Following up dear old dad Starman comes our Look at sonny boy Starman, Jack Knight. While I much prefer senior to junior, this figure is bound to be one of the most popular figures in series 15, I know he has a very large and very loyal following. Plus, I am always a strong proponent of getting unique character variants in any series. Yah, this figure has a lot going for him.
I will get this out of the way now: Jack Knight has never done anything for me personally from a character standpoint. I know that is sacrilege to a lot of people, but, as I said, I love his dad and I am a huge have of Courtney Whitmore, the one who took up the Star Rod after him. Plus, the plain clothes costumes are usually off-putting to me. I don’t know, I did not read a lot of books he was in as they were coming out (I was fairly absent from comics during that time) so maybe there is something to that, but having gone back to read a lot of JSA of that time, he still doesn’t click with me. But that is okay, to each their own, I know a lot people have more than enough love for him.
With that said, there is quite a lot to love in this figure. He is, as you can see, a brand new figure from head to toe. Well, his shoulders might borrowed from Mr. Terrific, but that would be the only reused parts. His jacket, shirt and pants are very nicely detailed with lots of great sculpted parts (duh, Horsemen) and, while Jack uses them exclusively right now, I think there is a lot of potential for them to be used on future figures. I particularly like the pants, and while they are brown, they can be used as denim in a heartbeat… fans of Connor Kent in his t-shirt and jeans should be getting excited. It is also important to note that Jack has his sculpted pin on his lapel and the paint work on the symbol on the back of his jacket is done flawlessly, it is perfect.
Jack also has his patented goggles placed squarely on his brow, but the goggles are sculpted on and cannot be removed. I know that is will be disappointing to some, but I think he looks better with them up anyway. To go with his goggles he has the all-important Star Rod too, and the 4H went all out on the sculpting detail on this baby, I think it is my favorite part of the entire figure. It is easily one of, if not THE best accessory we have gotten so far. Very nicely done.
I can always find a love for a good toy, even when I am not a huge fan of the character and Jack Knight is one of these instances. Plus, I need him to help fill out my more modern JSA collection, which he works well as a team member. He is very nicely detailed and I love the subtle sculpt and paint work that has gone into this unique figure.
To close, I must point out that I have always thought of Jack Knight as one of the shorter heroes in the DCU, he is kind of the obvious everyman after all. However, the figure is tall. REALLY tall, I mean he is taller than most of the standard DCUC figures. Now, for someone like a grown up Superboy, it would not distract me quite as much, but for Jack, I think the body is too tall and slightly too buff too. It is one of those things: great toy, but maybe not be 100% appropriate to the character. Let the pictures do the talking though and judge for yourself. He was going to go more towards the back of my JSA display anyway, so relative position on the shelf can do a lot when it comes to height too.
So, Jack is a very nice figure for a character that I have no real attachment too. I really like the paint detail on his jacket symbol and I adore the Star Rod, they need to reuse it for Star Girl stat! I think a lot of Jack Knight fans will be very pleased to get this figure, especially if the height is a non-issue.
*Thanks again for stopping by, we have still more First Looks coming your way – and not just DCUC!
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