DC Collectibles recently had a fantastic showing at Toy Fair in New York. That doesn’t mean they were out of announcements for attendees of WonderCon. On Friday afternoon, Jim Fletcher and a group of Collectibles creators and fans had good news for anyone who sells display shelves.
The dais consisted of DC Collectibles creative director Jim Fletcher, Brian Walters (Art Director), John Mattews (Sculptor), Travis Hastback (Art Director), DC-All Access co-host Jason Inman, and Supergirl Being Super artist Joelle Jones.
After the panel presentation opened with a recap of Toy Fair announcements, Fletcher and company expanded on the Batman Animated Series toys coming to join the already released Batmobile and Batwing. Fans of the Bruce Timm 90’s cartoon series will be able to add a scaled replica of the show’s Batcave. Complete with its own Alfred, the cave has soo much detail from the beloved cartoon. Adding that coup de gras to the set are the light up screens showing blueprint schematics fans might remember from the show. The Batcave playset complete with butler serving tray will release this Fall.
One of the things the collectibles crew has been excited about is all the expressions packs they’ve developed for their figures. What better toy to show off a variety of expressions than The Joker. This Batman Animated Series version comes with various hand types and a gamut of facial pantomimes. Unique to the figure will also be a set of purple arms that allow fans to remove his trench coat. Oh Oh Oh and it has a rubber ducky inner tube accessory!
As Hastback explained the expressions packs lend a new creative freedom to fans who love to take artistic photos of their toys. Don’t believe me, just check out Instagram. The group even had an expressive moment of their own on stage.
Also getting new statues soon is the Batman: Black & White series of states. The latest artist to join the line is John Romita Jr with a statue based on his All-Star Batman run. Romita Jr’s gritty superheroic style is one that couldn’t have been easy to translate but sculptor Mattews certainly delivered. Not only is a new Batman coming to the line but so is Harley Quinn in a Black & White designed by Amanda Conner, which will come to collectors this Fall.
Announced during the WonderCon panel as part of the Black & White collection is a Batman inspired Spy vs. Spy statue which will also be the first done in solely black and white colors. The statue will come out on Alfred E Newman’s birthday in 2018.
The big news of the DC Collectibles panel came from its invited guest, artist Joelle Jones. With her stellar work on the Supergirl mini-series, Fletcher and his group pitched her on designing the newest DC Cover Girls statues. First up is Jones take on Harley Quinn. A hyper-expressive and bursting with energy statue sporting subtle yet interesting touches. Other proposed poses were also shown during the panel but the team felt this would be the most eye-catching design when seen in 360 degrees.
After Harley, more statues designed by Jones will grace our dusty shelves; including Supergirl, Mera, and the most awesome Batgirl statue anyone has ever seen. The artist also talked about the differences between sequential art and design, but her released statement summed it up best. On the difference between creating 3D designs for 9 inch statues in contrast to her 2D comic art, Joëlle Jones stated, “one of my favorite things about designing sculptures is being able to capture the essence of the character in statue form. Evaluating the small nuances you appreciate in a character and using that to dictate their gestures, allows opportunities for expression you don’t necessarily get when creating a comic book.”
DC Cover Girls by Joelle Jones will begin to release in March of 2018 with the others to release shortly after.
That was a look at all the DC toys and statues we’ll have to sell our old stuff to make room for. Anyone want to buy a box of Dodger bobble heads?
