DC Direct Green Lantern Series 5 Sinestro & Soranik Natu

I was really excited to see some new DC Direct Green Lantern figures show up recently, Sinestro & Soranik Natu in particular. I'd seen a general lack of interest by fellow bloggers about the Green Lantern Sinestro, but I didn't have any of the other GL Sinestros that have been produced, and the New 52 Green Lantern started off with Sinestro being mysteriously reinstated as a Green Lantern by the Guardians of Oa, denouncing his affiliation with his own Sinestro Corps, warriors of the yellow light of fear. Thrilling!

I've said before that DC Direct lacks in articulation, they more than make up for in paint & sculpt- Sinestro is no exception. The piping sculpted into Sinestro's outfit  is a small detail that really adds to this relatively simple sculpt, and the metallic green paint really brings this out, repeated in his green eyes to really bring aesthetic unity. He does have bicep joints, as well as a cut joint at the boot tops & wrists, in addition to the usual DCD ball & socket shoulders & T-hips, and a serviceable ball-jointed head. While I like a super-articulated figure as much as anyone, I am attracted to the aesthetics of a toy as much as play value- that is to say, I enjoy them as art.

I've heard it said that either Marvel Select or DC Direct's limited articulation points are in compliance with their liscencing agreement, but they have their own charm in my opinion. I've pulled the arms off a couple these sometimes fragile toys, some of them have problems standing upright (especially some of the caped figures from the History of the DC Universe line), and the different lines often vary greatly in scale. That said, they are some of the most beautiful I own, and I enjoy their modeling after specific story arcs & DC Comics artist's style.

Before Sinestro became the arch-nemesis of the entire Green Lantern Corps, he was Hal Jordan's mentor and greatest of all the Green Lanterns. The former anthropologist from Korugar became bent on preserving order in the society of his home planet no matter the cost, resolving to conquer it to ensure this. As punishment for his crime, the Guardians banished Sinestro to the antimatter universe, where on the planet Qward he discovered the Weaponers. These warrior scientists hated the Guardians and Green Lanterns as much as Sinestro, and created a yellow power ring for the fallen Lantern to use as revenge on their mutual foe.

DCD Green Lantern Sinestro with DCD "Justice" Sinestro & Mattel's really short Wave 3 Sinestro Corps Sinestro...

Soranik Natu is the daughter of Sinestro, and niece of Abin Sur, Hal Jordan's predecessor. Introduced in 2005, Sora, as boyfriend Kyle Rayner calls her, was a neurosurgeon when the ring found her in the middle of a delicate surgery. Rejection it at first as the fate of her home planet was so enmeshed in her father's failure with the GL Corps, she finally acquiesced in order to save her patient. Rejected by her society upon completion of her Corps training, Sora opted to help the homeless with her medical skills & new power ring. As of writing this the father & daughter have never fought together as Green Lanterns, but they did ban together with the other Lanterns of the Emotional Spectrum to battle Nekkron & the Black Lanterns in the Blackest Night story arc.

Sora has the same articulation, lantern, and figure stand as Sinestro. There's some pretty obvious paint smear into the white glove on her right arm, but her pretty little face & eyes have been lovingly done. Great work! Her left boot top joint doesn't want to turn, but she holds her lantern more firmly than her father. Her limbs are a little thin, but that's her willowy styling. I like the sculpt of her torso a lot, her smooth tummy running straight through her t-hips into her thighs. I've read complaints about the plain-ness of her sculpt, but I like that about her. I am charmed by and treasure this dainty lady  :)

Sora with DC Direct New Krypton Superwoman & New Frontiers Wonder Woman...

Like the other DC Direct Green Lantern & Blackest Night Series figures, Sinestro & Soranik come with a color corresponding, transluscent base, theirs being green with the GL symbol. Will you just take a look at this outstanding pair... Wow! I had a ball photographing these! They're are a little taller than Mattel's DC Universe Classics, but I have them mixed together on a shelf in the vault and they look cool!

*See the DC Direct Action Figure Archive!

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Happy Valentine's Day!

"Built To Last" 2006

magazine collage, stickers, glitter, acrylic on masonite
10 x 8"

Though he's not really a superhero, I know many of my fellow dorks would enjoy this collage I created back in 2006 featuring Optimus Prime with the Japanese dancing robot  :D   This technique involved skimming through magazines to find characters, colors, & patterns I could cut out & paste down to make a little story- this one telling of a love "built to last". Happy Valentine's Day, Friends!

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DC Direct JLA Kyle Rayner

I've been reading a lot of Green Lantern lately, including the New 52 Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, and Green Lantern New Guardians, the last of which features Green Lantern Kyle Rayner. I've also been picking up issues of Green Lantern Corps: War of The Green Lanterns and Green Lantern Corps: Brightest Day from 2010-2011 as I find them. All these titles feature Earth Lantern Kyle Rayner.

