Tag Archives: cover girls of the dc universe

Aug 1 2014

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Supergirl by DC Collectibles

The last time I looked at the Cover Girls statues was way back in January and it was that sumptuous she-bot from the Metal Men, Platinum. Today we’re looking at Supergirl! Supergirl is one of a handful of lower priority DC books that I’m catching as they come out in trade paperback collections. I think it started on a high note, dropped off for a bit, and lately it’s starting to pick up again. It’s not great, but I still enjoy reading it. This is a statue that I had on pre-order way back when it was first revealed, but she got bumped for other things more important to me. Ever since then I’ve been keeping an eye on her and it took me until now to finally fit her into the budget.

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The packaging is right in line with what we’ve been seeing from the Cover Girls ever since DC Direct became DC Collectibles. It’s a fully enclosed white box with some shots of the statue to show you what you’re getting inside. As far as presentation goes, this is about as utilitarian as it can get. Call me crazy, but I expect something a little more exciting and colorful out of my comic book collectible packages.

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The back panel of the box shows off two other statues in the line, Batgirl and Batwoman, both of which look pretty good. The statue resides between two styrofoam trays and wrapped in plastic. So far, each of the Cover Girl statues I own have come ready for display, but Supergirl needs to be pegged into her stand. The peg is sturdy metal piece, which fits in easily and holds the statue securely. The reason for the support rod has everything to do with the composition of the piece, so let’s start there.

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The pose here is supposed to be Supergirl levitating and I think it’s a great look for the statue. She has just the toe of her right boot touching the base, making it look like she’s coming in for a landing. I suppose if you want to ignore the base, she could just be suspended in mid-air. Kara is striking a pose with both hands curled into fists and flexing with her right arm. I think this is the first statue in the line since its relaunch that has a character capable of flight and I’m happy to see they showcased it in pose. The composition is completed with windblown cape and hair.

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The sculpting here is certainly a solid effort. All the painted aspects of her costume are also part of the sculpt, which works well to accentuate the New 52 style. Overall, I don’t have any problems with Supergirl’s current look, although I’ll concede the idea behind the cutout knees in the boots is rather perplexing. The portrait is clean and simple. Kara has just a wee bit of a smirk, which lends some whimsical personality to the piece.

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The paintwork has been hit or miss on this line. All of my Cover Girl statues have been acceptable, but there have certainly been opportunities for improvement. I think Supergirl reflects that same trend. The paint on the costume is overall excellent. The lines are fairly clean and the glossy paint used on her one-piece contrasts nicely with the slightly more matte finish on her boots and cape. The skin tone is nice and even and the paint on her face is clean. I’m not a big fan of the wash they used on her hair. It’s there to give it more depth, but I think it just makes it look a little dirty. Really, the only other gripe I have with the paint is that the brush strokes on the base are a little too apparent. So, all in all, not bad.

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While the first releases in the rebooted Cover Girls line were environmental designs, DCC seems to be moving more toward a standard oval base for the current releases and while I hate when lines like this change styles in mid stream, I still think it was a wise move. Technically, these are still limited pieces, but with a run of 5200 pieces (I see what you did there!), the limitation isn’t too stringent. I’ve also noticed that DCC has been reissuing a few of the earlier releases (or at least they are for Harley Quinn), so I’m not sure how they work that into the limitation. The statue is numbered on the bottom of the base.

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In the end, I’m glad I finally got around to adding Kara to my Cover Girls collection. She’s a great representation of the character and overall feels like a fairly solid value for the money. While this rebooted Cover Girls line continues to have its critics, I remain a fan, albeit a rather tepid one. These aren’t something that I often pre-order like I do most of Kotobukiya’s stuff, but then I tend to like the PCV format over this cold-cast porcelain for my statues. Nonetheless, at roughly 1:8 scale and around $80 each, these statues fall right into my sweet spot and keep me coming back for more.

