Unca Cheeks the Toy Wonder's Silver Age Comics Web Site!

It lasted but a scant five issues.

It was -- so far as one awestruck pre-adolescent down Nashville way was concerned, in any event -- one of the two or three most jaw- droppingly awesome things he'd ever seen; heard; or even dreamed of being hawked at twelve cents, American, a pop.

It remains -- so far as one awestruck pre-geriatricc down St. Louis way is concerned, in any event -- every bit as breathtaking; every last little bit as marvelous and grand.

It was (and still is) one of the niftiest, most drop-dead comics series I've ever read. It lasted a scant five issues...

... and: it was based on a children's toy.

The Captain Action doll (we lads weren't so defensive and insecure, re: our incipient manhood(s) that we felt the need to cloud the issue with such ridiculous neologisms as the phrase "action figures." These were dolls; d-o-l-l-s, dammit. DOLLS. No more than two out of every five of us grew up to become professional pet groomers, either. So there.) was a relatively brief collecting "fad" amongst the younger element of the comics readership of the day, to be sure...

... but: it was an almighty intense fad, while it lasted; with the DC comics of the day shilling relentlessly on behalf of same every chance they got within the entirety of their (then-)current line, via full-page ads extolling the incalculable benefits attendant to ownership of the nearly foot-tall, fully-articulated figure. [See advertisement reproduction, below]

As originally conceived and marketed, Captain Action's super-heroic schtick was that he could assume the costumed personae of any of a dozen or so other previously established costumed adventurers. To this end, one could purchase (separately, of course; kids are born "patsies" for this cynical sort of marketing) appropriately-scaled Batman; Aquaman; the Phantom; the Lone Ranger; Tarzan; etc. costumes for the good Captain to ponce about in, whilst engaged in whatever childish head-busting, butt-whomping imaginary scenarios as might be initiated by his pre-adolescent owner(s).

Captain Action's obligatory sidekick, on the other hand -- the relentlessly chipper little bonehead named (this is going to "sting" just a bit, now) Action Boy -- benefited from no such similarly purloined ensemble options. All he had going for him, accessories-wise, was a "helmet, knife, ray gun and panther.")

(Yeah... I know; that last one always seemed a bit "say what --?!?" to me, as well.)

Naturally, at this juncture in our narrative, one might well be excused for wondering just what, precisely, I found so charged and compelling in such a nakedly opportunistic commercial-slash-artistic enterprise as a short-lived 60's comics series, based upon such an impossibly raddled character conceptualization as this. (God only knows, I'd be posing the very same question, were our respective positions reversed.)

Short Answer: the CAPTAIN ACTION comic book had nothing to do with any of the preceding "some items purchased separately" folderol.

Short Answer Addendum: said comic book was only written and drawn by (then-)LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES superstar Jim Shooter; penciling maestro Gil Kane; AND the legendary Wally Wood.

There will now be a brief intermission, during which time you may all retrieve your jaws from your respective laps.

God only knows why DC Comics (to say nothing of the Ideal toy company honchos) ultimately settled upon the (at the time) thirteen- or-fourteen-year-old Shooter as the likeliest storytelling "skipper" for this particular four-color ship of state. I like to think, however, that it may well have been -- push come to shove -- as simple as this: get a for-real, no foolin' kid to write a comic based on a kid's toy.

Whatever the ultimate impetus, however: the (barely) teenaged Shooter ditched practically everything except the character's name and "baseline" costume, in favor of the following:

Explorer and museum curator Professor Clive Arno -- while rooting about some ancient Athenian ruins in (what seems to my untrained eye, at any rate) a particularly desultory fashion -- chances upon quite the little archeological "find," all else being equal: one huge, honkin' mutha of an ornate wooden chest, packed fit to bursting with a tonweight of old coins... each and every one of these bearing the distinct likeness of a completely different mythological deity, from any/all culture(s) and/or pantheon(s) you could possibly imagine.

Now: whereas you or I would -- in all likelihood -- greet such manifest good fortune with a hoarse, exultant ululation of: "YEEEEhaaaaa! It's Red Lobster tonight, and every night from now on!"... Our Man Clive, instead, falls into a deep and fitful slumber, wherein he dreams a dream of all the ancient gods, goddesses, demi-gods and what-have-you packing up their toothbrushes and 'jammies, in order to "quit this mortal sphere, where Man no longer has neither need nor use for the likes of our kind."

Before shuffling their collective way off to Buffalo, however: each immortal imbues one of the coins with "a miniscule portion of our own godly powers and abilities... until such time as the world of men once more requires a champion, to watch over them in our stead." Hence, the coin of (say) Apollo -- when held by said "champion" -- allows him to wield total mastery over the powers of Heat and Light; the coin of Poseidon grants him dominion over the waters; and so on, and so on, and yadda yadda yadda. You get the picture.

Being a reasonably doughty and intrepid, rock-jawed sort, Arno (naturally) takes it upon himself to use the various powers bequeathed unto him by the several hundred coins (give or take) In the Betterment of All Mankind, as -- tah-dah! -- Captain Action!

Working alongside his freckle-faced offspring (the aforementioned Action Boy), Captain Action promptly set about staving off natural disasters and suchlike, relying heavily upon three "favorite" coins, in the main: those of Zeus (storms and lightning); Hercules (strength); and Heimdall (enhanced senses and "awareness"). (Action Boy -- by way of comparison -- showed a marked preference for the cooin of Hermes, and its accompanying gift of super-speed.) Any way you chose to slice this particular pimento loaf, however: this was, indisputably, one mondo powerful individual, limited only by the selection of coins he happened to be toting about in his belt buckle "secret compartment" at the time.