I kick myself for not picking up the Mattel DCUC Kyle Rayner at K-Mart when I had the chance last year, but I stumbled upon this unusual DC Direct Kyle from the 2003 JLA Series. For awhile, Kyle was the only Green Lantern, appointed by Ganthet after Hal went crazy while hosting Parallax, killing all the other Green Lanterns in the universe. He briefly weilded the god-like powers of Ion during the "Final Night" & "Ion: Guardian of the Universe" series, and suffered a stint as host to Parallax during the Sinestro Corps War, but I believe this is Kyle's second GL outfit, the only version without his trademark, beveled facemask.

I relate with Kyle Rayner in that he's an artist and dreamer- his free-flowing imagination fuel his unusual constructs, making him a formidable opponent. Here he is sporting this outfit in Green Lantern: Rebirth (DC Comics Oct. 2004- May 2005) which I read last year...

DC Direct has come a long way since they released this 2003 version of Kyle, though as a pre-DCUC action figure, he had decent articulation and a somewhat premium sculpt & paint for the time. Measuring 6 3/8" tall, he's somewhat shorter than later DC Direct figures, and has a relatively slender build.

While this figure's cut neck joint and lack of wrist/forearm articulation limit his expressive possibility, I love how he looks. Yes, the sculpt is very stylized & "cartoony", the incised lantern symbols in his chest & shoulders are cool, and the light green paint is iridescent, unlike the regular Green Lantern series from DC Direct in the same year.  Additionally, the straps on his boots & ridges up the legs & arms have a glossy black finish that stands apart from his otherwise flat black bodysuit. He's pretty snazzy!

Kyle's lantern is sculpted like the one specific to his character in the comics, and has a clear lens inside. The JLA base he came with is a little too big, but it does help him with posing...

Here's Kyle with the DCUC Blue Lantern Flash I got recently:

I scored him for about $8.50 loose on Ebay, but have seen him go for thirty to forty bucks- too much in my opinion. I'd have paid a little more if he came mint on card, but not much. Don't misunderstand: I was thrilled to find him, but he's not as artful as some of DC Direct's more recent Green Lantern figures. Kyle seems to be an in-demand fan favorite, action figures of him going for more than usual on the secondary market. And while Hal Jordan is the Green Lantern of my generation, I've enjoyed reading about Kyle Rayner lately.

*See the DC Direct Action Figure Archive!

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X-Cutioner's Song: Epilogue Part 2

Continuing from my last post on the epilogue to the "X-Cutioner's Song" crossover event from 1992-93, X-Force #19 finds Cannonball & Co. under house arrest at Xavier's School for Gifted Students, and growing more restless by the day. Feral, Shatterstar and Rictor blow off steam in the Danger Room, but Siryn tags along with Warpath  in the computer room, where he seeks to obtain information from the X-Men covertly for use in the event they are detained.

Professor Xavier had been telepathically eavesdropping on Siryn & Warpath prior to Sam dropping by his office with the ultimatum, "We are not children and we demand to be released". Though Cable is dead, Sam heatedly argues that he can continue to lead the group. Meanwhile, Boomer has been playing "House of Style" with the Shi'ar clothes synthesizer, inviting Sam to join her and Warpath in cementing X-Force's place as the most ridiculously costumed group of the 90's! James Proudstar looks particularly disco in his new Warpath outfit- see ya at the YMCA, Bro   :D

G.W. Bridge gets summoned to the S.H.E.I.L.D. helicarrier by Henry Gyrich and General Clarke to answer for the cost & damage caused by his using Weapon: Prime to pursue Cable. When they claim it a total loss, Bridge quits on the spot...

Gathering the members of X-Force to leave, Sam wishes Professor Xavier best of luck in dealing with the Val Cooper & the government concerning their departure. Assuring Sam he can deal with them, he expresses concern that Sam can deal with X-Force, and the choice between violence or salvation, the "closed hand or the open fist".

Sam uses a twist on Xavier's analogy of the open hand/closed fist to plead his case for carrying on Cable's way of running X-Force: "Here's my closed fist, Professor! It can be used the way Cable taught us -- ta hit -- ta pound -- ways you say you don't agree with, right? But it can also be used ta warm... ta support... ta protect! As for the peaceful approach of the open hand -- well, that can be used ta hurt as well!"

Before Sam steps into Lila's portal, Xavier discloses that one of his team has stolen something from the X-Men, and to consider the second guessing & moral compromise inherent in associating oneself with such people. 

Again, I've really enjoyed the "X-Cutioner's Song" crossover event- I'd recommend the trade paperback or the individual issues to any X-Force/X-Men or 90's comics fan. It was a great story full of fun characters, and Greg Capullo's pencilling throughout this series and the surrounding issues of X-Force was a particular joy to me.

*Read more about this issue at Marvel.Wikia!

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X-Cutioner's Song: Epilogue Part 1

Uncanny X-Men #297 and X-Force #19 are considered the epilogue to the "X-Cutioner's Song" crossover event discussed in my last post. Uncanny #297 is of particular interest in that Professor Xavier temporarily regains his ability to walk following Apocalypse's extraction of the techno-organic virus Stryfe shot into him (did I mention that Apocalypse saved Prof. X? It's true!).

