Review: Krieghunde by Four Color Figs

[Curryman]

Due to the LAF's involuntary hiatus, I missed the opportunity to share this review last week.

The Screaming Alpha switches gears this week with a review of Nazi superviilian mini Krieghunde. He's a huge, musclebound brick ready to beat the tar out of any verdammt superheroes! Details and several photos of the painted mini await if you care to follow the link.

http://thescreamingalpha.com/2009/05/01/review-krieghunde-by-four-color-figures/

Note: While Krieghunde is clearly intended to be a super-Nazi, he does not actually have any swastikas or anything sculpted on him. I hope this makes him ok for our German friends, as he really is a cool mini.

[Hauptgefreiter]

looks great! 

[Chairface]

Thanks for the review. I have him sitting on my table waiting to be painted. Now I'm inspired. 

[Plynkes]

He would do for Masterman. Always wanted a Masterman figure, and he's about the closest fit I've seen.

[JollyBob]

He would do for Masterman. Always wanted a Masterman figure, and he's about the closest fit I've seen.

But who would you use for Zenith? and more importantly, Red Dragon?

Nice figure though, like that a lot. 

[Plynkes]

I was thinking more of using him as the twin that was killed in WWII, chucking Shermans around and such, rather than the 1980s one.

[JollyBob]

That would probably make more sense, yes. 

[twrchtrwyth]

He would do for Masterman. Always wanted a Masterman figure, and he's about the closest fit I've seen.

Marvel?

[Plynkes]

No, 2000AD. Nazi super-villain from the story "Zenith."

[Poliorketes]

Nice Fig, stupid name. It translates wardogs (and even then spelled not quiet right). I guess it was ment to be dog of war = Kriegshund.

[Grimmnar]

No, 2000AD. Nazi super-villain from the story "Zenith."

I was looking it up. Seems there is one in the Marvel universe as well. Nazi Super Villain. Had the German equiv of the Super Soldier Serum used on him and then some. Is it a crossing of the author in some way or just a coincidence?  :-)

Grimm

[Curryman]

Thanks for the kind words guys, and apologies to our German friends for one more mangled American attempt to name a character in a foreign language. 

Interesting to hear about the 2000AD connection. I've always regretted not reading more of it, but it's never really been widely available in the US. Masterman sounds like quite the badass.

Interestingly, Scott (owner of Four-Color Figs) mentioned on his blog that the mini was originally intended to be bald, but when the green came back from the sculptor he was sporting his trademark flattop, making him look much younger. I personally think this haircut is a big improvement.

[Plynkes]

Just as you fellas hadn't heard of the 2000AD one, I was unaware of the Marvel one. Don't think it was a crossover though, as reading the Wikipedia article on the Marvel fellow their stories don't match up. I think it's a coincidence, as Masterman is a pretty obvious name to pick if you're creating a Nazi supervillain.

The 2000AD Masterman was actually two villains. Twins, experimented on by the Nazis to create a super-soldier. One was sent off to the front and fought (and beat) the British Superhero Maxi-Man, but was killed when the Americans dropped a nuclear bomb on Berlin. The other was kept in cryogenic storage, and thawed out by some Cthulhu-type cultists in the 1980s. The second twin's body was duly posessed by the cosmic being Iok-Sotot and they had some evil plan or other which time has erased from my mind. I think the "many-angled ones" (which are the thinly-veiled Cthulhu mythos deities of the Zenith comic universe) were trying to take over every single dimension or something, there were a lot of alternative universes in Zenith.

So anyway, the remains of an aging British superhero team from the 60s are dragged kicking and screaming out of retirement to stop this new Masterman, along with Zenith,  pop singer and child of two of the 60s Brit heroes, and very much a reluctant superhero. There is a big showdown in central London between the heroes and Masterman.


Voltage hits Masterman with a London bus.


Masterman kills aging alcoholic Welsh superhero Red Dragon (I like the way they killed characters with reckless abandon in Zenith).


Mandala, Zenith and Masterman fight.


Zenith takes out Masterman.


With his host body now dead, Iok Sotot leaks out. Oh dear, and you thought you had just won the battle, lads.

(Some pictures altered to remove Swastikas).

I absolutely loved Zenith. It's still my favourite superhero comic. It did that whole "superheroes as real people in the real world with real lives" thing which nowadays with shows like Heroes we're pretty blasé about, but at the time it blew me away and made the average Marvel and DC strip seem like babyish nonsense (which the exception of certain things like the Frank Miller stuff). It came out around the same time as Watchmen, so you'll probably realise the whole new take on heroes thing was very new. You don't really get the full impression from these action shots, but it was something pretty different at the time, and actually mocked superhero comics quite a bit, while still providing a great rip-roaring tale.

[Curryman]

Wow, thanks for the history lesson, Plynkes. That sounds like a terrific storyline. I'm not surprised people still remember it all these years later. I certainly see why people compare Krieghunde to Masterman. I wonder if the sculptor had MM in mind as a model.

Looking at the art style in the panels you posted really took me back. I do remember the few issues of 200AD that I came across back in the early 80s. I was a young teenager at the time, and while I enjoyed the edgy, violent quality of them (Judge Dredd especially), I was put off by their being in black and white. I'd only really seen color comics, and my eye just wasn't sophisticated enough to understand all the cool artistic things that can be done in b&w.

Flash forward to today, and some of my favorite comics are b&w. Zombie fan that I am I love The Walking Dead, which wouldn't be half so atmospheric if it were in color. Plus all the gore might be TOO intense in color.

Anyway, I'll have to see if I can track down a trade reprint or something so I can check out the Masterman saga. Thanks again.

[Plynkes]

You'll have to find them second-hand, unfortunately. There's a legal dispute as to who owns the rights, currently preventing reprints. I still have all the old comics somewhere, but packed away, out of order and in a bit of a tatty state. In collected paperback form I only have Phase One (the four "seasons" of the story were called "phases"), which luckily is the one with Masterman in it. But I still wish I had the rest. They are ridiculously expensive on Amazon, between £50 and £250 each, depending on the volume.

Hopefully some day the whole thing will come to court and get settled and we'll be able to buy them as collected volumes again at a sensible price.