Katana Cover Girls – DC Collectibles
Designed by Stanley “Artgerm” Lau.
Sculpted by Jack Matthews.
Stands at approximately 9.25” high.
Limited edition size of 5200.
RRP: $99.95 USD
Intro.
The Katana Cover Girls had a sneaky release. Wedged between Poison Ivy and Mera, she was released in September last year while we were all distracted by the return of Arrow on TV, which, coincidentally, introduced Katana into the show.
Katana is one of those characters who have definitely benefitted from the New 52, at least for a while. First featured in Birds of Prey, then Justice League of America, she later managed to secure her own ongoing solo book. However, the title only lasted 10 short issues, as it was axed due to poor sales. I would imagine when she was greenlit her own series, DC Collectibles decided to try and capitalise on her popularity by releasing this statue.
Enough with the history lesson, time to continue on with this review.
Sculpt. 8.0
Jack Matthews once again is the sculptor for this one. He’s been working on almost all the Cover Girls since they’ve first started, and he certainly delivers here.
We have a very dynamic pose here, Katana’s body is twisted and her arms are at the ready in a prepared position. Her armor is really well done here and there are some excellent textures on the different parts of her costume.
Paint. 9.0.
The paintwork here is a dream. It’s the closest thing to perfect. The colours are rich and metallic, and the edges are all clean. There are no smudges to be found. No flawed work. No sloppiness. Just a clean, smooth paintjob all around. I’ve actually been
looking For something to complain about, but alas, it’s true, we have one of DC’s best paintwork.
Design. 8.0
For some odd reason, Artgerm didn’t provide the original artwork for this one like he normally does, so I can’t really say much about how well the statue was translated from artwork to 3D form.
Her outfit here is a slightly simplified version of the New 52 one she has now. Her armlet is more metal and her weapon is much less detailed compared to the comic counterpart.
Her lunging pose also works quite well with the dynamic fighting poses of the other characters like Batgirl, Huntress, Batwoman and Mera, who all have very fighting style poses. This unison works well because all these characters will look like a set, rather than individual pieces.
Production and Build Quality 9.0
Katana is packaged well in her box and is quite a sturdy piece. Of course, you’d want to be careful not touching her sword, since it’s a little flimsy and most prone to breakage.
The only complaint I have is she does wobble a little in her base.
Overall. 8.5
This is a really good statue. The sculptwork is precise. The paintwork is clean. The pose is dynamic. What else can I really say?
I’m betting the biggest issue with this statue, however, is the subject itself. She’s not as well known, and even those who do know her aren’t really interested in her. There’s some lacking about this statue, and the only thing I can think of is simply the lack of interest in the character itself.
While it’s fun seeing DC tackle some lesser known characters, they do kind of dig themselves into a hole by keeping a unison edition size of 5200. Did they really think 5200 of these would sell? I mean, it’s Katana!
I think DC should really reevaluate the 5200 sizes they have. Sure, have 5200 Harley Quinns or Poison Ivys or Catwomans or Wonder Womans – these are the characters that will sell. Katana and even the upcoming Vixen and Red Lantern Bleeze really shouldn’t need 5200.
DC have decided to move away from the “New 52” branding on their comic books, it’s time DC Collectibles moved away from the 5200 as well.
