The Authority
by DC Direct
Action
Figure Review by : Troy
Brownfield
"There
has to be someone left to save the world."
 With
those words, writer Warren Ellis and artists Bryan Hitch and
Paul Neary kicked the dirt over the still-warm corpses of
Stormwatch. In early 1999, the three members of Stormwatch
Black (Jenny Sparks, Swift, and Jack Hawksmoor), joined with
two former Stormwatch agents (Apollo and Midnighter) and two
new heroes (The Doctor and The Engineer) as The Authority.
Comics haven't been the same since.
I was
an immediate fan right off the bat. I thought Ellis's Stormwatch
was brilliant, and The Authority just floored me. Modern-thinking
progressive super-heroes who didn't give a shit who got in
their way for making a finer word. While others had trafficked
in similar circumstances, this was a A New Idea. It was Miracleman
as a team; the Elementals writ LARGE. And I never thought
there'd be action figures.
And yet,
DC Direct, as they've done more and more, pleased the die-hard
fans of that hard-luck title by announcing four figures based
on core members of the team. Even better than the announcement?
The actual result.
Jenny
Sparks:
The original leader of Stormwatch Black and The Authority
looks perfect in her trademark Union Jack shirt. The vest
and khakis look is but one of the outfits Jenny wore in the
series; the white pantsuit would make a GREAT variant in a
second assortment. Well-articulated and able to stand where
several previous DC Direct women have had a problem, Jenny
Sparks is an excellent representation of the character. The
only problem? No trademark cigarette.
The
Engineer:
I was a little worried from the first pictures (like the one
showing) that Angela Spica would be too shiny. Thankfully,
she's got a more muted finish, and it looks great. The right
hand is molded into a weapon to reflect but one of the uses
of the Engineer's nanite infused blood. No standing problems
here either; it's a solid figure.
Apollo:
The white-haired solar-powered Apollo makes the best of a
rather spare look. He's the tallest of the batch, which shows
that the sculptors paid attention to scale as shown in the
actual comic. The articulation is very nice, with ball-jointed
shoulders. Drop him through a model White House again and
again!
The
Midnighter:
The team's resident bad-ass (and Apollo's significant other)
is the best of the bunch. The sculpted trenchcoat looks great,
and the observed details of the spikes on the knuckles are
spot on. Midnighter is decently articulated as well. For my
money, the sculpted tail of the coat doesn't really interfere
with basic posing. Given the terrific expression, this guy
is spot-on.
Overall,
this is another tremendous effort from the team at DC Direct.
Their devotion to lesser-known characters is, in my opinion,
the backbone of the line. I sincerely hope that 2003 or 2004
will bring us the rest of the mainstays, with Jack Hawksmoor,
The Doctor w/Baby Jenny Quantum, Swift, and Jenny Sparks in
her white suit. Done at the level of these figures, that line-up
would blow any other releases that month right off the shelf.
With authority.
Troy
Brownfield is the Editor-in-Chief of Shotgun Reviews. He never
gets to kick enough people in the head. Email him at psikotyk@aol.com.
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