Captain Action #4
DC Comics
Story by Gil Kane
Art by Gil Kane
1969
We’re now almost done with the DC comics Captain Action run and Gil Kane is now completely in charge. Considering how much better things got once Kane got control, that’s probably not a bad thing. Still, I have to wonder how much the writing was on the wall at this point. DC obviously was beginning to care less and less about Captain Action and even Ideal was about to pull the plug on the toys.
The comic starts off detailing where Dr. Evil disappeared to in the climax of the last issue. He ends up in some world between worlds again, only this time he discovers an alien race that happens to look just like him. They are super advanced, but apparently are on the end of their life cycle. They want to just disappear and die off, but Dr. Evil will have none of it.
Instead he convinces them that the Earth would make a suitable planet for them to inhabit and take over. It doesn’t really make a ton of sense, but he manages to whip them up into a frenzy. Once he succeeds in that, he decides to go after Captain Action and distract him so the invasion can begin. He tries to enter Captain Action’s mind but the Captain is too strong… So he enters Carl’s mind, because Carl only exists to get Captain Action in trouble.
With Carl under his spell, he gets him to unleash some sort of monsters. This isn’t very clearly defined, but somehow a device of Captain Action’s is able to unleash these monsters. Carl snaps out of the trance, just in time to team up with Pop to face the evil monsters.
Captain Action and Action Boy manage to defeat the monsters rather easily. Dr. Evil isn’t happy that his plan didn’t work. Captain Action isn’t happy that his sidekick son is useless.
Captain Action #3
DC Comics
Story by Gil Kane
Art by Gil Kane & Wally Wood
1969
And like that, Jim Shooter’s run on Captain Action comes to an end. Amazingly, it’s for the better, as issue #3 of Captain Action is immediately a million times better than the first two issues. While there are some problems with this comic, it’s a stronger overall story and concept. It also greatly reflects a lot of the changes that were going on in the era.
We start off with Captain Action in his regular form, working with son Carl on extracting the power from the magic coins. Incredibly, Professor Arno believes that he can use the powers not just for himself, but the good of all mankind. He’s a nice guy. No wonder Krellik didn’t like him. They’ve borrowed a machine from the famed Dr. Tracy, in hopes of getting some progress.
Meanwhile Dr. Tracy is working on a machine of his that can repair fault lines and prevent earthquakes. It’s a great concept, but just as he thinks his machine might be ready, an earthquake is about to occur! He switches on the machine, but it’s too late. A horrific earthquake strikes California. The first two Captain Action comics were full of a lot of “Golly, gee whiz” and now less than two pages into this one we’ve got babies and children being killed in a natural disaster. We’re through the looking glass here people.
Tracy’s machine has some crazed effect, where it drags him into some trippy world between worlds. His body and mind alter, forever changing him. Some of the language here is pretty deep and world’s apart from the first two issues. This is like some some Kirby-esque concept.
Dr. Tracy is transformed into another being. He then dubs himself, Dr. Evil, because that’s all that fills his heart. He wants to destroy mankind and raise his own beings. He wants to evolve mankind, like he was evolved. Time to turn everyone into a blue skinned freak!
In the past few days of the Captain Action Advent Calendar, we’ve seen some pretty strange things as it relates to the Captain Action comics. However, this promo comic from 1967 is both the most insane thing I’ve ever read and also a brilliant piece of marketing. Mini-comics are nothing new to toy fans, as they were popular concepts up until the 1980′s. Even the new Captain Action figures come packed with a comic. It’s a great way to introduce kids to the characters.
But this mini-comic is designed to sell other toys and makes no effort to hide it’s blatant shilling. The plot is downright insane. It’s 30+ pages of wall-to-wall costume changes. Captain Action manages to don every one of his costumes and also uses all of his gear. It starts out at Jimmy’s birthday party. Jimmy is just like you and I, an excitable boy.
Jimmy soon falls asleep, dreaming of how awesome his Captain Action is. We’re then taken into Jimmy’s dream. There, Captain Action notices a large mist. He takes his rocket pack into the air to check it out and finds missiles being shot at him. Naturally he assumes it’s aliens.
