By
The Reverend
November 19, 2003 - 13:13
WE MUST NOT REMIND THEM THAT GIANTS WALK THE EARTH: This week saw the official unveiling of DC Direct's latest opportunity to harvest from the Batman Family tree. DC Direct is producing four action figures (for now?) based on Frank Miller's groundbreaking contribution to DC Comics history, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Sculpted by the toy producer's artistic maestro, Tim Bruckner (just signed on for another year, by the way), the figure wave includes Batman, his partner, Carrie Kelley as Robin, the Joker, and Superman. These figures look gorgeous, and they're brilliantly faithful to the four-part mini-series, right down to Batman and Superman emulating Miller's larger-than-life stature as "giants among men" by sizing them up around seven inches tall. This was cause for dismay by folks who bemoan that DC Direct is bound to a unilateral code that says that all of their superhero action figures are supposed to be no more than six and a half inches in height. It was during some message board hubbub on this matter that I went back to the press release that accompanied the solicitations for these figures, coming out next July:
…DARK KNIGHT RETURNS changed the landscape of comics forever and inspired a new generation of comics creators. Now, DC Direct celebrates that immortal series with a quartet of figures beautifully sculpted by Tim Bruckner that capture the look and feel of Miller's Batman, Superman, The Joker, and Robin!
People should pay attention to that last sentence. Methinks that that only standard that DC Direct was trying to meet was that of Miller's mini-series. Apparently they did not have the scale compatibility of the DKR Batman with the Silver Age Wonder Woman or Kingdom Come Shazam in mind when designing these. Works for me, kids. I look forward to the next blockbuster release that DC Direct has planned.
WORLD'S FINEST, FOR NOW: If I did have one caveat, it is how the characters in this action figure wave were selected. Well known by all who care is how DC Direct has a lot of long-overdue leeway to produce figures of the original World's Finest team, Superman and Batman. Already in 2004, we are seeing two Batman waves based on stories that included Superman.
It's no secret that DC Direct knows what side their bread is buttered: Superman and Batman sell BIG. What's apparent, though, all too early, is a tendency to "cross-pollinate" the Man of Steel and Dark Knight Detective with shared storylines. I remember a time, twenty years ago, where these two met in their own book,
World's Finest, and if they were on the same JLA roster, and that was it.
Nowadays, one doesn't sneeze without the other saying, "Bless you" in just about any of their respective books. Whatever happened to "Batman and ROBIN"?? For two characters that have trouble getting along, they sure seem pretty inseparable these days. Already the two biggest waves for Batman have centered on stories that included Superman: "Hush," from Batman's eponymous book, and the aforementioned
Dark Knight Returns. And that's just in 2004 (almost forgot
Kingdom Come from this year). There are Batman fans, I'm sure, that are justifiably disappointed that their attempts to finally get comics-accurate figures based on Bat-mythology have been stalled twice by the Last Son of Krypton. Right now, I can clearly envision DC Direct's plan to do some sort of action figure line based on Jeph Loeb's current
Superman/Batman series, featuring the art designs of Ed McGuinness.
And don't you just want to bet that a Lex Luthor in his "new" battle armor would fit into that scheme? Not that they won't sell, and not that they won't be great, but will they hold up the release of some sort of kickass Two Face figure? Or Man-Bat, Killer Moth, and Ra's al Ghul? And will a Superman wave eventually be done celebrating John Byrne's
Man of Steel mini-series because there's the potential for another Batman figure? Nothing at all against that series, but I hope not (the redundancy of that idea and the characters involved in the series is through the roof). DC fans were pumped this last year because they knew DC Direct was going to be the go-to company to finally produce comics-accurate renditions of DC's best and brightest. If this means a lot of Superman, and a lot of Batman to keep the business afloat, fine. But just remember that even hardcore fans can only take (and buy) so many versions of Kal-El and Bruce Wayne if they're not getting friends and foes with whom to display them. Georg Brewer & Co. would serve themselves well (and us!) to keep that in mind.
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VILLAINS, INC.: I used to believe that the best reference material for DC Direct to use for super-villain action figure concepts was the cover (and contents) of
Crisis on Infinite Earths #9. I now give that honor to the "interior cover" (the hardcover when you take off the dust jacket) of
Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross. The original art that Ross did for this book cover, the Silver and Bronze Age DC heroes making a charge at the bad guys, is totally worth the price of this book. Legion of Doom, represent. Yes, I'm bringing this book up again, and, well, it's just that good. Any self-respecting lover of DC Comics should own this book. CNN just gave the book and Ross' work a superlative review this last week. Alex Ross, represent. Maybe DC should take a second look at that "Portraits of Villainy" concept that Ross was playing with four years ago.
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NOTE TO GEORG BREWER: Remember the Silver Age. That's all.
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NOTE TO GEORGE W. BUSH: The U.S. captured Saddam Hussein. Congratulations. Now maybe when you've captured an active threat to world peace, like Osama bin Laden, you'll concede that it's not always a good idea for your family and friends to fund religious zealots in order to push oil cartel agendas. Try it, even if it meant preventing another 9/11. Though I should probably keep expectations low, since that would require deleting half of the Saudi Arabian leadership from your Christmas card list. Lord knows that's the next country that should be swept for terrorists responsible for the WTC attack (the first, in fact, if it was a real war on terror), but who wants to take on that chore? Merry Christmas, Mr. President, and just try for a day to be a little less smug and a little more articulate.
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MY CHRISTMAS WISH LIST:
· The Denver Broncos in the playoffs this year. And a handful of wins.
· A new head coach for the Chicago Bears.
· A new owner for the White Sox, and a better bump up in payroll for the Cubs.
· Some real victories in the "War on Terror" that don't cost the American people things like civil liberties, money toward education, health care, and our reputation as a noble force for world peace.
· A United States regime change less than a year from now.
· An action figure of the Golden Age Atom, Al Pratt.
· Anything by Chris Ware.
· The Beatles to finally release
Let It Be on DVD. A
Help! Special Edition DVD would be nice too.
·
Love & Rockets to come out more frequently than three to four issues a year.
· A Dan DiDio-style kick in the pants to
JLA much in the same way DC did for
Teen Titans,
Superman in 2004,
The Flash, and
Batman. I can't believe that title sells right now, because it seems to totally lack focus.
· A Suicide Girl or four.
· Continued good health and prosperity for my family and friends.
· For readers to continue to enjoy my work as much as I do putting this together, and for all of them to receive my sincerest thanks and wishes for a safe rest of December and a joyous 2004!
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