Sunday, May 5, 2013

Long Halloween CATWOMAN!

Tim Sale Catwoman from DC Direct's Batman: The Long Halloween - 2006

I've gone on and on about how great DC Direct was at choosing very interesting variations of characters and giving them the green light for the action figure treatment.  My favorite facet of this occurrence was when they chose really unique artist representations of A-list characters.  Tim Sale had a really gritty and dark style in his Batman work.  His big contributions were Batman: The Long Halloween (1996) and Batman: Dark Victory (1999), both of which included this very distinct version of Selina Kyle.  The key unique feature of this Catwoman is definitely her mask.  It's unlike any other version we had seen before up till now.  (Although I think this look was a heavy influence in 2001's The Dark Knight Strikes Again's Catgirl.. who totally needs an action figure of her own by the way).  Her mask looks very stylized (almost owl-ish) and always reminded me of a character from Aeon Flux.  This figure has an amazing sculpt by John G. Matthews and is a great addition to any Catwoman collection.  Let's check her out below!




 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 











 
 
 
 Catwoman comes with a variety of accessories.  All of which I forgot to pose her with for these photos :/   Following are a couple images I swiped off eBay showing her various accessories (none of which I really like).   She comes with a figure stand, a Calendar page for Jan 1st, a weird whip with a tiny satellite-dish-type-thing on the end, and a pair of night vision goggles that fit over her head.



 
 
 
Here are a few snapshots of Tim Sale's drawings of Catwoman from around the web.
 
 
 
 

 


 




 
 


Here's a small image of (former Robin) Carrie Kelley as Catgirl in The Dark Knight Strikes Again (2001).  I think the headgear is heavily influenced by this version of Catwoman.



 

 
 




 
Time for a Comparison Pic!
 
 
 
 
 
Cheers!
 
 
 
 
 



6 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Surprisingly I really wasn't a fan of this design when it first came out, but it was so unique I knew I wanted to own it. Now I love it. I figure her modern look is so popular that she'll easily have it for another 10 years, and that makes this version one of her last great variations for the foreseeable future. I'm not a stickler for scale, but her only flaw is that she's significantly smaller than almost all the other DCD Catwomen.

      Delete
  2. She *just* arrived in the mail this morning! This is probably my favorite Catwoman design (with the exception of her Knightfall costume but that figure was too big imo). She's a really gorgeous figure, I just wish she had come with a whip.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow what coincidental timing! This figure really does have a cool unique look. It reminds me a little of that grey jumpsuit she wore in her 1989 miniseries (which is my favorite costume).

      Delete
  3. Reading TLH you can see the "whip-with-satelite-dish" some directional mike & speaker, but you were obviously kidding ;-)... An ACTUAL whip would've been cool, though, but the right hand needs to be different for it. KEEN figure, i miss my own awfully (lost prized Ms Kyle when moving for the first time..! And she was an import as I'm in europe). PS: Wondering about the "Jan 1st" calendar page (she usually comes with "Feb 14th", right ??)
    PPS: DID give my Two-Face a custom right hand for more options, just needed a fitting hand (from a Reservoir Dogs figure , flea market).

    ReplyDelete
  4. UPDATE : Seen a more purple repaint in store, back when I got my regular claret one (???)

    ReplyDelete