About Heroes

Holy frijoles; real fishnet stockings on an action figure. Do I actually need to write out a longer review than that?

Actually, yes. I really like this figure, and not just because of the fishnets, or because Black Canary is one of my favorite characters (though not as she's written - or not written - thus far in JLA). But lets get the fishnets out of the way. This is the first action figure I've encountered that uses real tiny fishnet stockings. While the seam up the back is pretty thick, the general effect really works; not only that, but the stockings themselves hide the joints in her knees. Since her elbow joints are covered by her black jacket, and her hip joints are hidden by the shiny black of her costume, Black Canary has a very statuesque look that escapes a lot of action figures.

However, the stockings aren't perfect. The dye from the stockings has left marks all over the flesh-colored paint of her legs; if you mess with the stockings and throw off their position from the way they are when you open the package, it's a pretty unsightly mess. Luckily, the stockings aren't difficult to convince back into position.

In terms of the pose, I'd like to see something a little more dynamic from DC's premiere female martial artist. If the archetype behind Black Canary is "kung-fu and fishnets", this figure only gets one of the two. Since her pose is so static, like the vast majority of DC Direct figures, I'd have liked to see her hair sitting more naturally than it does. That's just a nitpick, though, since I figure an all-positive review is pretty boring.

Her paint applications are all clean, and her facial sculpt isn't bad; if anything, it errs a little towards an Asian look. But it's definitely Black Canary as opposed to another DC heroine's head just repurposed.

This figure's certainly worth the cost, and I'd be surprised if it doesn't turn out to be the hardest-to-find figure of the wave. If you like the character at all, I'd definitely pick up this figure.