By Chris Troy
It’s a good week to be a nerd, FPNYC faithful! Captain America is kicking ass in theaters (stay after the credits btw, the teaser for the next big Marvel movie is amazing!), there’s a plethora of awesome news coming from San Diego Comic Con (Play Arts Batman?!?!?!? Square-Enix, you are too kind!) and Grant Morrison‘s “Supergods” is on shelves! Grant is arguable my favorite writer working in comics today, as his runs on New X-men, All-Star Superman, JLA and various Batman titles are without a doubt my favorite take on those characters. “Supergods” is a non-fiction novel which tells the history of comics, as well the story of Grant’s own life. A $30 hardcover novel, I’m about 3/4th through it and I can honestly say it’s a solid auto-biography/history lesson. Just expect a lot of Morrison’s crazy-babble when it comes to his experiences with drug-use during his time writing “The Invisibles” and a bit of Alan Moore bashing (which as much as I like the man’s work, is deserved at times). Some of the copies we have are signed as well, so it’s worth adding to your bookshelves if you want a fascinating look into the life of one of comics’ most talent writers, as well as a pretty solid history of the medium.
Kid Robot is a company I haven’t brought up before on the blog, but I have been keeping my eyes on for the last few years. They’ve started off doing their own original vinyl toys (and still do!) back in the day, and would dip into the licensed toys pool every so often. A few years back, they start doing chibi, super-deformed Simpson figures, which were met with great success. This lead into Kid Robot making a (glorious) Futurama line, and because the Simpsons did it first, Family Guy figurines happened as well. These figures were/are blind-boxed, uprising customers with who they would end up buying, with some variant figures thrown into the mix, not unlike the way the Japanese figurine market works. Most recently, Kid Robot teamed up with Udon Studios (who’ve work on a number of Capcom-related comics, art books and game) to produce a line of Street Fighter figures, which as a fighting game nerd, pleases me to no end. Based on the legendary Street Fighter 2, the first wave consists of fan-favorite characters like Ken, Ryu, Blanka, Chun-Li, Vega and others. They’re cute, colorful and faithful to the fighting game franchise. Each blind box figure goes for $10 a pop (same price applies to the Simpsons, Futurama & Family Guy as well) and if you want to pick up one of these stylish figurines for your desk, I encourage you to do so soon immediately, as Kid Robot isn’t exactly know for re-issues!
It seems that DC Direct has been dropping and insane amount of figures as of late, which means the amount of Batman figures on the shelves currently are probably at a record high, even when the next movie is still a year away. The latest line is based on last year’s time-traveling “Return of Bruce Wayne” mini-series (written by the previously mentioned above Grant Morrison), and offers a Prehistoric (Caveman), Wild West (Cowboy), Witch-Hunter (Puritan) & High Seas (PIRATE!!!) Batman all based on the work of Andy Kubert. And much like every OTHER DC Direct I’ve looked at the last few weeks, the figures are faithful to Kubert’s pencils, favoring design and sculpt over articulation at $20 bucks a pop. If you ever wanted a Pirate-Batman to add to your collection, now is your time to do so!
