Captain and Bucky!

Finished a very cool Retro Captain America, and his sidekick Bucky for my latest addition to my Invaders Project.

 I plan on having multiple versions of Cap and really dig this one.  He's just a shade shorter than some of the other versions I have, but he still has that early Captain look that they captured in the movie.

I like the idea of Captain having many adventures in WW II, from solo missions, to small commando tactics with both the Howling Commandos and alternatively the Invaders.

Being a war hero is what eventually turned him into a Super hero and it's a rich area to explore.

James 'Bucky' Buchanan, Cap's stalwart sidekick had been with him since the early days.  I like to think of the 'Invaders era' comic version of him, with the 'gee golly whiz' writing to be War Time propaganda  to inspire young men back home.  In reality, he is a season soldier in his own right, both deadly and heroic.

 It's an idea they explore pretty well in the modern comics, and also in the movies.  The movie version skips the teenage Bucky altogether, and just makes him Cap's best friend from Brooklyn.  In fact it was Bucky who was always the strong one to the weakling (but incredibly brave) Steve Rogers.

 This mini, made by the What The...miniature company fits into that pretty well.  He's got the campy costume on, but the Thompson submachine gun isn't just for show.

The model was sold as a set with the Captain I've shown earlier, see pic below.

I've got several other miniatures ready to paint up, including the rest of the nucleus that makes up the Invaders, the Human Torch, Toro, and the Sub-mariner.

I'm also slowly working on the Howling Commandos, and the first I have for that is Dum Dum Dugan.

I also will be working on some of the bad guys, cuz having no one to fight would be rather boring.  I'm going to go similar to the movie line plot, with a Red Skull inspired Hydra division being as the main villians.  I also have plans for the Super Axis, a group of super powered Nazis that match up against the heroic Invaders.

Dum Dum Dugan, getting ready for Duty

A New Year! The Invaders have arrived.

2016!  I still can't get over how fast the last year flew by.   I'll kick of the New Year by sharing one of my resolutions.  I resolve to spend more time painting and modelling, shrinking that unpainted pile of lead and blogging about my efforts.

So, right to it.

Back in the 70's Marvel put out a series of comics called The Invaders.   It was based in the 1940's, during World War II, and featured Captain America, The Human Torch, and Submariner.

It was only a series for a couple of years, but I fondly remember it as one of my favorites from my youth.  Recently, they've been compiled in a two volume set by Marvel:

The art is wonderful, and the stories...well, comics have come a long way.  Don't get me wrong, there is a certain charm to the stories, but they are pretty cringy bad. Hacky writing, and a bit of stereotypical sexist and insensitive cultural awareness.   Regardless, the characters and situations are awesome, and inspiring enough for me to want to spend some time representing the characters in miniature form.

My first effort in this account was a couple of the World War Two Captain America's I've posted in earlier posts.

I've gathered a bunch of miniatures that will fit in well with these guys, and the first up is a figure from the very cool table top game INCURSION, by Grindhouse Games.  I used a character from the game, as the basis for my first Union Jack.  Union Jack is also known as Lord James Montgomery Falsworth, and we learn in his first comic appearance, that he is a retired English gentleman.  It is revealed that during World War I, in his guise as Union Jack, he fought for the British, and raised hope and spirits among his comrades.  Succeeded by his son, Brian, the second version of the character,  joins the formidable Invaders and vows to stop the Super Axis.

Although not a perfect facsimile for the character, I thought this model worked well, especially with that action pose and no nonsense gunwork.  I've got a few other miniatures lined up to represent different versions of Union Jack, and his sister Jacqueline, who becomes an Invader as well, known as Spitfire.

I think I'll also want to do a version of the Original Union Jack.

It should be a fun project to work on, and I'll keep it fresh by rotating between my Batman Miniature games minis, and my Monster Hunter International project.

Thanks for checking it out, and hope to see you again soon!

OK AXIS, HERE WE COME!

Showing off stuff I done did.

Thought I'd take a chance to repost some of my older Comic Book minis.  I've posted some before, on various places, but I thought it'd be nice to get them all in one place.  Plus, I now own a camera that is capable of taking much better pictures.    These minis were all painted several years ago.  Some of them even a decade or more!

 First up is a Reaper Mini I converted years ago.  I added some hair, a tattered shirt and lengthened his pants.  Dab of green paint, and he's a pretty good Hulk!

Hulk still smash!

I've painted minis for a long time now, and it used to be, outside of Heroclix, there were really not too many miniatures directly based on my favorite Super Heros and Villians.  So, if I wanted to represent a character, converting was about the only way to get there.

Four Color Figs makes a ton of generic miniatures, and I decided to convert their 'Feral Warrior' into a Wolverine-proxy.  I actually made the claws from bobby pins, filed groves into the fists, and glued them down.  The paint isn't great, but it sure was fun to convert.

Need a bobby pin, bub?

Wolverine needs an enemy, otherwise he gets even more cranky.  This Reaper mini is called Sasquatch, but I thought he'd look better as Sabertooth, Wolvies long time rival.

And, while we're still on the topic of the short angry one, this was fun to paint.  It actually is just a cheap flat metal keychain.  I chopped off the ring, and put him to the brush.

Where's your keys, bub?

I found this little plastic gem in a toy store.  He's from a set called Handful of Heroes, made by Hasbro.  The other 'handful' I got were not very well sculpted, plus the scale was wacky, so I only painted the Thing.  I think you can find these figs easily enough on Ebay, and a few of them (especially the Hulks) look like they'd be great fun.

It's half-past clobberin' time

Captain America is probably my favorite of all heros (maybe tied with Batman), and I certainly wanted to add him to my collection.  I wanted a WW 2 inspired Cap, and found a perfect start, again from Reaper Miniatures, from their Chronoscope line.  I think they call this one Mack Torry, but I thought he'd be better as Steve Rodgers.  The veteran solider look just works so well for Cap.  I had an extra shield from another Cap mini, and it made the perfect addition.

GI Cap

That extra shield came from this mini.  This awesome WW2 cap came from a company called 'What The' Miniatures.

These are my work clothes

Eventually, I'll start on my Captain America and the Invaders project I've had tabled for quite some time.

Lastly, just another update on my most current miniatures, Batman, still a serious work in progress.  I just paint a little on him, between my Monster Hunter stuff.

Finally, DC represents.

Until next time!