Space Jesus

Superman is important.

The handful of regular readers to this blog will know just how important the character is to my private life and my family. Superman is our symbol of Hope, he acts as our beacon in the darkness and he gives us strength.

However; Superman is more than this. He is of course important to my son and I as I watch my son become my very own Superman but the character himself is important to comics and Superhero history.

Superman was the first. Before all of the well versed comic lore fans jump on me with corrections, I am fully aware of serial saga heroes such as The Phantom, Zorro and The Shadow but it was Shuster and Siegel who combined the range of different powers, wrapped them up into the one alien orphan, coined the term Superhero and pretty much painted him as a red, white and blue All American good guy. There was no darkness or real mystery surrounding Superman; the character was bold, bright, patriotic and stood up for the oppressed or weak.

Superman is an icon. He is the first! From Superman came Batman, then the Timely/Marvel age of Namor and The Human Torch before the rest of the Justice League and the 60’s Stan and Jack Marvel revolution. Without Superman there would be no explosion of comic book heroes or culture. The Marvel blockbusters or the brooding Nolan Batman movies just wouldn’t be. Superman is very important indeed…

The reason I am burning yet more keyboard hours writing about Old Big Blue is that I have something incredible. There is a good chance that I could even be the very first person in the UK to own one of these.

I am of course talking about the new Sideshow Collectibles DC Comics Superman Premium Format Exclusive Figure.

This is my first Sideshow Premium Format figure so bear with me here.

Supes arrived yesterday via FedEx in a huge heavy box. Upon removal of the outer shipper I was presented with a large blue box bearing the Superman logo. On the underside of the box was the Exclusive sticker stating I was now the proud owner of number 370 of 2500.

The internal packaging was quickly removed from the box and carefully opened.

Within his own polystyrene Fortress of Solitude was Superman, well more a decapitated Superman with a separate Base and two alternate headsculpts cocooned in tissue paper.

Hidden away on the underside of the packaging behind a secret panel was the sculpted cape.

I quickly sought out the instructions and began putting the figure together.

The body featured steel magnetic pegs at the feet which slotted easily into the precut holes in the base.

The body sculpture was incredible. The figure looks strong and powerful. The sculpt give the impression of a 1940’s strong man or athlete. A bulked up swimmer or weightlifter rather than a steroid fuelled bodybuilder. This figure looks as if the muscle has been added through heavy lifting and hard work and that is what Superman should look like. As an aside, the later ‘Roid n Ripped’ Superman interpretations never made sense to me as a reader because the character was strong due to Earth’s gravity, yellow Sun’s radiation etc. With that thinking, Superman would look just like a regular guy but be exceptionally strong (hence the everyman Clark Kent secret persona). This is a man who can lift cars or trucks without thinking about it; just how would he sculpt his body to be ripped pecs, abs, lats, traps and delts? What was he working out with? Planetoids?

Anyway, I digress. The body sculpt is perfect. There is a joint/seam at each wrist but a quick futz with his sleeves covers any visible lines in the polystone.

The suit is beautiful. The tailoring is perfect and flawless, the colours bold! The spandex material is perfect and the shield symbol sits slightly raised and is at perfect scale. Sideshow have done an incredible job with the suit. It is mixed media, the boots are polystone and painted and airbrushed as is the cape but the blue undersuit, the shiny yellow belt and the red ‘granny knickers’ are perfect. I love it!

With the body and the base set up, it is time to fit the head sculpt.

The standard headscult was unwrapped to show flawless paint applications. There was no issues or heaven forbid crosseyed problems here. I feels the hair could probably have done with a few strands of grey at the temples as this is a stoic, aged, original comic book Superman but this is personal preference only and not really important. Maybe a hint of blue in the locks too? Never mind!

The sculpt is a classic Superman, the painting of the eyes, the hairline, the subtle shade difference in his lips, it is all perfect. The head features a wedhe shaped piece under the neck with a magnetic bar to secure it to the body. All of the flesh exposed around the neckline is part of the headsculpt, the seams are hidden by the front collar of the suit and the cape once applied.

