1986: CAPTAIN POWER AND THE SOLDIERS OF THE FUTURE Toy Ad (Mattel)

This is a March 1986 print ad for the CAPTAIN POWER AND THE SOLDIERS OF THE FUTURE toy line which - rather succinctly - nails why campaign groups objected so vigorously way-back-when. 

Not only did the old Kid-Vid bug-bear of violence return but - this time - it looked like young viewers could join in with the on-screen mayhem by using the toys to fire at the TV.  At least Mattel were smart enough to not make the handset in the shape of a gun.

And, they claimed, not only was this an extended 30-minute (minus the other ads) commercial for the toys but the viewer could only really appreciate it if they owned the toys.  Thus sending pester-power off the charts.  

Fortunately, Mattel (by luck or design) had commissioned a show from a creative team that weren't content just to churn the stuff out so the show was perfectly enjoyable without having to buy the (flaky tech) toys anyway.

The whole series (all one season of it) is now on R1 DVD and includes a fascinating new "making of" documentary. 

1984: SECRET WARS US TOYS print advert

MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS: an epic conflagration that pitched Marvel's greatest heroes and villains in an epic slam-jam.  Or tawdry toy-shifting tie-in.  Discuss.

Actually, the twelve-part epic (spread across 31 issues of the UK edition) was both.  Mattel wanted something to help cross-promote their new toys and merchandise and Marvel, under Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter (who also scripted the book... funny that), played a blinder by elevating what could have been an inconsequential bit of merchandising fluff into a publishing event which delivered some of the company's best sales figures in ages.  

Critics, of which there were many (both inside and outside Marvel's hallowed halls), claimed it was STILL an inconsequential bit of fluff.  But Star Warriors like me lapped-up the ultimate Marvel team-up.

Marvel didn't seem to do much to hype the toys themselves, perhaps they thought the mere existence of the limited series was good enough.  Maybe they were slightly embarrassed by the whole deal.  Or maybe they still lacked marketing savvy.  

Here's a relatively rare advert for Mattel's wares, published in US Marvel comics dated December 1984.  Note how it bigs-up the (frankly lacklustre) action feature of the "secret decoder shields", a plot device which - thankfully - never reached Shooter's scripts.

1978: SCIENCE FANTASY FILM CLASSICS MAGAZINE: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

SCIENCE FANTASY FILM CLASSICS magazine was one of the many post-STARLOG wannabes cashing in on the late seventies SF movie boom.  It was also one of the better ones, based on this lengthy and comprehensive article coinciding with the launch of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.

The articles showcase much of Ralph (STAR WARS) McQuaarrie's pre-production designs, which adorned various pieces of official merchandise.

The CODENAME: GALACTICA toy adverts, from Mattel, are also interesting.  The ambiguous title presumably reflects some of the uncertainty around the final name of the show (at one point, earlier in 1978, it looked like it would be just Galactica).  The two action figures are something of a car crash, shamelessly recycled from Mattel's 1967 MATT MASON line.  Presumably manufactured some way ahead of the show's premiere (and therefore probably the result of some creative thinking to overcome truncated timelines), it's early evidence that Universal would accept almost any merchandising proposal as long as the dollars came flooding in.

The Colonial Viper model, with nose-mounted firing missile, is the toy that killed a child in late December 1979 after he fired the missile into his mouth and choked.

There's no sign of the smaller Mattel figures, presumably because they were launched later.

VOLUME 1, NUMBER 4

OCTOBER 1978

1984: SECRET WARS EXTRA 1

COMICS FEATURE 29

Cover dated: May 1984

At the end of 2011, Marvel issued (yet another) collected edition of MARVEL SUPERHERO SECRET WARS (written by Marvel's Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter with art, mostly, by Mike Zeck).  As with the previous trade paperbacks, it collects the full 12-issue limited series.  This version also includes more detailed accounts of how the various participants gathered at the Beyonder's Central Park 'fly trap' and several text features.

The best of these extras is a detailed article on the Mattel Secret Wars action figure line, the licensing deal that kick-started the comic book.  Briefly: Mattel's arch-rival Kenner signed a deal with DC Comics (whose characters had a far higher mainstream profile, thanks to movies and TV) to create the (superior) SUPER POWERS COLLECTION and Mattel, fearing that it was missing the next best thing, turned up at Marvel's Park Avenue South door.  Unfortunately, Mattel's efforts were so poor that failure was assured from the start and the toy line shuttered after two releases (with the final figures dumped onto the European market... to the benefit of local collectors).

The new edition also reprints the (familiar... yet different) cover and article from MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE 12 (March 1984).  But, there was a lot of other interviews and coverage in the fan press at the time... and Slow Robot has it!

Marvel also (finally) released Shooter's shoddy sequel SECRET WARS II (albeit the core 9-issue limited series and none of the boggling number of official and unofficial tie-ins) in an affordable trade paperback format (the full saga is available in a hefty shelf-busting hardback volume).  Which gives Slow Robot an excuse to run some SW II material in future too!

COMICS FEATURE ran for 57 issues, beginning in 1980, published by New Media Publishing.  It also spawned six specials.

Marvel UK, after a slight delay, also published SECRET WARS, followed by the sequel, as a fortnightly/ weekly.  Reprints of the first limited series (along with ALPHA FLIGHT, the ICE MAN limited series and the first regular home for the UK-originated ZOIDS strip) filled the first 31 issues before switching to SECRET WARS II (and sundry tie-in's and unrelated reprints) for the remaining of its 80 issues.  The UK also saw a hardback annual and three specials.