In 1986, comic legend, Frank Miller changed the character of Batman forever. Both writer and artist of his seminal Bat classic,The Dark Knight Returns, the work of Frank Miller is indelible on the now eighty year history of Batman.
Thirty three years later, DC Collectibles continues to recognize Miller’s Bat changing design work with a new DC Designer Series: Batman by Frank Miller statue!
I covered DC at New York Toy Fair this year for C506, as well as my DC Collecticast podcast. I had the pleasure of meeting Brian Walters for the first time, Senior Art Director of DC Collectibles. Walters guided me through the DCC booth for our interview at the fair, where I came across today’s DC Designer Series: Batman by Frank Miller statue.
From DC Collectibles’ Brian Walters:
That’s a Toy Fair reveal, which is a really impressive, imposing looking piece. That’s from ‘Dark Knight Returns’ and the illustration is a straight on front view, so kudos to our sculptor, John Matthews. He was able to fill in a lot of the blanks that you couldn’t see from the art work. But, it’s a really really great piece!
“Great” is right! For a huge DKR fan, I was floored by this thing in person. The ultra Miller, hulking Bat is straight from the premium format page, now just rendered into 3-D polyresin. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a piece that made me do a double take like this one, due to how close it is to its 2-D comic image. “Dimension shifting,” that’s a cool review!
From DC Collectibles:
Based on the art of comics legend Frank Miller comes an all-new DC Designer Series: Batman statue. This impressive 1:6 scale statue showcases the ravaged, gritty and iconic look from Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns” story line.
- Limited Edition of 5,000
- Measures Approximately 8″ Tall
- $150.00 US, On Sale November 2019 from DC Collectibles
People first entering the world of Batman comics are invariably overwhelmed. Where to start?! Which book? Detective Comics or Batman standard? Old stuff or new? How can I possibly jump into the middle of a story going as far back as superhero comics go?
Well, the answer, our Bat book newcomer, is to start with the classics. Namely, the standalone/elseworld Batman classics that don’t require a single page of Bat comic prerequisite. If you know Adam West Batman, then you know Miller’s Dark Knight. If you know Tim Burton’s Batman ’89 film, then you know The Dark Knight Returns (even though the book preceded, and in fact, influenced Burton’s flick three years later). If you know Batman in pop-culture, inside or out of comics, then you can follow along and learn the gritty ways of an old, boozy Bruce Wayne. The guy who dutifully comes out of retirement to revive the legend of Batman for one last epic adventure.
The Dark Knight Returns is required reading for all Bat fans, whether you land on being a Miller comic fan or not (and NEVER forget about the DKR animated 2 part movie, a top tier Bat comic adaptation). And, for Batman’s 80th, statues like this from the DC Designer Series are to be treasured. It’s a statue based on the art of a Bat history game changer. A pretty hardcore looking Bat statue at that.
If you haven’t already, check out the Toy Fair episode of our DC Collecticast podcast mentioned above. We have more DC talk on this same episode from Cryptozoic, Funko, and DC Collectibles.
Follow us on Instagram @dccollecticast and YouTube (Comic Book Intl) for more vids/pics from Toy Fair. CLICK HERE to subscribe to the podcast! Available on iTunes, the Anchor app, and many more pod places.
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