Monday, August 27, 2012

A tribute to custom made action figures inspired by Bill Mantlo titles

Left click to enlarge
I was planning on taking some time off from this blog but the previous Bill Mantlo posting just kinda blew up in the comments section so I felt motivated to fast forward to my next posting. So here's something I put together mostly from various images of some of the best custom figures I've seen on the net along with a really nice 3-D rendering of the Endeavor.
I thought this might be a good time to share with you all the very first Rom spaceknight and Micronauts issues I ever owned. I was probably about ten or so when I got these as a result of nagging my parents after the covers had caught my eye where ever it was that I saw them. It wouldn't be for several years later that I would start picking up Rom on a monthly basis or be able to start hunting down back issues for on titles.


And as good fortune would have it I was going through a bunch of $1 bins this past weekend and I came across a pretty sweet find. This is Cloak & Dagger #1 (Vol.2) published in 1985 and written by Mantlo. If you look just below the Cloak & Dagger logo you can see it says "Created by Bill Mantlo and Ed Hannigan".

This issue was a thoughtfully written story that touched on the problems plaguing the mean streets of New York city such as drug abuse, police corruption and child exploitation. This sort of street level narrative that Bill Mantlo explores with Cloak and Dagger seems to imply he wanted to create some public awareness about these social ills that were very much in the real world as well.

9 comments:

  1. Man you are on fire!! Awesome line up from the Rom custom figure to The Micronaught's stuff!! Wow that was a surprise for me to find out that Bill was behind Cloak & Dagger! They had sch a tragic feel to there store!! I Remember these other Rom covers as well great stories!!

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    1. yeah so much for that break i was gonna take but i'm glad you liked this posting too. by the way i sent you a link back over on deviant art this past weekend. it's not Rom related but it's some pretty nice eye candy.

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  2. I really loved Cloak and Dagger the first time I saw them, but it wasn't in their own book. I think I saw them in an issue of Power Pack. And doesn't that take you back? I did then, go through Dad's back issues looking for them, half remembering seeing them, and sure enough finding a few issues. Not a lot, I don't think he was as in to them as he was the usual stuff, but I do remember being drawn to their story, because they were different. Thanks for bringing them up, Dave.

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    1. i actually used to have the first appearance of CnD which was in Peter Parker the Spectacular Spiderman 94. they were part of a story arc that went to issue 96. i had all three which i got mostly through comic swaps.

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    2. Man, that's sweet. I never did those, seeing as how the only comics I had that were actually mine were Crystar, and I wasn't going to trade those, and really, who was going to want them anyway. But that was good trading.

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  3. Cloak and Dagger I loved right from seeing a house ad for their own book in the pages of Fantastic Four (I think I even put the ad in a IADW post some time ago).

    They just had an instant wow to them, they looked like an 80s rock group, and Daggers outfit was probably one of the first to start throwing conservative out the window.

    Runaways is cool and all, but Marvel had street life nailed with C&D alot earlier than that.

    Awesome post!

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  4. One of the things that I think has set Marvel abpart from DC and others has been the 'realness' of their characters. While the DCU heroes have weaknesses, they just never seemed as real or as human as those created by Marvel. Rom was, to me, the most noble and self-sacrificing character of the 80's. He CHOSE to selflessly give up himself for the good of his fellow Galadorians. To be a Spaceknight meant losing the humanity you cherished to confront a malevolent enemy that outnumbered your fellow warriors many hundred of times over. It meant facing the savages of war to protect your world from devastation and enslavement.

    Rom was not only the "Greatest of the Spaceknights", he was also the "Greatest of Marvel's Heroes" during the MU of the 80's.

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  5. Sweet find indeed that Cloak and Dagger copy. Excelsior!

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  6. Dan, i remember that posting and i'm pretty sure i left a comment on it.

    Graphics Whiz, that was a really nice heart felt commnent i may paste it into a message to Bill's brother on Facebook.

    if you ever come to Cal. Bruce i'll take you to all the places that have the best $1 back issue bins.

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