TOYHEM! The fan-fave artist brings us full circle with a fond remembrance of the hero of many masks… — Welcome to TOYHEM! For the fourth straight holiday season, we’re bringing you a series of features and columns celebrating the toys of our youth, which often made for the best memories this time of year. Click here to check out the complete index of stories — and have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Chanukah and Happy Holidays! — Dan — UPDATED 11/28/22: Today is Jerry Ordway’s birthday! It’s also our fourth annual TOYHEM! Perfect time to re-present this piece from Christmas Day 2020. Oh, and for a 13 GREAT ILLUSTRATIONS birthday salute, click here! Dig it. — Dan — It’s the TOYHEM 2020 finale — and we end where we began: with Captain Action! Joe Jusko kicked off this year’s festivities on Black Friday with his personal recollection of the beloved superhero toy of the 1960s. (Click here.) But everyone’s experience is different — and Jerry Ordway has his own warm memories to share, so it seemed perfect for TOYHEM’s Christmas Day finish, especially since both artists grew up to illustrate CA professionally. Here’s Jerry — and Merry Christmas, everyone! — Dan By JERRY ORDWAY My memories of my discovery of Captain Action, my favorite childhood action figure, are still strong. Events and time compress when you look back on them from so many years, so it feels like Captain Action filled my entire childhood. In reality, I played with my various figures for the years the toys were available, 1966 until maybe 1968. The Batman TV show was the smash sensation of January 1966, and in that same year, the Marvel Super Heroes came to syndicated television through animation. Both events rocked my world, and cemented my love of superheroes. In Milwaukee, where I grew up, there was a business near my aunt’s home called Smith Distributors that produced a catalog of items they sold, including toys, such as Captain Action. You would enter the building, look through their catalog for the items you wanted, write the catalog numbers on a form, give that and payment to the cashier, and then wait. I watched in anticipation at a conveyor belt snaking through the upper area of the building, to catch a glimpse of my purchases making their way to...
TOYHEM: It’s not all Mego this year. Get ready for some SECRET WARS… — Welcome to TOYHEM! For the fourth straight holiday season, we’re bringing you a series of features and columns celebrating the toys of our youth, which often made for the best memories this time of year. Click here to check out the complete index of stories — and have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Chanukah and Happy Holidays! — Dan — By JASON YOUNG We all have a few memories of new toys on Christmas morning that still seem fresh in our minds, despite the sore back and middle-aged gray in our hair. For me, I vividly remember opening Secret Wars figures at the age of 9 and marvelling (pun intended) at how cool they were. You can imagine my excitement when I unexpectedly opened the Tower of Doom playset. I spent a fair amount of that Christmas day deep in play, breaking them in. Secret Wars was Mattel’s answer to Kenner Super Powers and as a kid, they were interchangeable in size — meaning DC vs Marvel games. To rank my TOP 13 MARVEL SECRET WARS FIGURES, I went back to my own childhood figures, which I still own in what I’d call “well-loved” condition. The pictures that follow are the very same ones Santa Claus brought me decades ago. (Except for Kang — I couldn’t find him.) — 13. Daredevil. Dead last is Daredevil. For whatever reason, my figure seemed to change color after opening him (see picture). The limbs turned this weird stained color. Probably the least exciting figure from this set. — 12. The Falcon. The only figure in the collection with wings! Cool feature. I recall having him team up with DC’s Hawkman in games as well as act as rivals. Probably my favorite Falcon figure ever made. — 11. Black Spidey. The first black Spidey figure is still my favorite. I remember feeling like this was a big deal as a kid to get a Spidey toy in a black suit instead of the classic design. — 10. Wolverine. This figure was my introduction to the character at age 9; I’d never heard of him and was never an X-Men guy. The claws are what made him cool and to this day I credit this toy as the reason I prefer the brown...
PLUS: Your FIRST LOOK at the cover of Jason Young’s Whitman’s World of Coloring Books…
Hey, it’s a full moon — so Chris Franklin rates the 1976 “moon glasses”!