Jan 31 2014

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Platinum by DC Collectibles

I started this week with a Marvel statue, so let’s end it with a DC statue! It’s been a little while since I last visited with the Cover Girls of the DC Universe. The series was rebooted, obviously along with the entirety of DC Comics, and last year I picked up Catwoman and Harley Quinn. It’s not quite the same line as it once was, but I still think there have been some interesting releases worthy of my monies. Today’s feature just happens to be one of those: It’s Tina from the Metal Men! I first became a big fan of this team after reading the ambitious, year-spanning series “52” and that got me to go back to read through the initial run of Metal Men books. It was hard not to fall in love with Tina as her mischief and desire to be human often drove many of the stories along. Fast forward to the “New 52” and while the Metal Men proper are still only being teased, Platinum did indeed turn up in Justice League #18 albeit with somewhat tragic consequences. And that, my friends, brings us to today’s statue. I was originally on the fence over buying this one, but I’m very glad I did.

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The statue comes in the typical boring but serviceable DC Collectibles box. You wouldn’t know it from looking at this, but it comes from a company that specializes in graphic design. There are some photos of the statue but the presentation here is just very bland and uninspired. Although, I suppose you could also call it artsy minimalist. The piece inside comes wrapped in plastic and sandwiched safely between two styrofoam trays. Nope, it’s nothing special. What we’re dealing with here is a pretty utilitarian way to get the statue safely to the collector and not much else. Platinum comes out of the box already assembled, attached to her base, and ready for display.

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When dealing with statues, I usually like to kick things off with the composition or sculpt, but in this case the first thing you may notice is the rather monochrome nature of this statue. The entire piece is painted in a metallic silver (or dare I say, platinum?) color with some black scant panel lining to bring out the details of the sculpt. That’s not a complaint, mind you, as the coloring is quite nicely achieved, looks good on the statue, and is above all appropriate. It is, however, worth noting because if you’re looking for a colorful piece for your shelf, this isn’t it. On the other hand, here’s a piece where you don’t have to worry about paint slop or bleeding and the metallic effect is quite striking, particularly when seen in person.

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The composition here is pretty reserved as it simply features Platinum striding along with one foot melting into the base. I’m not sure if she’s meant to be merging with it or if the base is supposed to just be an extension of her, but either way it makes for a pretty cool and creative effect. I’m really happy with the pose DCC went with here. Tina has always been a rather sexualized character and this statue drives that point home without resorting to cheesecake. Sure, she looks kind of like a model striding the runway, but at least she’s not bending over or pushing her boobs together. And she certainly doesn’t need to. Even without a gratuitous pose, Tina’s chest and tushy are well defined and all her womanly curves are on display. While I do like Platinum’s “New 52” design, some may not. Either way, it certainly gave the sculptors more to work with. She has exposed wiring in her arms and just a beautiful mix of organic features, like her visible clavicle, and the robotic plating in her tummy.

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I’m also particularly fond of the portrait here and that’s saying a lot since there isn’t a lot of paintwork to help the sculpt along. I think the detailing in her face is better achieved than we’ve seen in some of DCC’s other recent offerings. Her integral headset is a cool design and the giant plate with her trademark “P” is a nice throwback to her more classic self. I think a lot of my love for this piece comes not only from my fondness for the character, but my weird fascination with female robots. I’ve loved this kind of conceptual art design ever since I first saw Metropolis and one of these days I still swear that I’m going to pony up the big bucks for Yamato USA’s discontinued and pricey Sexy Robot 002 statue.

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My next purchase in this line was intended to be Supergirl. I actually had her pre-ordered last year and had to cancel it in order to bankroll some higher priority stuff. She still would have been next if it weren’t for me finding Platinum on sale at $55, a price I simply could not refuse considering the retail on these is usually $99. She is a really nice piece, but I fear she has a number of things working against her. The lack of dynamic coloring in the source material may put some people off, but most of all, when you consider her abrupt one-off appearance in the “New 52”, Platinum was just a strange choice to occupy a slot in this line. It doesn’t make her any less welcome to me, but it might have been more prudent for DC Collectibles to wait until she was actually appearing in her own book with the rest of the team.

