DC Collectibles is making changes to its DC Icons line from single card to “iconic moments.” That’s bad news for those of us who were enjoying the single-card releases. And a solid variety of the various corners of the DC Universe. Icons has incorporated Silver Age, Bronze Age, New 52, Milestone and Rebirth characters. Hard to complain about a line offering that kind of diversity.
While I’m stoked about the Death of Superman iconic moment pack, It also seems like the Hail Mary before DCC inevitably cancels the line due to lack of sales. I looked at those reasons earlier, but for now I’m going to allow a last gasp of optimism on ways DCC can keep Icons a viable line through 2017 and beyond. Here’s some choices for the most likely strong sellers for the Iconic Moments re-branding of DC Icons.
Knightfall: Batman vs. Bane
This is probably the biggest no-brainer follow-up to Death of Superman. This was DC’s other big event of the ’90s featuring the fall of The Dark Knight. Not only does it provide another big, hulking figure in Bane, but it gives DCC the opportunity to do a make-good properly scaled Batman in his classic yellow oval attire. Give us some diorama pieces from the Batcave and let us re-enact the pivotal midpoint of Knightfall.
Crisis on Infinite Earths: Supergirl vs Anti-Monitor (with Superman)
Back when superhero deaths actually meant something, none hit me harder than Supergirl’s death. After the Anti-Monitor pummeled Superman, it was Supergirl who saved the day. The original design for the Anti-Monitor remains one of my favorites and the DCC sculptors would do a bang-up job bringing it to figure form. No other DC image is as iconic as Superman clutching his dead cousin, so for this set, DCC should provide both combatants, a crying Superman head, and a backdrop with the grieving heroes in the background.
Infinite Crisis: Superboy vs Superboy Prime
It only makes sense to include the sequel to Crisis as well, right? We could finally get a version of Kon-El in his black T-shirt glory battling out against the corrupter of the Superboy name. Superboy Prime could come with multiple, ever increasingly more deranged heads. This could include a really intricate base of all the heroes Superboy has already laid out.
Flashpoint: Thomas Wayne Batman and Reverse Flash
We can all agree the Thomas Wayne Batman was one of the better Batman variant outfits, yeah? And our DC Icons Flash needs one of his main arch-rivals to chase down in this line. And we may as well capture one of the most significant moments in DC, which led directly into the New 52. Since these guys look to play some sort of role in the upcoming Rebirth arc “The Button,” they’re equally relevant now. Give them a base with a lightning-streak Barry Allen closing in on Reverse Flash, and call it a must-buy pack.
Rogue War: The Flash vs Captain Cold
When in doubt, DCC tends to ride its Batman/Superman train hard. But there’s a lot of reasons why this set featuring Flash could work.
For a generation of comic fans, Wally West is their Flash, not Barry Allen. The good news for DCC is that Barry and Wally’s costumes don’t have a lot of sculpt discrepancies with most of the work going into a new head sculpt and shiny paint job.
DCC already has the Captain Cold figure done as it was sighted back at SDCC’16. With the tooling already done, this is an easy way to get one of DC’s highest profile villains — thanks to his stint on Legends of Tomorrow — to collectors.
I was a little skeptical of this iconic moment switch, but if DC uses it beyond shredded, battle damaged attires, it could make for a neat way to add more Icons figures to our collection.
And the cool thing is with that format, it could easily work for numerous combinations like a Dark Knight Returns, Knight’s End, War of the Gods, Hush, etc. sets.
What combinations/iconic moments would you like to see?