Friday, April 2, 2010

Found in my parents basement...



This is the 1983 Marvel Super Heroes Fantasy Jigsaw Puzzle produced by Whitman. As you may notice there's some French text on the box cover and they spell "favourite" the right way, so it's a Canadian release. I'm not certain if there was an American release.

I've had this for a very long time, and despite growing up a DC junkie, this was always my favourite puzzle (I'm not certain if there ever was a DC version... we also have a Looney Tunes puzzle of the same type). I never knew who a lot of the characters on the box were when I was a lad, and looking at it now, there are still quite a few I don't recognize.

Here's a scan of the boxtop image (click for a massive screen-filling version to get a closer gander at the details):



I have no idea who drew this, but I think it's a pretty fantastic piece. Any comic aficionados that might have a guess, I'd be interested in hearing.

The back of the box has one of those great outline character keys (my tabloid sized Superman vs Muhammad Ali cover -previously referenced here- also had one, so I have a lot of fond memories of those kinds of things):

(again, click for a much larger version)

You will notice, Second Printers, that I didn't include the character key itself. I thought it might be fun to give you folks some time to test your Marvel character identification skills, and use the comments section as a place to ask each other for help. In two weeks (April 15th) I'll post the full Key.

Have fun!

P.S. Didja know Super Heroes(R) is a registered trademark jointly owned by the Marvel Comics Group and DC Comics Inc. used with permission.

6 comments:

  1. omg, I knew I'd been a marvel maniac when I was young, but this...I did it in 25 minutes and only had to check myself 3 times.
    2nd Printing Marvel Superheroes Jigsaw Puzzle
    1. Green Goblin
    2. Glorian
    3. Snowbird
    4. Human Torch
    5. Black Knight
    6. Galactus
    7. Nightcrawler
    8. Silver Surfer
    9. Mephisto
    10. Watcher
    11. Storm
    12. Dr. Octopus
    13. Shroud
    14. Dazzler
    15. Angel
    16. Firelord
    17. Iceman
    18. Vulture
    19. Thundra
    20. Machine Man
    21. Northstar
    22. Aurora
    23. Sunspot
    24. Vanguard
    25. Hudson
    26. Paladin
    27. Crimson Dynamo
    28. Jack of Hearts
    29. Black Bolt
    30. Sasquatch
    31. Hussar
    32. Sub Mariner
    33. Dr. Doom
    34. Impossible Man
    35. Red Wolf
    36. Shaman
    37. Union Jack
    38. Triton
    39. Gorgon
    40. Mr. Fantastic
    41. Daredevil
    42. Lizard
    43. Beetle
    44. Spider-Man
    45. Man-Thing
    46. Star Hawk
    47. Wonder Man
    48. Makaari
    49. Tigra
    50. Sirsei
    51. Ikarus
    52. Son of Satan
    53. Fandral
    54. Hogun
    55. Loki
    56. Volstagg
    57. Magneto
    58. Brother Voodoo
    59. Blade
    60. Lady Sif
    61. Thor
    62. Black Widow
    63. Woodgod
    64. Yondu
    65. Martinex
    66. Charlie-27
    67. Nikki
    68. Falcon
    69. Moon Knight
    70. Drax the Destroyer
    71. Spider Woman
    72. Nick Fury
    73. Mysterio
    74. Hellcat
    75. Electro
    76. Thing
    77. Invisible Woman
    78. Karnak
    79. Quicksilver
    80. Crystal
    81. Medusa
    82. Dr. Samson
    83. Hulk
    84. Luke Cage
    85. Sons of the Tiger (Bob Diamond, Lin Sun, Abe Brown)
    86. Rhino
    87. Iron Fist
    88. Shang Chi
    89. Ka-Zar
    90. Shanna the She-Devil
    91. Zabu
    92. Leader
    93. Khonsu the Living Mummy
    94. Valkyrie
    95. Moondragon
    96. Werewolf by Night
    97. Clea
    98. Dr. Strange
    99. Kingpin
    100. Dr. Druid
    101. Scarlet Witch
    102. Vision
    103. Captain America
    104. Red Skull
    105. Vance Astro
    106. Abomination
    107. She-Hulk
    108. Captain Universe
    109. Howard the Duck
    110. Beast
    111. Wasp
    112. Yellowjacket
    113. Midnight
    114. Ant Man
    115. Hawkeye
    116. Iron Man
    117. Havok
    118. Polaris
    119. Hercules
    120. Wolverine
    121. Hepzibah
    122. Banshee
    123. Cr’reee
    124. Ch’od
    125. Corsair
    126. Cyclops
    127. Binary
    128. Colossus
    129. Shadowcat
    130. Raza
    131. Lilandra
    132. Prof. X

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  2. I'm loving the look on Galactus' face, it's like, "Oh, hello there, li'l fella, I didn't see you there!"

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  3. The only ones that I really had absolutely no clue as to their identities are 1) the grouping of four guys directly behind Alpha Flight and 2) the guy in the bandages near the front.

    Otherwise, I'm pretty sure I got everyone else, even though I'm far more of a DC aficionado than a Marvel one. Yay for owning the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe to help me out :)

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  4. Wow, Bobby Sneaks, I bow down to your character recognition skills.
    But...
    #5: also asks for Black Knight's horse's name.
    Close on #23, #123, but not quite
    #25, #31, #113 incorrect
    #50, #51, #94 check the spelling (or maybe the box lid needs to?):P

    On #85 and #93 you went above and beyond so cudos
    #118, #129 are actually their proper names as I believe their hero names came later than when this was made

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  5. Been a while, but it's new to ME! Let's give it a go:

    5. BK & Aragorn

    23. Sunfire
    123. looks correct, spelling maybe? Ch'reee?

    25. Vindicator/Guardian
    31. Tamara (from SUB-MARINER)
    113. Black Panther

    50. Sersi
    51. Ikaris
    94. Valkyrie is spelled kerectly,

    93. N'kantu (Khonshu is Moon Knight's guy)

    118. Lorna Dane & 129. Kitty Pryde had dropped their codenames during this period (I'm guessing 1982 or 3) kinda like Jean Grey did later.

    The art seems a bit like Owen McCarron.

    What, no Punisher or Ghost Rider?!

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  6. Alright, I'm almost a decade late to the party. But no Jean Grey either? Or am I missing something?

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