Such awesome puissance overall, of course, necessitated that The Captain (and Son) be confronted by a nemesis of equal might and mein. Hence: the coming of the particularly noxious and loathsome Dr. Evil.

A scientist whose ceaseless experimentation, re: the underlying origins and principles of Human Evolution had caused him to mutate himself into "the final, ultimate avatar of human physical and mental perfection," The Bad Doctor was a smug, self-congratulatory no-goodnik, whose underlying raison d'etre might have best been summed up by the dictum: "The rest of you sorry lot are never, no never gonna advance to the point where I am, Right Here, Right Now... sooooooo: pack your bags, whydon'tcha?"

(One is forced to wonder, at this point: would an incalculably "evolved" specimen really settle upon "Dr. Evil" as The Very Bestest Nom De Guerre Imaginable? I'm just askin', really, is all.)

In any event: all five issues of the CAPTAIN ACTION comic book -- as evinced by the representative art samplings, above -- were gorgeously rendered by twin artistic titans Kane and Wood (what's not to love?); was fueled by a clever storytelling conceit, i.e. One Lone Man As the Last True "God," In Eternal Opposition Against a Man Who Wanted To Be God (what's not to love?); and are all -- my oath on it, folks -- well worth whatever ridiculously inflated OVERSTREET-type prices you may have to pay, assuming you can even find 'em out there, somewhere.

Yeah, sure; it only lasted for five issues...

... but: they were five damned terrific issues.

Enduring for quite a bit longer, on the other hand, was a character who was at once both futuristic and appealingly "retro": the space-faring savant known as Adam Strange. [See cover reproduction, below]

Top this for nifty, if you can: an archeologist (geez... DC was crawling with these guys at one point, weren't they...?) gets unceremoniously ka-zapped by a stray bolt of teleportational energies -- i.e., the "Zeta-Beam" -- and winds up all goggle-eyed and confused on the planet Rann, where invading alien armadas and tentacled, world-devouring thingamabobbies pop up with the same cuckoo clock regularity as those "You May Already Be A Winner..." ditherings from Ed McMahon in your mail box.

Given that the typical Rannian (Rannite?) was only slightly less cretinous and ineffectual, overall, than would be a professional manicurist when it came to doing much of anything more demonstrably helpful (in situations such as these) than shrieking like a schoolgirl... said archeologist donned a fin-headed skullcap and spandex; armed himself with a zapgun and rocket pack; and spent his weekends taking potshots at various stripes of intergalactic vermin. (Boy... talk about "getting in touch" with your Inner Warrior...)

Three things made this particularly well-executed series the still-

fondly-remembered 60's "standout" that it was. Topping the list, in my humble opinion, was the opulent and evocative linework of DC penciling mainstay Carmine Infantino. [See picture, accompanying]

No one rendered alien flora and fauna more convincingly than did the estimable Mr. Infantino; no one else invested alien vistas (and their assorted inhabitants; bug-eyed or no) with such clean, straightforward storytelling authority. Whatever he drew... you believed in, for however long it took you to reach the final panel on the very last page.

Too: there was Adam's bittersweet, of-the-moment romance with the raven-tressed Rannian beauty known as Alanna [Again: see picture, below].

An unfortunate side-effect of his having been shanghaied into space by the aforementioned "Zeta-Beam," you see, was that Adam could never tarry overlong on scenic Rann, once he'd finished making whichever Alien Menace of the moment take a well-deserved dirt nap. His physiognomy having been forever altered by that first, fateful inter-spatial alakazam... the two-fisted archeologist found himself being involuntarily shuttlecocked back to Earth, almost always at the precise moment when a worshipful Alanna was murmuring: "... wellllll... okay. Maybe just a 'quickie,' then." Which, naturally, served as all the incentive Our Boy needed to hop the next available Zeta-Beam Express back to The Most Ridiculously Lethal Planet In All the Known Universe. Lawdy, lawdy, lawd; what we men won't do for a sweet smile from a pretty face.

Finally: there was the (relatively) heretical notion that Adam -- much like the better-known Batman -- triumphed over the vast majority of his opponents by dint of superior intellect, rather than a surfeit of brawn or crude firepower.

In this, the star-crossed spaceman was, of course, very much in keeping with the more cerebrally-centered DC Comics "thinking heroes" of the Silver Age, overall (Batman; Hawkman; the Atom; etc.)... except that -- unlike his more traditionally "super-heroic" costumed brethren -- Adam seldom (if ever) engaged in anything so plebian as ordinary fisticuffs, anywhere along the storytelling way. He was -- not to put too fine a point to it -- the ultimate Rationalist Hero, in a medium seldom with much "use" for such a character, by and large.

There was always (to my mind, in any event) something appealingly archetypal about the Adam Strange character; something nicely reminiscent of such enduring myth-figures as The Wandering Jew, or (perhaps) The Lost Dutchman. Destined to inhabit two worlds, without ever finding peace or release, ultimately, in either.

As much as any Silver Age comics character covered within the multiplicity of pages on this site... this one, I'd love to see given The Old College Try, once more.

"MISFIT" DC CHARACTERS of the Silver Age
PAGE ONE (Deadman and The Black Orchid)

"MORE COMIC BOOKS," YOU SAY...?

The DC Comics Sub-Directory
The Marvel Comics Sub-Directory
The Miscellaneous Comics Sub-Directory
The "Gotta Find That DC Character" Menu
The "Gotta Find That Marvel/Miscellaneous Character" Menu

Home Page

LEGAL SHAMANISMS