DC Collectibles Batman Black & White Batman Beyond Statue Review

I have been a big fan of the Batman Black & White Statue series for DC Collectibles for some time now. While I’ve been selective about the number of actual Batman statues I buy in this line (I currently own Aparo, Quietly and Cooke), but I have keenly collected the supporting cast statues in this line to surround them. Tonight’s review is of the latest release, the DC Collectibles Batman Black & White Batman Beyond Statue. 

Based on the art of Dustin Ngyuen, this statue was sculpted by longtime DC Sculptor Jonathan Matthews, who in recent times has done a number of the Batman Black & White Statues as well as a number of the Ame-Comi pieces.

The most striking thing about this piece is the pose. Batman Beyond has been sculpted performing a handstand or some other type of acrobatic manoeuvre, and the result is very effective. The sculptors of this line have been trying some different things lately, and it’s fun to watch. In my opinion, this pose is more effective that the Dick Grayson Batman in acrobatic flight pose, which looks great at just the right angle but is actually challenging to display well. This achieves a similar effect while remaining a piece that works at a number of angles and doesn’t hog too much shelf space. 

This piece must have posed a bit of a challenge for the designer, since the Black & White theme does not permit the use of the red that breaks up Batman Beyond’s mostly-black costume. This issue is cleverly addressed by the use of some grayscale elements and and a translucent material to represent the red underarm-wing-thingies BB sports - sorry to use such technical language, but accuracy is key here...

While I was at first a bit surprised by this choice, since a true B&W or grayscale representation of the red... youknowwhats.. would come up darker, I think this was a very good design decision, as it accentuates the handstand pose and makes the lines of the piece clear and crisp. I always give points to the use of some different materials in these statue pieces, and this definitely scores a few. 

The only thing that takes a touch off the shine off this piece is the lack of a numbered edition size, which seems to have been removed from all statues since DC Direct became DC Collectibles. While I can see some pragmatic reasons for this change, I really do feel it takes something away from the pieces. I can’t attribute any of this fault to the actual statue, but I do need state that I’m not a fan of this change.

My main hope for the future of this line is that the glaring omissions of a Robin of any variety and Nightwing are soon addressed, and that

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!