(Black) Manta Week, Part 2: DC Direct Pocket Heroes - 2005

When it came time to pair Aquaman up with a bad guy, who better than his arch foe Black Manta? Aquaman is smiling here, but I'm sure he's just waiting to be freed from his plastic prison to throttle Manta.

I really liked these Pocket Heroes, I thought they were really fun and kitschy and you could collect a whole wide cross-section of the DCU and they didn't take up too much space!

Over time, Manta's "eyes" went from being colored yellow to red, which I think gives them a nastier feel, even in this cutesy pocket format.
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Since I never really planned the Shrine too far in advance, I ended up posting some really cool Black Manta-related stuff back when I first started. So I thought to make this a truly all-encompassing look at the character, I'd re-post of some of the stuff that's come before, like this Black Manta Custom Doll from 11/1/06:

I normally would not be including custom-made items in my collection, but this piece is so nice I couldn't leave it out.

This is a beautiful, Mego-sized custom Black Manta action doll (action figure + doll = action doll!) made by my friend Mark Sauter, as a way to say thanks for doing some logo designs for him. I had no idea this was coming until it arrived in the mail, along with an issue of Aquaman as a back-drop! The helmet, the uniform, the spear-gun...simply perfect. Now my loose Mego Aquaman and Aqualad have someone to fight.

Mark has made other customs for friends, and they're just as beautiful. I think he has a career in custom action dolls, if he wants it.