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DC Direct Martian Manhunter Maquette

The second DC Direct maquette based on the hit JLA cartoon has been released in the last couple weeks. First it was Wonder Woman - this time around it's the Martian Manhunter.

One of my favorite DC characters, it seems that he's gotten quite a bit of figure/statue exposure this last year.  This maquette is the design for the animated show, so it's slightly different than the others.  It's running $60 - $80 at most comic shops and on-line stores.


Sculpting - ****
While WW was good, MM is simply great.  The sculpt matches the show extremely well, as it should, and follows the extremely angular design and detail.

While animated sculpts tend to be simplistic, that doesn't mean they're simple.  They could have easily screwed this up, but they managed to capture the look and feel of the show perfectly.

Paint - ***1/2
The paint ops on this statue are even better than  WW.  Again, you can see that it's hand painted, but the lines are extremely clean.  That's particularly important between the red of the belts and the green of his body.

His eyes are well done, and the greens and blues that make up large sections of the statue are consistent.

Quality - ***1/2
The quality is very good, with plenty of heft.  The only warning is that the lower part of the cape can be easily broken off, so be especially careful with that area when you're handling him.

Design - ****
Maquettes are designed to be a reference source for the animators.  As such, they tend to be static poses.  This one is no different, with MM standing straight and tall with his arms to the side.

I like this style of statue.  Some folks prefer action poses, but I like the maquette style and so I'm very pleased with the overall design and look.

Value - ***
At about $75, these are a decent value.  If you can get these for $60 or less, add some more stars to the value section.

Overall - ***1/2
Wonder Woman was nice, but this Martian Manhunter is even better.  The bottom proclaims that this is only a run of 2000, as compared to the run of 3500 WW statues.  If you're looking to pick one up, I'd do it sooner rather than later.

Where to Buy - 
You can find these this week at most comic shops.  You can also find them on-line:

- The best price I've seen is at Convergence Comics - only about $59 plus shipping - for these maquettes.  Problem is, while I see the Green Lanter and Hawk Girl ones for pre-order, I don't see the Martian Manhunter one.  You might want to call them.

- I picked mine up from Comics Infinity.  It was about $70 plus shipping.  I've always gotten great service there.  You  can also preorder the others for only about $72 each.


Figure from the collection of Michael Crawford

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