VIXEN

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA (DC DIRECT)

Following the winding down of the well-regarded Satellite Era of the Justice League, DC tried to inject some new life into their flagship super team.  Marvel was having a great deal of success with the Avengers, who had, for about 15 years at that point, been made up predominately of a number of B and C list heroes who didn’t have books of their own (i.e. Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wonder Man, Captain Marvel, etc).  Enter Justice League Detroit, a smaller scale team.  The only mainstays from the prior era were Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, and Elongated Man, all notably lower tier.  They were joined by a brand new cast of heroes: Steel (no, not the one from Superman), Vibe (no, not the one on The Flash), Gypsy, and Vixen.  The team was…less than successful, and after a short run, they killed two members and rebranded again.  Personally?  I kinda enjoyed the run.  Sure, it had its flaws (Vibe was little more than a walking stereotype), but there was a lot to like.  Perhaps the only new member to make it out of that run unscathed was Vixen, who happened to have one of the more interesting power sets.  She sort of hung around in the background for a while, before being brought in for a recurring role in Justice League Unlimited and subsequently being brought back onto the team in the comics for Brad Meltzer and Ed Benes’ post-Infinite Crisis relaunch of Justice League of America, which just so happened to get her a figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Vixen was released in 2007 as part of the first series of DC Direct’s Justice League of America line.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation.  That articulation’s pretty much good for having her stand there, and that’s about it.  Vixen is sporting her costume from the mid ‘00s which is really just a slight variation of the same basic design she’s been sporting since her first appearance.  I can’t say it’s my favorite design of hers, as it leans pretty heavily on the ‘00s obsession with putting every female character in a catsuit that was three sizes too small.  She, like all of the figures in the line is based on Ed Benes’ artwork.  At this point in their run, DC Direct was pretty much exclusively doing artist-based figures, which was rather a mixed bag, since not every artist’s work translates into three dimensions all that well.  Vixen is kind of weird and lanky for the most part, excepting of course for her breasts, which give an impression not unlike a pair of watermelons strapped to a tree.  It’s an odd look to say the least.  And, as far as posing goes, she looks like she just took a really deep breath and is trying not to let it out, resulting in her chest jutting forward and her shoulders being strangely raised.  She also seems to have had her hips removed at some point, which has had the effect of causing both of her legs to point off to the left in the way that no normal human legs ever would.  Her left foot also appears to have slipped out of place in her boot, since that’s about the only way it could end up that particular shape.  Her arms are probably the best parts of the figure, aside from their intended pose being a little vague; they’re actually shaped like arms, so that’s a plus.  The hands are actually a halfway decent sculpt, but end up being slightly on the large side (and the fingers are also prone to bending out of shape).  The head sculpt is…well, it’s something.  Not sure that something is *good* but it’s something.  The hair’s nice, I guess?  Just try not to look too closely at the face.  Vixen made use of some metal for her bracelets and the pull tag on her zipper.  It’s a nice touch, but the free-floating bracelets can get rather annoying when posing the figure.  Vixen’s paintwork is mostly pretty clean.  The jumpsuit seems a little on the drab side, but it’s not awful.  Once again, try not to look too closely at the face, especially not the lips or eyes.  And that’s not even addressing that super whacky hairline she’s sporting.  Vixen’s only accessory was a display stand with “Justice League of America” painted on it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I actually bought this figure from Cosmic Comix when it was brand new.  I was even excited for it.  At the time, I was really into Brad Meltzer’s run on Justice League of America, and I also really loved Vixen’s recurring role on JLU.  Time has been kinder to the latter of those things, but less so the former.  Also, I believe this was also about the time that I sat down and read the Detroit run, so that probably had something to do with it.  In hindsight, like Meltzer’s run on JLA, time has not been kind to this figure.  She’s rather indicative of this period at DC Direct, which wasn’t a very good one.  It was right about the time I stopped collecting their figures and moved over to DC Universe Classics.  I actually sold off a lot of the other figures from this period, but there hasn’t really been a better Vixen figure, so this one’s stuck around.

Wow, two “bleh” figures in a row.  I swear, I’ll try to review something better tomorrow!