POP! Heroes: Firestorm

You have to feel a bit sorry for the B- and C-list members of the Justice League. Sometimes it feels like you’re totally expendable, and that at a moment’s notice you could be killed and/or your superhero name taken by the next random old mate showing up. Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Supergirl – even the A-listers aren’t immune to it, with Wonder Woman and Batman having been (temporarily) replaced for varying reasons over the years. 

Of course, order is usually restored, but it can take an awfully long time. Just ask Barry Allen, who died as The Flash in Crisis on Infinite Earths and proceeded to stay dead for the next 23 years of real-world time. 

Firestorm hasn’t had it quite that bad, but there still been several different iterations of the character taking over the years. Add to this that his secret identity is typically two people, not just one, and I was left with my head spinning after reading through his Wikipedia article.

I’ve only ever read a handful of comics featuring the character, but I’ve always liked his design. He’s a very visually distinct character among his JLA companions, reminding me of Jack Kirby’s drawing style, with the weirdly baggy unitard, puffy sleeves and the “could be a scientific diagram, could be made up” chest emblem. And of course, his head was literally on fire. It’s a design that should irritate me immensely, but for some reason it all kind of clicks here. Not as immediately as say, Ghost Rider, of course – but he has a very cool 60s vibe nonetheless.  

There are two other versions of Firestorm that utilise this mold – White Lantern Firestorm and the glow-in-the-dark version of White Lantern Firestorm. A few years ago I would have picked the glow version up almost without question, but I’m really trying to cut back these days. Horror stuff, and some DC – that’s about it. I mostly picked him because he was on sale for a good price, but he’s a nice addition to the mix overall. Much the like the character, he’s solid but not outstanding. 

POP! Heroes – Catwoman (Legion of Collectors Exclusive)

The world of superhero comics has traditionally been one of black-and-white morality – paragons of virtue contrasting sharply with hand-wringing villains. But their pulp fiction predecessors tended to play it a little more grey; you only need to flick through a handful of Robert E. Howard’s stories to see that. 

But some do harken back to these pulp roots, and few characters exemplify this as well as Catwoman. Once an out-and-out villain, she’s been bordering on hero status for decades now, and even a periodic lover for Batman. She generally acts for the right reasons, even if she’s not always on the right side of the law.  

This costume is her first true Catwoman outfit (though technically the second the character wore), 

harkening all the way back to the 1940s. It’s been revived from time to time, but it’s a stark contrast to her modern catsuit-style outfits. But of all of Catwoman’s costumes, this is actually one of my favourites. though it’s ludicrously impractical for her chosen line of work. The colours are garish and the design would be ludicrously impractical for actual catburgling, but I’ve liked it since I was a kid. We’ll probably get other comic-based Catwoman POPs in the future, but I never would have picked this costume as getting made.    

Paint is adequate, if unspectacular. Obviously you don’t get any choice in picking the one you’d like, but Funko seem to be holding these exclusives to a slightly higher standard than many of their regular releases. The more annoying thing is the glue mark on the back of her head, where the hair has been attached the back of the mask.   

Overall, it’s a solid and distinctive POP. But four boxes into the Legion of Collectors program, and I have to say that I have very mixed feelings about the whole enterprise. The POPs themselves have been quite good, but the supplementary materials have ranged from adequate to garbage, but overall I’ve just found myself with even more unnecessary crap taking up room in my house. So I’ve opted out of the last two (DC Legacy and Superman) …and I’m umming and ahhing about whether I want to opt in for the next one, solely because it’s Wonder Woman and I’m a big fan. This is a great figure for Catwoman fans, but if you decide to track her down then make sure you don’t pay an arm and a leg.

POP! Heroes: Wonder Woman (DC Comics Bombshells)

Year: 2017

Company: Funko

To a large degree, superheroes have become stock characters, able to be reinterpreted across a wide variety of different settings and stories. Sure, you have the core DC and Marvel continuities (which themselves tend to undergo some kind of reboot or rebranding every few years), but there’s a myriad of interpretations out there beyond these mainstream interpretations. Marvel probably toyed with this concept most explicitly with their What If…? title, but DC have long dabbled with it too, particularly under the Elseworlds banner. And so we come to DC Bombshells.

