Batman Dark Knight Returns & New X-Men From Knight Models
June 14, 2016 by brennon
The folks at Knight Models have now added a whole new raft of releases to their website for both the Batman Miniatures Game and the Marvel Universe Miniatures Game. We'll kick things off with DC this time around and take a look at Carrie Kelly and the Sons Of Batman...
As we mentioned before when we talked about this set Carrie Kelley took on the role of Robin and fought alongside Batman. The Sons of Batman, inspired by the Dark Knight, were a group of vigilantes whom Batman stopped and instead trained them in his non-lethal ways. Admittedly after a bit of a scuffle.
Dark Knight Returns
As well as what's on offer there from Carrie Kelley there is also a pair of releases for the Dark Knight Returns period. Here we have Joker & Robot Dolls.
He's a decidedly different looking Joker but I'm sure that folks can drop some thoughts below. This is an older Joker who comes back to 'himself' after he realises that Batman has come out of retirement.
We also have a hero this month with Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow, who comes with a Frank Miller spin.
It's neat to see these characters from the Batman universe looking a little older - from a quick look at the internet as well it's a neat story.
X-Men & A Hulk
Leading the way for the Marvel side of things we have The Incredible Hulk who now adds to the Avengers line-up and would be father freckin' awesome to see wrecking face on the tabletop. It's nice to see this model make its way back into the collection.
I think that Hulk would be a neat way of making a cool scenario where he's gone on a proper rampage - started by some nefarious villain, and the two teams are trying to stop him. The Avengers are hoping to stop him and bring him under control while the X-Men are looking to take him down.
Talking of the X-Men here we also have Jean Grey, looking fantastic in her 90's style outfit.
Jean Grey was always one of those characters that I wasn't very sure on when it came to the X-Men. She always seemed a bit 'strange' in the stories and I never quite got behind her as a character. The model looks great though and I hope we see a Phoenix version.
Keeping with neat looking ladies we also have Emma Frost.
Emma Frost is a rather neat character who has telepathy and, her coolest ability, turning her skin into diamond. Very cool.
Are you liking the DC or the Marvel releases from this month?
Let us know below!
"Talking of the X-Men here we also have Jean Grey, looking fantastic in her 90's style outfit..."
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I’m glad they went with the 90’s version of Jean Grey. Sure, it’s not the best looking costume but it fits with the X-Men stuff they already released and to me it’s the most iconic.
Emma Frost is going to be interesting though – I suppose she will have a dual affiliation, X-Men and someone else. It might give us a clue as to which ‘bad guy’ team will make an appearance first.
No dual affiliation, she’s X-Men only. I would imagine that KM are reserving the right to retcon stat cards as new affiliations are released. That said, there’d need to be a Hellfire Club for her realistically have anything else, and I can’t imaging they are high on the release schedule.
Yeah Hellfire Club was indeed the one that sprung to mind but as you say, there are some more.. obvious choices when it comes to villain crews that KM would probably want to do first.
It is dual affiliation in a way, that’s why they have the blue, grey and red marks The brotherhood will count as x men so she will fit in both due to her grey neutral similar to gambit. Its easier and quicker for knight that way. I imagine we will see more factions but not soon.
The affiliation marks being blue, grey or red are all that will change for teams
Would imagine we’ll see the Brotherhood and Magneto coming soon after they’ve fleshed out the factions aye.
They were part of the same leak that revealed Jean and Emma, so it’s surprising not to see them with these releases. They also seemed to be retaining the ‘Evil’, which is a bit retro.
The brotherhood of evil were part of this leak? Do you have links? I can’t find images
There were no images of the minis, just placeholder webpages.
Those are all really great looking models. I don’t really care about those DKR models but Marvel once got my attention.
I literally want all of these models. I’ve been a vocal critic in the past of KM’s scattergun approach to releases for BMG, but credit where it’s due, an entire months given over to TDKR releases that make the Frank Miller Batman playable in its own thematic crew, and something to fight against too, albeit not enough for its own crew. “It’s neat to see these characters from the Batman universe looking a little older – from a quick look at the internet as well it’s a neat story.” I think that’s a little bit of an understatment lol. I… Read more »
Yeah- the Dark Knight Returns was the most influential and important Batman story there has ever been.
Like Watchmen in many ways, it is a more direct answer to the criticisms of the super hero genre that were raised by the Adam West television series.
I’ve long been of the opinion that DKR is the most overrated comic of all time, but that Joker crew looks great.
