Its hard to seperate John Cleary's Modern Spiderman statue from the history that same sculpt shares on Statueforum.com. While I may have a few of the details wrong, it is a true success story. Cleary's sculpt started out as W.I.P. that so impressed some that it was soon was posted on the Bowen Section as a topic of interest. Gathering much support on the forum as a statue many wanted to see produced by Bowen Designs, Randy Bowen soon said it would be in Phase III if the license was renewed (which we all know it was). Like Ray Villifane's Logan statue, this one has such a big place in forum history that those familiar with it just can't help but love it.
But, subjectively, just how well does this statue measure up to others?
Statue Concept
Straying away from Bowen Design's usual "musuem style" poses, Cleary's Spiderman instead focuses on showing the agility and nimbleness Peter Parker possess. Caught in mid-leap, Spiderman is resting one hand on a ledge and using his other to emit webbing in his signature hand gesture. His costume is in the more recent Todd McFarlane style. The base, taking up a bit more than 1/2 of the sculpt, is the destructed corner of a building, where Venom lies in the rubble beneath. As far as statue concept, this one receives hight marks for originality.
The Sculpt
There is no denying Cleary's ability to sculpt a awesome Spiderman. Neither too lean not too muscular, his sculpt is beauty. Its also well-proportioned, with nothing looking signficantly out of scale. However, it should be noted the fingers are not generally as well sculpted as they could be. This is especially apparent on his web-shooting hand. His middle two fingers folding into his palm are signficantly longer than his other fingers and his thumb is far too thin and even crooked, as if broken. While his right hand is better, there fingers still seem too short and perhaps could have been lengthened a bit more.
As far as the base, while it is generally done well, there are a few problems. The main problem lies with the defeated Venom at the bottom of the base. While everything for its head is there, from his mounstrous teeth and extra long tounge, its still not sculpted especially well. The head just seems too long and too rounded.
The Paint Job
Thankfully, the paint job in this piece is pretty good with no major complaints. Spiderman's costume is very nicely painted, even with all the little black lines it calls for. The colors seems right too, neither too bright nor too dark. The painting of the building base and Venom are good, with no complaints there either.
Over-All Value
Here is the section where I feel some things need to be mentioned. First would be the problematic displayability of the sculpt. There are only a few angles you could display this piece to capture all aspects of the sculpt, in particular Venom. A few angles will cut him out of visibility completley, especially if you do not have some sort of mirrored display case. Its a tad bit disappointing to be forced to display your sculpt a certain way to get the full effect of it.
Also, with more than 1/2 of the sculpt being dominated by the huge base, it almost feels you are only getting a little bit of Spidey for your money. With a $175.00 MSRP, its hard to compare this value-wise to other BD FS statues around that same price point, such as Man-Thing and Venom. Both of these are large statues that are complemented by their complex bases. In comparison, its seems the much smaller Spiderman sculpt is a bit overwhelmed by its base.
Conclusion
Cleary's Modern Spiderman is so unique in its story that those familiar with it may want it no matter what. However, despite an awesome concept and great sculpt, the statue itself has some major flaws. Poor displayability, an excessive base, and a high price point cause me to rate this a solid
three out of five stars. I'll always be a fan of this piece and its story, but just a bit more could have made this truly an awesome piece.
