SIDESHOW DARKMAN EXCLUSIVE PREMIUM FORMAT FIGURE
Created by Sam Raimi Darkman was presented as first a film character and then later published in comic book form. But Darkman couldn’t be more of a comic character or story no matter what its origins. Part superhero, part vigilante, part mad scientist, part man, part monster Darkman touches on the sort of storytelling extremes that practically beg to laid out in panel form. My friends were amused to see me take this out of the box as most of them aren’t big enough fans of the series to bother with something this over the top. But this piece cried out for my attention the second I saw it. I’m a huge Darkman fan, a bigger Sam Raimi fan, and a lover of over the top movies in general.
As an side this piece brought up an idea I’ve long had for a long article on the relationship between horror comics and superhero comics. In truth it’s probably not a stretch to say that they represent the opposite sides of the same coin. Just as Two-Face uses a two-headed coin (one side with a scarred face and one unblemished) to decide fate so do these two modes of comic storytelling seem bound to one another and probably closer than either group of fans would like to admit. Superman may seem like the ultimate good guy until you imagine him as part of the real world. Then he seems more than a little scary. What’s to keep ole blue from deciding he knows what’s best for everybody and taking the whole shebang over or helping other people or governments to? Frank Miller did a magnificent job with this idea in his early eighties graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns positing the idea of Superman under American governmental control, reduced to an errand boy. In Darkman we have the flipside of this concept. A true vigilante as driven by his desire for revenge as by desire to protect and serve the one he loves.
It’s impossible to talk about Darkman without referring to the tradition that spawned him. It isn’t just comics. He clearly draws from other characters, most notably Erik in The Phantom of The Opera, Prof. Henry Jarrod in House of Wax, and The Invisible Man. The basic portrait is of a genius, driven mad by injustice and deformity, who then seeks his own twisted brand of justice.
The film did not do as well as hoped on initial release and receiving middling reviews by critics who clearly didn’t get the tone Raimi was going for. More often than not the chief problems they pointed out had to do with plot-holes. How, for instance, could Darkman successfully imitate the different heights and body types of Durant and his henchman? How could he change in and out of identities so quickly? And why doesn’t his superhuman adrenaline driven agility and strength help him more in his to the death fight with Louis Strack at the end of the film.
Of course all this misses the broader point. Aesthetically perfect Darkman ain’t, but it is definitely one of the better attempts to celebrate the larger than life aspects of the mediums it draws from. Horror and superhero comics and films have, until recently, been only occasionally brilliant but their creators have historically understood the importance of the operatic stroke, the basic truths about revenge, justice, tragedy and heroism that have formed the narrative backbone of the mediums. And of course the filmmaking of Sam Raimi is nothing if not operatic even if one senses it usually more resembles A Night at the Opera. I no more believe in the psuedo-science that gives Darkman the ability to change appearance and constantly tap into adrenaline driven super strength and reflexes than I believe that Erik in The Phantom of the Opera is able to build the marvelous underground lair he lives in, or that any of these deformed characters would have survived their horrific injuries long enough to seek revenge.
Sideshow has chosen an appropriate pose that seems to more or less replicate the poster art. Leaning forward Darkman seems to be lunging across the floor of his laboratory towards his next grisly mission. The interchangeable heads on the exclusive version allow you to showcase the figure with the bandaged head with hat or the unmasked hideously scarred face underneath. Either way this is a dynamite presentation.
The pose is dramatic, the clothes and the sculpt of both heads spot on. The base is fine. But I do wonder if it might have been better to simply provide both heads as a matter of course while offering some other exclusive accessory like a replica of the fake Neeson skin mask or a stuffed Bunny. Or better yet imagine if you opened the box to find a Bruce Campbell skin mask replicating his cameo from the film. That said Sideshow is now morally obligated to provide us all with a twelve inch Robert Durant complete with cigar cutter, finger collection and mini Bellasarius memorandum accesories ASAP
Darkman is one of those films that just refuses to die. The obvious answer would be that since Raimis career has taken off people naturally want to peek back into his creative past. The insinuation is disingenuous at best. Darkman is fun, campy, sometimes genuinely horrifying ride that pays loving homage to everything from horror comics, comic book movies to classic horror cinema. It has aged remarkably well and I’m betting that as time goes on it will continue to be cherished by a wide fan base,.
Good luck finding an Exclusive version of this Sideshow Premium Format figure. Sideshow has a very few left and even then I recently saw one on an Ebay store listed at $600.
