Time for another Funko subscription box! This time, it’s the August Marvel Collector Corps box, the theme being Avengers First Appearance.
I’ll be honest; I wasn’t sure what “Avengers First Appearance” actually meant. Turns out, it means the first comics appearances of characters who (mostly) would become Avengers.
The box features a nice Jack Kirby illustration of Thor.
This month’s patch and pin feature Captain America and Nick Fury.
Ironically, while the Cap patch uses his original shield as the background and overall shape, the illustration of Captain America shows his later, round shield, so I guess it’s not such a “first appearance” image after all.
Similarly, the Nick Fury pin shows his later, Agent of SHIELD face, with the eye patch. His first appearance, of course, was in Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos, in which he had two eyes. Also not an Avenger, I think. Still, it’s a cool pin. (Apologies for the out-of-focus photo of the pin.)
The inside of the box this month has a nice selection of comic book covers showcasing the first appearances of various characters.
Upon lifting the interior flap, we see the card revealing the October box’s theme. Unsurprisingly, the them is Thor: Ragnarok, which opens in November.
We don’t get a comic book this month, so the next item out of the box is a t-shirt.
I love this design: it’s a Pop-ified version of the first comic book cover featuring the Hulk.
We also get two exclusive Pops this month, showcasing a couple of Avengers as they first appeared.
In a slight deviation from their usual design, the boxes for these Pops do not list the other toys in the series on the back. Instead, they showcase the cover from the issue in which these characters first appeared. It’s a nice touch that shows the history of the characters.
As usual, Funko had previously revealed one of these Pops: Iron Man from Tales of Suspense #39. While it’s not the most streamlined version of Iron Man’s armor, I’ve got a soft spot for the handmade feel of his first suit. The first movie really surprised me by including a version of that armor, and I was pretty pleased to see this Pop! version.
Because it’s basically one color, this Pop! really needed to do a great job on the pose and the detail, and I really feel like they lived up to the challenge.
The other Pop! is of the Vision, from Avengers #57.
The Vision is a character to whom I took some time to warm up. I think my first real exposure to him was in the Bill Mantlo/Rick Leonardi Vision & Scarlet Witch miniseries, which was just creepy.
I do have a soft spot for 60s and 70s character designs with high collars, because they work so well on the comics page and so badly in real life. (I have a Doctor Strange robe with the traditional collar that I got from Loot Crate’s Marvel Gear+Goods, and the collar is actually super annoying.) So I like this costume on the Vision. The high point for me, though, is the paint job around the eyes. It really gives them some dimension and helps them pop.
And that’s it for this month’s box, and almost for this week’s blog. While I’m not going to showcase an additional Pop! of the Week, I do have a giveaway. I have a Marvel Collector Corps exclusive Ant-Man to give away to the first person who asks for it in the comments. This features Scott Lang unmasked, plus a tiny Pop! of Ant-Man with his helmet.
That’s it for now; see you next week!
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