DC Comics announced yesterday that they’ve signed a deal with Image Comics to bring together DC’s Batman and Todd McFarlane’s Spawn in a one-shot 48-page comic due out in December. What does this have to do with action figures? As per the agreement, DC Direct (DC Comics’ toy and collectibles brand) will team up with McFarlane Toys (who are looking to rebound after having its share of the action figure market shrink in recent years) to create a deluxe, two-figure statue commemorating this historic crossover, also slated for December.
If this event sounds familiar, it’s because Batman and Spawn met up in the mid-90’s in similar fashion. Plot details are sketchy at the moment, but Todd McFarlane himself will write the story. “Besides Spawn, Batman is easily the most interesting comic book character that I’ve ever been involved with in the past,” said McFarlane. “I’ve drawn Batman, but I’m looking forward to the challenge of writing the Spawn/Batman crossover story.” As for the statue, it will be designed by McFarlane himself, scuplted by McFarlane Toys in association with DC Direct, which will in turn distribute the statue.
As said above, McFarlane Toys has been lagging behind it seems in recent years for grabbing headlines in the action figure world, and while this may be seem like an attempt by the studio to grab back the market, it also sounds like it’ll be a sweet ordeal. We’ll see come December what the result is (and whether I can get more shelf space).