Statue 3: Supergirl statue (Movie version)

The movie version of Supergirl's costume is generally considered the "classic" one, and DC Direct has put out a very nice statue of this Supergirl version.  I'm not sure whether it was intended to be modeled after Helen Slater (the actress who played Supergirl in the movie), or after the Matrix version of Supergirl (as drawn by either Gary Frank or Leonard Kirk, the two main artists of her 80-issue series in the late 90s/early 2000s).  It's difficult to differentiate these two Supergirls because the costume and look is basically the same.

Unlike the last two collectibles I have reviewed, this Supergirl was apparently made in a limited run of only 5,000 copies.  As a result, this statue has a "run number" on it, which is taped to the bottom of the original packaging, and also listed on the bottom of the statue's base.  For example, mine is number 2,887 out of 5,000 produced.  I'm honestly not sure what that means, and I suspect it is probably meaningless, unless perhaps you have the very first or last one of the series.

This Supergirl statue is by far the most expensive of the three collectibles I currently own, weighing in at $99.  I paid that price at the comic-book shop, because it was just as expensive online (and was even slightly more expensive on Amazon).  The statue is part of the "Cover Girls of the DC Universe" line.  All the statues of this series are similar in size and quality, as far as I can tell (from looking at them behind glass in the comic shop).  I will probably pick up several more like this in the future (the Black Canary one, for instance, is utterly magnificent).  The Supergirl statue comes in a large, sturdy box with photographs of the model and descriptions printed on each side.

The Supergirl statue, boxed, surrounded by reading material.

Once I opened the box, one surprise that confronted me immediately was that the base and the statue are separate.  There is a large pin underneath Supergirl's left foot that needs to be inserted into the base to assemble the model.  The assembly was not difficult, although it would have been nice, given that there were four different ways to insert the pin, if the manufacturer had provided some instruction as to the proper orientation for the model.  Additionally, because only the single pin, which is perhaps half an inch long and not very thick, holds the model in place, Supergirl is a little "wobbly" on her base.  This is not really a problem for a statue that just sits in place, but I would have preferred a sturdier fit.  If it weren't for the fact that the assembled model would not fit back into the box, I would be inclined to get out the Elmer's and glue her down.  (And to tell the truth I might just do it anyway.)

That said, the model is extremely beautiful.  They crafted Supergirl's body in a very heroic pose, meant to depict her crashing up through the pavement (perhaps from below the street, after fighting a supervillain).  She has burst through the ground and is flying upward, with one fist pointed ahead to the sky, and the other curled back by her torso.  This is a classic pose one can see frequently in any comic-book starring flying characters, and Supergirl looks great doing it.  They also did a good job molding the details to her body, such as the skirt, the cape, and the "S" shield.  Each of these looks like fabric, rather than porcelain, and they all "pull" slightly in very natural directions.

Overall, I am pleased with this statue.  It is over 11" tall once you place it onto the base, so it is quite large. The detailing is exquisite, and it looks fantastic.  I absolutely love the pose - she looks powerful and super.  And her face is the most beautiful of the three Supergirl statues I currently own.  This statue really looks like Supergirl.  The only negative is the slightly wobbly nature of the connection to the base. Again, since I won't be moving it around too much once I get my house (I plan to put her behind glass in a nice curio, surrounded, as in these pictures, by "biographical material"), this isn't a huge problem. But I would have liked it better if they had made the fit into the base a little more snugly.  This is a minor issue, so overall I still rate this statue a 9/10.  It's something I will keep for many years.

Finally, now that I have two high-quality statues, new and old Supergirl, I thought I would present them both here for comparison, so you can see the size and scale of each. I have each girl flanked by her, erm, "biographical periodicals."

Supergirls old and new. Classic (left) and New 52 (right).

Personally, I like the larger statue's look better. Not only is it her entire body instead of just from the hips up, but I also prefer Supergirl with the more classic, and frankly more demure, look of the skirt.  I also like the shape of the "S" shield better on this one.  However, I prefer that the New 52 Supergirl's bust and base are all of the same piece.

To wrap up, the "Cover Girls of the DC Universe" Supergirl statue is an outstanding sculpture, and is well worth it if you like Supergirl and like collecting statues and action figures.

