DC Comics

Most fans of the modern DC Animated Universe will tell you that there’s no finer example of the genre than the one that started it all.

1992’s Batman : The Animated Series stands as an amazing example of what animation can do, and how to properly translate a comic book character to any kind of screen, small or large. It’s really hard to match the depth and quality that Batman : TAS brought to audiences of geeks, kids, and geek kids alike.

The most recent version of Batman realizes that this is an impossible goal, and so it doesn’t really make any attempts towards this degree of resonance. Instead, ‘The Brave and the Bold‘ skews towards the campiness of the 1960s television show and the goofy charm of Adam West’s Batman. One-shot team-ups with favorite DC heroes against an array of obscure bad guys culled directly from silver age comics appeals to toy makers, kids, and comic book purists alike. It recaptures the essence of oldschool comics as the entire comic book oeuvre becomes darker and grittier over time – and it’s awesome.

‘The Brave and the Bold’ is a title that DC Comics has been using since 1955, originally referring to a series of comics which took place in pre-modern times. After about two years, the title re-focused on being a launchpad for experimental and new characters. After another two years, the series focused on interesting hero team-up stories, and by issue #67 until issue #200, The Brave and the Bold was a book about Batman teaming up with other heroes to fight crime – not unlike this animated series.

Within the first few episodes, we’re already treated to appearances by Deadman, Green Arrow, Plastic Man, Red Tornado, Clock King, a weird version of Toyman called “Fun Haus”, and Gorilla Grodd, among many other great characters. The series doesn’t dwell on the tragedy of Batman or the greys and sepia tones of the original show, though the implications of his parents’ murder are presented in an incredibly chilling black and white Christmas flashback. Instead, Batman focuses on effortlessly fighting his way out of a series of science fiction scenarios with other DC heroes, all of whom inevitably help him become a better Batman through their own emotional development as superheroes.

It’s borderline cheesy, but in the context of kids’ TV and 1960s comic books, it’s a highly effective synthesis of positive qualities which makes for a really good TV show. It’s a shame that the show has already been scheduled for cancellation after the third season in order to refocus on a ‘darker’ Batman again.

The first DVD set, “Season One : Part One”, includes the first 13 episodes of the 26-episode season. Three smaller DVD collections have been released previous to this, but those contained identical content to what is found here. This is a very inexpensive way to get them all in one place – for around just $15, and they’re definitely worth watching, if only to test your knowledge of weird DC Comics history and remember where comic books came from.

Even if you’re not a reader of comics, you may recognize Plastic Man. Before I knew he was an actual comic book hero, I woke up to his early morning cartoon adventures with some regularity – I just never expected him to be someone who hung out with Batman.

Plastic Man was created in 1941, during the same year as Wonder Woman, Captain America and Green Arrow, making him as oldschool as they come. Narratively, Plastic Man started out as “Eel” O’Brien, a low-level gang member who, like most comic characters, experienced an accident which granted him his stretching, shape-changing powers.  Mostly, he just turns into things and makes a lot of jokes. He’s an exceptionally silly answer to the occasional grittiness of comics. Oh, and he also might be immortal.

Mego's Plastic Man

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I began playing around with tarot cards in high school, like most kids who dressed in black and decided to not fit into social norms like gym class and raising your hand when you knew the right answer or caring about pep rallies.

While most kids will pick up tarot cards at some point because it’s presumably hip and scares their parents, I actually didn’t have an interest until DC Comics released The Vertigo Tarot, a $100 set that featured amazing artwork by Dave McKean and based on DC Comics characters, but barely recognizable as such. Beautiful photomontages and drawings covered each card, and they inspired me to try and understand more about the tarot.

All of this eventually evolved into whatever my high school version of divination was, making me a hit at parties and with goth chicks. Is there really a greater purpose in life than being attractive to goth chicks? I submit that there is not.

As much as I’d like to have an assortment of decks to work with (though I haven’t attempted to do anything with them in a decade), collecting tarot cards should be a very, very specific exercise. Unlike most material collectibles, one should feel a significant connection to the cards that are in a collection – especially if you believe that they can be used for divination. If you do not feel connected to your tools, you can’t effectively form a conduit to anything beyond the Earthly plane – or so the theory goes. I can collect a weird-looking Iron Man action figure because I aim to collect Iron Man in quantity, but tarot collection needs to be based entirely on quality. If you’re collecting tarot cards just to have more of them, you’re not necessarily wrong – just don’t expect to actually use them.