Their Marvel releases are definitely breaking me down, as a massive X-men fan, its only a matter of time before i give in
How long is ‘long’? If it’s since 1986 then fair play. If you came to it later then it really loses a lot without its original context, and the more time passes the more is lost. Like I say, I don’t think it’s aged well, though I think that’s true of MIller in general, but its importance and its impact can’t be overstated.
since the early 2000s when i first read it. Whilst its obviously a product of its time it is still widely regarded as one of the best batman stories of all time, which leads to my belief of it being overrated. the Art is dire, and the story at times is edgy simply for the sake of edginess (the worst offender being the throwaway panel of Gordon being a paedophile, it adds nothing to the story and is never referenced outside of that one panel).
In Contrast, The Killing Joke came out at a similar time, and imo is timeless
I get every complaint, but having been there at the time I can’t contest its greatness either. It was a truly groundbreaking comic that laid the foundations for everything that followed. There is no The Killing Joke without TDKR. Also, The Killing Joke is nothing special story-wise either, though the art is superlative.
The Dark Knight Returns is important because it did things first. Frank Miller re-wrote the Batman character into what we now know as Batman. In earlier works, he was not the same person. Many have since taken Miller’s Batman and run with it- many of them have accomplished things far beyond what Miller did, but it is important for being first. The Killing Joke was also great, by the way. It was later, and is really a revision of the previously shallow Joker character- his motives and psychology are laid out (and contrasted some with Batman’s). Just as a random… Read more »
have to agree with @redben here, but will add it certainly managed to get rid of the last of the adam west tv show hangover, and generally toned down the rather naff kookiness that was common in batman prior to TDKR…
As difficult as it might be to believe now, Batman was not a popular character before TDKR. Sales of the comic were terrible. Comic books now sell much less overall than they did in the 80s, but Batman actually sells more now than in the early 80s, so low was his popularity then. TDKR single-handedly turned Batman into DC’s most popular character, and it got the 1989 movie greenlit to boot. Without TDKR, there are no movies, no 90s animated series, no Gotham TV show (not such a bad thing), no Killing Joke, no proliferation of Batman titles, no ‘be… Read more »
Yeah- TDKR doesn’t seem like a big deal if you’ve been reading post-knight Batman your whole life.
I really like its take on Superman. At his core, the old Superman really represents an antiquated American ideal that we can’t really believe in anymore (without being a bit fascist).
Ironic that it was that campy Silver Age of comic books inspired Adam West Batman TV series that made Batman popular at first place and part of pop culture. Batman fanboys just like to ignore that fact because it does not fit how they see character.
To be fair, Batman had already been very popular before the TV show, and it was the show that introduced the campy elements. The comic followed suit for the brief time it was on air. Prior to the 1989 movie, it was the definitive Batman for pretty much anyone who didn’t read comics, which was a bit frustrating when people assumed that’s what the comics were like. There’s only so many ‘Holy (insert noun), Batman!’ and ‘POW’s you could take lol. I do have a bit of a soft spot for the show, especially the first season. The second season… Read more »
To be fair, Silver Age of comic books was generally silly and campy at today’s standards and that TV series was pretty faithful for that. It sure was lot different from how Batman started during Golden Age of comic books with him using gun and killing people. Once they dropped that it was possible for him to have legendary rogues gallery that he has today. Image Batman facing The Joker and it ending to The Joker getting bullet to the head. That said he has become most popular DC superhero with all negative that that brings like obnoxious fanboys that… Read more »
The TV show was very much its own thing. You read a Batman comic from 1965 and it is not at all like the TV show. Not at all campy. The show is removed from Batman carrying a gun, something he did for all of two seconds, by 26 years. The character had undergone several revisions by that point. Many people do imagine Batman killing the Joker, usually at the end of The Killing Joke. Not convinced myself. You mean you don’t like how the characters are treated in All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder? Heresy indeed! He’s the… Read more »
The Adam West show is satire of super heroes.
There was a previous serialized adaptations of Batman- also very campy- that really represents Golden age Batman.
Something like Batbaby or alien plants used for crime that were in Silver Age comics are not campy at all?
Camp in this context means to be deliberately exaggerated and theatrical. The TV show was camp. It’s stated goal was to present Alice In Wonderland as if it was Shakespeare and it created its own style which didn’t draw on the comics. Now, if you’re suggesting that Silver Age pre-1964 sci-fi Batman had some silly plotlines and characters, then that is beyond dispute, but the TV show didn’t draw on that.
That Joker looks super awesome.