Beginning life as a line of collectible statues back in 2013, DC Bombshell’s basic concept is to reinterpret a number of DC’s female characters in a mid-20th century pin-up and/or wartime propaganda poster style. It’s a novel concept, considering how many of DC’s characters were birthed in that era, and it’s been quite successful. It plays both the men and women as a little sexier than the comics necessarily do (Poison Ivy in particular) but still manages to be less overt than plenty of the “regular” comics.

A ton of merchandise has been spawned in its wake, including clothing, posters, comics and now Funko POPs – so today we take a look at Wonder Woman. As might be expected, the adaptation of various characters to this cheesecake art style works better with some than others. Fortunately, Wonder Woman is one of the ones who works very well. She was the first character released in the original statue line, so I assume the pressure was on to get it right.    

Here, Wonder Woman’s outfit resembles a rockabilly take on the comics costume, crossed with Rosie the Riveter – to provide some contrast, here’s how Wonder Woman actually did look when she debuted in the 1940s. Her tiara is replaced with a headscarf, and the haircut is distinctly Bettie Page in style. The bustier is now a collared shirt with capped sleeves, and the trunks have been replaced with high-waisted shorts. However, it’s still very clear that this is Wonder Woman and not some random person at a hot rod show – she keeps her braces, the WW logo is present on the shirt, the eagle has been shifted to her belt and her shorts retain stars. It’s a great reinterpretation of the costume, and it’s been well-translated to POP form here.

That said, paint is okay, but certainly not outstanding; the hairline on mine is a little messy, so check your options in the store if possible. I feel like the colours should maybe be a little bolder, but  I suspect this is partially to do with painting over skin-coloured plastic. There’s also a Chase version, which is the same sculpt but in a sepia paint scheme. It’s a nice period-appropriate concept, but not an essential purchase.

Funko’s initial Bombshell line includes Harley Quinn, Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Katana and the Joker. All of them look okay, though I don’t plan to invest any further at this stage. Batgirl is my least favourite, as she has a bit of a steampunk vibe, though I assume it’s meant to evoke more of a 1930s aviation look. But Wonder Woman is my favourite superheroine, so although I’m unfamiliar with the wider mythos of this take on the character, I figured that this was a must-buy.  She seems to be the best-selling character in the line so far, so if you’re keen to pick one up I’d recommend you hustle. 

Funko POP! Heroes – Power Girl

Company: Funko

Year: 2016

Power Girl! My main familiarity with her comes from the Superman/Batman series that ran from the early noughties through to the New 52 reboot. She turned up there reasonably regularly as a supporting character, never quite breaking through to the mainstream appeal of some of her contemporaries but nonetheless retaining a cult fanbase in the process.

Still, for the purposes of this review, all you need to know is that she’s an alternate dimension, gender-swapped Superman. She hangs out with the Justice Society, too. Pretty lazy backstory, but that’s all you needed in the 1970s.

So, how’s the POP? Well, pretty good. I believe Power Girl’s outfit has changed a few times over the years, but this would be the only one anyone would be able to pick out of a police lineup – white leotard, blue boots + gloves, red half-cape and belt. All of it virtually unchanged since her very first appearance, 40 years ago. Her hair fluctuates in length from time to time, but it’s always quite short in comparison to say, Zatanna or Wonder Woman.

Paint is adequate, but not amazing. And to be fair, I think you could apply that description to the POP itself. Maybe it’s just the fact that her costume – which is quite distinctive on the printed page – isn’t quite as vibrant when it’s rendered in 3D form.

Overall? I bought her on sale and she’s fine – but though Power Girl is a character who I like well enough, and it’s always good to get more of DC’s female cast members, there’s something that keeps it from being a truly excellent POP. She’s good, rather than great.