My personal problem with collecting tarot cards is that a vast majority of them are hideous. ‘New Age’ artwork is one of the worst things that’s ever happened to the illustrative arts, because it seems to presume that ineptitude with composing an image is ‘folksy’ and ‘organic’, and that all one really needs to create a tarot card or illustrate a book on the magical implications of moon cycles is ‘good intentions’. As a person who is excruciatingly particular about the art I enjoy, it took a very long time to be able to find a second set to truly enjoy. After 15 years, I’ve only found one more.

Years after my first set, I found a second deck which was visually stimulating : The Tarots of the Golden Dawn, released by Italian publisher Lo Scarabeo, drawn by artist Giacinto Gaudenzi. Gaudenzi has actually illustrated a large number of tarot decks for this publisher, all of them stunning and exploring many different themes, from erotic to scientific. At the time, I picked up this deck due to a large number of fairies, Tolkein-esque designs, and topless women. Years later, I’ve discovered that this set can fetch around $200, even in poor condition, and was later re-released as the ‘Tarot of the Hidden Folk’. Sure, fairies have nothing to do with the tarot (even if people who like one tend to like the other), but the art style itself is what connected to me.

It’s a good starting point for a collection which can always expand, even if the potential collectibles are fraught with poor artwork. My distaste for most tarot designs was so prominent that throughout high school and college, I was compelled to sketch out entire decks that were more suited to my own ideas. Years later, the sketchbooks still hang around, waiting to be realized. Perhaps that’s the most effective tarot of all is one that you create yourself, after all. If someone can make a goofy vampire tarot and an unattractive unicorn tarot, there’s certainly nothing stopping you from making one that you like.

The thirteenth series of Mattel’s DC Universe Classics came out last week, and it continues to be the definition of exactly what an action figure line should be : amazing sculpting, classic appearances, and a huge amount of articulation. Where I once lamented the end of Marvel Legends, DCUC has completely filled the void. So, despite my efforts to scale my collecting back, I’m still serious about the seven or eight DCUC figures which come out once every few months. I’m also single, but that’s a choice I’ve made which is unrelated to my enjoyment of action figures.

The arrival of this most recent set served as a reminder of exactly who action figures are for. While there’s been an increased attention to the adult collector over the past ten years, a majority of the manufacturers’ attention remains on the kid market, and rightfully so. I don’t think that there are many adult collectors who would argue against making toys that kids dig as much as we do – and if you find one who disagrees, smack him down the stairs for me.

Original Modern Cheetah prototype

DC Universe Classics, Wave 13, included two figures depicting the classic DC Comics character, Cheetah. Technically ‘Cheetah’ is a name that at least three different villainesses went by, each with different powers and stories, but Mattel had the forethought to include a classic, Golden Age version alongside a Modern Age version. While the original Cheetah was a chick in a catsuit with a little hood with ears, the Modern Cheetah is actually a mystical, naked woman covered in fur.

Apparently, this didn’t really fly for big retailers. Because shelf space is vitally important to the survival of most products, Mattel made alterations to the Modern Cheetah by slapping some clothes on her, albeit in a skin-tight layer of paint. Interestingly, Mattel also produced a Cheetah for their smaller, cartoon-based JLU line that’s pretty much naked.

While there have been ruminations about Mattel releasing a more comic-accurate Cheetah to collectors in the future via their website, which focuses on adult collectors who don’t mind (and may even have an unhealthy attraction to) a bit of fuzzy nudity, this isn’t the first time that Mattel has hesitated on a character due to potential objectivity.

Two years ago, Mattel finally released a 6” scaled action figure of the DC character Lobo, after a few years of swearing that it would never happen. While Lobo has appeared in different DC animated series, the actual comic book character of Lobo has an unnatural focus on a tongue-in-cheek world of violence and profanity, a kind of meta-parody of where comics in the 1990s were heading. A giant, nigh-immortal bounty hunter with a rabid appetite for violence and sex just wasn’t something that DC and Mattel wanted to market to kids as a toy, even tangentially. Eventually, Lobo was released as a convention exclusive figure to a very limited, adult market. This year, despite claims that we’d never see a Lobo in 4” scale to fit in with the enormous and popular JLU line, Mattel is taking the same steps to get a Lobo into the hands of collectors by making it a convention exclusive figure.

And I freaking love Lobo. He’s a cultural statement as much as he is a badass character.

There aren’t a whole lot of mainstream comic characters who wouldn’t make great action figures, but the recent focus on mature collectors has made an even wider range of figures possible, as we ironically hang onto those things which made up happiest as kids.

