“From the Dungeon” features artifacts from the past including things I’ve owned or made, memories & moments in history. This first edition showcases the very first “custom” action figure I ever made, which I found in a bin amongst piles and piles of various action figures in the basement.

I was 13 years-old-when I started buying comic books on a regular basis. My parents gave me an allowance of one comic book a week. Aside from several X-men comics, which were all the rage in the early 90s, Green Lantern caught my attention and I was instantly hooked. When I started reading Green Lantern, Hal Jordan had gone evil and became the villain Parallax in the story “Emerald Twilight.”

At the time (1994), there really weren’t any DC Comics action figures on the market, aside from those based on “Batman: The Animated Series” and the Batman movies. Being the Green Lantern fanatic that I am, I wanted some Green Lantern toys! So I took it upon myself to make my own.

The first and only Green Lantern action figure I ever made was former greatest Green Lantern in the Universe turned evil villain Parallax, Hal Jordan.

I started with this Sectaurs action figure:

With determination and a few layers of paint I ended up with this:

my Hal Jordan Parallax. (1994)

The shoulder pads and cape are made out of felt, which I sewed together myself. The head was taken from some random action figure, and I used hot glue to “sculpt” the hair.

A few years later, toy company Kenner (now Hasbro) eventually got around to making DC Comics action figures. They made their own Parallax figure so I didn’t have to play with my silly looking hand-painted one anymore.

Kenner's Parallax from their "Total Justice" line. (1996)

But how many people can say they made their own Green Lantern toys when they were a kid?