DC Direct wowed the collecting community this week with giving us our first look at the greatly anticipated "History of the DC Universe" line. This new line of figures that was mentioned in passing in an interview with DC Direct before Comic Con, and became one of the most talked about in the company’s history, solicited the first wave in Previews earlier this week. In addition a group shot of the second wave was posted on DC Direct’s own site.
We have some updated pictures of both waves and an exclusive interview with the man in charge, DC Direct’s Georg Brewer. As soon as we saw the solicitation, we had more questions and he answers them all for us below, including giving us some hints on what else we will see in this new line ripe with possibilities and sure to provide some of the most requested figures for DC Direct.
Q1. Do you have an idea yet of how many waves of HoDCU we would see in an average year?
GB: Well its early in the line plan for this, but if it does well we hope to have three to four assortments a year. Look for wave three soon.
Q2. How involved is George Perez in the process?
GB: Unfortunately his comic schedule keeps him really busy so we’ve had to base the work on the actual books themselves.
Q3. Will there be a Superman or Batman family character anchoring each wave?
GB: Not necessarily, though there will be at least one of the more well known characters in each.
Q4. What is the scale of these figures?
GB: The figures are the same as the average DC Direct figures, 6.75” tall.
Q5. What was behind the decision to give these figures more articulation than the average DCD figure?
GB: One of the most successful figures we’ve created is the 21 point of articulation Superman from a few years back so we’ve been looking for the right time to go there again.
Q6. Will this line be based on George Perez’s art for the foreseeable future or will other classic DC artists be included down the line?
GB: For now this is pulling from the History of the DCU book and Perez style for the foreseeable future.
Q7. Will the Crisis lines be compatible, since we already have some Perez style figures already made in those lines?
GB: Stylistically yes, though as has been noted some of the original Crisis figures from several years ago came out smaller then is our standard style now. These are intended to be consistent with the greatest number of figures.
Q8. Do you anticipate the waves will ever be themed by teams or story lines or will each wave be potentially made up of unrelated fan requested characters?
GB: We’ll keep the HoDCU overall brand, without sub-brands, but we are considering teams and group affiliations as we are selecting the characters.
Q9. Is this functionally a reboot for DCD? Will this be the style and scale for the majority of releases going forward?
GB: If the line succeeds as well as we hope there is a plan to continue supporting it with multiple waves. However, we will continue to develop other artist/story centric lines which has been our specialty for years.
Q10. Will you use the same sculptors for the whole line? Is a consistent scale being set now for all future characters, or will each assortment be looked at fresh (i.e., might scale change down the road)?
GB: One sculptor (as long as he’ll stay) on the line for consistent style and scale.
Q11. Will you redo may characters as the line progresses, so someone could start fresh right now but still get all major DC characters in the next few years?
GB: It’s possible, but when some characters are appearing again we do look to find something unique or different about the interpretation to make it fresh. (Example: Rater then another “all silver” Captain Atom we would do the first appearance costume) The goal is to expand the character choices for the bulk of the line, so we want to stay true to that.
Q12. Was Ma Hunkle ever in the History of the DCU books?
GB: Sadly, no.
Q13. Will Dr. Fate’s helmet be gold or yellow?
GB: Good question. I’m leaning toward yellow (slightly metallic) as a point of difference from or other figure, but what do your readers say?
Q14. How obscure will the line go? B’wana Beast? Brother Power? Prez?
GB: If it last long enough anything is possible. Maybe Jim Fletcher will finally get his Neptune Perkins figure.
Q15. Will this line be looked at as a chance to finish some unfinished teams (JSA, Teen Titans, etc.) or will it start teams from scratch (Doom Patrol, Inferior Five) first?
GB: Possibly a little of both. It is still early to say, but I would love to see even more debate and discussion on what characters collectors want.
Q16. This wave has some of the characters kicked around for the DCD 10th anniversary waves. Does this line take the place of that?
GB: Right, some of those early ideas evolved into this line.
Q17. Any hints on what’s next?
GB: Well let’s see:
· The last of his kind…
· A classic villain who still gets play today…
· A hero lost in time…
· He may be a clone or not…
· A hero by another name…
An so many more.
Hmmmm…. A BIG "Thank You" to Georg and all the crew at DC Direct for getting these answers back to us so quickly. I’m sure you all have more to say about this line. Let’s discuss it, start our wish lists and guess at who’s next on our DC Direct message board!
