Back in March, we featured the Batman Black and White – Frank Quitely statue on our weekly WANT! segment. I told you I WANTed it and as I am a gainfully employed adult, I GOT it. This is the first statue that I have ever bought for myself. I have another — a Batman maquette from Superman/Batman: Public Enemies — but that was given to me. This is different. I have now crossed a line. I fear I have entered a dark realm, my friends.
Someone hold me.
Well, the fateful day came on Tuesday. The buzzer rang mid-afternoon signifying only one thing: I had a package and it was not my usual UPS guy. Chris knows to knock on the side door to my apartment. After we sorted out the whole door thing I finally had my package in hand. Before opening the box I grabbed my (sometimes) trusty (though often blurry) Canon PowerShot SD1000 Digital Elph so that we could all experience the unboxing of my first statue… together.
Oh, yeah. This is happening.
The front of the box hints at the glorious treasure found inside. The back of the box tempts the money from your wallet.
On the left we see the Frank Quitely design for the statue and on the right the shockingly close three dimensional realization.
I can't help but feel that I'm 539th in the heart of this statue. No matter, what lovely secrets will be revealed when I pop the top?
So close! What is it?
A block of styrofoam! This is like some infernal series of traps at the end of an Indiana Jones movie. I am a penitent man! Let me pass!
A few quick slashes with a tempered steel blade of French origin has revealed…
Batman (Dick Grayson)… wrapped in plastic.
Fully revealed the power of the Batman statue is almost too much for a mere point and shoot camera.
One imagines that these are poses often seen by Mrs. Batman when in the midst of yet another argument about the new drapes. "Uh uh. We are NOT having this conversation right now."
From a heroic low angle, and even from a slightly less heroic angle, the details in the sculpt really stand out and catch the eye.
Won't you join me as we begin our slow, some might say, sensuous journey down the contours of the statue?
The grimace says, "I may be a fun loving daredevil child of the circus, but it's July and it's humid and this uniform does not breathe and my sidekick is a twerp."
The larger symbol itself recalls the halcyon days of Bill Finger.
What mysteries are contained within the famous belt of the bat?
Someone has been putting some time in at the leg press in that Batgym.
Are those sneakly little spats I spy? Oh, Grayson. Only a charmer like you could pull that off.
My statue is designated 053P. The P stands for PLEASURE.
Whoof. Who needs a cigarette?
Anyone?
Just me? Okay.
Well, the good news for you is that if the Batman Black and White – Frank Quitely statue looks good to you, you can still pick it up at many fine comic book shops, or at Amazon where you can get it cheaper than I did.
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Funny stuff. I’ve never delved into the statue/action figure side of things myself, but I’m so tempted sometimes. Why do things have to cost money?
Beautiful.
Ahhhhh its a dark and slippery road you can find yourself on when you start on the statues…..trust me there Connor.
I bought the DC Covergirls statues based on Adam Hughes Art. SO FRIGGIN BEAUTIFUL. At 80 quid a pop though they are expensive!! I bought a glass display case from IKEA and so far I have Catwoman, Black Canary, Powergirl and Zatanna. Im not keen on the wonderwoman one as her face doesnt look great. BUUUUUT The Harley Quinn one I have coming in August is BEAUTIFUL then I have Poison Ivy in September and Batgirl in November…..im lucky my soon to be wife is so understanding… : )
Can’t bring myself to start down the road of buying statues. Although the Mignola Black & White statue tempted me a lot.
The biggest problem isn’t the statues themselves, it’s finding somewhere to put them.
Great article, really brings the reader into the moment. Now that you’ve got it, do you think you’ll purchase other statues in the future?
Congrats Conner. i am sure this will be the first of many.
I have three of these, which all sit above my desk in my office at work. I have the Matt Wagner, David Mazzucchelli and the George Perez one (which fell over one day and the ear broke). i really do want the Mignola one, but havent found it yet. and now that i have seen the Quietly one, i also need it.
Oh man, that thing is mad gorgeous. I just can’t start down that road. I saw the Amazon posting, and right underneath it was the image for the Batman: Arkham Asylum statue. Egads, it’s awesome looking too. If I were to start this whole statue business, I think my comic book habit might become a problem for the wifey. It’s enough for her that my comics take up most (ok…ALL) bookshelf space in our apartment.
I went through a phase where I bought ALOT of statues. I collected all of the Women of the DC Universe series I and II among many others….I have no place to put them all now, ha ha ha. For the most part I’ve taken a break from acquiring statues and just look at them at my LCS and *sigh*
I am a proud owner of the Jim aparo Batman statue, and I know how you feel.
Oh boy. You know what happens now. Every time someone who doesn’t know you that well gets you a gift, it’s going to be a new statue. Like on those decorator shows where some kid makes the mistake of telling the showrunners that they like baseball and the next thing you know the poor guy has a round baseball bed and baseball mitt wallpaper and baseball diamond-shaped chairs.
