2 in 1 Showcase Episode 239: One Month of the New 52

The new DC Universe is a month old now, and in an extra-sized episode Blake, Erin, and Mark sit down to talk about how that first month shaped up. Mark gives us the retailer’s perspective on how sales have changed not just for the New 52, but for other titles as well, and the gang discusses the hits and misses of the last two weeks of titles. In the picks, Erin is just getting into the Dresden Files, Mark is a fan of Annihilators: Earthfall and Herc, and Blake cheers the premieres of Ghostbusters and Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz. Contact us with comments, suggestions, or anything else at Showcase@CXPulp.com!

Music provided by Music Alley from Mevio.

Episode 239: One Month of the New 52

2 in 1 Showcase Episode 224: The New DC

This week, DC Comics made an announcement that rocked the world of comics. This Sunday, the Showcase boys get together to talk about it. What’s the difference between a “reboot” and a “relaunch”? Will same-day digital change our reading habits? Which new books are we looking forward to, and what are some announcements we hope get made before all is said and done? In the picks, Mike likes Jack of Fables Vol. 8: The Fulminate Blade, Kenny chooses Flashpoint: Batman-Knight of Vengeance #1 and Blake goes with 50 Girls 50 #1. Contact us with comments, suggestions, or anything else at Showcase@CXPulp.com!

Music provided by Music Alley from Mevio.

Episode 224: The New DC

Toy Stories: Ring-slingers, Kryptonians, and Public Enemies

Next week, Erin and I will be winging our way to Las Vegas to spend Mardi Gras week away from the lunacy of New Orleans. (She likes it more than I do.) So I thought maybe I should get around to showing you guys the Infinite Heroes action figures she got me at Christmas before we went. I think that’s fair…

"Fear me!" "Love me!" "Fear me!" "Love me!"

It seemed natural to pair up Sinestro and Star Sapphire. With all the different colored Lanterns running around in Blackest Night, these were the two preexisting “other Lanterns” that Geoff Johns included in the mix. I’m a little disappointed that Mattel didn’t put Sinestro in his current, far superior costume, but the classic costume is okay. Both of these are fairly standard figures for the now-finished Crisis wave of Infinite Heroes. Neither is sporting the new body sculpt that the 70th Anniversary figures that we’re getting this year have. But they’re decent enough figures, and I’m always impressed when they can paint a tiny little ring on someone’s finger.

"Wait, how does THIS schmuck get to wear the 'S' while I still have a hole in my costume?"

Power Girl and Superboy-Prime (I know he was calling himself Superman-Prime when he wore this costume, but he’ll never earn that name) are paired off since they’re both Kryptonians, of a sort, from alternate universes. PG is one of my favorite DC characters, and star of one of their best comics right now. The figure does her justice, even if she does need the stand to stay on her feet like every other Infinite Heroes female. Prime is just a repainted Superman figure. Nothing to say about the sculpt, but the paint job looks good, and I’m glad they didn’t subject us to the mullet.

Animated Coolness

These two three-packs actually didn’t come from Erin, but from her mother. Thanks! I looked all over southern Louisiana, but came up short looking for the action figures that accompanied last fall’s Superman/Batman: Public Enemies direct-to-DVD movie. There’s another six-pack out there, which I would like to get as it includes such characters as Major Force and Gorilla Grodd, but the pack also includes duplicates of Superman and Batman. If you’re going to duplicate a character in the same line, is it too much to ask that you at least do a variant? After all, this is the movie in which those two disguised themselves as Captain Marvel and Hawkman. Those would have been great figures. But I digress.

These six figures are all movie versions of characters I already have in the standard DCU edition, so I thought it would be interesting to compare.

"Okay, so I'll stop that metor from hitting Africa and you put on the suit and glasses and show up at the Daily Planet this week..."

Let’s compare the Supermen first. The original Superman figure is on the left, the animated figure (as it will be in all these pictures) is on the right. At first, I didn’t really see much difference, then I realized the Public Enemies figures are sporting the new body types. In the male figures, the big differences are at the hip and shoulders, both of which are now ball joints which allow for greater posabilty. This I like. What I’m not as happy about is that the torso is a bit skinnier now. If you look at the two, you’ll see that the first Superman has more of the classic barrel chest. This goes for all the male figures in this line, except (for obvious reasons) Lex Luthor.

"What's that, Lex? Didn't hear you. Suffering from a little rocket envy there? Heh. That's okay, you can say it..."

The sculpts of the two Lexington Q. Luthor figures is almost identical, except for the center chest-emblem. Oh, and the big honkin’ rockets on the shoulder of the Lex on the left. Other than that, the onyl difference is in the paint job. Visually, I much prefer the Public Enemies figure — much more colorful, vibrant paint job. But I wouldn’t say that in front of the guy on the left.

