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Comic Action Heroes 1976-1978

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Mego released their 3.75 inch line of Comic Action Hero Figures in 1976, with a smaller lineup of only twelve figures. Eight of them were DC Comics characters, Batman, Robin, Aquaman, Shazam, Joker, Penguin, Superman and Wonder Woman. Four others were from Marvel Comics, Captain America, Hulk, Green Goblin and Spiderman. In addition, four vehicles and three super fun playsets were also released.  Mego later re-branded the line to the Pocket Super Heroes in 1979.

For more information about Mego’s Comic Action Heroes line, see bottom of page for a complete summary.

Comic Action Heroes (1976-1978): Basic Figures

Mego released 12 brand new 3.75 Inch figures for their Comic Action Heroes line, which were produced from 1976-1977. They wanted to further capitalize on their WGSH line without directly competing with their 8 Inch series.

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Comic Action Heroes (1976-1978): Playsets

There were three amazing playsets released for the Comic Action Heroes series that all involved the same blow-up activator action feature. There was the Collapsing Tower set featuring Wonder Woman, The Exploding Bridge set featuring Batman & Robin, and The Fortress of Solitude set featuring Superman.

Collapsing Tower with Invisible Plane

Market Value:
Boxed $325 – $425
Loose $100 – $140

Collapsing Tower with Invisible Plane
Accessories: Wonder Woman, Invisible Plane, Collapsing Tower, Rope Ladder, Comic Action Activator
Years Released: 1976
Difficulty To Find: Hard to Find – Occasionally listed, and usually sells quickly
Notes: Wonder Woman gets her own playset with this Invisible Plane set, which included Wonder Woman and her Invisible Plane. The design of the plane was actually pretty neat as Mego’s designers really gave it that see-through appearance. Once again, the blow-up activators are used in this set to destroy a large green tower and Wonder Woman has to save the day. One piece that is easily lost in this set is the rope ladder for the plane.

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Exploding Bridge Playset

Market Value:
Boxed $275 – $375
Loose $90 – $120

Exploding Bridge Playset
Accessories: Batman, Robin, Batmobile, Bridge, Frame, Ramps, Comic Action Activator
Years Released: 1976
Difficulty To Find: Moderate Difficulty – Takes patience and appears less often
Notes: The Exploding Bridge playset was probably the most popular of these playsets in 1976 and included the Batmobile, along with Batman and Robin. There is another rare version that also includes Joker and Penguin as well. This set was a lot of fun, and blowing up that bridge just never got old. Also, the artwork on the box was absolutely gorgeous. One downside of the blow-up activators these sets came with is they easily broke after several uses.

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Fortress of Solitude Playset

Market Value:
Boxed $425 – $550
Loose $135 – $185

Fortress of Solitude
Accessories: Superman, Command Console, Wall, Door w/ Crank, Frame, Conference Table, Chairs, Activator
Years Released: 1976
Difficulty To Find: Hard to Find – Occasionally listed, and usually sells quickly
Notes: The Fortress of Solitude playset is the rarest of the three, and is a tough find on the secondary market. The set comes with Superman and was originally called the Hall of Justice, but Mego felt that it could be confused with the 8 Inch Hall of Justice playset that had just been released, so it was re-branded to the Fortress of Solitude. Fun Fact: one of the stickers for the console features Superman fighting alongside some of the Avengers, who were never created in figure form.

Comic Action Heroes (1976-1978): Vehicles

Only two new vehicles were produced for the Comic Action Heroes line (Batcopter and The Mangler) along with two “Giftpack” vehicle sets (Batmobile and Spider-Car) that each came with three figures.

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In 1976, Mego was the unofficial King of the toy world, with their massive success of some iconic action figure lines, such as the World’s Greatest Super Heroes, Star Trek, and Planet of the Apes. In fact, the 8 Inch WGSH line was doing so well, that Mego wanted to further capitalize on its success by branching out to a new but similar medium. Mego already had some good success with their 12 Inch line, so they now decided to shrink their super heroes down to a 3.75 Inch size. This was a significant move because that size of action figure had never been done to that point, and Kenner’s Star Wars line wouldn’t begin releasing figures in that format until 1978. Mego had also released their 3.75 Inch Micronauts line in 1976 (which ran until 1980), so when it comes to the 3.75 Inch action figures……Mego set the standard at that time. The Comic Action Heroes line ran from 1976 until 1978, but re-branded the line to the Pocket Super Heroes in 1979. The main difference of the two lines was the Comic Action Heroes figures had bent legs, while the Pocket Heroes came with straight legs. Both lines came with the same characters, more of less.

For its first run of Comic Action Hero figures, Mego decided to go with a modified and smaller roster than their WGSH line. Twelve figures were released for the line, with eight of them being from DC Comics, and four being from Marvel. DC gave us Batman, Robin, Aquaman, Shazam, Joker, Penguin, Superman and Wonder Woman. From the Marvel side, we got Captain America, Hulk, Green Goblin and Spiderman. Also released were four vehicles and three amazing playsets. Each of the vehicles and playsets remain difficult to track down in their original boxed form and can fetch high prices on the secondary market. When Mego re-branded the line to the Pocket Super Heroes in 1979, they dropped Shazam, Joker and Penguin, and replaced them with three characters from the Superman Movie (Jor-El, General Zod, and Lex Luthor). The three Superman Movie characters only ran for one year before they were also dropped for the final wave of figures in 1980.

The packaging for the Comic Action Heroes line was bright and eye catching, yet remained fairly simple in design. Gone was the elaborate art work that Mego had been known for to that point. Each blister pack was done in a sky blue color with the Comic Action Heroes logo on the top of the card. The character’s name was directly underneath the logo, and the figure itself sat directly in the middle. Some packaging had small art clips of certain characters to each side of the bubble, and others did not. Beginning in 1979, the Comic Action Heroes line ceased to exist and was re-branded to the Pocket Super Heroes. The 1979 version of this line had a plain red blister card, but that would change to a white carded blister the following year. A third format featuring a denim blue jean style card was released in late 1980 for the Pocket Super Heroes.