POP! Heroes -- Black Manta

Series: POP! Heroes
Company: Funko
Year: 2016

It's been quite a while since there was a new wave of DC POPs -- at least, ones that weren't based on the burgeoning DC Universe movies, or the Arkham series of video games. There have been a few Rainbow Lanterns, Batman variants and other randoms like Swamp Thing, but it's been quite a while since there was an entire wave of new characters and sculpts. It's a pretty good one, too -- Cyborg, Firestorm, Power Girl, Supergirl and the subject of today's review, Black Manta.

I must confess, I'm only really familiar with Black Manta through his appearance in the Justice maxi-series, which I believe differs a little from his mainstream incarnation. He was revealed to be an African-American in the 1970s, but he didn't actually have much of a fleshed-out backstory until around the turn of the millennium; there have been a couple of different versions of it, but they basically amount to Black Manta some kind of abused or traumatised kid who developed a hatred of Aquaman, and then sought to dominate the ocean and Atlantis when he grew up. Yep, in spite of the deceptively robotic appearance, beneath that mask is a human head. It looks a little odd when you consider it next to a regular POP. But it is a cool design nonetheless, and those eyes shoot lasers!

The body itself isn't too dissimilar to the basic body that characters like Superman were built on. But it's a new sculpt; one hand is raised and holding his gun-blade thing. He's also been given a backpack, which has wires attached to his headgear. This is quite a unique feature for a POP but does have the effect of making his head virtually impossible to turn from side to side. So it's not ideal, but it's definitely not a deal-breaker either.

Given that villains are in pretty short supply through just about every POP line, it's great to see another one get a release -- let alone one who's relatively obscure in comparison to the Lex Luthors and Jokers of the DC Universe. In fact, I'll go further and say that it's a great all-round wave.
The only character I don't really want from this wave is Cyborg. If we had a New 52 version, I might have considered it (and it would be good to get some of the other Teen Titans eventually) but I have just never cared for the metal leotard look that was his signature look.



Whether or not you care for Aquaman, Black Manta is a nicely designed and well-executed POP. He's got a very retro-futuristic sci-fi look, so entirely apart from his villainous origins, I'd recommended him on that alone. Great fun!

POP! Heroes: White Lantern Flash

I mentioned a while ago that I had at least one more Flash POP to review on here – well, here he is!

First released a year-ish ago in conjunction with White Lantern Superman, I initially passed on this Flash. Of course, now that I’ve got the (glow) versions of Batman and Wonder Woman, I’m incredibly annoyed at myself for not getting the glow Flash and Supes back then – but hey, if that’s the worst thing that happened to me all week, I’m doing pretty well.  

But I was in Geelong a couple of months ago and came across this non-glow version in the Popcultcha store, and thought it was time to take the plunge. So now it’s quite possible that I’ll get White Lantern Supes too, though we’ll have to wait and see… 

This figure uses the same mould as the original Flash, New 52 Flash, New 52 Reverse Flash, Black Flash, Blue Lantern Flash, Reverse-Flash and Black Lantern Reverse-Flash – in other words, the exact same mould as all of the non-TV series Flash POPs. Funko sure is getting th
eir money’s worth from this mould; the only other mould I can think of that they’ve used this much is their original Batman, who is currently available in 3049235804+ different colour schemes (plus chases and retailer variants).  

  

The concept is good but the execution is lacking. The basic paint is cleanly executed across most areas, but the body is kind of dirty, possibly dropped on the ground at the factory. The tampographs on the other hand, though – they’re not great. The chest one has been stamped on properly, but the belt and wrists are pretty darn sloppy. The black lines are uneven and the silver is pretty sloppy. It’s disappointing – if you want to go ahead with a purchase, make sure you inspect it carefully. I’d be less disappointed if this was the glow version, but from a distance it’s still a striking colour scheme. He’ll look good on the shelf. However, in tandem with the QC problems with White Lantern Wonder Woman, it's made me very hesitant about picking up White Lantern Superman to complete the collection.