"Wasn't I already in this article once?"

Fortunately, Erin gave me the “classic” Power Girl just in time to compare her to her Public Enemies counterpart. Unlike the male figures, it doesn’t seem the females got any change in sculpt for the new series. But they’d already made a small change a while back, making the legs thicker and sturdier. Still not enough to stand up without a base, though. Again, just in terms of the vibrancy of the colors, I think I prefer the animated figure. Probably has something to do with trying to imitate the animation.

"Oh, so you were still on Earth at the end of the movie, huh? Well lemme tell you what happened in the COMICS..."

The new Captain Atom really shows how the change to the leg sculpt will help pose these figures. You can spread the legs wider and make them a bit more stable with this sculpt. In terms of color, it’s hard to pick a favorite. The DCU Cap has more of a silver color, but PE Cap has kind of this blue steel thing going on that also looks really good.

"So neither of us is Dick Grayson? Man, this is awkward..."

Batman is the only hero to come out of Public Enemies with a darker figure than his DCU look. Again, he’s sporting the new sculp, and if you look closely, you see that the shape of the utility belt and the bat-symbol on his chest are a little different. The cape sculpt, I believe, is identical between the two figures.

"So do you think we have any 'electricity' together? Huh? Heh? Do ya?"

Last but certainly not least, we end up with Black Lightning, the role for which Levar Burton must have cashed the smallest paycheck of his career. Seriously, why would you cast such a great actor and only give him one line in the movie? Sheesh. Anyway, PE Lightning has the new sculpt, and a very different costume from his comic book counterpart. And again, I prefer the Public Enemies look. I just think it’s a better costume, and I think Black Lightning looks better with hair. Just sayin’.

2 in 1 Showcase Episode 154: Superman/Batman: Public Enemies-The Commentary

Since the Showcase started, every so often fans have suggested we try our hands at a movie commentary episode. This week, we’re finally giving it a try. Get out your DVD of Superman/Batman: Public Enemies and pop it in. When we tell you to press play, you can listen as Blake, Kenny and Mike talk about the movie itself, the comic books it was drawn from, the stories that came before and after, merchandising, merchandising, merchandising, and maybe a tangent or two along the way! In the picks this week, Mike chooses Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2, Blake says farewell to The Mighty with issue 12, and Kenny picks Frank Cho‘s Shanna the She-Devil. Contact us with comments, suggestions, or anything else at Showcase@comixtreme.com!

Episode 154: Superman/Batman: Public Enemies-The Commentary
Inside This Episode:

DC Universe Infinite Heroes-Lotsa Toys

As happened during the Halloween Party, I drifted away from doing my “Toy Stories” photoblogs during the Christmas Party. And this time, I’ve got a lot of new figures to cover. This is, I must say, something I love doing, and as it seems to be a feature that gets a lot of attention, I assume you like it too. Let’s look at some of the DC Universe Infinite Heroes I’ve picked up since I last talked toys with you guys.

Batman and Two-Face

This first pair, like earlier ones, isn’t technically an Infinite Heroes set, it’s part of the DC Hero Zone: The Dark Knight. When I heard that they were releasing the Dark Knight toys in two waves, I assumed that the reason for this was so that they could hold back on Two-Face figures until after the film was already out and not spoil the reveal. As usual, I was correct. The Harvey Dent figure in this two-pack looks great — and considering the 3.75-inch scale, it’s not a bad likeness of Aaron Echardt. As all of these figures were released in two-packs, this makes the third Batman figure I’ve gotten to get the three different villains (the others being the Joker and Scarecrow), which is exactly two more Batmen than I actually need, but hey, how else are you gonna get a Two-Face?

For the Infinite Heroes, let’s look at a Toys R Us exclusive six-pack, Defense of Oa:

Guy Gardner, “Energized” Hal Jordan & John Stewart

This Green Lantern themed six-pack comes with three heroes and three villains. Guy Gardner, unfortunately, is a duplicate of one of the single figures I already had. (What, we couldn’t get a Kyle Rayner? Or a Kilowog? Or even a Tomar-Re?) The “energy” version of Hal Jordan is a neat-looking figure, and that at least means it won’t be a duplicate of the inevitable single Hal figure that’s sure to come out sooner or later. Finally, there’s a really sharp looking John Stewart. I’m well on my way to constructing my own 3.75-inch Green Lantern Corps.

A Qwardian Weaponer with two Manhunters

The villains in the pack are kinda generic: no Sinestro, no Sinestro Corps members, but instead one Qwardian Weaponer — one of the millions of footsoldiers from the Anti-Matter Universe — and two “battle damaged” Manhunters, the robots created to protect the universe before they went bad, prompting the Guardians to create the Green Lantern Corps in the first place. The Qwardian is also available in a single pack, which I intend to pass on now, and there’s also a single Manhunter, but one that’s not “damaged.”

