SUPERMAN — THE SILVER AGE

DC MULTIVERSE (McFARLANE)

As we head into a year that will headline the latest Superman movie, we’re really seeing a turnaround on Superman related product.  After several years of some lackluster offerings, it’s kind of nice to see the new direction.  McFarlane’s run with the DC license started off with a heavy bat-focus, but in its final year, the company is really taking some steps to do some more interesting and exciting things for people who like the non-Bat side of the DC Universe.  We’ve been slowly getting some proper classic variants on the heavy hitters, and really the last hold out on that was the Man of Steel himself!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman — The Silver Age is part of the fourth “Digital” assortment of DC Multiverse figures, alongside Dr. Fate and Two-Face.  Officially, these are all under the “DC Direct” branding, but they’re clearly the same line as what’s coming directly from McFarlane.  So, one thing of note, if I can be a little pedantic for a moment: this figure is billed “The Silver Age,” when in fact he’s clearly meant to based on the artwork of Jose Garcia-Lopez.  That would *actually* make him a Bronze Age Superman, not Silver Age.  I won’t complain about getting a solid classic Superman either way, and in fact I *prefer* a Bronze Age Superman, but you know, call it what it is, right?  Okay, moving on.  The figure stands 7 1/2 inches tall and he has 37 points of articulation.  This Superman is another use of the Earth 2 Superman mold from the Crisis set, which has become McFarlane’s new standard for the Man of Steel.  It’s not hard to understand why; it’s a really solid, balanced, and clean Superman mold, and it’s by far the best version they’ve offered up during their run with the license.  This figure sports a new head sculpt, directly based on Garcia-Lopez’s drawings of the character.  It’s quite a strong sculpt.  Previous sculpts based on specific artists have struggled to really capture the feel, instead kind of forcing a bit of a “Todd” style on them, but this one is just pretty straight Garcia-Lopez, and it works really well, and also fits well on the base body.  The color work is quite bright, as it should be, and the paint work, which is mostly confined to the head and torso, is pretty sharp.  I especially like the slight accenting on the hair; it feels very true to this particular take on the character.  Superman is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and flat (same as the others on this base body), and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Look, this many McFarlane Superman reviews in, you guys have to get the general gist of where this one is going, right?  When McFarlane started with the license, and they put out that first Action Comics #1000 Superman, and it was just mediocre at best, I sort of wrote it off that we weren’t going to get a good Superman, and that was true for a bit.  But then, all of the sudden, they just kept getting better.  And now I own four of them, and they’re all great.  This one in particular does feel really definitive, though.  Like, I just look at it and think “yeah, that’s just Superman, as he’s meant to be.”  Which is one heck of a recovery from a company that started with the Superman that McFarlane did.  Crazy to see them get it so together *right* before they lose the license, but if nothing else, they gave us this genuinely fantastic Superman figure.