The Black Manta is the archetypal villain for Aquaman in DC comics. He is clever, ruthless (and in the Superfriends cartoon) had an awesome voice.
First created in Aquaman #35 (September 1967), Black Manta has had a long history since the Silver Age for acting as an undersea coral thorn in the side of Arthur Curry aka Aquaman. More unusual is the fact that for most of his history, this was a character shrouded in mystery. It wasn't until 1993 and later in 2003 that there were serious attempts at created an origin or backstory for Black Manta. Whether he was originally a kidnapped youth or an autistic orphan who grew up in Arkham Asylum, the character is a chilling arch enemy for Aquaman.
Unfortunately, we don't have a Funko POP figure of Black Manta so it's custom POP time courtesy of Charlie Tuna... I mean, TheFunkustomizer (that's me!)
Here's some reference photos:
The first image depicts Black Manta as he is normally seen in DC comics while the second shows his looks as seen in the classic Superfriends Cartoon as a member of the Legion of Doom.
We chose to go with the latter since our Legion of Doom Project is a homage to the characters in that animated cartoon.
Now, here's our custom Funko POP! Black Manta figure, (seen here with another of his Legion of Doom cohorts, Captain Cold, who has a separate entry)
The recipe for Black Manta is as follows:
- The head was originally a Jack Skellington POP was massive resculpting and repainting.
- The body could actually be any less detailed POP body. For irony's sake (and because we had an extra in our custom tool box), we went with an Aquaman body.
