DC Collectibles is continuing to release creator-specific figures under its Designer Series banner, and they’ve just tackled one of my all-time favorite comic artists — Jae Lee.
Lee was able to escape the frenetic and overblown style that polluted comics in the ’90s and develop the sparse but beautiful panels that he creates today. Based on the New 52 Superman/Batman comic, this series contains Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, and Catwoman. Yfnjman’s review of Wonder Woman will also be hitting the front page this week, so be sure to check it out! We’ll be looking at the rest of the bunch here today.
Packaging
DCC have kept their white window boxes and, while not mind-blowing, they’re attractive and serviceable. I do feel that they’ve missed an opportunity to better showcase the artist’s work. There is a Jae Lee pencil drawing of each character on the side of the box, but the back would have been the perfect spot for a fully inked and colored piece. The package holds the figure well, but almost too well in the case of Batman and Catwoman. The inner tray was shrink wrapped so tightly around the figures that it actually warped Batman’s ears and Catwoman’s hands. I had to use an air dryer to heat them up back into place.
Sculpt
Never in a million years would I have thought that Jae Lee’s art, which is so gothic and highly stylized, would be tackled in an artist specific line. DCC have given us four uniquely sculpted figures and have done their best in bringing his work to 3D life. I wouldn’t say that these look as if they jumped right off the pages, but they’re about as good as can be expected. Lee’s character drawings are often heavily cast in shadows and silhouettes — so much so that you don’t often see the full figure, which is why these probably seem a little off to me.
While Wonder Woman is by far the standout of the series, Catwoman is the strongest of the three covered today. She’s an absolutely beautiful figure. Apart from some sculpted wrinkles and boot buckles, there isn’t a whole lot of detail. The real highlights of the sculpt are the two heads — goggles up and goggles down. Confident and sultry like you’d expect with Catwoman, she also has that coldness that you see in a lot of Lee’s work. One nit is that she is just a tad too tall for my tastes. No way should a Gotham City cat burglar outsize Wonder Woman.
I will never be a fan of the trunk-less New 52 suits, but this Superman figure has some incredible sculpted elements that really make it shine. The raised chest emblem, suit lines, and belt are all sculpted on, and the cape is just fantastic. The head sculpt has all the facial elements of the Lee’s work, but without the tight pencil work and heavy shadows, it doesn’t translate quite as well as some of the other art-specific figures. Nevertheless, it is a good-looking sculpt and I really like the bit of windblown hair that they’ve added.
Batman is probably my least favorite of the group. It’s not bad, but there is nothing outstanding about it either. I do like the head sculpt and it fits very well with Superman, but all in all, this just seems like yet another New 52 Batman figure. Just like with Superman, the cape is one of the figure’s strong points.
Paint
The paintwork on these figures is just outstanding. I was a little surprised at just how good they are, especially with the ladies. The skin tones are realistic and there are even some glossy paint apps on the lips — which greatly add to the realism. The costumes are all painted evenly with very little slop. One thing I don’t quite get is that they were pretty liberal with the painted shadows on the Superman figure, but not so much on the rest of the bunch. It’s not a huge deal, but it does seem to give the wave a less cohesive look.
Articulation
It’s obvious at once that this line places more importance on sculpt and paint than it does on articulation. That’s not to say that the figures are statues either, but without key articulation points, such as waist, ab, and ankle joints, you just aren’t going to be able to get take a ton of interesting poses.
Each character has a ball-jointed head, pin-and-disc shoulders, single-pinned elbows and knees, wrist cuts, and thigh cuts. Catwoman does have a cut at the top of her boots, which the guys do not.
Overall
I’m thrilled to have this set. Despite the articulation shortcomings, which were pretty expected, these are some beautiful-looking figures. And to get a representation of one of my favorite artists? Sold!
Thanks for reading!
