Out of the Box: DC Direct's Planetary & The Authority

Planetary's The Drummer
The Planetary figures included a stand
with the comic's logo.

We've all heard the saying "vote with your wallet", and that's always one of those dilemmas when you collect anything that's related to a particular property - when the first tie-ins are released, do you need to buy them to show that there's a market for that property?  And is that true even if the product isn't that great?

That was my dilemma back in 2001, when DC Direct released three figures from the Wildstorm series Planetary and then again a year later when they released another four from The Authority.  As with an unfortunate number of DC Directs figures from that era, the figures have minimal detail and less-than-ideal articulation, but as with any property that hasn't had any non-comics merchandise, there's always a temptation to pick them up anyway.

I initially decided to compromise and pick up one figure from each release - Snow from Plantary and the Midnighter from The Authority (those two would spend several years as desk decor at my office).  In 2007 I came across the rest of the series on sale at ComiKazi (my local comic shop when I lived in Calgary), and picked up another two.  I'm still on the fence about these toys, but I can't lie - they've grown on me.  And hey, at least the Authority figures aren't in the terrible costumes from the new DCU versions of the characters!

The Midnighter & Apollo from The Authority
This release didn't include stands.

Elijah Snow from Planetary.
This figure is currently in storage, so this is an old photo
of him at my desk at work.  Amusingly, two different co-workers
mistook him for the Glad Man.