Red Lead

Li'l Red

Li'l Red and the Mattel DC Universe Classics
Red Tornado action figure

Side view

You may or may not know about the Eaglemoss lead figurines. They're among the coolest looking collectibles on the market nowadays, with lines going for DC, Marvel, and Buffy among their other products.

The DC lineup is well underway, with over 50 figures already produced. The normal figures stand roughly three-and-a-half inches tall. That said, there are "special" figurines that depict the larger characters and are, therefore, larger figurines. Some of the DC Specials include Darkseid, Demon, Doomsday, Solomon Grundy, Grodd, and more.

I was set to ignore the whole thing, but happened across the Thing while visiting a local comic shop. The detail on some of these figurines - such as Benjamin J. Grimm - is phenomenal and from there I was hooked. I decided to try to limit myself, since these figures run anywhere between $12-16 depending on where, when, and how you get them.

Marvel is farther along than DC, having released over 120 figurines to date. I wanted some of these cool figs, but knew I'd need to keep my collection small, for sake of real estate in my cramped office as well as money in my stressed budget. So I started with the Champions, old favorites of mine from when I was a kid. My mom had returned from a shopping trip with a copy of Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man #17 featuring the aftermath of the Champions breakup. I couldn't stop there, though, so I got the Avengers Forever team, some X-Men, Spider-Man, the Thing, Black Panther, and the Falcon. Then the DC figs hit.

To date, I've remained in control on the DC side. I just picked up my 11th fig - Beast Boy. More on him over at My Greatest Adventure real soon. I don't really have a rhyme, reason, or strategy to the DC ones I'm acquiring. It's mostly just characters I like - Superman, Aquaman, Hawkman, Flash (Wally, thank you very much), Green Lantern, Donna Troy, Creeper, Cyborg, Reddy, Darkseid, and Beast Boy so far. Firestorm has eluded me since all the ones my LCS received were busted.

Anyway, back to Reddy.

The figures come with a magazine that gives an all-too-brief recollection of the hero's (or villain's) history, both as a character and in their respective "universe." Decent read, but not very fulfilling. It's a lite version of a TwoMorrows Companion accidentally thrown in the dryer. Nice enough for characters -like Reddy - who will never merit a companion or encyclopedia-type book. They claim to be 16 pages, but that includes the cover and a two-page DC Timeline in each issue.

Cape detail

 Reddy's does a good job of covering the range of his career, but spends an uneven amount of time towards the beginning of Red Tornado's career. Somehow they manage to avoid any Young Justice imagery with Reddy.

In my opinion, the books accompanying the Marvel figurines (they have a team for each brand, as I understand it) are much more satisfying. The DC books list two storylines across a spread as a guide for new fans to check out the characters, but the Marvel ones have a timeline of important issues across the bottom of the entire book.

For what it is - a solid, one-of-a-kind collectible and a light read of the character - these Eaglemoss productions aren't half bad. the lead nature of them scares some folks away, but I've read more than a few reports that the figs are safe enough to handle and display. Of course that doesn't stop me from washing my hands right after.

Next time I hop out here I'll share a little of the magazine with you.