I wasn’t the biggest fan of Dark Nights: Metal—but I’m probably repeating myself. I still did enjoy a number of the designs and backstories of the Dark Batmans, though.
But not The Drowned.
Honestly? I think it’s all about names for me: “Bryce Wayne” and “Sylvester Kyle” just sound dopey. Gender-swapping our well-known characters? Sure. But why try so hard to make their names so close?
Anyway, Diamond Select continues to populate its Gallery line with evil Batmans, and Drowned is the latest addition. So how did Diamond do?
Well-sculpted
The sculpt is as good as I expect it to be. I’ve reviewed north of 30 Gallery statues at this point, and the sculpts are always rock solid. If you’ve read Metal or the Batman: The Drowned one-shot, then this looks incredibly familiar.
One of the things I really liked about the Batman Who Laughs Gallery is the leather-look Diamond achieved on the coat and straps. There’s similarly good work here.
The base is probably my favorite thing on the whole piece, with nicely-sculpted tentacles and translucent water. To that end, if you were a fan of Bobby’s World in the 90’s, you need to watch the video at the top of this review.
Well-painted
The paint is above-standard. Most Gallery pieces have some pretty sloppy lines when you get close up. Some have rough stuff that is visible from further out. Drowned is pretty clean, even when you’re looking into her cold, dead, Sylvesterless eyes. Yes, there are still some flubs if you’re looking for them, but I would say this is one of the better non-GameStop paint jobs I’ve seen (for more on the GameStop goodness, check out this, this, and this).
But should you buy it?
That really depends on whether you’re a fan of Metal and the characters it spawned. If you are, all three of DST’s Galleries released to-date are excellent. All three feature best-in-line paint jobs. So I’ll answer my question with another question: do you like Metal? If so, have at it. These are way cheaper than what DC Collectibles is putting out for these same characters, and while the aim of each manufacturer is somewhat different, sometimes, it just comes down to dollars and cents.
DISCLAIMER: Batman News received this collectible from Diamond for the purpose of review.
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