Well, I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving. Mine was fairly restful and now I’m ready to tear into a new DC Collectibles figure. Yes, I started DC Fridays to get through the embarrassing stack of these figures that currently resides in the corner. And then I got sidetracked looking at a bunch of DC Statues, but now I’m back to the original mission statement and today I’m opening up Black Adam! Yes, Black Adam… because it’s Black Friday. Yeah, that’s a bit of a stretch…

The package is the usual window box with extended back flap and J-hook. I do like that DCC is mixing up the decos with this Super-Villains line to match the characters. In this case the box is black with some gold swipes. The back shows the other figures in this wave: Joker (which I already looked at) and Captain Cold (which is still in the pile somewhere). Black Adam was largely a non-character to me until DC’s ambitious 52 series. Not only did that series get me back into reading comics pretty hardcore, but it practically introduced me to Black Adam as a character, and quite a bad-ass at that!

Out of the box, this figure immediately impresses and disappoints. Let’s start with the great stuff… the sculpt! DCC really outdid themselves with this guy, particularly in the portrait. Black Adam wears a rather vicious grimace making for a dude that I would not want to mess with. They’ve done a number of really solid head sculpts in the last year or so, but this one is without a doubt among their best, if not the absolute tops. There’s a little bit of rubbing on the flesh tone, but otherwise the paint is clean and backs up the sculpt beautifully.

The outfit also features some great work. The top of his mostly black suit features some of those sculpted panel lines that the New 52 designs love so much. There’s also a lot of detail on the black and gold boots. The lightening bolt on his chest is both sculpted and painted and there’s some wonderful “Kirby Krackle” painted into the center of it. Adam features his right hand balled into a fist and his left hand grasping in a rather wretched fashion. The paint is a simple black with some rather nice gold accents.

The cape is also wonderfully executed. It’s sculpted in layers with the bulk of the cape bellowing out to the sides and showing off the tattered edges and some holes. The hood consists of a smaller cape flap and both of which fall back behind his neck.

So far, so good! But where the figure disappoints is the articulation. I don’t expect a whole lot from DC Collectibles, but they’ve been gradually improving their figures’ articulation, but Black Adam here feels like a bunch of steps back. The arms are OK, with rotating hinges in the shoulders, hinges in the elbows, and swivels in both the biceps and wrists. The legs, however feature just a standard T-crotch in the hips and hinged knees. No swivels in the legs at all. There’s also no articulation in the torso and while the neck appears to be on a ball joint it can only swivel. The neck is doubly disappointing because it means his head is always pointing down.

And so what we have here is most definitely a mixed bag. Black Adam is an outstanding looking figure, but he really needed just a few more points of articulation to make for a well-rounded package. The head constantly pointing down is probably my biggest gripe, as it means I’ll most likely have to display him on a flight stand to really appreciate all the great work that went into his portrait. I’m very glad I got him, especially at the crazy low price of $11, but he could have been so much better.