More Magnificent Mego Madness! Custom Packaging! Flash! Green Arrow! Spidey! Batman!

I've shown a few of my own custom Mego-like action figures before, but here is a look at the custom packaging I've created for many figures (old and new) over the years! Click each to enlarge!

Above: Different packaging for the recent Mattel "Retro-Action" Batman figure, including
classic 60s graphics by famed DC Comics artist, Carmine Infantino! The recent
Mego-like action figure line featured some very nice figures, but very
dull packaging!

Above: The original 1973 Mego Joker figure is seen on a spiffy new card that
sports classic 60s art by (again) Carmine Infantino! The bottom tier shows
off the new Lex Luthor and Captain Cold Mattel figures, but on great
new cards with eye-catching artwork!

Above: A custom Riddler card is used to display the new (as of 2014) action
figure produced by the Figures Toy Co. firm (who are re-offering the original
Mego Bat-figures to today's collectors and fans)! I again used great mid-60s
Infantino graphics, in an attempt to evoke the flavor of the 70s
Riddler Mego packaging!

Above: The new Mattel Superman figure is seen on a new card, while a
custom-made Robin figure gets the "original" card treatment (left), and
is also seen with a 70s Neal Adams "Teen Wonder" image (right)!

Above: Two different Green Arrow cards, and two different figures! On the left
is seen the new Mattel figure (with packaging that sports Neal Adams art), and, on
the right, Mego's original 1975 GA action figure, on a nice new card with
Curt Swan artwork! 

Above: Neal Adams art is seen with the new Mattel Green Lantern figure, but an
original 1974 Batgirl gets the Carmine Infantino treatment! We also see a Speedy
custom figure on a great card that features Nick Cardy art!

Above: A custom Flash figure is seen next to colossal Curt Swan artwork, as his
partner, Kid Flash (an original 1977 figure) is displayed on his own custom card!
The new Mattel Wonder Woman figure is seen on her own custom card with
Neal Adams art, while an original 1972 Aquaman is carded next to a classic image!

Above: It's the classic Aquaman card again! Aqualad's card sports nifty Nick Cardy TEEN TITANS art!

Above: It's the classic Aquaman card again, but this time it's paired with the new 
Mattel figure (left)! Captain Marvel (right) looks sharp on his own custom 
card, also!

Above: A classic 1973 Spider-Man figure has his choice of two card styles! One
with 60s Steve Ditko (Spidey's co-creator) art, or a snazzy card with jazzy
John Romita Sr. artwork!

Above: Why should Spidey have all the fun? Here is his arch foe, the
grinning Green Goblin (original 1974 figure), on his own custom card, with 
flawless art by John Romita, Sr.!

Above: Custom figures of Spider-Man foes Mysterio, Kingpin, and Electro are
seen with faux cards (with Dikto and Romita artwork), while Dr. Octopus
(a custom figure) is displayed with even more classic Silver Age Romita artwork!

Above: A custom Captain America is seen on two card types, both
spotlighting 60s comic art by Jack Kirby, Cap's 1940s co-creator!

Above: More madcap Marvel Megos! Spidey foes the Rhino and Vulture (both
customized figures) get custom cards, with more Romita art featured, while
Thor and Ant-Man (also a custom) get the Kirby treatment! Iron Man is an
original 1975 Mego figure, while Dr. Strange, a custom job, is seen on his
own occult-culled card with more riotous Romita art!

Above: My box art for my custom Rhino and Doc Ock
Mego figures! Made to look like the "real thing,"
if Mego had ever produced these figures!

More Vintage Albert Bigley Paintings Revealed! 1979 MESSterpieces! Hulk! Dr. Strange!

It has been awhile since I threw a lingering light on my past forays into brush-and-canvas painting, but, thanks to a recent feverish rampage in my attic, here are three unearthed painted pictures from my 9th-grade past! First up: A 1980 acrylic rendering of ol' Captain America himself, based on a then-current cover of Cap's own mag! Click each image to enlarge!

My 1980 painting (above, left) and John Byrne's cover (right) for
CAPTAIN AMERICA #238! Which do you prefer? Don't answer that.

Next up is another acrylic paining, whipped up by me in late 1979! Here is Dr. Strange, looking a bit elongated and gaunt, as he casts a spell over an entranced audience! I recall creating tons of glazes for applying over the hands and circular "spell" areas! This painting was even part of a student art display event at my high school! Yow.

Are those Doc's hands, or inflated sausages on display?! The idea of
getting reference, or having somebody pose their
hands similarly for me? At that time, I thought
that would be copying and cheating!

And, finally (and mercifully,) here is a 1979 Hulk image, painted in acrylic on flat canvas board! The Hulk breaks free from a dark prison, with an image of the "Banner-to-Hulk" transformation posted overhead! You can tell I used Bill Bixby (then the star of the INCREDIBLE HULK TV series) as my inspiration for that lead face! I was also influenced by my newly-acquired FANTASTIC FOUR index, with Jim Steranko's amazing cover painting! Note Jim's almost monochromatic orange area (with the facial close-ups) on his cover below...These paintings aren't bad for a 15-year-old comic artist wannabee, but...

My 1979 painting (above, left) and Steranko's influential FF INDEX cover painting (right)!

Dr. Strange! Custom Mego Action Figure! Marvel Comics!

Here is Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts! Made by me around 2005, this magical Marvel mainstay uses a Doc Mego-supplied FLASH GORDON head, as well as molded gloves (seen on Mego's "Fantastic Four" figures), plus custom hand-made cape, costume (simple sky-blue material for the tunic, tan for the belt, over a black body-suit) and display card! Lots of time, fabric markers, hot glue and patience helped, too!   Click images below to enlarge, and keep thy all-seeing amulet untarnished!  

Above: I created Doc's own custom
card, using art by John Romita, Sr.!

BONUS! Glance below to see Mego's original 1978 "Flash Gordon" figure, the source of Doc's custom-painted head, as seen above!

Rock and Roll SPIDER-MAN! 1976 Albert Bigley Original Comic Art! The Lizard!

One of my first impressions of the ever-amazing Spider-Man came via the famous (and INfamous) 1972 super-groovy LP, SPIDER-MAN--A ROCKOMIC! This, along with afternoon reruns of the 1967 SPIDER-MAN cartoon, had me becoming a die-hard arachnid aficionado at the tender age of seven! What made it even sweeter were the stellar illustrations by Spidey's best-known artist, John Romita, Sr.! The ROCKOMIC LP came slathered with JRSR's gorgeous graphics not only on the front and back, but also within an eye-popping interior gatefold Spidey strip, too! Plus, the whole pulsatin' package came with a poster of the LP front that still hangs on my wall today! So, it was inevitable that, a few years down the road, I'd try my young hand at drawing much of the art from this audio treasure! Take a glance below, to see my feverish scrawlings based on the beautiful back cover of this rollickin' rock rarity! Altho only eleven years old when I attempted this, I just had to try to master that sense of weight, dynamic anatomy, and lush inking that Romita (seemingly) so easily displayed in his work! How'd I do? Don't answer that, just click below to enlarge..

I can still recall my concerned Mom, eyeing this LP suspiciously in a department store in Cherry Hill, NJ, as I begged and pleaded
for the purchase of this treasure! She thought, based on the exterior of the album, that it was way too "adult" and
frightening for a 7-year-old me, but she relented, and I've never been the same since, God bless her!