Series: POP!
Heroes
Company: Funko
Year: 2016
The Cold War cast an ugly shadow over the collective
unconscious of the world for decades, but few decades showcased it as much as
the 1980s. In the dying days of the conflict, the threat of nuclear
annihilation was at an all-time high as America and Russia strove to outdo one
another in an arms race. The mood of paranoia inspired artists across all
manner of media. Amebix channelled it into a raging blend of punk and metal,
John Carpenter made Escape From New York
and Frank Miller funnelled it into a radical reinvention of the Dark
Knight.
The resulting book, The
Dark Knight Returns was fantastic. But it’s also become a bit of an
albatross around the neck of the Batman mythos; it was revolutionary when it
came out in 1986, restoring Batman to a menacing, dark figure in the public
eye, and showcasing some decidedly subversive takes on numerous other DC
stalwarts. Naturally, it spawned a bunch of imitators – and as often happens,
the imitations were far inferior to the original. They made everything as DARK AND
EDGY as possible, without actually paying attention to the many other elements
that had gone into making the book so readable. Perhaps the most extreme
example of this is the recent Batman Vs
Superman: Dawn of Justice. If you’ve read the comic and seen the movie, you
know exactly what I’m talking about.
Frank Miller’s art always had stylised elements, but by the
time he drew The Dark Knight Returns,
he had really sort of come into his own. I don’t love his art style –
especially in more recent years – but it was unlike most other stuff out there
at the time. Much as I love George Perez and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, their
style probably wouldn’t have worked for this story. The advantage of this is
that it mostly lends itself to Funko’s stylised look rather well.
The relatively simple helmet is certainly accurate to the
comics, but the contrast with the highly detailed body is maybe just a little too extreme; it works in the
comic, due to the proportionate size of the head, but here it’s accentuated. Batman’s
older, wrinkled face can be seen beneath the mask – Superman eventually breaks
off the mask during the fight, and so there’s also an unmasked version
available, if you’d prefer. It’s cool and all, but even with the slightly odd
look of the helmet, I’m happier with this version.
Batman doesn’t traditionally use guns, but every now and
then he makes an exception. On this occasion, he’s got some kind of sonic
weapon – I don’t remember all the details, but I think it gives Supes a
splitting headache or something. We’d see a very similar design in The Dark Knight Rises, when Bats carried
around that EMP gun.
Lastly, the body is covered with body armour that would have
looked quite futuristic in the 1980s. It’s not how the future has turned out,
of course, but it’s still cool. Lots of Michelin Man-esque padding, rather than
straight-up metal sheets like the BvS redesign.
Ultimately, since there’s already been around 12,000 Batman
POPs previously released, it’s great to see that this wave doesn’t just consist
of simple repaints. While I don’t think it’s as good as the Armored Batman from
the Legion of Collector’s box, it’s a good tribute to a classic comic series,
and a solid addition to any DC-oriented POP collection.
