Review of Carnage Comiquette Statue

Introduction

It's almost the end of 2010, but there's time for one more big giveaway! Yep, Sideshow sent along this uber-cool, huge comiquette of Carnage for a quick review and then it's on to one lucky reader! Just follow me on Twitter, and I'll randomly select one follower on December 21st to receive the statue. It's not quite free - you'll have to pay shipping, which usually comes out around $25 - $30 depending on where you are - but considering the price on this statue is $285 plus shipping, that's pretty damn good.

We all know Carnage of course - he's the most evil version of the symbiote/human bonding that started when the alien symbiote first paired with Spider-man, moved to Eddie Brock to create Venom, and finally (through the original alien's spawn) bonded with Cletus Kasady, a serial killer, to create Carnage. Carnage had none of the moral compass of Venom, skewed as that might have been. He was a pure sociopath, and one of the more brutal Spidey villains.

Sideshow only made 550 of this exclusive comiquette. If you're unfamiliar with the 'comiquette' concept, it's pretty simple - they are large quarter scale statues, similar to their Premium Format line but without the mixed media aspect.

The exclusive includes a 'fine art print' based on the artwork of Ariel Olivetti. The exclusive version is still available at Sideshow for $285, but the regular edition is sold out. I have some other sponsor recommendations at the end where you can pick that version up as well.

Packaging - ***
The box is quite large, Premium Format sized, which makes sense considering this statue is about 1/4 scale. The interior foam is the nice, dense type, so you'll have fewer flakes on the carpet. It's all collector friendly of course, and you can easily remove the statue without any damage to the package, and put it all back again later for storage.

Sideshow doesn't do Certificates of Authenticity, but the bottom of the box does display the edition size and number, and there's the gold foil 'exclusive' sticker on the front.

Sculpting - ***
This is an eye catching center piece for any Marvel collection, especially one that focus' on Spider-man or his villains.

There's a tremendous amount of detail work in the sinewy body - it reminds me of a med school musculature diagram of the human body, if the model for that diagram were really big, really ripped and really dangerous.

The insect-like face is posed in a furious expression. Clearly, Carnage is losing it here, and you don't want to be any where near the deadly fangs or gaping mouth.

There are several pieces to this statue that you'll need to assemble. There's the large base of course, designed to look like a hunk of the Daily Bugle building. I love this base, and it really sets the statue apart. It also matches with the base used with the Venom, also released by Sideshow.

The largest piece is 95% of the body. All that's missing is the lower half of the left arm, and eight small tentacles.

The lower arm attaches easily, and it's pretty obvious how to insert the metal post. The tentacles are a bit trickier. The ends are somewhat unique, but it is possible to pop some of them in the wrong slots. They are also color coded, but for those of us that are color blind it can be a little challenging. Four of them went in no prob, but I had to study up to get the other four in what I *think* are the right locations.

Once everything is in place, he looks outstanding. I did have two minor issues, and these are more aesthetic than quantitative.

First, he's much more Venom-like in build than I remember Carnage. It seems to me that Kasady's Carnage was more gangly, more stringy than Eddie Brock's Venom physique. This figure is neither gangly or stringy, or skinny or wiry or any other sort of descriptor for the svelte. He's seriously buff, much larger than seems appropriate - at least to me - for Carnage. Then again, I haven't seen him in the comics in years, and in fact, I thought he was dead, but have heard that he's been popping up again in recent years. I don't have a Venom here to compare him to, but I will say that he appears slightly smaller from the photos I've seen, but it's not a huge difference.

Second, the selected pose can seem a bit 'air guitar' at the right angle. If you think of the building top as a stage, it's like he's sliding forward toward the audience, guitar off to his left, screaming out the vocals. Once I got that image in my head, I couldn't get it out...and now you probably can't either. Sorry about that.

As I said, this is close to quarter scale, with the overall statue standing about 19 inches tall.

Paint - ****
The paint work is all flawless, from the bright gloss black symbiote veining throughout to the underlying red, raw muscle. There's a nice use of airbrushing on the base to give the stone a more realistic look as well.

There's no slop anywhere that I could find, and the eyes are worth a particularly mention. They have a pearlescent quality, an iridescence that is offset beautifully by the surrounding gloss black.

Value - **1/2
You can pick up the regular edition for around $250, which is actually in line with pricing for other large scale statues like this. It's a lot of money - but it's a lot of statue as well.

Things to Watch Out For -
The color coding on the tendrils didn't work so well for me - I'm color blind, and a couple of them were awfully close in shade. While the shape of the ends is a little different for each one, a couple are close enough that they'll fit in each other's location, so take your time getting everything just right. Don't force anything either - once you have the right piece, it should fit snugly but smoothly.

Overall - ***1/2
Pop this guy on the shelf (a big shelf) next to Sideshow's Premium Format Spider-man, Premium Format Green Goblin and Venom Comiquette and you'll have one might fine Spidey display. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find a better one.

If you have the space - and the cash - statues in this scale really do impress. They can command a display, and are recognized as art not just by us geeky types, but by normal folk as well. Let's face it - this is a whole lot better than a statue of some chick without any arms.

BTW, this exclusive version comes with the art print as well. It's frame-able, and it's attractive, but I have to admit that it's not something I'd pay the extra money for. Then again, I'm not a huge fan of any paper based extras. Your mileage will clearly vary.

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

Where to Buy 
You can pick up the exclusive with the fine art print at Sideshow, but they are sold out of the regular edition. On line options for the regular edition include these site sponsors:

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

And remember! You can get this guy for the cost of shipping just by following me on twitter - and getting lucky enough to be the one name drawn. The drawing will occur on December 21st, just two weeks from now!

Related Links -
Other comiquettes I've reviewed include Silver Surfer, and in the Marvel Premium Format series I checked out Mystique.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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