Super-Articulate: Back to DC
After a few straight weeks of Marvel Legends, it’s time to pivot back to DC. Mattel’s DC Multiverse distribution has been spotty in my area; you can find the Aquaman movie figures, but good luck with just about anything else right now. However, I did acquire a Vixen.
DC Multiverse Vixen: This is another straight-up solid sculpting job from the folks at Mattel. What I’m most impressed by is the fact that they were able to capture the look of the hairstyle that Vixen wore in Justice League of America (which was a fun book, now dead). I know I wasn’t the only fan of that title, as a number of Multiverse figures were drawn from that particular Rebirth run (Lobo, The Ray, the forthcoming Black Canary, Vixen). As such, Vixen is sporting the costume from that run, as well. It’s just a figure with overall good presentation.
Vixen comes with one accessory; in this case, it’s a translucent purple eagle that’s mean to replicate the visual from the comics when Vixen accesses one of her animal powers. Going with the bird makes sense because it’s a power that she uses often and it’s small enough to be an easy pack-in. I like the look of the accessory, although I would have liked a stand or some kind of attachment with it.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m sad to see Multiverse go at the end of this year after it really got on track. It would have been nice to see this group of sculptors get to the JSA and the Legion after the fine work they’ve done on the League, the Titans, and the Batman family. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
Imaginext DC Super Heroes Blind Bag Series 6:One DC expression that Mattel gets to keep is the Fisher-Price housed Imaginext line. The current series went with some excellent and crazy choices. There’s Zan and Jayna (the Wonder Twins), Superman-armor Luthor, Dr. Fate, Catman, and The Signal (Duke Thomas). My boys and I have only found two so far, so we’ll go ahead and take a look at Zan and Signal.
The Signal is Duke Thomas, one of the Robins from the We Are Robin series. Duke became more involved in the official Bat Family and received his own individual costume and codename. Signal comes packed with a pair of ninja kama. Imaginext has really upped their sculpting game in the past few years, and the Signal is a good example of that. While the bodies are frequently basic with (admittedly great) paint jobs, the heads are increasingly unique. This has a good look overall and the vibrant yellow stands out.
Zan and Jayna are no-brainers for a line like this. Zan looks like a decent adaptation of his cartoon self; no real surprises. The best thing is his accessory. As you know, Zan can change into forms of water, and would regularly be carried by his bird-form sister in a bucket. So, of course, Zan comes with . . . the bucket. And the water has his face! Yes, they actually did that. Major kudos, Fisher-Price. Major.
The Imaginext line remains a terrific kids’ focus line, though I know more than a few adult collectors that like to display them as well. While this line-up seems to be a little bit harder to find, these two indicate that their commitment to DC is still in good form.
Beginning with a nod to the zeitgeist where “YouTubers” have supplanted television, film, sports, and music stars as the idols of youth culture, Bryan Hill lays out his thesis for his Detective Comics storyline and with artists Miguel Mendonca and Diana Egea and colorist Adriano Lucas adds explosions and obstacles to the team-up between Batman and seasoned principal, yet up and coming superhero Black Lightning. Detective Comics #983’s mysterious villain’s M.O. is that giving young heroes the opportunity to be a member of the Batman family and wear the Bat-symbol and dulling Batman’s edge as a vigilante who strikes fear into the heart of criminals. Hill and Mendonca immediately create a fairly high threat level as Batman’s young allies begin to be picked off one by one.
Two-Face has never been scarier in the high concept first issue of All-Star Batman #1 as writer Scott Snyder coming off a 5 year run on the main Batman title teams up with legendary artist John Romita Jr. to spin a Batman story that is part The Purge, part a road trip comedy, and puts the famous Harvey Dent Dark Knight quote on its head as Batman tries to find the good in him one final time. With his background drawing Wolverine, Daredevil, and even Kick-Ass, Romita’s art style is definitely more suited for Batman and Superman and inker Danny Miki doesn’t cramp on his signature blocky, yet dynamic pencils while making the non-linear story relatively easy to follow. Colorist Dean White’s palette dips from idyllic small town greens and browns to sickly greens and moody greys as Batman and Duke Thomas try to save Gotham from Two-Face’s acid rain and finally blacks and reds when Two-Face tries to get people all around the world to show Batman their by hunting him down in exchange for a great fortune.
the character. Almost gone are the duality gimmicks (Except for his trusty coin.), and in their place, Two-Face is the ultimate x-factor in Gotham City as he has files on all the criminals and villains from his time on the D.A. and can use this information to start a crime wave as soon as possible. This original angle makes All-Star Batman an intriguing read along with the fact that Batman wants to rehabilitate Two-Face instead of throwing him in Arkham again. He chooses the path of redemption instead of punishment, but this leads to shots and threats from the townspeople. But, even after this, Romita and Miki draw Batman in a resolute way as he drags Two-Face to the back of semi truck and then starts driving it like it’s a new Tumbler. Swagger filled Batman is fun to read as Romita and Miki make sure readers get a front seat view of the latest martial arts moves and clever gadget use with art that isn’t a jumbled mess.
Batman Rebirth #1 is a standalone adventure as Batman and his new protegé (But not a Robin.) Duke Thomas take on a slightly creepier version of the Calendar Man, who is most famous for helping Batman catch a serial killer in Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s seminal Batman: The Long Halloween. The use of this villain and a plot featuring the seasons in Gotham changing in a day thanks to Calendar Man’s biological weapon is a comment on the cyclical nature of superhero comics as well as the passing of the torch from writer Scott Snyder to Tom King, who collaborated on the issue. Snyder and King establish the new dynamic between Batman and his supporting cast as well as making him and Bruce Wayne sharp and confident as he saves Gotham and becomes an active part of Wayne Enterprises as well.
One page (or image) really encapsulates Snyder, King, Janin, and Chung’s Batman, and it features Bruce Wayne, not Batman as he dangles from a helipad doing one-handed pull ups when it’s 100+ degrees outside while a sharply dressed Lucius Fox helps him get his company in order. Batman is a thrill seeker and in his physical prime, and his defeat of Calendar Man includes holding his breath underwater more than is humanly possible as Duke protests. But he is also responsible for Gotham and swallowed up in its fate, and this is why he is so tiny in comparison to the skyscraper, buildings, and body of water around him.
Batman #50 is an epic capper on the ten part “Superheavy” arc that closes out Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s almost five years on the title as Bruce Wayne returns as Batman and with the help of Jim Gordon, Duke Thomas, and even Geri Powers banishes Mr. Bloom and the people he has infected from Gotham City. In the issue, Snyder reiterates the theme of a family and community approach to heroism that has echoed throughout his run from Batman’s mistakes in “Death of the Family”, his growing relationship with Jim Gordon and Alfred Pennyworth in “Zero Year”, and finally in “Superheavy” where it’s the aging, dying ex-police commissioner, who saves the day using the literal power of the people, and not the superhero at the peak of his powers. (This is because the dionesium that revived Batman healed all his scars and wounds from his crime fighting career in a clever bit of plotting from Snyder.)
