Review of Batman - Gotham City Stories #1
Wall Hanger Statue

Introduction

Every year, DC Direct does their best to come up with several new types of collectibles. Sometimes it's a hit, like the Batman Black and White statues, other times not so much. I'm looking at you, Blammoids.

Back at SDCC, they showed off some new wall hanging 'statues' called Gotham City Stories. There were three - Batman, Joker and Catwoman (scroll to the bottom of this page for photos of all three). Other than being Batman themed, they also had a common style - all three have the characters climbing out of a window that can hang on your wall.

Batman hit first, as you'd expect, and is a limited edition of 2500. He's running around $85 at most sponsors. Since the original three were announced, a fourth has been added - Harley vs Robin. It looks like DCD is backing the series at least for the rest of 2010.

Packaging - ***
The box is fairly basic, but the Styrofoam is the sturdy kind - my fav.  The graphics are good, but some of the text is pretty corny. A big plus is the inclusion of a Certificate of Authenticity, which is a common practice for DCD.  They don't do it for every series though, and I was glad to see it's inclusion.

Sculpting - ***1/2
The sculpt looks just like the SDCC prototype. Batman is crawling out of a window - Joker's, apparently - and throwing a batarang to another building. The window is tattooed with bullet holes, so I'm going to assume there are bad guys in the room attempting to interrupt his escape.

The detailing is good, especially on the bricks and windows. This is a classically styled Batman, and fans of silver age artists are likely to appreciate the appearance.

The rope is a wire, so it can be bent to the position you'd like. Don't go nuts though - the wire's not that thick.

Above the window is a unique 'crest'. I think I'm supposed to recognize it, but I don't. It's sort of a large C with bat wings...it looks like each window will have a different one of these sculpted symbols above the window.

My one problem with the sculpt is really one of style and aesthetics. His cape is flowing out the window in front of him, and while it gives his appearance a certain balance, it doesn't make any physical sense. How could the cape get in front of him? I can't get past the impossibility of the situation - if you can, you'll be happier with the result than I.

This is a wall hanger, with two metal slots on the back. These are high quality, and will work well. But if you don't want to hang it, you can also use the attached leg to stand it on a desk or shelf.

Paint - ***
While the paint ops themselves are very good, there's some issues with the background sticker that pulls the score down a bit.

The painted brick and glass looks quite good, and the cut lines and colors on Batman are clean and neat.

Behind him there's a printed sticker, showing the room he's vacating. I'm assuming this is the Joker's pad, since there's a photo of Harley on the wall. There's a number of air pockets and wrinkles in the sticker though, and while I was able to get most of them out with the eraser end of a pencil, some are there to stay. At this price point, I'm expecting a perfect application.

Value - **
Man, statues are getting too damn expensive. In scale, these are very similar to the Black and White series, with the character itself in that 6 - 7" range. Those run around $65, while these run closer to $80, and even more at some retailers. I'm just getting used to the higher prices for the Batman B&W statues - these are even higher.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing!

Overall - ***
My two big issues here are the air bubbles and wrinkles in the sticker behind the figure, and the high cost. If you don't have these issues, it's likely that you'll be even happier with the wall plaque than I.

Even with those issues, I'm still glad I picked him up, and I plan on getting the others as well. There's a big plus to having something like this that you can hang on the wall - it's a very cool look when added behind a shelf of figures or statues.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***
Value - **
Overall - ***

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has them for $88 - $90.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I've reviewed a ton of various Batman statues. You should hit the Search Reviews page to find them all, or in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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