Where Were These When I Was A Kid?

Mattel is showing off the new DCU Classics Wave 8 figures...and some of them are really excellent.

When I was a kid, this is exactly the kind of character that I would have been writing letters to DC Comics asking them to have made (as a kid would mistakenly think they had all the power to decide). I wrote letters asking for plenty of B-Z list characters to be made. Black Lightning & Blue Devil would often top my requests. Broke my heart recently to find out that Blue Devil was set to be made in the next wave of Super Powers figures before the line got scrapped.

Ah, the unbridled joy that I would have felt the day I walked into Toys R Us and found that racked. Alas, it wasn't to be.

Now, I'm not saying I'm a huge Gentleman Ghost fan, but the intricacy of the design and giving the world a member of the Hawkman rogues gallery is something I would have dug as a child. Shoot, at that age, I would have smiled ear-to-ear to get DarkHawk (I think that's the name given to a Thanagarian military leader that became Katar's opposite number).

Not much to say about this one, other than pointing out the level of detail to the wings. Mind you, as a child, I would have probably preferred the wing-flapping feature of the Super Powers figures to the detail, if I couldn't get both.

I display the standard Dr. Fate version only to contrast with the classic below.

I don't really see how this is a classic version. I think the mid-rift area might be classic, but I don't think they were really able to pull off a gold color in the FIRST ISSUE SPECIAL: DR. FATE #1. I don't recall the earliest versions of Dr. Fate having the gold Egyptian jewelry around the neck (not the amulet, but the stuff under it). I'm, also, a bit confused as to how the helmet, neck, mid-rift and boots get gold painting, but the gloves and cape are basic yellow. Hopefully this will not be how it ships. If it is, I honestly think the standard version (which is like so many prior releases) is a more attractive buy than the mismatched classic "chase" version.

Random Comic Book Thoughts

• Daniel Patrick Cassidy better be in the process of being returned to his stuck-in-a-suit, weirdness magnet beginnings. Otherwise, a comic book crime has been committed in Shadowpact. I had my own idea of how to accomplish this back in the day, over on the Newsarama boards.
  
• In discussing with some friends what villains we think could support their own series (ala Doom 2099 or Empire), we all seemed to agree that Black Adam could sustain a series (based on that wonderful mini). The dream writer team (as dual writers seems to be all the rage), would be Tomasi and Fraction. But the surprise concept brought up was Red Skull. At first, it was thought he couldn't pull off a series. I countered that, if there ever was a time, it was now. Someone challenged that he'd need a foil, to which I answered that you'd simply have to go with someone trying to bring his organization down from within, possibly taking on a legacy name. Keep Bru on to write his diabolical Skull, bring on Fraction to bring some of his Casanova craziness to the foil. I'd really love to see Marvel try something like that.
  
• Mike Choi (who was swell enough to stop by and comment on a blog I did about one of his blogs) posted an amazing...wait for it...blog about the David Mack situation. Or is it about the Mack situation? You decide. But I think he put a huge chunk of himself into that whole discussion. It's always amazing to me when comic book professionals put themselves out there like that, showing their emotional vulnerability in such a quiet and humanizing way. It's part of why the Word Balloon Bendis tapes softened me a lot on Marvel.
  
• I really wonder how many of the readers who are here for spoilers will stick around when the well runs dry? It's not keeping me up at night, but I'd be lying if I said curiosity wasn't getting the better of me.
  
• I'm glad that I've been able to run a few other people in the WGBGB feature, though I admit Mike's inclusion was a stretch. I knew there'd be a reasonable explanation or clarification, but I thought it'd make for good conversation, nonetheless.