Heaps of Ruination, Heaps of Resin: Dark Horse’s The Goon Statue Rules

Dark Horse teams with Blur Studio to re-create the animated maquette from the potential animated feature based on Eric Powell’s The Goon.

Let me tell you a little story.  This guy Eric Powell created a comic book series called The Goon.  It’s awesome, combining pulp and horror and surrealism into a truly distinct universe like no other.  The comic inspired Powell, David Fincher, Dark Horse, and Blur Studio to launch a Kickstarter campaign in 2012, to create a feature film length story reel based in this trippy, terrifying world.  One of the Kickstarter incentives was a faux-bronze statue of our hero, based on a character design maquette sculpted by Sean McNally.

The film project lost some momentum, becoming one of many film projects that may or may not ever come to pass, but now Dark Horse– the comic’s dedicated publisher for more than a decade– have made at least a piece of The Goon’s potential big screen future into a reality.  Working with Blur Studio, Dark Horse has reproduced this maquette of our titular big lug, for the first time in full color… and the statue is truly outstanding.

I love McNally’s sculpt, which is just as dynamic and energetic and strange as Powell’s comic artwork.  The Goon stands with hatchet and revolver in hands, leering forward from under his omnipresent scally cap.  His striped shirt, green pants, and axe are all splattered in black blood, most of which likely emanated from the heaps of ghouls, zombies, monsters and severed heads that rest beneath the Goon’s feet.

The overall layout of the statue is evocative and smartly designed… there is a genuine sense of motion to the twisting body of our beleaguered hero, and the sculpt really captures his surly, burly character perfectly.  The base is astonishing to behold as well, with the intertwined creatures each featuring its own unique story and personality.  From the angry stitch-covered gorilla, to the cross-eyed, jawless zombie, to the tentacle-faced squid monster, each character tells its own (posthumous) story in this excellent sculpt.

There’s a roughness to the Goon maquette that matches the sketchy flourishes of Powell’s artwork perfectly, and the muted yet layered and very complex color pallet is a perfect translation of the painterly water colors of Powell’s pages.  Everything about this statue feels authentic to The Goon and Powell’s art style.  This is a good thing and a bad thing– on the plus side, it means we get an incredible collectible based on one of the best comic books currently being published, one that manages to filter all the stuff that makes The Goon great– the darkness, the horror tropes, the comedy and the general weirdness– into one concise piece.  On the negative side, though, knowing that this statue was made in regard to a cinematic version of The Goon we may never see on the big screen kind of feels like a bummer, just because Blur Studio’s piece is so damn perfect for the character.  This movie really could have been something special, and this statue serves as a reminder of that.

But don’t let depression over knowing that we may never see The Goon movie as conceived by Fincher and Blur come to pass turn you away from this statue.  Dark Horse has done a bang-up job giving this maquette a second life, and it makes the perfect centerpiece for any fan of The Goon or Powell’s unique and strange sensibility.  It’s a sight to behold, and I cannot think of a more perfect three dimensional portrait of the big lug at the center of this surreal, twisted and amazing universe.

The Goon statue from Dark Horse is available now, and it’s limited to only 550 hand-numbered copies.  So if you want to add the Goon to your collection– and trust me, ya do– pick him up before it’s too late.