Posted By Dan Greenfield on Mar 3, 2017 | 6 comments

Funko’s Man of Steel soars …

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Man, I love surprises.

Like when I opened the new Funko Legion of Collectors bimonthly DC Comics package.

This edition’s theme is Superman and inside were the typical goodies like a T-shirt, exclusive Pop! figures, pin, patch, etc.

But much like Wonder Woman’s Invisible Jet a few months back — click here — the item that knocked me backward was the one I didn’t anticipate:

A 3.75-inch-scale Superman figure celebrating his first appearance — complete with snazzy Action Comics #1-themed packaging.

Check it out:

According to reader Scott Dutton, this Wayne Boring art is from Action Comics #245, October 1958. Thanks, Scott!

This is the best Superman collectible I’ve seen in a long time, of any stripe.

And while I’ve seen other ’38 Superman figures before — I own DC Direct’s standard-scale 1st Appearance version — there’s something especially cool about seeing one in this format with this packaging.

This will sound weird but I think it’s because this looks like a toy as much as it looks like a collectible: At this scale, it’s more satisfying to linger over the details they got right than to sweat over, say, the level of articulation. Plus, Funko’s figures are durable and eminently playable.

It’s part of why I’m so looking forward to the company’s Batman ’66 line that’s coming in the same scale later this year. (Click here for more on that.) You can put these figures on a shelf, hang them from a peg or indulge your inner 8-year-old and pose them this way and that.

Now, that said, I don’t plan on taking Superman out of his package — because he looks too good inside it with that superb design. To that point, with Funko expanding its array of 3.75 figures, I really think they’d do well by developing a resealable clamshell. Enough companies do this now, it should be a gimme.

Because as much as I’d like to see this Superman freed so he could leap a tall building in a single bound, why would I want to muck up something as good looking as this?

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The DC Legion of Collectors service costs either $25 or $150, depending on your membership level. Click here for more info. They also have Marvel and Star Wars services. As a subscriber, you can order a box that’s already been released.