the way, he's also a G.I. Joe-sized action figure". He went on: "Superman must make an appearance in the first issue, because the cover was going to feature Captain Action pushing Superman aside to take on whatever menace I concocted". Sigh. Okay.[4]
The comic book storyline had little to do with the toy concept, as some of the heroes licensed for use as costumes for the Captain Action doll were not owned and published by DC (Spider-Man and Captain America for example, were Marvel Comics characters), therefore the ability to change into different characters was entirely dropped. Instead, Captain Action came to possess magical coins, each of which provided him with a spectacular power from a Greek, Roman, or Norse mythological god (in a similar way to the original Captain Marvel). Captain Action was given a real name of his own, Clive Arno, and was identified as a widowed archaeologist and museum curator, and was described as having located "the coins of power" in a buried city. Action Boy's comic-book alter-ego was Carl Arno, son of Clive. Dr. Evil was given a back-story too, having been Captain Action's father-in-law, then going mad in a mishap. The series lasted five issues, until July 1969.[5]
In the early 1980s, writer
Moonstone Books
In 2008
Moonstone has featured a similarly revised Action Boy. In this version he is Sean Barrett, the son of a famous naturalist whose identity is assumed by Dr. Eville. His stories also take place in the 1960s. Moonstone has also created an original character, Lady Action, who works for the British branch of the A.C.T.I.O.N. Directorate. Both Action Boy and the newly introduced Lady Action (AKA Nicola Sinclair), have been featured as back up stories in the Captain Action comic. Lady Action also debuted in a one shot comic of her own in 2010, and continues to play a pivotal role in the Captain Action ongoing Series.
Moonstone Books published a new Captain Action comic book from 2008 to 2010, with the initial six-issue arc written by Fabian Nicieza. A Captain Action Special was also released in 2010 as well as a two-issue miniseries teaming up Captain Action with the Phantom, written by Mike Bullock. In July 2010, Captain Action Season 2, an ongoing series written by Steven Grant, debuted that lasted 3 issues. Moonstone planned on releasing Captain Action: Classified, which would tell stories of Captain Action's earliest adventures in the 1960s, but this did not happen.
Instead, in 2013 Dynamite Entertainment put out a mini-series with Captain Action called Codename: Action that included several pulp and comic book characters in an origin story for Captain Action.
Games
In 2016 Small Monsters Games developed and released the Captain Action card game. This is an all-ages casual game including art from classic comics artists Jerry Ordway, Kerry Callen, and Paul Gulacy. The game was designed by Meg Stivison.
Books and novels
In 2010, the coffee table book Captain Action: the Original Super Hero Action Figure, by Michael Eury, was published by TwoMorrows Publishing.
In July 2012, an original Captain Action pulp novel was released by Airship 27, called Captain Action: Riddle of the Glowing Men, written by Jim Beard.
A second novel by Jim Beard titled Hearts of the Rising Sun was released in 2014 by Airship 27.
A novel featuring Lady Action — The Sands of Forever — by Ron Fortier was released by Airship 27 in 2015.
A third Captain Action novel titled Cry of the Jungle Lord, written by Jim Beard and Barry Reese, was released by Airship 27 in 2017.
References
- ISBN 978-1605490557.
- ^ "Super Queens: Super Collectibles". Diamond Galleries. Archived from the original on July 14, 2012. Retrieved 2011-12-26.
- ISBN 978-3-8365-1981-6.
Captain Action was DC's first toy tie-in title.... Editor Mort Weisinger ... brought in his young firebrand Jim Shooter to craft an identity and back story for the character.
- ISBN 9781893905610.
- ^ Markstein, Don. "Captain Action". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ Wells, John (May 2013). "Flashback: Whatever Happened to...?". Back Issue! (64). TwoMorrows Publishing: 51–61.
External links
- Moonstone Books Nabs Captain Action at THE PULSE
- Preview of Captain Action #0 from Moonstone Books
- Captain Action at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on April 9, 2012.
Further reading
- Eury, M. (2002) Captain Action: the Original Super-Hero Action Figure. Raleigh, NC: TwoMorrows Publishing. ISBN 978-1-893905-17-7
- Michlig, Jon (1998) GI Joe The Complete Story of America's Favorite Man of Action