So Cap decides to get on the horn… But instead of using the telephone, he opts for this thing… (Available at your local retailer!)
GET SET FOR INVASION FROM SPACE!
Captain Action #1
Moonstone Comics
Story by: Fabien Nicieza, Marv Wolfman
Art by: Mark Sparacio
We’re going to be reviewing two comics today, because I have so much content I want to get to in this Captain Action Advent Calendar and I don’t want to be too predictable with just doing comic reviews each day. So we’re going to look at Moonstone’s Captain Action #1 and Captain Action #2 in this review. Be sure to check out our review of the first issue, Captain Action #0 from a few days ago to fill you in on the setup. Remember, this Moonstone comic has no connection to the DC comic from the 1960′s.
When we last left Moonstone’s universe, the original Captain Action, Miles Drake, had been killed by rogue superheroes. The Captain’s son is the only one who knows about it, but after a life of partying and irresponsibility, he’s not eager to retake his father’s mantle. Now Cole Drake is forced back into being Captain Action and has to parade around as the heroes, to help unfold the mystery, and defeat the alien threat, the Red Crawl.
We learn more about the heroes, they are Savior (he’s basically Superman), Crescent, Offshoot, Green Circle and Flashpoint. They’re all sort of reminiscent of different Justice League heroes, but they have their own twists as well. It turns out that the late “Original” Captain Action, eventually developed a super suit of sorts that allowed him to mimic the powers of the superheroes. The catch is, it only lasts for a short time. This in addition to the plastiderm masks, gives Cole a chance for redemption in disguise.
Captain Action #2
DC Comics
Story by Jim Shooter
Art by Wally Wood & Gil Kane
1968
We’re back for day four of our Captain Action Advent Calendar and we return to our vintage 1968 DC comics adventures of Captain Action. We still have the legendary Jim Shooter and Wally Wood at the helm, but now Gil Kane has been added to the mix as well. When we last left the good Captain, he was in Greece, where he had tracked down the notorious Krellik, his former friend. The two were doing battle and Captain Action had lost. It looked like Krellik was going to put the nail in Captain Action’s coffin… In his first adventure, no less!
Krellik has Captain Action down, but rather than kill him, he decides to revel in the Captain’s helplessness. I guess you can chalk this up to Krellik being arrogant, but later in the comic Krellik actually says that he knew Captain Action would find a way to fight him again, so why doesn’t he just kill him here? Regardless of that, Krellik steals Captain Action’s magic coins (even though he just beat Captain Action WITHOUT them) and flies off with both the magic coins and his own magic enchanted items.
While Captain Action tries to figure out a way home from Greece (now that he can’t fly around the world with his magic powers), Krellik heads to Clive Arno’s house and beats up his son. Krellik wants all of the coins for himself! For whatever reason, Krellik is unsuccessful. Yes, he’s got all the power in the universe, but apparently not enough chutzpah to beat the secrets out of Carl.
Captain Action #0
Moonstone Comics
Story by: Fabien Nicieza
Art by: Mark Sparacio
Yesterday we reviewed the first issue of the 1968 classic Captain Action comic and today we’re going to take a look at the first modern Moonstone Captain Action comic. Of course, since this is a modern comic, it’s not issue #1, but instead, issue #0! Because you know, modern numbering and all that jazz. This comic was written in 2008, a full 40 years after the DC debut of Captain Action. The cover on this thing is beautiful, but doesn’t really advertise anything that the actual book itself is about.
Right off we’re introduced to the concept that will define most of the storyline. Aliens invaded Earth in the 1950′s via a parasite that can take over a human host. It’s sort of like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but on a microbe level. The Aliens are dubbed the “Red Crawl” because they’re sort of like little red creepy crawlers. They infiltrated a lot of the Earth’s highest ranking officials, so a shadow government is formed, with a secret task force named A.C.T.I.O.N. (Advanced Command for Telluric Interdiction, Observation and Nullification) which was led by Captain Action. His name is Miles Drake and he has no connection to the DC character.