    

For someone who barely reads the Flash outside of his Justice League appearances, I’ve somehow managed to buy the same mould four different times. Batman is my favourite superhero, and I only own two of him! Fortunately, I’m not a big fan of the Black Lantern Reverse-Flash POP that came out just recently, so I’ve saved myself a bit of money there. White Lantern Flash is definitely not an essential purchase, but you may find him an interesting one. And I'd like to see more of the White Lanterns, particularly some of the harder to find moulds, like Green Lantern and Hawkman.  

POP! Heroes – Swamp Thing (glow-in-the-dark variant)

Company: Funko

Series: POP! Heroes

Year: 2015

It has not been a good few weeks over here at the LBC. For the last few weekends I’ve been laid low with various illnesses and maladies, so updates have been pretty thin on the ground. So I’m sitting at home, struggling to keep to it together as snot emerges from my nose at a frightening speed. What connection does this have to Swamp Thing? Well, he’s quite green and is presumably always dripping with ichorous fluids, so yeah, let’s go with that. 

I always liked comics as a kid, but Swamp Thing is the one that really pulled me into my current level of interest. Y’see, back in the late 1990s, DC republished a bunch of Alan Moore’s run on the title as black and white single issues. Flash forward to 2006 and Gosford Book Exchange had a bunch of them in stock – a relic of the long-closed Phantom Zone store that had once been next door. This was right around the time the film of V for Vendetta had been released, so I held Alan Moore’s name in quite a bit of esteem. They were going cheap, so I picked them up and promptly became a huge fan, rekindling an enjoyment of comics that actually became quite unhealthy for a while. 

But I emerged better for the experience, and here we are today. Pretty much ever since I started collecting POPs, I’ve wanted Funko to do a Swamp Thing. But I wasn’t confident that would happen – his complex design was quite far removed from the simplistic style Funko was working with at the time, and the character’s peak popularity was a couple of decades ago.    

The box art is great. The Funko art style is a good render of the character’s distinct look, and they’ve incorporated the old-style logo, rather than the New 52 version. The back of the packaging is a little curious; as Swamp Thing has been released solo (I’ll get to that in a moment) rather than in conjunction with other characters, the box just depicts the first few DC POPs that were released, including the now-rare Batgirl. Fingers crossed for a re-release of her, as I didn’t pick her up in back in the day and she’s now exceedingly expensive…

The sculpt is some great work from Funko. Lots of little details have been worked into the sculpt, like the vines, the I think the nose should have been a little bit more prominent on the face, like this, but it’s otherwise quite well executed. He's cast in semi-translucent plastic, which is a good idea, but does mean that the head and body are slightly different shades of green. He’s been given a black wash to bring out all of the little details, which is a good touch. But on the subject of paint…     

Paint…sigh…well, I don’t need to tell any regular readers or fellow POP collectors that Funko tend to do a below-average job when it comes to paint. Swamp Thing does not buck that trend, unfortunately. The front of him is okay; the brown vines could be a little neater and red eyes, but they’re within the acceptable range. But turn him around and you’ll see he just hasn’t been painted – all the details are just blank!

Now, I should clarify that this may be because I picked up the glow in the dark version specifically. There are three versions of this POP available – a regular, a glow one and a flocked one. All of them look pretty good. The regular and glow versions look virtually interchangeable; you’ll notice on the box that there isn’t the usual “Glow in the Dark” sticker, so how these will be told apart in a shop setting (as opposed to ordering online) is a bit of a mystery to me. The flocked version also looks fantastic, and I was tempted to order that too – but we’ll see.         

Overall, Swamp Thing is a good addition to the collection -- I never really thought we'd see him released, particularly not in multiple forms. While I don’t think they quite knocked it out of the park, I do think that Funko have delivered a solid product in sculpt, if not paint. Highly recommended for Swamp Thing fans, regardless of era.