Once again, I shelled out a good chunk of change to bring home as many of the new Heroclix pieces as I possibly could. I was incredibly pleased with the last set that was released, and eager to start playing again. With a new company holding the reins of a highly regarded game, I was excited to see what comes next.

What I got was a misshapen Metallo that looks like he’s spent some time at the ugly factory getting whatever the opposite of an overhaul is. An uglyhaul.

The Brave and the Bold is not a bad addition to the world of Heroclix gaming, but is suffers from some critical flaws. The underlying theme of the set is ‘duality’, as ‘The Brave and the Bold’ is a comic that focuses on superhero team-ups. It’s a very fun theme, and chosen during a time when much larger events have taken over the DC universe. We could have had an entire Green Lantern themed set.

As a result of this ‘duality’ theme, we have a collection of pieces that include two heroes on one base. This has been going on for a few sets, and these dual-hero pieces are always a fun novelty to see and maybe toss into a game, but the actual play mechanics of two heroes being inexorably stuck in adjacent spots (or the same spot) on the board is generally impractical. While this team-up gives them a special ability that they can use within the game, it makes little narrative or strategic sense that two heroes working together would not divide and conquer. In fact, there is only one piece where this dual-based mechanic works, and that is with The Pied Piper and The Trickster from a previous set – and that’s because they spent the better part of their plotline handcuffed together!

Dual pieces are fun, but ultimately, impractical. It’s fortunate that every one of these figures exists as a solo piece somewhere else.

Another part of the duality of this set is the four Alter Ego pieces : Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, Diana Prince and Jason Blood. All of these can be used with their superheroic counterparts for some more unique game mechanics : Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and The Demon Etrigan, respectively. While most of these pieces are readily available and easy to find, I encountered only one Batman in 20 packs. While your experience may differ, providing handy amounts of one half of an equation and shortchanging collectors on the other isn’t great distribution.

The overall distribution of pieces wasn’t excellent, either. For the first time, WizKids has decided to repaint some of the same sculpts into three different characters, instead of sculpting each one uniquely. While this hearkens back to the earliest days of Heroclix, it’s hard to not feel a little disappointed when you encounter three of the same figure in one $10 pack instead of a figure you haven’t found yet.

I do appreciate the inclusion of many ‘grunt’ pieces that can be used to build armies of disposable figures, but the selections for this set are downright boring without having read the comics they appeared in. 15 generic looking Checkmate Agents into opening the case, I was disillusioned. Some people like these army guys, but I want more Parademons and monsters backing me up.

Finally, there are some incredibly beautiful pieces, like ‘The Flashes’ which is a dynamic. semi-translucent sculpture of two different Flashes darting across the playfield, and the rare team-up piece featuring Booster Gold & Blue Beetle, which shows two heroes in the midst of a battle. Other pieces present a nonsensical addition to a semi-serious game, as they attempt to depict static scenes – Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy next to a gigantic martini glass, or Mr. Miracle trapped in a box which is halfway buried. These do not visually represent people who are ready to battle. They represent drunk chicks and a guy who’d be screwed if someone tried to kick sand in his face. Many pieces just kinda stand there, showing off their physiques instead of kicking other heroes in sensitive parts of theirs.

There’s a very valid argument that these pieces are just representations of a larger narrative and not meant to demonstrate every action in the game, and I can easily see it that way also. Playing a game of Heroclix with a giant martini glass on the board gives me the creeping feeling that maybe everything I enjoy is just too silly to be acceptable anymore.

As an addendum to this ‘finally’, I need to note that the cards that come with each figure are of a far, far lesser visual quality than they’ve ever been before. Many of the small photographs of the figures which are included on each card are heavily pixelated and very, very roughly cut out from their backgrounds, which is a grade-level Photoshop disaster which should have been caught. While some cards have perfectly clear graphics, many of them are grossly misprinted with these graphics, and it’s unlikely they’ll ever be fixed.

All said, I got some nice pieces, and I even found one of the four ultra-rare ‘Chase’ figures, Nekron. Other chase figures include Kal-El, Martian Manhunter, and Black Hand – all four characters being powerful Black Lanterns, or in a simpler parlance, zombies. Which I love. They fetch around $90 each on the secondary market. They’ll be weird to play with, and some are ugly to look at, but the previews for the next set have shown off some sculpts which are breathtaking. Let’s just call this the ‘awkward phase’ as WizKids’ old sculpts start to fit into NECA’s new plans for Heroclix.