Jun 21 2013

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: “New 52” Harley Quinn by DC Collectibles

Ok, folks, let me explain what’s going to happen here today. I’m going to say a lot of nice things about a statue that most people will automatically hate on principle. I get it. The New 52 ruined your precious Harley Quinn because you hate her new costume. And this statue practically rubs your noses in it by its very design. I’m not being sarcastic… I really do get it. I hate what DC did to Zatanna in Justice League Dark. If DC Collectibles comes out with a statue of her wearing her new biker-chick pants and trampling on her old magician hat, I’ll be irked too. It is what it is. However, as someone who tends to not read many Batman books, Harley has never been a sacred character to me, and it isn’t until Suicide Squad that I actually adopted a book that she’s in as regular reading. I really love that book, and this is how she appears in it. Hence I really wanted this piece on my shelf. If hearing nice things about New 52 Harley is going to cause you distress, you might want to get off the train here and come back tomorrow. You’ve been warned!

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The statue comes in a pretty standard and boring box, similar to what we saw a few weeks back with the Cover Girls Catwoman statue. I’ve said my piece about how little I like DC Collectible’s package designs, so I’m not going to dwell on it here. Inside, the statue is wrapped in plastic and nestled between two styrofoam trays. The packaging is collector friendly and is handy to keep on hand if you ever want to put the statue into storage.

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Starting off with the pose… I really dig it. Harley is standing on one foot, bent forward a bit, while using her other foot to proffer a giant hammer to an unseen opponent. All the while she’s got a pair of blades in her hands and behind her back. I think the pose captures the spirit of the character pretty well. She’s playful, she’s crazy, and she’s going make a game out of killing you. The pose also helps to accentuate Harley’s assets… and her frontssets too!

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I find the sculpt here to be excellent. It probably helps a lot that I dig Harley’s stripper costume and it’s quite well executed here for a porcelain statue. Little touches include the loose straps on her pistol holsters, the bullets in her belt, the knit striping on her socks, and the loose lacing on her top. I’m particularly fond of the way her bangs hang over her face. A lot of the statues done in this media seem to have a problem with hair, but this one gets it right.

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The paint is competent enough, with just a few little flubs. There’s a little bleeding between the flesh and outfit, but a lot of the little details, like the bullets, look great. Her eyes are a little off, (what’s with DC Collectible’s inability to paint a pair of straight eyes?) but only a little, and the fact that the bangs hang down the way they do keep it from being a major problem. The rest of the paint on the face is quite sharp and looks nice. The red and blue used for her hair and costume is suitably vibrant and I appreciate the use of both matte and gloss in the appropriate places.

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So the base… yeah, that base. As already mentioned, it has Harley trampling her iconic costume. I think I get that DC was going for here. It’s a rebirth kind of thing In with the new Harley and out with the old. On the other hand, they really must have known that this was going to piss off a lot of fans. And let’s face it, Harley Quinn has a lot of fans. I can’t imagine there are many people like me who are following Harley for the first time in the New 52 and wouldn’t take this as a slap in the face. But hey, now I feel special… DC Collectibles designed a statue just for me. To add insult to injury, the trampled costume effect isn’t pulled off very well at all. It’s not terribly convincing and easily the weakest thing about this whole piece. Any way I look at it, I think it would have been best left out.

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The last Cover Girls statue I featured, Catwoman, was decent, but decidedly average. I’m a lot more pleased with this one. It’s a shame that it’ll be so controversial to fans because from a technical standpoint, I think DC Collectibles did a fine job on her. I was able to pick her up for around $70. That still seems a bit high, considering I can get something fairly comparable from Kotobukiya for less, but I’m guessing that’s the difference between cold-cast porcelain and PVC plastic. Obviously, this statue isn’t for everyone, but I’m glad to have picked it up and she looks damn fine on my shelf.

May 15 2013

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: “New 52” Catwoman by DC Collectibles

Today’s feature almost didn’t happen, because the USPS temporarily lost my Catwoman statue. To be more accurate, they claimed it was delivered and after a few days of me insisting it wasn’t, bitching at them, and finally letting them know it was insured (why didn’t THEY know that?) it magically turned up in my postbox. In fairness, I get a lot of shit mailed to me every week, some USPS some UPS (and some by whatever cracked out sorcerers Amazon uses to get stuff thrown on my doorstep from a moving vehicle 12 hours after I ordered it) and this was the first time I’ve ever had a problem like this. Yeah, I consider myself pretty lucky. Catwoman is one of the New 52 books that I’m still reading regularly and I enjoy it quite a bit, so when I was able to get a decent deal on this statue, I really couldn’t resist.

