November Reign

Pulp Dreaming

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. A few days from now and it’s the middle of the month already, which is kinda weird because I still have some leftover Halloween candy, those coffee-flavored ones that people don’t seem too interested in.

Anyway, I’m just doing the usual. Not noticing time pass by, most of the time. Oh, yeah, early this week, I saw this movie:

In a word: WOW. I’ll be watching it again.

Two days later, I’m on the phone, talking to the master of The Dreaming, Neil Gaiman, and Pulp Fiction co-writer Roger Avary about the movie. Again, WOW. It was brief; the whole thing lasted maybe a little over twelve minutes, but they answered generously. And that was an awesome experience, definitely. I loved Neil’s Books of Magic and Sandman (and the related minis), Roger’s Rules of Attraction, and their writing collaboration on Beowulf. That was one special phoner.

Gush, gush. And, yeah… wow.

Plastic Peeps

I bought Donna Troy, from the Infinite Crisis set, at almost half the regular toy store price. There are two Donnas in that wave; the other’s wearing the classic George Perez-designed Wonder Girl costume from the ‘80s. These are different figures, but it’s noticeable that the body mostly came from the same mold. The heads aren’t the same, obviously, primarily because of the ‘dos. The costume is faithful to the current comic book design; the silver flecks and dots make the star field look consistent with the similarly painted armbands, wristbands, boots and belt.

Donna Troy or Troia is DC Comics’ Jean Grey-esque character, in that she’s a resurrected heroine who’s been imbued with cosmic significance. She’s supposedly the next Harbinger (cool, she has the “floating” sphere accessory), but it seems that it hasn’t really been addressed clearly in the comics, yet. Well, many people are just glad she’s back, after that ridiculous death at the hands of a Superman robot. It’s about time that the she got the toy treatment, too, and both of her sexy, pretty figures are worth getting.

Like with other DC Direct a.f.’s, articulation is quite limited, but the 15 points are enough for Miss Troy. If only it had changeable hands like its fellow IC fig, Wonder Woman. Closed fists would’ve been great. But, it’s still excellently made, and the attention to detail is extraordinary. What a beauty.

Meanwhile… As followers of the comics- and movie-based action figures know, Hasbro is now making the Marvel Legends toys. Among the company’s first figures released last summer, Banshee, is one of three X-Men in the set. This is the Irish mutant hero’s first fully poseable toy incarnation--he has 30 points of articulation--which mostly follows the older Toy Biz templates.

Banshee is in his classic green and yellow Dave Cockrum-era costume, and that’s decently painted, although older collectors may miss the more textured color rendering that made many of the previous ML’s look great. And speaking of colors, one might wish that this figure sported reddish hair (to match the comics version’s), and a darker skin tone (because he looks really pale, almost undead-like). His “wings” are made of cloth, which takes a little getting used to. Plastic ones, a la Falcon’s or Vulture’s would’ve worked just fine, but the black and yellow design actually translates well on fabric.

His angry face and Jim Carrey-esque gaping mouth, however, make him look weird. The character uses his vaunted sonic scream, hence the open mouth, but couldn’t they have done something that looked better while retaining some coolness? The head’s nicely sculpted, but it would’ve been awesome if it could be replaced with a close-mouthed, more heroic-looking one.

X-Men toy collectors will get this regardless, as it’s the first and possibly only figure devoted to one of the less-popular members. But it wouldn’t hurt to wait for it to go on sale, as it’ll be paired, buy one take one, with the better figs of the bunch (Planet Hulk or Hercules!). Banshee’s an okay addition to anyone’s collection; he’ll stick out in the group shots as the angry dude, but otherwise, the figure’s playable and his fierce look fits perfectly in more action-themed scenarios.