Does Captain Action (the character) have a backstory ?

[Mikey]

I'm not a big Captain Action person (he was a little before my time) but something i've often wondered about ....

Do he have a backstory ?

When he dresses up as -- say, Batman ... is he actually Batman ?

Or is he just a master of diguises ? ... and if that's true how does he fly when he's Superman ?

Just wondering if his character was ever explained.

[palitoy]

In the DC comic, he was a full fledged Superhero on his own. In the Ideal handout comic, he just simply has costumes that give him the powers of other heroes.

[ScottA]

From Wiki:

National Periodical (DC Comics) licensed the character from Ideal and published five issues of Captain Action in 1968, illustrated at first by Wally Wood, then by Gil Kane. The scripts were by Jim Shooter and Gil Kane. The comic book story line had little to do with the toy concept, as some of the heroes licenced for use as costumes for the Captain Action doll were not owned and published by DC (Spider-Man and Captain America for example, were Marvel Comics characters), therefore the ability to change into different characters was entirely dropped. Instead, Captain Action came to possess magical coins, each of which provided him with a spectacular power from a Greek, Roman, or Norse mythological god (in a similar way to the original Captain Marvel). Captain Action was given a real name of his own, Clive Arno, and was identified as a widowed archaeologist and museum curator, and was described as having located "the coins of power" in a buried city. Action Boy's comic-book alter-ego was Carl Arno, son of Clive. Dr. Evil was given a back-story too, having been Captain Action's father-in-law, then going mad in a mishap.

[Mikey]

Cool info ..

Thanks ...

To be honest, I didn't think he had any backstory whatsoever.

[60'schild]

Moonstone Comics is currently publishing a Captain Action comic so the backstory continues ...

http://www.moonstonebooks.com/CA.asp

[Joe90]

Captain Action, as Stan Weston envisioned him, was basically a figure that became whichever character's suit it wore. If little Johnny put a Spiderman suit on Captain Action, he became Spiderman. The same was meant to be for Dr Evil but that never developed.

The uniform of Captain Action -- and Dr Evil -- were just marketing for the figures themselves. Ideal wanted a quasi-military action figure, but wanted to avoid any connection to military and the Vietnam war. the black & blue body suit with the naval cap was what they came up with.

[Joe90]

[SlipperyLilSuckers]

Really interesting thread...

Joe, thanks so much for posting that comic...I really appreciate it.