It Figures: J Jonah Jameson

Hello, and welcome to the inaugural It Figures, a new column where I shine a spotlight on action figures past and present that are worth taking a look at. These figures might be new or old, obscure or mainstream. But for this first installment, I've used a figure that I was on the search for the better part of 12 years.

There are a plethora of interesting characters in the world of Spider-Man- heroes, villains, but in the stories, the most important are often the supporting cast. However, when one considers action figures, these are often the last you would expect to see. However, in 2002, Toy Biz decided to create a line of figures based on the Spider-Man movie- which had only one superhero, and one supervillain. This is how we managed to get an action figure of perhaps Peter Parker's greatest nemesis... J. Jonah Jameson. Yes, editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle, leader of the Spider-Man hate club, finally had a modern action figure. Now you too could make the old miser sputter fruitlessly at his desk.

"I want pictures! Pictures of Spider-Man!"

Though important to the stories, Jameson's design is fairly mundane- but this action figure captures the nuances very well, Thanks to ironclad contracts, it even bears a rather good likeness to character actor J.K. Simmons, who played Jameson in the film! He's fairly pre-posed, though it's a pose that works for the character- pointing with a serious scowl. You can almost hear him yelling at poor Peter. This pose feeds into the next point- Jameson's accessories. Jameson comes with an office chair and a desk with non-removable office supplies attatched but on loose spring-loaded panels. This is to facilitate the closest Jameson gets to action. The figure has a lever on the back- which causes Jameson to slam his fist on the desk and rattle its contents when pulled. It's a clever feature and one that only slightly restricts the articulation of the toy. It also creates a pre-made display, which is great for collectors.


Well, that's it for our first It Figures- though there are more pictures after the jump.