Bowen Rogue (Art Adams) Statue Review

I have a great fondness for Art Adams’ Uncanny X-Men Cover Run - his cover to UXM #218 is one of my all time favourite comic book covers, and the unlikely lineup of Storm, Wolverine, Rogue, Dazzler, Longshot and Psylocke is a favourite X-Men era of mine. It’s not a surprise, then, that I found myself unable to pass up the Adams-styled Bowen Designs Rogue Statue, which was recently released. This statue is probably only likely to appeal to fans of that particular time in X-Men history, but as I certainly count myself amongst them I knew when I saw this previewed that I'd end up owning it. 

This statue is sculpted by Mike Cusanelli, who has become a Bowen regular of late. While he sculpts a beautiful female form, I always seem to find fault with something in the composition of his pieces, and this is no exception, but I'll get to that in a moment.

One of the big "likes" of this statue for me is the arial pose. In my ever increasing slew of Bowen statues, it's nice to have some that spice up the display by literally standing up above the crowd. The construction of this aspect of the piece is very cleverly done. The "swoosh" that elevates Rogue above her base is made of a translucent material which enhances the effect. This is a separate piece which joins with the base and the bottom of Rogue's 888888 foot, and it is quite sturdy. I am always impressed by the work that must go in to designing such pieces to ensure that they are balanced and sturdy. This piece definitely fits that bill. 

The headsculpt is a mixed bag. Cusanelli has captured the hairstyle Rogue sported in this era beautifully and executed the shape and texture of it very well, but the facial expression is a bit lacking. The expression is a bit blank when a more determined gaze would have better suited this “action” pose.

The paint work is very well done here. Bowen has had a couple of recent blips, but seems to have rectified most of those issues. The metallic green used on Rogue’s outfit is a real winner, and contrasts the matte black very nicely. 

My main concern here is the arms. I'm not one to think much about poses etc unless they don't work, and yet I am often troubled by the arms on Cusanelli's ladies. For some reason they often seem to lack energy or fail to fully achieve what you would assume the sculptor has set out to do. Here, Rogue's arms are raised at elbow height to show she is in flights, but the angle is perhaps a bit too tight, and so she looks somewhat like she is hanging on a piece of gym equipment rather than entering in to battle. Again, I'm not one to over analyse these things, and I certainly have nothing against this sculptor, but this is something that seems to continue to catch my eye.

All up, while this isn’t an entirely successful piece, the design gets it over the line for me. I’ll be displaying this alongside the recently released Storm Mohawk Exclusive, which isn’t quite era specific but is as close as we’ll get I suspect. What I really hope to see now are future releases to flesh out this great X-Men roster - particularly Dazzler in her blue costume, first appearance Psylocke and a full-sized Longshot. All of these get their fair share of buzz in Bowen fan circles, so hopefully time will gift these characters to us, and when they come, for Longshot and Dazzler especially, I am very hopeful they will be Art Adams-styled to match this piece. 

You can see more pics at Facebook, discuss this at the AFB Forum, and comment on this post to enter the November AFB Comment of the Month Contest!

Until next time!