Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Darwyn Cooke Supergirl Action Figure


The latest item obtained for my Supergirl collection was the Darwyn Cooke designer series figure which comes with Krypto and Streaky.

The whole collection is just delightful and really a wonderful tribute to Cooke. If there was ever a creator which seemed to understand what the DCU should be, it was Cooke. He was one of those creators who was an automatic buy for me, so sure I was of the quality.

Back to this figure, even the box is great. I love that the side of the box has a snippet of the cover of Supergirl #37 which Cooke did. I have to assume the design of Kara and the pets was based on this cover.

You know what that means? It means I want a Comet now!

The figure is really wonderful.

We clearly are set in the Silver Age here with the blue skirt costume. And there is this joyous expression on Supergirl's face. Between that expression and the Veronica Lake hair, this feels retro-cool and classic. This really captures the brightness of the Supergirl character from this time.

But I also love the small touches that was added to this design, like folds and wrinkles in the skirt and shirt. There is a feeling that this is fabric, not spandex. And I love that too.

The one quibble is the heeled boots, a look I never like. But I suppose it is a minor issue given how great the rest of the figure is.

As for Krypto and Streaky, their designs feel a little simple but, again, they are lifted right from the cover. Even their expressions are straight from #37. So the overall aesthetic feels right. I just wish that Streaky was more of an orange than the deep brown he is here. Streaks has always been an orange tabby.


As for the place in the collection, this figure clearly needed to be in the Silver Age section, next to the classic action figure, the spinning statue, the Mini-Mate figure, and the Action #252 cover.

Look! Two Super-cats!

The Silver Age section has grown nicely. Here is the whole shelf which also includes the Bronze Age hot pants section.

I keep saying it but I will show the whole collection soon. I have a couple more things on order.

3 comments:

Martin Gray said...

Lovely stuff, I was thinking the same thing about Streaky, he's positively Swifty-toned!

Now, why can I not see a Streaky plush?

Anonymous said...

Yeah SA Kara favored flat heeled boots....but all the same like the Late Cooke, I miss the old blue minidress and Big Hair...
:)

JF

Uncle Screensaver said...

I don't understand the brown Streaky. I started to repaint him, it didn't turn out well, and I thought that if I change it it wrecks Darwyn Cooke's vision of Super-Cat (never understood the hypen) although it may have just been an error. Streaky also doesn't come with his lightning bolt streak. I may still try to repaint him because Streaky I (or II or III or any version) is an orange tabby and it really bugs me the figure isn't.

Of course, as has been pointed out, Kara never wore high healed boots with that costume. As on the cover of the Omnibus (which is missing issues, but that's another topic) and on the variant cover, Kara is incorrectly wearing a red belt. Neither she nor the "super-pets" have the all-yellow S-Shield on the capes. I suppose this was all just Cooke's artistic "twist" as his SA Wonder Woman wasn't accurate either.

A tiny bit of paint chipped off Kara's hair when I took her from the packaging, and I haven't been able to match the colour. Oh well.

Overall, this is an amazing figure, and truly captures (Cooke's ability to capture) the hope and fun of the Silver Age. Supergirl here feels bubbling over with brightness and enthusiasm and hope, as she should.