Say hello to the avatar of the Black Lantern Corps. Black Hand personifies death and after his suicide is returned to life as the first of the Black Lanterns. From there began ‘The Blackest Night’ mega series that lasted for 400 hundred and 6000 comics…..or at least felt that way. Hand has seen action figure form a few times already, mainly in the DC Direct line. He is part of the initial Green Lantern Classics line, to promote next years Green Lantern film, if you somehow were unaware.
Now sometimes I wonder how Mattel decides who gets the ‘royal’ treatment as it were, as too many higher profile characters seem to get by with the bare minimum of new parts and then we see guys like this. Black Hand is about 99% new parts, the cape is a reuse from Dr. Midnite which isn’t a big deal, it looks fine, and the seem to have spared no expense on this guy. His original suit was revealed to be made from an old body bag, this suit give the black sections a stretched rubbery look, with the blue being more of a skin-tight deal. Tossed in are textured black bands on his arms and legs along with riveted chest logo.
This boys a freak. I should mention that.
Being dead, or undead as it were, what little skin that is exposed has a dried withered look to it. It’s not as grotesque as some artwork has shown him, actually I like how he turned out.
Hand has a little surprise for those of us who have been collecting Mattel’s DC figures for the last few years. When these figures first hit many were just a tiny bit upset that the articulation was scaled back in favor of the sculpt. I will admit I too was annoyed at first, however I now prefer this to the somewhat over done articulation of yesterday. Black Hand comes loaded with the standard DC movement AND double knee and elbow joints. They serve no purpose that I can see so I can’t really understand their inclusion. Of course Mattel has stated this sort of thing will not be on every figure and I know that I definitely have totally new parts….
My figure has a few issues when it comes to paint, but that should be expected when buying a mass market figure- so remember to double check when buying. I should also mention that Hand’s right….hand is too small for his arm, good thing it’s only noticeable if you have his arms raised- and besides you’ll be too busy eyeballing his miscolored hand. I get he’s called ‘Black Hand’ but his hand DID match his arm for skin tone.
He doesn’t come with any accessories besides the build a figure piece, which is aggravating. See throughout ‘Blackest Night’ Hand here was toting around Batman’s skull (don’t ask), the DC Direct figure came with it and it would have made the price tag a wee bit more bearable.
Overall he’s a good figure, and a direct improvement over the previous versions.
Not bad for a loser. My first experience with Black Hand came in the early 90’s, I’d scored some old ‘Green Lantern Corps’ comics at my local flea market (now a liquor store, dollar store AND mechanics….go figure) and in issue 205 I met Black Hand. The GL power stealing villain whose whole gimmick was power stealing and bad puns.
Yeah. PUNS. Yes, this guy was lame. Even his half-assed batman wannabe suit (which has something to do with him being a nod to Batman creator Bill Finger…thank you WIKI) didn’t help much. Thankfully he was seldom used in comics, with good reason, until ‘Green Lantern:Rebirth #1, written by Geoff Johns. Where he’s quickly curb-stomped by, then Spectre, Hal Jordan- who burned his hand off…..oh ha ha.
Now because Johns has an unabashed man-crush on EVERYTHING pre-1992 in the DC Universe, and can’t seem to tell a story that doesn’t necessitate the purchase of 100+ issues to complete, it was certain Black Hand would be back.
Good thing aging fan-boys have taken over the comics industry huh?
Long and short Johns tweaks Hand’s backstory a bit. Now he’s a death obsessed weirdo who is tied into an ancient Green Lantern prophecy….and not some lame ass villain who nearly wet his pants the time Starman villain ‘The Mist’ (the female one) pulled a gun on him. I have to admit the single issue revamp on Hand might be one of the single best stories I’ve read in Johns GL run and proves that it’s mainly bad writing that ruins characters.
Of course I am getting sick of the constant trotting out of Silver Age crap these days. But that’s a whole different rant.
I suppose you have a better thought on the subject?