Statue 1: Pre-Crisis Supergirl

As I mentioned in my earlier posts, one of the triggers that has returned me to the hobby of collecting and reading superhero comic-books was my discovery, while shopping on Amazon, of a Supergirl action figure.  This wasn't just any old action figure. Rather, it was my favorite version of the character, the so-called "pre-Crisis Supergirl."  First, a brief explanation of what this means.

In 1985, DC decided to clean up its multi-verse, and they published a famous mini-series, called Crisis on Infinite Earths. In the series, many ongoing characters were killed off, and the many alternate DC universes were all consolidated into one single, universe.  This effectively "rebooted" the continuity, and many origins (such as Wonder Woman's and Superman's) were updated and re-told, with the idea being that these characters were making a "first appearance" in the 1980s instead of the 1960s (or 1930s).  As part of the story-line, in issue #7, Supergirl died saving Superman's life.

The reasons why Supergirl was killed off, and the mess that was made afterward by bringing the character back in different, sometimes bizarre, forms, are beyond the scope of this article (though I will discuss them at length in a future posting).  However, shortly before her death, in her own (short-lived) series, Supergirl had been given an "updated" (1980s style) costume, and I had come to really like that version of her suit.  It proved wildly unpopular with Supergirl fans, I think mainly because it's the costume in which she died (so it comes with bad memories for many of us), but I always thought the "S" shield looked better on it than any of her others -- or any of Superman's for that matter.

In any case, because that version of Supergirl is long dead, and because the Crisis story happened before most of today's collectors could read, I found it surprising that DC had bothered to commission an action figure in their Crisis on Infinite Earths line depicting Supergirl in that outfit.  I also was fairly sure that they wouldn't produce these figures indefinitely, so when I saw an action figure for sale depicting my favorite version of my favorite comic-book character, for a mere $27, well... I could not resist.

And so, in early December of last year, I ordered the "Crisis Supergirl" action figure from Amazon.  It arrived a week or so later, in an attractive package, and it really looked quite good.  The "S" shield is a little bit too small, but otherwise, her look is very accurate to the way she appeared in the comics of the early 80s.

The Crisis Supergirl action figure in package, flanked by her old comic books

The action figure stands about six inches high, and is made of solid plastic.  The figure itself is, as I said above, quite accurate to the look of the 1980s Supergirl, as you can hopefully see from the reading material I have flanking her in the shot.  The package was nice, though not enough that I was unwilling to remove the action figure. I know that collectibles have to remain sealed in the package to retain their "value," but I did not buy this action figure as a monetary investment; I bought it as a decoration.

Therefore, after a few days, I finally removed Supergirl from the package.  I have to admit, this is where a little disappointment set in. Although she has joint articulations at the shoulders, hips, elbows, knees, and wrists, the figure is extremely stiff.  In fact, when trying to move her right arm into a pose I had seen in Amazon's advertisement (with the arm lifted up over the head), I don't think I even got it half-way up when the arm broke right out of the socket.  I was of course very upset -- here I had my favorite Supergirl not five minutes out of the package, and she was broken already!

Fortunately, my years of working with model trains and my plethora of adhesive material served me well. I was able to glue Supergirl's arm back into position, and it looks fine.  I learned my lesson, which was to treat this "action figure" as a statue, not an action figure -- and to never move any of the joints.  This is, of course, rather disappointing given that the articulation joints are clearly there, and they should be movable. But I never planned to "play with" her anyway -- I always intended her to be a display piece. And the glued arm works well enough for that.

Crisis Supergirl on her display stand, still surrounded by biographical material.

Overall, I would say that this is a great looking model of the original Supergirl, and that if you just want to look at it, and not move any of the joints, she is just fine.  If you want to play with her, or give her to a child who will want to move her limbs, then I would not purchase it. She breaks far too easily.

Although this is not really a "statue," it serves the same purpose as one, so I will call this my "first statue" purchase -- the first collectible super-hero figure I have purchased since returning to the comic-collecting hobby.  There will be many more over the coming months, so stay tuned for more articles reviewing these pieces.