Issue #297 includes some bonding between Rogue and Gambit, the seed planted for their romantic relations to come, and Beast reminisces with Archangel while rebuilding their old X-Men hangout (Harry's Hideaway bar), destroyed when Jean & Scott were kidnapped by Caliban (issue #294). More ineresting however is the bonding between Jubilee & Xavier after she finds him outside the Weschester estate of his School For Gifted Youngsters, walking around barefoot in the grass...

Jubilation convinces Xavier to try rollerblading, even rolling him right into a swimming pool, bringing the serious man out of his shell and opening up a side that Jubilee or any of the X-Men have seen. As the sun begins to rise, Xavier realizes he is slowly losing use of his legs again, and bids Jubilee farewell, thanking her for an evening more enjoyable than he can remember. His struggle to remain upright after leaving her side is more than obvious to the emotional Jubilee, holding back her tears & searching for the words to offer the dignified leader help to his wheelchair...

*Read more on this issue at Uncanny X-Men.Net!

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X-Cutioner's Song

I meant to post about this three weeks ago, but I'm reading more than I really have time to write about lately, plus it's crunch-time for a big art show, involving 22 new canvases I've been working on since June. Really busy!

  

"X-Cutioner's Song" was a crossover storyline published by Marvel Comics in twelve parts from late 1992 to early 1993, involving the Uncanny X-Men, X-Men (vol. 2), X-Factor, and X-Force titles. It was heavily hyped and priced higher than the other titles at the zenith of both the X-Men franchise and comics popularity, in general. A few of the issues I picked up were still polybagged with a special trading card, as the issues of this crossover were originally released, all part of the heavily hyped event that warranted a $.25 hike in price!

I'm not going to give you a plot summary or anything like that; good or bad, it's all been discussed.  But in a nutshell, Cable's nemesis (and clone) Stryfe, shoots Professor Xavier with a techno-organic virus. X-Factor & the X-men are out to bring Cable down, while X-Force try to find their framed leader & get to the bottom of what really happened. It is thought that Apocalypse might be behind the assassination attempt, who is awakened from his regenerative sleep to be informed of the situation. Mr. Sinister is then thought to be the mastermind behind Xavier's assassination attempt & the kidnapping of Cylops & Jean Grey, but he is merely a pawn in Stryfe's endgame: revenge on his (or Cable's?) parents for leaving him. In the end Cable must sacrifice himself to take out Stryfe, but we now know of course that Cable will return!

Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, & Whilce Portacio, the popular artist's of these books who had rocketed Marvel & it's X-books to the top only a year before, suddenly left to form their own company prior to the crossover event, leaving editor Bob Harras to scramble a new team together. I liked Greg Capullo's art in X-Force, as I did Andy Kubert, Jae Lee, & Brandon Peterson's penciling on X-Men, X-Force, & Uncanny X-Men respectively.

I've been reading X-Factor from issue #1 here in the last couple months or so, digging up the individual issues in the dollar comics bin, uncovering nearly every issue up to # 40. I missed all this back in the early 90's, so it was all new to me. 90's comics have a somewhat bad reputation for a reason: they're  over-the-top in every way,  filled with some of the ugliest costumes, most desperate marketing tactics, and worst, most melodramatic story ideas. But isn't that really describing comics history in general, has any one decade not suffered from the same at certain points? I'd be lying  if I said I haven't enjoyed most of what I've read. My enthusiasm is partly due to having just got back into comics in the last 15 months or so, certainly, but Cable & X-Force have been fun reading, action packed, with plot twists often enough to keep me interested throughout. Topless Robot justifiably claimed "X-Cutioner's Song" to be one of the 11 Most Essential X-Men trades only this past July, and while I'm somewhat of a newbie, I agree it was pretty great.

As stated above, I found at least two of these still polybagged with trading cards included. I mentioned before the comics boom of the 90's and the following crash crippling the industry as speculators tried to unload the extra copies & special editions that prosperous times had afforded.  The aftermath of this glut is still visible twenty years later, brand new copies like these so plentiful they can be bought for one dollar- fifty cents less than they were sold for on the date of publication...

A couple of the cards I received, the designs for which aren't that great, though I'm glad I got Stryfe & Apocalypse...

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Hey, Mr. Postman!

I finally reaped the reward of some of my holiday gift cards, and bought some other stuff I wanted, so some cool toys have been coming in the mail- a whole bunch of really FUN stuff! I haven't had time to shoot anything as I'm finishing up work for a BIG art show in the city on the 24th- I'll be showing 22 canvases I've worked on since June, and the invite list is like thirteen-hundred people. As you might suspect, I've been busy  :D

Speaking of absentia, I'm sure you were wondering like myself, "Where's ChunkyB been?" and "It's February- who's going to enforce the 28-Day Challenge of No Toys?" Well, Chunky has been on vacation for awhile, but e-mailed to say he will return... so for now it's safe! LOL!   Well Chunky, if you're passin' by, I'm sure I speak for one & all when I say that you are sorely missed & we eagerly await your return to Eclectorama & Batman: The Animated Toys blog   :)

LOTS of More Fun Stuff Later!

... now go back & read my last post- it rocked!