DC Direct has had themselves a fair share of good ideas over the years, but none have been quite up my alley like the Batman Black and White statues. Being a huge Batman fan, it’s been a terrific pleasure to pick up and display all these various versions of the Caped Crusader, done by different artists and sculptors, yet unencombered by questions of color. Besides, the black and gray outfit has always been the best.

The latest release is based on the artwork of Alex Ross, one of the best known comic artists of the last decade. And when I say ‘best known’, I’m not talking about within comic circles, but rather within the wider audience of the ‘regular folks’. His work is also fairly controversial within the comic book reading world, and his style certainly doesn’t speak to everyone.

This statue based on his artwork shipped a couple weeks ago to your local comic shop, where you’ll pay around $50.

Batman Black and White – Alex Ross

While the style is based on the artwork of Alex Ross, the sculpt is by the talented Karen Palinko. This statue is a limited edition of 6000, which isn’t all that limited, so availability shouldn’t be an issue for quite some time to come.

Packaging – **1/2
The box keeps the statue safe and sound, which is job 1. There’s no window, so you won’t be able to inspect the statue in store, and there’s no COA.

Sculpting – ***1/2
Ms. Palinko has done a terrific job with the overall sculpt, and has managed to capture Ross’ style without caricaturizing it. This is a very classic appearance for Batman as well, without any over blown musculature or excessively dynamic pose.

The proportions are very natural and realistic, at least in comic book superhero terms. Bats has a gritty and determined expression, but thankfully doesn’t appear to be suffering from any sort of gastrointestinal dsyfunction. There’s enough detail work here to give the statue life, including the very realistic folding and wrinkling of the cape, and the aging of the face.

The best results in bringing artist versions to three dimensions always occur when the sculptor’s and artist’s natural styles mesh. That seems to be the case here, where the sculptor brought in the right amount of detail and a clean, smooth style that matches well with Ross’ artwork.

Paint – **1/2
Unfortunately, the sculpt is let down a bit by the paint ops this time around. Obviously, the figure is grayscale, so there aren’t a lot of issues with inconsistent colors or tones. Most of the cuts are fairly clean, with just a little slop around the cool huge bat symbol on his chest, and a few around the boots.

However, the eyes are an issue, and of all the areas on any bust, statue or figure that has to be right to get the overall look right, it’s the eyes. If they are the windows to our souls, they are the key to realism on any artistic representation of us.

Here the eyes are a tad sloppy, and worse, quite flat in appearance. The iris and even the white of the eye itself are fairly large for the face, giving him a wide eyed appearance within the mask. They also lack any differentiating finish, so that the matte of the mask and the matte of the eyes blends in together. Human eyes are wet in appearance, and highly reflective in most light. This dull appearance hurts the overall apperance of the statue quite a bit for me, and is really not acceptable at this price point.

Design – ***
This is one of those weird designs, where I like the pose…but I’m not sure why.

I know that I like that it’s not overly dramatic, and there’s some restraint in the design shown here that I appreciate. But the actual pose is one of those where if you think about it too much, as I am oft want to do, you start to realize that you have no idea what it is he’s actually doing. He appears intimidating, but not in a traditional sense. It’s almost like he’s half way into doing a Bela Lugosi style Dracula pose, caught mid-move.

The more I study sculpture and portrait photograpy, the more I realize that some poses look as though they are truly a moment caught in time, more like photo-journalism. Others, while appearing cool, are more like posed portraits, where you asked the person to strike a particular pose and hold it, not because it looks particularly natural but because it simply looks cool in the end result. I think this design is more of the latter than the former, and how much you like it could depend on how much you prefer the one style to the other.

I didn’t mention it in the Sculpt section, but these are in a 7″ scale, or a large 6″ scale. This statue fits in pretty well with the rest of the series in terms of size and proportion.

Value – **
These statues are generally a tad high considering the huge edition sizes and the size of the statue itself. If you can find it in the $40 – $45 range, you can add another half star.

Things to Watch Out For –
Beyond the obvious with any statue, there’s nothing here to worry about. It is too bad though that the package lacks a window – it would make the concerns of the paint less of an issue.

Overall – ***
While the statue isn’t perfect, it is a good addition to the full display. It’s not the kind I’d buy all by itself, but in conjunction with the rest of the series, it makes a lot of sense to own. With several more statues already scheduled to be released in this series, it’s definitely getting to be a crowded shelf!

Where to Buy –
If you’re local comic shop didn’t order, or they’re charging an arm and a leg, you have plenty of online options:

– Alter Ego has him available at $48.

– CornerStoreComics has him in stock at $47.

– Amazing Toyz has him at $47 as well.

Related Links –
I’ve checked out a number of the B&W statues, including the Mike Mignola version, the Matt Wagner version, and the Kelly Jones version.

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