What’s this? An actual DC Friday? Yup! It’s hard to believe I used to have enough material (and time) to do these every week, but if sure feels good to come back to it every now and then for old time’s sake. If you’ve been with me for a while than you may know I was an avid collector of the second series of DC Collectibles’ Cover Girls cold-cast porcelain statues. But when the series rebooted again I decided that in the interest of diminishing display space that I would call it quits. For someone with very little willpower when it comes to buying collectibles, I have remained surprisingly true to that decision. That’s not to say that I haven’t been admiring them from afar. And ultimately, it was a price that I couldn’t refuse on Mera that made me finally dip my toe into this third series. It’s been about two years since I last visited with this line, so I’m more than ready!

The previous line was based on the art of Stanley Artgerm Lau, whereas this time around it’s Joelle Jones’ turn and I dig both artists’ work a lot. The packaging on this line hasn’t changed much since my absence, although this time around they are scaled bigger and the size of the box obviously reflects that. The statue still comes in a fully enclosed box and sandwiched between two Styrofoam trays to keep it safe. I’ve heard one or two horror stories about breakage with this new series, but I was happy to see that mine survived. The only assembly required is pegging Mera’s single foot post into the base. Let’s do that and check her out!

Standing tall and proud, Mera strides across the waves with confident poise and her head held high. It’s an appropriately regal look for the Queen of the Depths. And regal is also the word I would choose to describe her attire. She sports the very familiar form-fitting scaled bodysuit with some stylish gold piping on her arms, torso and boots. I also dig the stylized “M” strategically placed where her belt buckle would be. The bulk of the scales are painted over in a stunning emerald green, as are the boots. The center of her chest and her arms are painted gold, making for a very striking two-tone deco. Every detail on this costume is part of the sculpt and the precision and quality of the paint applications are both excellent.

Moving on to the portrait, and oh boy do I get a major Filmation (as in He-Man/She-Ra) vibe off of this. I’m not sure if it’s from the eyes, but I saw it right away and can’t unsee it. It’s not a bad thing, mind you, just that I find the styles highly similar. Mera’s face is framed by a gold tiara, behind which flows her voluminous red hair. The sculptor really went over the top on her hair and it looks great. The painted facial features match the impecable quality of the rest of the piece. Her eyes are straight and even and the eyebrows and lips are crisp and sharp. No complaints here.

And that brings us to the base. As with the previous Cover Girls Mera, they went with a translucent plastic to simulate water and the effect works beautifully. The splashing water erupts from beneath her feet and curls up at the ends, all set upon a disc-shaped platform. Flip the base over and the bottom is branded with DC Collectibles and shows that the piece is hand-numbered. Mine is 324 of 5000 pieces produced. The previous series produced 5200 of each, so it looks like they shaved a whole 200 off each run.

The previous Cover Girls Mera was one of my favorite statues in that series, so it comes as high praise when I say I like this one almost as much. There are actually some things this one does better, like that superb water effect, and in truth this one has a far more intricate sculpt. Plus the green paint used for her suit looks a bit more premium here. With that having been said, I do really like the way the Artgerm version is balanced, as if defying gravity, and the portrait is less stylized and still absolutely drop dead gorgeous. Did I really need two Meras on my Cover Girl shelf? Nah, but I picked this one up over the holidays for around $40, which was a deal I could not refuse and I’m glad that was the case because she is a very beautiful piece. Does it mean I’m going to dip into any more of this third series? Eh, maybe. I sure have been eyeing that Catwoman, so if you’re interested in that one you may want to keep watching this space.