The dust from the 2015 Comic Con has settled and exclusives are still rolling out for many not able to attend. Honestly, I didn’t have my eye on too many exclusives this year, but the DCC figure based on Jim Lee’s sketch art (the type you’d see at conventions) was just interesting enough for a Batman collector jonesing for a fix. This figure is about as niche as it gets. And while not completely original, as Playmates had similar Ninja Turtles out at retail not long ago, it is something that I hope will stand out in my overcrowded Batman display.
Packaging
Like most SDCC exclusives, the packaging is one of the highlights of the product. This near cylindrical box comes covered in awesome Jim Lee sketch work. It’s simple and eye-catching. You do have a few ties to break in order to get the figure out, but for the most part, it’s completely collector friendly. There is no picture of the actual figure on the outside, so it might be a shock for those picking it up on a whim at retail stores.
Sculpt
While not a huge fan of Jim Lee’s books or his designs, I’ve always appreciated his art — especially his take on the Caped Crusader. Square-jawed and short-eared, Jim Lee’s Batman is one of the more heroic-looking versions out there. The sketch figure is nothing more than a repaint of Lee’s New 52 Justice League Batman. The sculpt is undeniably Lee, although a lot of the detail has been lost due to the white plastic it was cast in — particularly in the face.
Articulation
In terms of playabilty — this figure flat out bites. There is really no way to sugar coat it. If you want to know what DC Direct was like back in the early days — here you go. The pros are the nice ball-jointed head and pin-and-disc shoulders/bicep cuts that allow for a nice range of motion. The cons are pretty much everything else. Single-pin elbows with no wrist articulation finish off the arms and there is no torso, ab, or waist articulation of any kind. The legs have t-hips and single-pin knees. Yep. That’s it. It’s time machine time for figure collectors and we just set the dial to 1995.
Paint
The major gimmick to this exclusive is that it should look like it hopped right off the napkin Jim Lee scribbled on. It’s not exactly a direct match, but it’s close enough to get the point across. Lee uses a lot of lines and cross-hatching, so DCC really needs to incorporate more of that. As is, they have more of a Mike Mignola look with blocky shading. Still, I like it.
I can forgive the articulation scheme as I knew what I was getting, but to me, the biggest flaw was the absence of any paintwork on the back of the figure. There isn’t any at all! Maybe they were treating the figure as a piece of paper — and what artist draws on the back of the paper? But to me, it just looks unfinished and lazy.
This piece originally went for $40 at the con (I believe), but you can find him for about 10 bucks cheaper if you search around. I used the old “Barnes and Noble trick” for mine.
As a toy, this isn’t really worth the $35 I ended up paying. You just can’t do anything other than stand him there. But I can say that up on the shelf, it definitely shines amongst the mass of grays, blues, and blacks.
Thanks for reading!
