Man, DC Direct is really dropping Green Lantern rings right and left (probably because they know fanbois like me will be there to buy them). This Honor Guard replica ring is set for June 2010 for $35.
Like all the other DC Direct 1:6 scale female figure, the hair on this Zatana figure is molded plastic which is a major annoyance. But if you can get past that, this isn’t a half-bad figure. And since nobody seems to collect Zatana, this figure which has an MSRP of $99.99 and was released in November 2009 can already be found for about $60 online.
Somehow I’ve managed to avoid learning the existence of these Justice League of America padlocks until today. This is awesome.
Damn it is hard to find images of this Blackest Night Earth-2 Superman online. DC Direct initially embargoed the look of the character so most of what’s on the Internet (and still at DC Direct’s own site) is a silhouette version. This is a fairly grotuesque take on Superman even at this tiny resolution.
Awesome YouTube video showing how the Batman icon has mutated over the years.
The Cincinnati Enquirer finally reveals the secret origin of the Hall of Justice from the numerous 1970s Superfriends series — it is based on Cincinnati’s Union Hall.
The Hall of Justice
Cincinnati's Union Terminal
Saw this and various other DC-branded hermit crab accessories on clearance at the local supermarket. There were also separately packaged Batman hermit crab shells. Oy.
DC Direct is finally coming out with a 1/6 scale Wonder Woman figure. At least in the pictures released so far, this doesn’t really seem to compare well with other figures in the DC Direct’s 1/6 scale line.
ToyOtter.com has an obsessively complete look at Hasbro’s Total Justice line of DC action figures which the toy company manufactured from 1996 to 1998. I managed to pick up a pretty complete set of these at clearance prices last year, and as the author of the TJ guide notes, they sort of grow on you after awhile despite the obvious limitations in the sculpts and poses,
Total Justice Despero
Just when it looked like we were actually going to finally get to see a Watchmen movie, along comes a lawsuit by 20th Century Fox claiming that it — not Warner Bros. — has the film rights to Watchmen.
That in itself wouldn’t be all that surprising. Rights to properties like this can pass through multiple entities, sometimes under very odd circumstances, and sorting things out can be tough. Typically, though, this would be a way for 20th Century Fox to shake some money out of Warner Bros. Except if we are to take 20th Century Fox at face value, they’re not interested in any compensation for its rights according to Variety,
“We will be asking the court to enforce Fox’s copyrights interests in ‘The Watchmen’ and enjoin the release of the Warner Bros. film and any related ‘Watchmen’ media that violate our copyright interests in that property.
Surprisingly, Fox said it would rather see the film killed instead of collecting a percentage of the box office.
“When you have copyright infringement, there are some damages you never recover,” said a source close to the litigation.
I suspect that’s more of a threat to increase their negotiating position, but when Fox originally filed the lawsuit back in February 2008, they did seek to enjoin the movie from going into production, so perhaps they’re serious.
Presumably this lawsuit also places in jeopardy all of the Watchmen action figures and prop replicas that DC Direct had announced, since those relied on the characters in the movie rather than the comic book. DC Direct had once planned to proceed with Watchmen-based action figures, but abandoned it after Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons said they wanted no part of it. DC may have been playing nice in withdrawing the figures, but more likely it was afraid of a lawsuit that would have threatened its hold over the Watchmen rights.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave (wait — that’s a character froma different company. Sorry about that).
