There aren't a ton of action figure books out there, besides the numerous prices guides, so it's always nice to find a nostalgia driven tiny tome to thumb through, instantly being swept away on a little trip into the past. It's a blast to turn the page and get hit with that wave of fond recollection, bursting out with a hearty, "Oh man! I had that!"
Jed Novick's diminutive book (only 128 pages, including index) is one man's love letter to the plastic plaything of his past, jam-packed with full color pictures from cover to cover, and serves as a light-weight, snippet-driven stroll down memory lane, broken down into bite-size morsels of nostalgia.
This book, however, is not only about action figures, covering everything from slot cars to toy trains to board games, but it does pay homage to several of the forefathers of today's action figures, such as G.I. Joe and Mego's World's Greatest Superheroes. But to judge a book with such a wide range of topics, when we're only really interested in one of them would be unfair, so we won't hold it up in comparison to some of the more specialized action figure-centric books, but rather look at it on its own merits. Besides, if you collect vintage action figures, chances are you have a soft spot for other fun playthings of years gone by.
The Good
For the most part this book is thrill to look through, being boldly and brilliantly designed, with splashes of bright colors and exciting typefaces, bringing to mind some of the great toy packages of the golden age.
As mention before, the full-color photographs of some of the kings of toy-dom are a treat for the eyes and a one way ticket to nostalgia-ville.
The book is broken up into chapter, the first of which is titled Classic Action Heroes and kicks off the whole book with a look back at some of the best action figures of the day. The author played it smart by starting the whole countdown with none other than the original G.I. Joe himself, the toy that invented the term "action figure". Other figures noted in the book are such notables as Captain Action, Marx's Johnny West and then trickle into the next chapter (TV & Film) with nods to the Six Million Dollar Man doll and Mego's Star Trek line.
The Bad
Sadly, there are a couple of points where the book stumbles. The first of which is how obvious it becomes that this is only one person's personal list of favorite toys, as evidenced by some truly random additions that wouldn't normally hold their own on a grander list meant to reflect popular consensus.
Part of this may be lost in pop-cultural translation as Novick is clearly a proud British fellow remembering toys that this reviewer (born and raised in the American Midwest) simply missed out on. I can't follow the author on a nostalgic trip about Gerry Anderson: UFO toys because we've never really heard of them here, nor do we put much into obscure (to us) James Bond action figures. All this having been said, this is not necessarily the fault of the author, but just a cultural gap.
One major issue I had to take with this book is the slap-dash manor in which some of the action figure entries were handled. For example, when writing about the Mego Marvel Superheroes, why did they ignore all of the DC heroes? And further more, that particular section was illustrated by a Captain America figure that was not only not a Mego figure, but not even from the same time-period, using instead a quite recent Captain America figure. They did the same thing to the poor Hulk.
This may be a bit nit-picky, but it did stand out like a sore thumb, and we action figure fanatics just won't let little things like that go, it seems.
The Ugly
Quite frankly, despite a couple of photographic anomalies, there isn't a single square inch of this book that could even remotely be considered "ugly". It's beautifully designed, written with a lot of love and more than a dash of wit, and would ultimately serve it's purpose a thousand fold as a toy fan, hoping to reignite that playful spark, thumbs through this little book on a rainy afternoon, breaking the silence with a resounding, "Hey! I had that!"
More so if you happen to British.