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This piece comes in a fairly bland white box with some pictures of the statue on it and a little blurb on the back. “Catwoman is ready to whip the Dark Knight into shape if he tries to stop her!” I’m guessing that’s some kind of kinky S&M reference, because every encounter Batman and Catwoman seem to have in the current book involves them screwing. The back also shows off two other statues currently available. Harley Quinn is actually sitting in my Pile of Loot at BBTS, but I’m not digging Poison Ivy enough to buy her. Anyway, there’s not a lot else to say about the box. It gets the job done, but considering we’re dealing with a comic book company, a company that is all about the graphic arts, you’d think they could come up with something more attractive than the presentation here. The statue comes wrapped in plastic and nestled between two styrofoam trays.

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Out of the box, Selina stands atop a decorative finial on a rooftop. One leg cocked, she’s glancing back over her shoulder, goggles up, her whip is coiled around her, and she’s carrying a novelty kitty-cat backpack full of jewels. I can’t argue with the pose, it’s a little seductive and it captures all there is about the character pretty well. If I had one thing to nitpick it’s that the pose makes it difficult for me to decide on how to display the statue. I suppose it’s intended to be displayed with her head looking straight out at you, and that does indeed look nice. On the downside, you miss out on some of the other assets she has on display, and at this angle the cat chasing her is obscured by her leg. Still, all in all, I’ve got no complaints about the pose.

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In hand, the statue has a satisfying heft for its size. It’s a cold cast porcelain piece, rather than the PVC plastic that make up most of the statues in my collection. The portrait, Sam Greenwell is the sculptor here, is certainly competent, but it’s not stellar. There’s a reason some statues are considered “high end collectibles” and sell for hundreds of dollars and others don’t, so I’m willing to be a little forgiving here. Selina’s face is pretty and it’s close to the comic art by Guillem March, but it’s not a slam dunk. The short spikey hair must have been a challenge to get right, but I think they did a good job. I do wish the strap on the goggles was sculpted or painted to stand out from the hair just a bit more.

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The rest of the statue is quite nice, although in fairness her leather bodysuit doesn’t require a lot of detail so it lends itself well to this kind of statue. There are a few seams and wrinkles, and the zipper is detailed, but most of what’s here is smooth, glossy black curves. The whip is actually a soft rubbery material (OMG, IT’S MIXED MEDIA!!!) and I like the texturing on the backpack. The base looks good and as far as architecture goes it’s about as Gotham City as you can get without actually putting a gargoyle on it. The cat on the base is a nice touch. I like how it’s suspended in mid jump and how it looks like it’s mesmerized by and chasing the frayed end of Catwoman’s whip.

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Paint has been a hit and miss affair with the DC Cover Girls line. Honestly, I think the paintwork on my Catwoman is quite good. Again, this is a pretty simple statue to paint, as the bulk of the body is just coated in high gloss black. The detail work on the zipper is pretty good, as are the flesh tones. The one thing that stands out a bit is her right eye looks just ever so slightly droopy and uneven, but it’s not enough to ruin the piece for me. In fact, I didn’t really notice it until I was really scrutinizing it for this feature. The paintwork along her hairline is pretty solid as are the lips.

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I like this statue a lot, but it feels a little less impressive than past statues in this series. It feels like there’s been some cost cutting since the days of Cover Girls’ production limitations and Adam Hughes’ sculpts. But I also need to remind myself that some of those statues could be hit and miss as well. For example, I have desperately wanted to pick up the Cover Girls Starfire statue, I still hope to one day, but I’ve yet to see one with acceptable paint. I could also mention that while DC Collectibles no longer limits the production on this line, they haven’t lowered the price accordingly. Catwoman’s MSRP is $99, and when you see what you can get from Kotobukiya for less, that seems rather high. I picked up mine for $65, and that seems a lot closer to the mark. All in all, I’m satisfied and I’m happy to have her on my shelf.