MOVIES & TV | 13th Dimension, Comics, Creators, Culture

Jul04

SHAAARRRK!!! 13 COVERS That Take a Bite Out of JAWS

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Jul 4, 2024

SHAAARRRK!!! 13 COVERS That Take a Bite Out of JAWS

Ba-Dum… Ba-Dum… It’s July Fourth! Y’know, I have this theory that renowned designer Paul Bacon, the artist of the original 1974 Jaws book cover, just mayyyyybe saw Joe Kubert’s cover for Our Fighting Forces #138 at his local newsstand in May 1972: I have zero evidence to back this up, mind you, but it wouldn’t be the first time that artists in other fields took their, ahem, inspiration from comics. But here’s what we do know: In 1975, the movie Jaws — a seminal July Fourth flick — was a massive hit, the birth of the modern blockbuster, and its paperback cover and movie poster by Roger Kastel chomped their way into the public consciousness forever. Now, comics are much less shy about ripping off whatever’s chewing up the zeitgeist and so, in the wake of the film’s incredible success, every publisher on the beach wanted a big ol’ chunk of Jawsmania. (So did toymakers, like Mego.) Over the next year or so (even longer), everyone from DC to Marvel to Charlton to, perhaps most sadistically, Little Archie joined the feeding frenzy like young Alex Kintner, giving us storylines and covers featuring sharks and other sea creatures with nasty, big, pointy teeth, to quote another 1975 classic. Hell, some of the covers you could call shark-adjacent — with the theme of man-eating mandibles adapted for other kinds of superhero torture. So, in memory of young Master Kintner and in honor of the great Mayor Larry Vaughn, dig these 13 COVERS THAT TAKE A BITE OUT OF JAWS: — MORE — AQUAMAN AND THE GREAT WHITE SHARK: The Perfect JULY 4 Action Figure Set. Click here. — 13 QUICK THOUGHTS: FTC’s AQUAMAN/SHARK Set is Epically Silly. Click...

Jul04

AQUAMAN AND THE GREAT WHITE SHARK: The Perfect JULY 4 Action Figure Set

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Jul 4, 2024

AQUAMAN AND THE GREAT WHITE SHARK: The Perfect JULY 4 Action Figure Set

JAWSMANIA, Mego-Style! It’s July 4. You have choices, assuming you’re not working: Go to the pool. Go to the beach. Go to the ballgame. Go to the movies. Don’t go anywhere, stay in the air-conditioning, watch Jaws, read Jaws-influenced comics and break out Mego’s Aquaman vs. the Great White Shark playset. (Or Figures Toy Company’s, if you have to.) Just like comics publishers, toymakers glommed onto Jawsmania when the blockbuster made pop-culture tidal waves in 1975. This went on for years, and Mego was no exception. “1978 marked the final product addition to the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes (line),” our pal Benjamin J. Holcomb wrote in the acclaimed 2007 bible Mego 8″ Super-Heroes: World’s Greatest Toys! “Aquaman vs. the Great White Shark is a large display box that paired Aquaman with a 15-inch plastic shark with a propeller. “Depicted in the 1978 Mego catalog, Aquaman clearly has webbed hands with straightened fingers, a variation known as the “Webbed Hand” Aquaman. Many collectors assume Mego created the unique hands specifically for this playset, while others maintain they were intended for a figure based on the 1977/78 TV series Man from Atlantis, which Mego — at least briefly — considered producing. No playsets with webbed hands have been identified, lending weight to the latter theory. While unsuccessful in its day, the playset is very scarce and commands a high price today.” In 2015, Figures Toy Company produced a replica version — sans propeller and snapping-mouth features. But it has the benefit of being a newer, cleaner toy. It’s extremely difficult to find the original but even though the FTC version is sold out, you can find it on eBay for anywhere between $40 and about about $135. (It retailed for $80.) It’s an incredibly goofy set but one that’s as charming as the seaside town of Amity. Of course, you do have to wonder why Aquaman would ever have to fight a shark. After all, he talks to fishes. — MORE — SHAAARRRK!!! 13 COVERS That Take a Bite Out of JAWS. Click here. — 13 QUICK THOUGHTS: FTC’s AQUAMAN/SHARK Set is Epically Silly. Click...

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