I think someone needs a cold shower.
I don’t have a problem with statues per se, but I do have some idiosyncracies:
If I’m going to collect them, I want them all to be the proper proportional height. I can’t have small statues next to big statues, etc. This, of course, never happens since so many different sculptors work independently of each other.
Also, I want the sculpture to be based on a comic artist’s reference art and be a very close match. Paul Harding’s done a fine job of that with Quitely’s art. Good piece.
This statue looks pretty boss too (I love when artists make his cape look practically elemental) though I’m not sure of the reference art or the sculptor: http://goo.gl/1j6M
Finally, @Conor, you passed on the David Mazzucchelli statue?! I remember seeing that art in promo ads before Year One came out and that had to be the best picture of Batman I’d ever seen. I still have that cut out and saved in a box somewhere. I would spend so much time studying its simplicity and elegance dreaming of one day being able to draw like that. *sigh*
Congrats on the statue. Enjoy.
I’ve got the Lee Bermejo one (which is absolutely my favorite rendition of Batman). It has so much detail, it feels like it should have cost more than the rest of them.
My unboxing wasn’t as romantic…… but I did take my socks off.
"He’s Dead!…..Wrapped in plastic!"
Handsome! Now we need to see a final shot of it resting in state on its shelf so we can see the proportions.
@NJBaritone: It’s not on a shelf at the moment (there’s not shelf space to be had). I’m not even sure where its final resting place will be.
Woe be the collector who travels down this road!
At my worst, I had minibusts of Destro, Snake Eyes, Baroness, M. Bison, Zoltar (from Battle of the Planets), Scarlet Witch, Phoenix, Dark Phoenix, Beast, a feral Wolvie, Spidey, Black Costume Spidey, Venom, Black Cat, Mr. Sinister, a mini Phoenix rising out of water, and a 12 inch Cobra Commander. I eventually sold all that I could (only keeping those that were damaged or that were missing boxes) for a healthy dose of store credit. This habit was rivaled only by my high school obsession with Gundam model kits. I regret all of it.
As a dick grayson fan this quietly statue and the tony daniel grayson statue being unveiled ar sdcc thus year will be my first black and white statues
Scary.
This was my first statue too and it rocks. Now I want a Damian as Robin statue to go with it.
They forgot to paint it………
You waited until THIS one to buy a statue? Ew.
Nice! I’ve had my eye on a sexy Nick Fury statue in my local shop but I’m trying to resist the statue lure.
I, also, own an Opinel.
I succumbed to the Mazzuchelli last year and I have to say it’s my one and only. I’ve seen others I’ve liked but there was no way I could pass up my very favourite version of my favourite character. The Quitely would make a nice addition though…..
He might get lonely Conor!!. I discovered a B&W Jim Lee Joker on Amazon that might keep him company just fine (it looks mighty fine) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DMZLIU/ref=s9_simh_gw_p21_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=11RVG68EQE7X9CX8GBNG&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846
This was my first statue too. Pictures can never do it justice, it looks awesome. #0117, yo!
@Jesse1125: Yeah, it’s pictured above on the back of the box. I’m not a huge fan of that one. I like Jim Lee, but not really when he draws Batstuff.
@Conor have you seen the DC Covergirls statues that are based on the adam hughes art? they are beautiful. Ive spent waaaaaaaaay too much on them already!!! got them all except the wonder woman which im not that keen on http://www.amazon.com/Cover-Girls-DC-Universe-Zatanna/dp/B001QOGK8U
That’s a cool statue. Me want! I still love my Heath Ledger/Joker statue with his knife on top of a deck of cards. 70 bucks m.i.b. on Ebay. But I need a Batman to go with it. This may be the one..
I got all mine on Ebay for less than 35 dollars so i went a bit nuts and got the Alex Ross, Bruce Timm(my favorite) and Ed Mcguiness. They join my gorgeous First Flight Hal Jordan and a Bowen mini Daredevil. I was hesitant with the First flight Hal because of the slightly different costume but it really looks gorgeous once its in front of you.
My first statue was the Captain America (Bucky) Kotobukiya Fine Art statue. That was going to be my ONLY statue. And then I won the Batman: Black & White Matthew Vaughn statue in a drawing at my shop on FCBD this year. Dunno if I’ll buy more.
Who am I kidding? I’ll eventually buy more.
Wow, I can’t get names straight. It’s the Matt Wagner statue. Where did I get Vaughn from?
Enjoy your slide down that slippery slope, Conor – wave as you go past. 🙂
This one was my 20th purchase in the Batman: B&W line (I think there have been 29 to date, maybe 30). I would rank this one somewhere inside the top ten for the whole line no doubt.
A matching Quitely Robin for this line would be very sweet.
I love Frank Quitely’s style. His time on titles like X-Men, Superman, and Batman has been awesome! He’s just this side of Geof Darrow’s style, with slightly less detail and defecating bull dogs.