"Big Jim. The leader. Commander of every mission!" In other words, THE LEADER OF THE PACK (vroom vroom screeeeeeech)!!! Sorry, I couldn't resist referencing an old Shangri-Las song there. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then please pay no attention to the man behind the curtain ie the insane ramblings of an old toymaker.
Anyways, according to the comic strip on the back of the vintage figure's box, Big Jim was a ski champion who out-raced an avalanche and saved a village while holding a wolf cub in his bare arms. Hmmm. Interesting. Wrangling feral animals in sub zero temperatures while skiing, er, excuse me, out-racing an avalanche! With bare arms. Ok, I admit it. That's pretty tough. Stupid, but tough. And I'm not sure if I understand exactly how he saved the village by out-racing the avalanche....Did he just fly/ski through town like a winter wonderland version of Paul Revere warning people that they were about to get crushed by an avalanche? I guess the world will never know. Anyhoo, according to the strip, "The incident led Big Jim to the supreme challenge. He was called before the International Crime Coalition."
Big Jim told the suits and ties that he was going to form a team of expert crime killers and call it The P.A.C.K. (Professional Agents/Crime Killers) after the wolf cub he saved in the alps. He found Dr. Steel in Hong Kong, foiling a robbery. The Whip was found on the tough waterfront docks of Rio. And Torpedo Fist punched a giant log in half to join the team. Strangely, no mention of Warpath is made even though he is seen standing around with everyone else in the second to last panel. Also, in this same panel the guy who is giving The P.A.C.K. their first assignment looks exactly like the scientist from The Venture Bros. It makes me wonder if they swiped the character design from this vintage artwork. Neat-O.
Wow what a great toy line. It really makes me scratch my head and wonder how this property fell into obscurity. It has so much potential, even to this day. Oh well. Somehow it makes the franchise seem even cooler that it flies under the radar like that. It's kind of like a cool punk rock band that nobody's ever heard of or something.
As always, thanks for looking! And Kull, thanks for the nice comments man! I appreciate that!