The cape! Oh the cape!

This is the biggest problem with the piece. The cape itself is beautifully sculpted and adds both movement and drama to the piece in the way a fabric cape could never achieve. The sculpt is beautifully painted with airbrushed hi-lights and lo-lights to embolden each fold of the material.

The cape is perfect for the piece but dear God is it difficult to fit and I’m sure it will lead to paint damage, breakages or just simple, nerve shredding frustration.

The cape is secured by a single steel pin in the sculpt’s shoulder. In order to fit it, it needs to be alined at the perfect angle and rotation before the pin can be slid gently into the socket. This is where Sideshow have let the customer down in a minor way. The painted polystone cape really needs a soft fabric application glued around the underside of the neckline. Picture your pristine flesh coloured headsculpt and you nervously attempting to place a heavy, deep red cape around the flawless pale paints of the neck. I would say it is impossible to fit the first time without at least some gentle rubbing leading to red “crayon lines” on the neck paints. Luckily, with a damp cloth, these can be gently buffed away but it is a mixture of steady hands and luck that will prevent further damage. It seems some collectors have already identified the issue and have posted a solution using a handkerchief to protect the neck during cape installation before gently removing it once the statue is complete.To be fair it is only a minor bug bear but it is one that exists and care is required.

With the installation of the cape, the statue is complete:

(Click on pics as they are embiggenable…and you can zoom once embiggened (a perfectly cromulant term))

Okay, this is the Sideshow Exclusive. This is what I’ve paid the extra in import duty and FedEx fees for and just what is it you get for the additional outlay?

The Ex head!

The exclusive head has been a bone of contention amongst statue, figure and Superman fans since the reveal.

The alternate headsculpt is a badass, angry Superman, head facing directly forward, heat vision burning…

Well, we were told heat vision burning!

You see, instead of a light up LED feature, Sideshow have elected to indicate Superman’s heat vision with wisps of translucent red heat shimmer rising from his eyes.

Fans everywhere were instantly in outcry over what were quickly labelled noodles or spaghetti eyes.

The images were disconcerting. The effect in addition to the rich translucent red of the “noodles” instead seemed to give the impression of blood trails in a low gravity situation. Why are Superman’s eyes hemorrhaging?

few weeks ago the customers learned that the heat trails were going to be removable and that Sideshow would also be providing tiny red eyeballs sans heat trails should that be the preferable posing option.

So what is the result in hand?

Personally I don’t think the “Noodle-head” is as bad as the marketing images looked. The “noodles” themselves are a pliant, soft material and honestly convey a dramatic effect when combined with the stern, bad ass head sculpt. The red eyeballs are also pretty cool but it should be noted that the alternate head does feature a red airbrushing technique around the eye sockets. From a distance, it gives off the effect of a reflected glow on the skin but up close, it does seem to resemble the effects of pet allergies or hayfever.

The exclusive head is a great bonus and fantastic option for alternate posing (if you didn’t have to keep performing the risky and tricky cape removal and installation each time) but to be honest, my statue will be posed with the regular headsculpt on a permanent basis. It will be interesting to see if any customised or repainted alternate heads start showing up. The potential is there to do something very cool with an already incredible statue.

So, after a year of flexpaying and anxiously waiting, Superman is here. As my first Sideshow Premium Format Statue I have to admit that I am overjoyed with this piece. There are no twinges of buyers remorse at all. The quality is amazing and it makes for a great display and discussion piece. My son already loves it and tells me it is far cooler than the Hot Toys Reeve figures sat in the Detolf.

Concerns on forums regarding factory paint apps are banished once this is in hand, it is perfect and flawless in every way. I would happily purchase another Sideshow PF and although I have recently cancelled my order for the Reeve Superman PF, I am very much hoping to buy the Cavill Man Of Steel PF to accompany this however I cannot imagine that being as high quality as this figure.

A wonderful item and well worth both the expense and the wait, I love it!