WILDCAT

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“In 1941, boxer Ted Grant was framed for murder and on the run when a comic book inspired him to don a costume and track down the real killer. As Wildcat, Ted cleared his name and, loving the double life, kept going.”

Ted Grant’s adoption of the Wildcat identity wasn’t all that removed from most costumed heroes of the Golden Age.  Guy has run-in with crime, wants to solve crime, puts on mask and adopts vaguely-themed supranym.  He didn’t really have any notable gimmicks, aside from being a boxer, which did at least make more sense for the line to crime fighting career than the myriad of scientists and doctors that got into it most frequently in the Golden Age.  When Earths 1 and 2 merged following Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wildcat’s background as a boxer and as one of the old guard super heroes led to him being the guy that trained a lot of the current generation of heroes, which was a pretty good touch, and gave him a solid footing and connection to the modern heroes.  He’s remained a fan favorite, which is pretty great for a guy whose first appearance had him playing second fiddle to Wonder Woman.  Wildcat has been no stranger to action figures over the years, and his latest comes in the form of Super Powers! 

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wildcat is the second to last figure in the 14th assortment of McFarlane’s Super Powers line, where he’s figure 71 in the overall line-up.  He’s the second of the three JSA figures in this round, sort of serving as a bridge between the more modern (Black Adam) and classic (Dr. Mid-Nite) memberships.  He’s using a more classic version of his costume, pre-hand wrappings and more defined mask, which fits better with the usual Super Powers period, as well as most of the other JSA-ers featured in McFarlane’s updated line.  The figure stands just under 4 3/4 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Wildcat is using the modified Wave 10 version of the newer Superman mold as his base.  It’s got some plusses and minuses.  I think the general stocky build is certainly a good match for the character, and most of the costume details have been cleared, to better align with Ted’s costume.  That said, I’m not much of a fan of the gripping right hand in place of a fist, and the mold has a belt, which is also wrong for Ted.  He gets a new head sculpt, and it’s a little softer on the detailing, but I do particularly like that it’s clearly more defined than “slightly rounder ears on a Batman.”  His color work is very basic.  He’s predominantly just a very dark shade of blue, almost entirely molded plastic, with just a little bit of paint on his face and eyes.  It’s very basic, and like I said above, not really the more modern take on his costume, but it does work for the general style.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I knew Wildcat as a kid from his presence in the JLA/JSA crossovers mostly, but my first distinct memory of the character really was his original DC Direct figure from 2001.  He’s got that understated, but still very cool look, that works really well as an action figure, and fills out the JSA line-up nicely.  I’ve been loving the building up of the JSA that’s been running through McFarlane’s Super Powers, and so I’m happy to have Ted to add to the crowd there.  The figure isn’t without its flaws, but I think he sells the look well, and I’m happy to have him.

Incidentally, my daughter Aubrey, who’s been insisting on helping me open all of these Super Powers figures as they arrive, was immediately enamored with this guy, who she’s taken to calling “Kitty Cat,” and whom she pulls off of my shelf every time she sees him.