“This should be agony. I should be a mass of aching muscle — broken, spent, unable to move. And, were I an older man, I surely would… But I’m a man of 30 — of 20 again. The rain on my chest is a baptism. I’m born again.” – Batman, The Dark Knight Returns (1986).
It’s hard to write reviews sometimes. Someone just really ticked me off before I set down to write this and I’m finding it hard to focus on the matter at hand. Maybe it’s a good to be in a grim & gritty mood for talking about the The Dark Knight returns and its impact on comics in general. I think DKR is well done. I think it’s a seminal work. I think it’s a comic that deserves the praise it gets.
And it’s a comic I totally don’t like.
Nearly all of my favorite Batman stories are from before DKR. My preferred Batman is more the bronze age, well-rounded, fatherly, detective Bruce Wayne that uses Batman as a mask. That’s the good stuff. I still have room for crazy-ultra paranoid Batman, Bruce-as-mask Batman, and Sci-Fi Closet Batman, but plop me down some 1978 goodness and I’d be most happy. I want Batman in his suit, cowl off, just chatting with Alfred about Dick’s studies. And then he go punch some jokers too. And Dark Knight Returns is not that. It is credited with kicking off many of the things about Batman that I don’t like (& that nearly everybody else seems to). It does make its case with a mostly good story, but it’s just not for me.
So when Mezco announced their One:12 line was kicking off with DKR Batman. I was excited – it’s Batman & it’s a crazy, new form factor, but I was tempered by it being this Batman. Mezco finally managed to get my attention with a Previews Exclusive though. I prefer blue over black and I’m so pro-oval that I can only name one time I really thought the lack of an oval looked way cool. The PX figure would be the one for me. I did wait a little too long and had to pick this up from a fellow collector (thank you!) and then I waited a little longer to review him, but he’s a good candidate to wrap up our Bat-Week.
The PX release came in a pretty cool package. Long-time readers know it’s cool because I never talk about packaging. It’s a little bit of a box in a box, as there’s a plastic slip cover over the inner box which features a flap covering window packaging. Once you get in there, the figure is front & center, neatly packaged with the stand appearing as a Bat-signal behind him and the accessories splayed around him. A second tray hides the behind-the-scenes accessories like the stand and a torture device used to aid in posing the cape (or designed by Joker to trap Batman, I can’t quite tell).
Out of the box, the figure does a great job of selling Mezco’s One:12 Collective. Mezco already created what I consider the greatest line on my shelves: Comic Hellboy. That line looks like Mignola’s artwork walked off the page. The sculpt & paint are fantastic, the articulation works great, it’s all around the best. The only flaw is that it didn’t last – I’m still dying for at least a Kate and a Ben while I’m ever thankful they pushed out an Abe to finish the main roster. The attention to detail on that Hellboy line has forever sold me on Mezco.
And they’ve done it again here. We’re basically talking Hot Toys 1:6 goodness in 1:12 scale. It’s right there in the name. “One:12 Collective”. To be fair, the figure clocks in at 6.75” which would make Batman about 6’ 9”, so it’s more 1:11, but who’s counting? Continue to Page 2…
Great review. I read The Dark Knight Returns an The Killing Joke a couple years ago and I wasn’t really impressed by either of them.
“And Dark Knight Returns is not that. It is credited with kicking off many of the things about Batman that I don’t like (& that nearly everybody else seems to).”
Oh, thank GOD it’s not just me.
For the longest time I thought there is something wrong with me for not liking DKR (or like Mark said, The Killing Joke). Not even Watchmen can grab me …
Great review, as usual and as a response to the last pic: “Yes! Yes it is!” 🙂
The ending of the Killing Joke is the worst part of it. Won’t write it here to give away spoilers.
Eh, 30 year book.
Are you referring to the ambiguity over whether Batman strangled Joker to death?
(If knowing that Batman “wins” at the end spoils the story, I got some news for people about how the genre works…)
Just the ending of them standing laughing in general. I never read a vast lot of Batman comics in the late 80’s and early 90’s, but the ones did read i enjoyed a lot more than TKJ and TDKR.
We need a pic of that crazy flight stand in action!
On subject of favorite Batman, I’m in a weird boat in that I jumped on the Batman books in the mid-1980s owing to all the hype surrounding Frank Miller’s various Bat stuff and Killing Joke.
I don’t remember what I thought of that stuff as a teenager (would’ve been 13 or so). I was a lot more “follow the leader” back then and might have liked it because people said it was likable. I vaguely remember being a little grossed out by Killing Joke, but thinking “it must be cool because all the grown-ups say it’s cool and what-do-I-know, I’m only 13.”
Now,though, I hate that hyper-gritty macho stuff (though as an adult, I do recognize the humor in DKR–it went over my head as a teen). And Bruce Timm gave the book a good interpretation via the animated show.
But as for favorite Batman–mine is the Batman TAS. A tiny bit grittier than the Batman you like, Noisy, but not so gritty that Alfred doesn’t make jokes at him, and who is quite the gadfly when he towns around as Bruce Wayne. TAS Batman is generally a kindly soul, down to the episode in which he tries to keep Harley out of trouble because he has faith that she can turn over a new leaf.
Love this figure. Have one, myself. Definitely not ashamed to admit that I paid $90 shipped for it, cause I waited way too long to buy one. My only beef … I wish the oval and bat were a wee bit bigger.
A real beauty of a figure; for sure. And it’s nice being able to enjoy a quality mixed media figure, that isn’t going to eat my display space, or decimate my cash flow with every new addition. Here’s mine – http://www.flickr.com/photos/49660795@N05/17099321507/in/dateposted/
Cool review! Yeah I wasn’t too sure about these figures when they first announced them so I held off but now I wish I wouldn’t have. Some of the licenses they’re doing don’t really grab me so I wouldn’t get every single one but if they continue like Bats I might grab a couple. Do you think they might rerelease Bats without the fancy box and maybe not as many accessories? I think those would sell well and the first run owners would still have something unique. Keep up the great work!
It will be interesting to see what Mezco do with Thundarr.