Mego Superhero Prototypes discovered (and for sale!)

[ScottA]

Holy Cow!! Man, would I love to own that Robin.

[XXXPHOENIX]

It seems that the old guys are cleaning up their closets

I made some discoveries of this kind in the last few years...ok nothing comparable with these Mego prototypes but still unique pieces!

1. ...Last year I purchased several Marvel Comics related prototypes/error comics/internal docs of the "Corno Editore" publisher.
Corno Editore published Marvel Comics in Italy in italian language for 20 years!
All these rarities came from the old translator who decided to part with all the items he had kept when the company went into Bankrupy in 1984.

2. Several years ago I purchased a lot on ebay with many interesting items from a Marvelmania former employee. I found mock ups, printing plates and things like that

3. I also made an interesting MEGO find two years ago ...a former Harbert (the italian Mego distributor) gave me some stuff he had stored in the understairs for decades






Ciao!
Federico

[Godzilla]

Someone needs to be a series of "almost" figures with these sculpts.

[knight errant00]

looking how it resembles one of the unused superman type sculpts
superboy maybe ?

Superboy would make more sense -- higher profile character, re-use of the same Superman costume, and the character was showing up regularly in afterschool showings of the Filmation Superboy episodes.

[clemso]

Could also be an early attempt at Aqualad.

Superboy would make more sense -- higher profile character, re-use of the same Superman costume, and the character was showing up regularly in afterschool showings of the Filmation Superboy episodes.

[imp]

Could also be an early attempt at Aqualad.

No I don't think so, Clem. I'm pretty sure Heritage got it right in calling this sculpt Captain Marvel Jr. The hairline is dead-on for CM Jr. and looks nothing like Aqualad, which Mego didn't even consider producing for several years after (1976) Gene created — at least the majority of — these sculpts.

Here's a quick reference image, which confirms (for me) that Heritage correctly identified the character:

CaptainMarvel,Jr..gif

The hairline, the furrowed brow… it seems pretty consistent.

- Benjamin

[ODBJBG]

Looks like more Superman sculpts to me. Which, IMO, would be the most likely.

[PNGwynne]

Cap Jr. seems such an obscure choice.

[hobub]

Those are just totally awesome! I am so glad he valued his work enough to keep them so long. But how could he not.

[dspair]

Wonderful stuff...
Just as an FYI...the wax pieces are not necessarily the actual sculpts per se...but rather wax casts...

[knight errant00]

With that Robin looking so Burt ward (really, that mask is 100% '66) it makes me wonder if the paint treatment for Batman (RC or regular) may have been originally intended to look more Adam West (like with a painted on face shadow like Captain America got).

[hedrap]

Superboy would be the most logical. That larger Superman head has a real early Shuster vibe.

I can sort of see Cap Jr in a passing resemblance to early Beck work, which fits with the Shazam sculpt next to it. That is light years better than 70'szam.

Or...it could be Korak, which was my first-sight reaction. That's a really brutish face, and Korak was co-headlining DC Tarzan books at the time.

Which ever one it is, I'm wondering if they were developing a sidekicks line and it was scuttled for super-heroines.

I am dying to know what the Aquaman ears look like.

[palitoy]

I can't tell you great it is to be having this sort of conversation.

[knight errant00]

The easy answer for whether it's Captain Marvel Jr. or not starts with asking what year it's from. DC didn't get the Shazam/CM rights until what, '72? and the show wasn't on until '74. I admit, it looks like a great Jr. head, but I'd think Mego would have gone after rights to characters that had exposure at the time, and those Filmation cartoons were on daily in syndication around the country, and if you figure they wanted that as advertising they didn't have to pay for, Superboy and Aqualad are the lead contenders.

[Earth 2 Chris]

That sculpt does have a Mac Raboy vibe about it. But clearly the Filmation toons were influential on Mego, hence Aquaman being in wave 1.

Chris