Minimate Customs: Hourman and Green Lantern

As I've mentioned in the past, a lot of my work has been done in filling out the ranks of the DC Minimate Universe. And a big part of that has been finishing off the Justice Society of America, comics' first super team. One of my favorites has always been Hourman; I think I probably first saw him in an old JSA/JLA crossover (which used to happen annually in the pages of Justice League of America), and I first really took notice of him in a not-quite-as-old JSA/JLA crossover. Basically, I just liked his costume: yellow and black, with a cool yellow hood. And he had unique abilities, gaining superhuman strength and speed for an hour by taking what is, in effect, a short-term steroid pill. It's probably pretty dumb for a guy that only has super powers for an hour at a time to advertise that in his name, but whatever. Here's the cover to one of those JLA issues featuring Hourman (he's on the left between the Golden Age Flash and Black Canary):

So Hourman was obviously on my short list, but a little daunting because of his hood. But I got an idea on how to pull it off by looking at the Pocket Superheroes Hourman, which uses a yellow hood piece with some black paint on the head to replicate the traditional black shading of Hourman's hood. Bingo.
The Pocket Superheroes figure also came in handy because I was able to swipe his hourglass for this guy. His hood comes from the Spectre (painted yellow, obviously), and his head from the Spirit, with some black Sharpie extending the mask (more on the Spirit some other time). His cape comes from Robin, with some red and black Sharpie detail work, also seen on the legs from the AIM Soldier. Rounding him out is a belt from Daredevil, with the billyclub holster cut off. I'm pretty happy with him; I suppose I could still paint over those little black lines on his legs, but other then that he's pretty great.

I'm going to post one more today-the Golden Age Green Lantern- featuring my first foray into the world of decals. Most of the better customizers have been using decals for years, but I've only now been getting into them, thanks to the example set by the great Luke Porter at the Minimate Factory. Luke was kind enough to send me a few decals to sample, and I've since started making and printing my own. I'll start showing those off once I take some pictures of the finished projects.

Anyway. This custom stems directly from a discussion on the Minimate Multiverse boards about making an Alan Scott custom. I stole... er... copied the formula used by MM member Nervous, subbing a Hal Jordan GL head for the one he made (with the mask Sharpied purple, which wasn't 100% successful). The cape comes from Ocean Master, the belt from Ares, and my favorite touch, his ring hand, comes from the Kingpin (more Sharpieing here). Oh, I guess I should post the picture:

His boots aren't really comics-accurate, but make for an acceptable (and easy!) substitute. Even without the decal he's pretty much recognizable, but with it he's better then I could have hoped. These guys are two of my favorites, and the best of the JSA ones I've done, save for a few villains that I'll be showing off at some point.