The Facts

Series: Heroes of the DC Universe – Blackest Night
Manufacturer: DC Direct
Released: March 9, 2011
Size: 5 1/2″ tall
Edition Size: 3500

The Good

As I have said before, Blackest Night was just too damn cool to not have anything outside of action figures produced. So many amazingly odd characters, the story literally runs the color spectrum, and it has some fantastic artistic direction. Hal Jordan is the second bust to be released for this line (following Black Hand), and while Hal is pretty stock and tame when compared to the likes of Deathstorm, Low and Atrocitus, he was a must-have for this statue line. Hal measures 5 1/2″ tall, standing upright and strong with his ring at the ready. The green on this statue is incredibly crisp and vibrant, and as a display piece the bust really draws your attention to it. A lot of attention was put into the muscular details on his suit, though it’s probably a tad overdone. I’m a big fan of what DC Direct is doing with the bases for this series – each will be the same all the way around, capturing each of the lantern logos. The exception is the front of the base, which will showcase that particular character’s lantern (Green Lantern in this case) and the base’s color, which will match that of the lantern.

The Bad

Overall the statue displays nicely, but it is not without its flaws. If you look closely at Hal’s face, you’ll see several areas in which there are 3-4 grooves in his skin. At first glance I thought these were brush strokes, but I think they’re a little too think to be from the average paint brush. I don’t know if the artists were attempting to give Hal a “rough” appearance, but it comes off incredibly sloppy and out of place. Paint-wise the bust turned out good, but there are some issues with cut lines and transitions. The most noticeable for me is the transition around his mask – the skin-to-mask transition is often a touchy point, and with this bust it’s something to look out for if you’re picky about your paint applications.

Conclusion

DC Direct is taking the edition size on these down a bit – Hal Jordan was limited to only 3500 pieces as was his predecessor, Black Hand. This statue’s retail price was $70.00, which is really pushing it for a minibust, but as is usually the case with DC Direct pieces it can be had for far less than that. I acquired mine from Things From Another World for $56.00 (preorder price), and of course you can always find them on eBay.