Statue 4: New 52 Batgirl

Since getting back into the comic-book/superhero scene, one of my most pleasant surprises has been the New 52 Batgirl series.  Whereas most of the New 52 material has been nothing great to write home about (e.g., Supergirl since issue 8), and some has been downright awful (Action Comics, Superman), Batgirl has been absolutely superb since day 1, due primarily to Gail Simone's top-notch writing.  Because of how well this series has been both written and drawn, the Batgirl character has risen rapidly to become one of my favorite superheroes in all of comics.  In fact, although as a general rule I would say that Supergirl is my all-time favorite, I have to admit that, just comparing New 52 incarnations, Batgirl has it all over Supergirl up to this point.

Given my growing esteem for this character, and my plans to create a small display dedicated to her (admittedly much less extensive than what I will be able to do for Supergirl), I thought it was high time to add a Batgirl statue to my collection.  There are a few choices here, but only one that captures the New 52 version of her suit -- the Batgirl Bust put out by the +DC Comics line of collectibles.  And I have to say this for +DC Comics -- their New 52 stories may only be mediocre, but the new line of busts they are putting out for the New 52 characters is absolutely first rate.  Now if only the comics could be this good.

The statue I picked up at the comic shop was the "display" model.  For some people, who never take the item out of the packaging, I suppose this would be unacceptable. But since the thing had been sitting in a glass case for several months, untouched, and was in mint condition, I saw no reason to turn up my nose at the floor model.  The guys at the shop always keep the boxes, so they were able to give me the box and styrofoam packaging to go with it.

I don't have any way to make a real display with this statue yet (first I need to buy a house, then I need to buy or build some kind of display stand or curio for my collectibles), but I pulled out some of Batgirl's biographical literature (including my signed copy of Batgirl #0) to provide an admittedly rudimentary display background for photographing.  The statue stands about 6" tall, the same height as all the other busts, and is not really a bust so much as the upper half of Batgirl's body from just below the waist to the tips of her bat-ears.

This is a really well-posted statue.  Batgirl is clearly in the middle of fighting some villain like the Joker or Riddler. She has her left hand cocked back, holding a bat-a-rang, ready to throw, with her right hand thrust out forward for counter-balance.  She looks to the right, clearly planning to throw toward the right, across her body, with the 'rang, and the flow of her movement has caused her cape and hair to fly to the left.  This really is a wonderful action pose for this character, and her facial expression is wonderful -- determined, but with a slight hint of a smile. You can almost imagine that, as she pulled out that bat-a-rang, she made a classic Batgirl wise-crack to the villains.

The statue is made of porcelain, and is beautifully sculpted and painted.  The colors are outstanding, with a shiny black for the armor and a golden-yellow for the boots, belt, and bat symbol.  Her hair is reddish-brown, and the purple underside of the cape makes a nice contrast with all the black and gold.  She really looks like a superhero.  The base is a dark purple, matching the inside of her cape, and there is a very nice raised gold bat-symbol on the front of the base.  Strangely enough, like the Supergirl statue, the symbol on the base is the old, classic (pre-New-52) version of the symbol, not the current symbol for either character.  I'm not sure why they did that, but it doesn't do anything to detract from the beauty of the piece.

As with the New 52 Supergirl bust, which I reviewed back in January, the Batgirl bust is a very high quality, well-crafted collectible.  It retails for around $67, as most of the busts in this line do, and is well worth the price if you are in the market for a Batgirl statue.  They had two other statues of this character in the comic shop, with the classic/previous costumes, and although they were nice, I felt this was the most attractive Batgirl statue I have seen.  I give this one 10/10.

Statue 2: New 52 Supergirl Bust

The very first comic-book I downloaded and read when getting back into comic-books again was Supergirl #1 from DC's The New 52 line.  The comic re-introduces Supergirl as a new character, just arrived on earth.  In honor of the occasion, DC gave her a newly designed costume, which has garnered both praise and criticism.  Now, my favorite version of Supergirl is still and always the original, and how much I like this re-envisioned version of Supergirl is going to, in part, depend on how close she eventually comes to bringing back that original character.  For now (I've read the first 10 issues of the series at this point), I'm reasonably satisfied. The new Supergirl is from Krypton (and specifically Argo City) like the original, and is the daughter of Superman's Uncle Zor-El.  She is named Kara Zor-El, just as the original was.  And she seems to have all the powers that the original had (within reason).

I'll reserve discussion of the various versions of Supergirl for another time, since this article is about a statue I recently purchased.  When I was shopping Amazon for the "Crisis" Supergirl action figure (Statue #1), I noticed several very nice-looking statues, and one that was reasonably priced, and looked quite nice was a bust based on the new Supergirl ("The New 52" version).  Since my first "statue" was an action figure of the oldest version of Supergirl (though not her oldest costume), I figured my second purchase should book-end the character by representing her newest version.  I bought this statue on January 4, and it arrived at my apartment a few days ago.

The first impression one gets with any collectible is the packaging. Indeed, if you really want to keep something a "collectible," you technically shouldn't even take it out of the package. However, I have no intention of using my statues or action figures as monetary investments (since those types of things never pay off), so I plan to open them as I get them. However, it's nice when the item arrives in an attractive package, and this bust definitely did.

New 52 Supergirl Bust statue box

The bust was sealed up tight in a large styrofoam packing block, and was extremely well protected. It took some doing, in fact, to get the packaging open and get her out of there. And I have to say, once I had her on the table top, I was extremely pleased.  The bust is gorgeous. It is about 6" high, and is made from a ceramic material (most likely porcelain).  The detailing and painting on it are excellent, and I particularly love the way they formed the cape. She has a nice, heroic yet feminine pose, and I love the way they shaped her hair.  Supergirl looks like she's about to spring into action against a super-bad-guy.

The New 52 Supergirl bust with some biographical materials

I also like the way they created the stand.  It has an organic, swooping appearance to it, and the "S" shield, which represents the family crest of the House of El, is raised up three-dimensionally from the base.  The statue looks good from all angles.  As I said above, the paint job is outstanding, and the detailing is extremely good.  Here are some shots of the statue from different angles, to demonstrate what it looks like.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with this statue.  If this is the quality level I can expect from the DC Direct busts, I absolutely will be buying more (I already have Hawk, Dove, and Batgirl on my want list, but I will probably get others if they are all this good).  I don't have anything bad to say about this statue.  It's excellent, and was well worth the money.  When I find a place to display all my collectibles, this one will get a very prominent position.  I rate this a 10/10.  It is first-rate.

Finally, I thought it would be fun to include a shot of the two versions of Supergirl (oldest and newest) together along with some of their contemporaneous biographical material.  So here is a shot of Crisis Supergirl and New 52 Supergirl together.

I have to admit that, although I like the original Supergirl better (both in costume and in almost every other way), the New 52 statue blows the action figure out of the water.

To wrap up, the New 52 Supergirl bust, which retails for about $65, is a top-notch statue, and I can highly recommend it to anyone interested in getting a high-quality superhero statue.  I don't think you even need to be a Supergirl fan to appreciate this model. It is simply outstanding.