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Death’s Dark Knight.  Ex-police officer Michael Lane is drafted by the Order of Purity to become their new Avenging Angel of Justice, taking on the mantle of Azrael and donning the Suit of Sorrows.  In his quest for redemption, Azrael becomes Gotham City’s new protector in the midst of chaos and madness.  But is he the answer the citizens seek?

Remember way back in April when I previewed these bad boys?  I finally got my hands on one!  This week’s Gotta Have It! Figure Edition brings you an offering from DC Direct’s Batman: Reborn line.  Azrael!

Product Line: Batman: Reborn
Company: DC Direct
Released: July 28, 2010
Packaging: Full plastic encasing.
Where to Buy: Your local hobby, specialty, or comic shop. Mine came from my LCS.
Price: US $17.99
Points of Articulation: 16
Height: 6 3/4 inches.

Paint Job: Beautiful!  Very beautiful!  Azrael has white gloves, shirt, pants, and boots.  He has gray ropes around his calves.  All of the white features have sort of a grayish tint to them for shadowing.  The majority of his mask and eyes are also white.  His chest bares a brick red cross, and his mask has a design and triangle in the same color.  The only flaw is that the upside down triangle is not centered on his face.  Azrael’s tattered cape and hood are made of black rubber.  There is the brick red again on the underside of the strands of the cape.  He has a brown belt with with a black pouch “tied” to the side, and a bronze buckle and clips (more on these later) on the back of the belt.  The buckles on his boots are also bronze.  Last, but not least, his arms and wrist gauntlets are painted metallic silver.  His arms are a very detailed and very textured chain mail.  It is very, very nice.  Excellent detail!  The only color bleeds are on his belt and black pouch.

Durability: This action figure is thick and solid.  He is even a little on the heavy side.  All of his joints had to be popped loose as they were stiff with paint, but once free they are firm and hold all positions.  His cape is very pliable.  You can bend it this way.  You can bend it that way.  No matter how you bend it, it will go back to its original shape, no problem.  He has a peg hole in his right boot heel, and he has two tiny, sturdy clips on the back of his belt.  I have no clue what these are for.  Neither of his swords fit in them.  It’s kind of odd.

Poseability: Azrael is very tall and lean.  He’s a lean, mean, sin fightin’ machine!  He has all kinds of cool poses.  For a minute or two.  Azrael’s balance isn’t all that.

Accessories: Azrael comes with the flaming Sword of Sin and the cool burning Sword of Salvation.  The blades are clear orange and clear blue, respectively.  The handles are painted in bronze.  He also comes with a lame posing stand.  It is just a black disk with a peg in it.  It’s stupid.  It sounds like a poker chip if you drop it on the table, though.  That’s kind of cool.  It really doesn’t help his posing much.

What’s Awesome: The overall appearance and detail of this figure is impeccably awesome!  I love this thing!  It’s a gorgeous hunk of plastic.  If I were Barbie, I’d totally try to hook up with this guy!  Seriously.  This is one of the coolest looking action figures that I’ve ever covered in this column.

What Sucks: He does this a lot:

Really.  I wish that balance wasn’t such a touchy thing.  Also, the price is kind of steep.  You’re going to have to spend all day out making sweet moolah with Uncle Rico if you want one.  That’s really kind of a bummer and it keeps me from snatching up lots more DC Direct figures.  But…it really is a quality piece.  I guess you get what you pay for.

Overall: 4.5 out of 5.  I give this Azrael action figure four and a half thumbs up, because it is damn near a perfect action figure.  See above photo to see why he doesn’t come in with a perfect score.  DC Direct’s Batman: Reborn: Azrael…gotta have it?  Yes!  Even if you’re not an Azrael fan, you can’t deny that this thing is sexy.  Go get one and have him wreak some havoc on sinners all over your mantle, shelf, and desk space!

Aron White
aron@comicattack.net