Posted By Dan Greenfield on Oct 18, 2024 | 1 comment

We know who’s in the first wave — but what’s next?

By WALT GROGAN

To say that I’m overjoyed that Mego is doing a line of Atlas/Seaboard action figures is an understatement. Heck, it’s been nearly 50 years in the making!

And that’s really the elephant in the room. You may be asking, “Who the heck are these characters? Why have I never heard of ’em? And where did they come from?” Well, the good ol’ 13th Dimension has got you covered. Just click here to get a rundown!

The Dragon

But back to the first wave of Mego figures: I have to say I was pleasantly surprised and somewhat stunned by the list. The Grim Ghost and Phoenix are great choices but I was taken aback by the Dragon from Hands of the Dragon and by Devilina! The Dragon only appeared once while Devilina only appeared briefly in both issues of her eponymous black-and-white mag.

The Grim Ghost

Devilina

Phoenix

But that’s great news because it means that Mego is planning to dig deep into the Atlas catalog. Now, Atlas only lasted about a year in 1974-75 and had a brief return in 2011 but it did house some memorable characters by many now-famous creators at the dawn of their careers!

All of that brings me to my TOP 13 picks for follow-ups to Mego’s initial four-character release! The key criteria for my picks is simply the look and/or costumes of the characters — so, hang onto your hats!

Here we go…

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13. Wulf the Barbarian. Now, Wulf wasn’t one of my favorite characters and that’s the reason he’s in 13th place BUT he’s got a cool costume which pushed a couple of others off the list.

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12. The Cougar. You’ve gotta love the costume of this stuntman turned supernatural hunter a la Kolchak, the Night Stalker!

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11. Phoenix. Waitaminute?!? Isn’t Phoenix in the first wave? Yes, he is! But by the fourth issue of Phoenix the comic book (and one of the few fourth issues in the line), Atlas pulled a switcheroo and changed the protagonist into a more standard superhero with a more traditional costume. And I really like it! So, let’s get that one, too!

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10. The Tarantula. Why not? Monsters are popular and the Tarantula certainly looks horrific! And he fits in with spooky mood of Halloween!

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9. The Scorpion. Like Phoenix, there were two different versions of the Scorpion. The second version was more of a superhero and he had a great costume, too! I couldn’t leave him out.

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8. The Brute. This cannibalistic Hulk-like caveman character would add power to the Mego/Atlas line-up!

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7. Targitt. Special agent John Targitt switched to a target-emblazoned superhero costume in his second appearance. And it looks great!

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6. Morlock 2001. Hey, another monster is needed in this lineup and it would be interesting to see how Mego would handle him!

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5. Iron Jaw. There’s not much of a costume but the same was true for Conan in the Seventies! You’ve gotta admit that IronJaw’s mug is the selling point here!

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4. The Demon Hunter. What a great Rich Buckler design! I would kill a demon for this one!

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3. Tiger-Man. This is one of the best costumes in the Atlas lineup! He’s got a great outfit but that mask — that mask is bonkers!

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2. The Scorpion. This Howard Chaykin creation has an awesome period costume that really sells the adventurer aspect of his character!

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1. The Destructor. This Steve Ditko character leads the pack with his Spider-Man/Daredevil/Mar-Vell bent! You’ve got to dig that costume! It’s humming on all cylinders!

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MORE

— MEGO to Produce New Line of 1970s ATLAS COMICS Figures. Click here.

— GRIM GHOST Will Be Among MEGO’s New ATLAS COMICS Figures. Click here.

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A 10-year-old Walt Grogan fell in love with the Big Red Cheese thanks to essays written by Dick Lupoff and Don Thompson in the paperback edition of All in Color for a Dime, released in 1970 and bought for him by his father off a paperback spinner rack in a liquor store on the South Side of Chicago. Walt runs The Marvel Family Web Facebook page devoted to all incarnations of the Fawcett/DC Captain Marvel and blogs about Captain Marvel at shazamshistorama.com.