DC made a bold move last week by releasing the Superman Deluxe Statue (sculpted by Jonathan Matthews). Taking a page more out of Sideshow than GG, DST, or BD, the Superman Deluxe Statue features Superman flying over the top of the Daily Planet, complete with spinning globe. Seems like a great concept, but honestly, how well was this executed? Is it an innovative, breath-taking statue, or a cheap gimmick?
Statue Concept
If nothing else, DC should get high marks for at least
TRYING to do something original here. After all, the Man of Steel is probably best known for being able to fly, so why not make a statue where that can best take advtange of showing that off. As for the style of Supes, its clearly in some sort of Jim Lee-esque style. And while some could probably take it or leave it, potentially a spinning Daily Planet globe could have really complimented this statue perfectly. As far as concept goes, I give DC some high marks.
The Sculpt
Unfortanetly, the execution of the design leaves MUCH to be desired. As far as Superman himself is concerned, its merely an adequate sculpt. The face is Jim Lee-ish but a bit too small for the rest of his body. His muscles are overly done, especialy along the abdomen, and his arms seems a bit too sharply angular. His legs are also a bit thin and long for his torso as well. All in all, not a great sculpt. But, the sculpt is nearly ruined by the manner that was decided upon to support Supes in full flight. A 1/3 of a partial white arch, which attaches to the base, is used to support him. While clearly meant to represent the "streak" the naked eye would see since Superman flys so fast, it completely destroys the notiotn that he is flying. He seems more like he is phasing through the arch in St. Louis, especially as his right leg is sculpted on both sides of this solid, white arch. You can clearly see this in the picture, and simply ruins the piece. At least the cape looks good.
As far as the builiding base, its nothimg more than adequate as well. But it mainly seems too small in scale to be the top of a huge sky scraper, and the globe itself seems way too small. But worse, the spinning globe is terribly sculpted. The globe itself has no detail to it, such as actual continents or such. And the letters spelling "Daily Planet" are attached to the globe by very thin plastic material that as if it would shatter if you press it too hard. All in all, rushed and disappointing is the best way to desribe the sculpt.
The Paint Job
I won't spend oo much time here, but the suit is too bright of a blue. Other than that, it just looks ok. Nothing great nor horrible about the paint job other than the blue.
Value
With the sculpt being so poor, is the revolving globe at least good? No, its pretty much a lame gimmick. The shop I saw this at (no, I don't own it, but studied it closely) had it on, and while it did revolve, it seems a bit clunky in doing so. Honestly, it looks like the mechaniism that powers this can be broken easily. On the positive side, the batteris apparently don't run out too quickly. The shop I was at said they had it on for three full days and it worked ont the cheap batteris provided.
But this piece is simply not worth the astronomically high MSRP ($225.00) that DC direct is asking for, not even the price of your typical full size statue. Bad sculpt, not a great paint job, and a terribly gimmicky spining globe cause me to give it only
2 out of 5 stars. Only die hard superman fas may want to give this one a try.