Let’s move on to the single figures:

Batwoman

Batwoman is a nice-looking figure, although (like all the female Infinite Heroes toys) her legs are totally incapable of standing the figure up on their own, so she comes with a clear plastic base. You can kinda see it at the bottom of the picture if you look hard enough. I’m glad they came out with this toy, though — she’s becoming a more significant member of the Batman family.

Hush

Speaking of Batman, I found one of his nastiest enemies — Hush — when I was in Pittsburgh with Erin. For some reason, this was a hard photo — the camera wouldn’t focus on the figure. Maybe it’s the bandages or something, it could have confused the camera. I dunno. Still, cool figure for a cool villain. Although I do think the trench coat is borrowed from the Commissioner Gordon figure.

The Question

The Question is next, and I find it interesting that they went with the original incarnation of the character, Vic Sage, instead of the current Renee Montoya. As far as I know, this is the only Infinite Hero figure of a character currently dead. I wonder if they’ve got plans for Renee later down the line.

Black Hand

Getting ready to cause a little chaos next summer in Blackest Night, here’s one of Green Lantern’s old enemies, Black Hand. Not much else to say about him — most of the Infinite Heroes toys come from the same basic body sculpts, with accessories (capes, gloves, masks, etc.) added as necessary. Without the cape, this is as good an example of that as you can get.

Black Adam

Speaking of villains with “Black” in their name, here’s the anti-Captain Marvel, Black Adam. He’s really one of the most interesting characters in DC Comics these days (thank you, Geoff Johns), so I’m glad to see him showing up in this set.

Wildcat

Ted Grant, a.k.a. Wildcat, is one of the grand old men of the DC Universe. He’s a classic World War II hero whose powers have kept him viable to this day. I love the character, and I hope his inclusion means we’ll see more of the classic heroes — specifically Alan Scott and Jay Garrick, the original Green Lantern and Flash, respectively.

The Atom

From one of the oldest DCU heroes to one of the youngest, this is Ryan Choi, the third Atom. Ryan is a character who I think many fans rejected without giving him a chance just because he wasn’t Ray Palmer (the previous Atom), which to me just ain’t fair. He starred in a really good series that ended before its time. I hope we see him find a home, and soon.

Well, that was going to be it, until I was out shopping earlier and found something I had to grab. To the aunts and grandmother who gave me money for Christmas, here’s what your dollars bought:

DC Universe Infinite Heroes: Battle For Metropolis

The Infinite Heroes Battle For Metropolis eight-pack. This set is another Toys R Us exclusive, and it’s another set that uses duplicate villain henchman to fill up the case, but that’s not really why I got it anyway.

Lex Luthor and his Rockettes… um… that is, “Luthor Troopers.”

Lex Luthor, the big mama-jama in the middle there, comes with four of his “Luthor Troopers.” He’s given them all armor, which is nice of him, but you’ll notice he saved the big toys for himself. You see those two big shoulder-mounted rockets? Yep, they actually shoot. The set also has three different heroes with it:

Captain Marvel, Superman and Captain Atom

Captain Marvel, Superman, and Captain Atom all have a home here. Captain Marvel (labelled as “Shazam!” for trademark reasons) is sadly identical to the single-pack figure I already have, not unlike the Guy Gardner. Captain Atom is a nice new figure, but I wonder… why him? Neither he nor Marvel have ever lived in Metropolis. Why not have some natives fighting for their city? Booster Gold? Gangbuster? Guardian? Rose and Thorn? So many figures they could have chosen from.

Like I said, Captain Marvel is a duplicate, but Superman…

Kingdom Come Superman & Classic Superman

The Superman battling for Metropolis is actually the version of the character from the awesome Kingdom Come series and currently appearing in Justice Society of America. And since he’s from an alternate Earth, I can officially count these figures as two different characters, rather than just different versions of the same character (as Hal Jordan and “Energized” Hal Jordan would be). Sweet. This is the kind of duplicate character I like.

So looking over the packages of the figures that have been released so far, here’s what I still appear to be missing:

• The Gotham City Patrol six-pack, which includes Batman, Killer Croc, Catwoman, Hush (at least this one has an alternate head, unlike the duplicate Guy Gardner and Qwardian Weaponer), and two Gotham City SWAT team members. I already have the two that came with Commissioner Gordon, but I guess you can never have too many of those.
• Single-packed, undamaged Manhunter figure
• Power Girl
• Star Sapphire

There are also single figures of Batman and the Qwardian Weaponer, but as those appear to be identical to the ones in the multi-figure packs, I can pass on ’em.

Hope you enjoyed this little look at the figures I’ve been accumulating, gang!