shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Nov 17, 2020 10:03:34 GMT -5
In 1990, soon after my parents had separated, my mother took me on a "family trip" of just the two of us to Washington D.C. I have quite a few memories from that trip, but the anomaly amidst those memories is a DC Super Powers poster I bought in the Smithsonian gift shop and then hung up in my new room in my father's apartment, where I lived each weekend: For years, I'd stare at this poster and wonder what the hell it was doing in one of the most prestigious museums in the world. Surely, this relic of my own childhood wasn't worthy of artistic attention, right? It was only today, upon randomly recalling this poster, that I googled and discovered why it had been in the Smithsonian giftshop. There had been a traveling Smithsonian exhibit entitled "Great American Comics: 100 Years of Cartoon Art" from 1989 thru 1992. I wish I'd been able to see it there, as it might have convinced me far earlier on that the things I loved as a kid COULD be considered true and legitimate art. It might have opened my eyes to a lot of things, not the least of which would be the idea that the things I loved weren't necessarily stupid. Anyway, I would have LOVED to have seen this exhibit, and while the Smithsonian offers records upon records upon records from that exhibit, none of it really helps me to envision what I would have seen if I'd been able to catch it at The Smithsonian on that day. Is there any chance anyone here saw it or is able to google fu more about it than I have uncovered?
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Post by berkley on Nov 17, 2020 22:29:24 GMT -5
Who was the artist on that particular poster, Aparo?
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Post by jason on Nov 17, 2020 22:48:14 GMT -5
I went to the Smithsonian in 1990 as well and in fact, bought that particular poster (not the book, just the poster itself). Again, dont know what it was doing there, just thought it was real cool (and strangely, featured characters who werent in the Super Powers toyline like Zatanna, Black Canary, Elongated Man, and Atom).
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2020 22:48:59 GMT -5
Who was the artist on that particular poster, Aparo? Jose Garcia-Lopez I believe. I don't know much about the exhibit, but one of the dudes I knew who was on my floor in my freshmen dorm at university had that poster up on his wall and it was what started us talking. But when I researched it at one point, all things pointed to JGL being the artist on all the Super Powers marketing material. -M
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Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on Nov 17, 2020 22:50:58 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure I was in DC for a family trip in 91 but I have no memory of seeing this.
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 18, 2020 0:28:41 GMT -5
Who was the artist on that particular poster, Aparo? Jose Garcia-Lopez I believe. I don't know much about the exhibit, but one of the dudes I knew who was on my floor in my freshmen dorm at university had that poster up on his wall and it was what started us talking. But when I researched it at one point, all things pointed to JGL being the artist on all the Super Powers marketing material. -M It's JLGL (Praise Be His Name). He did the major promotional work for DC licenses and the DC Style Book, as well as the Super Powers redesigns for the cartoons. I have a JLA Satellite Era t-shirt that is his drawing, as well as an Original Gangsters t-shirt, with the core Batman Rogues Gallery, that is also his work. If you see promotional stuff from the actual Bronze Age, or stuff from after, that looks Bronze Age, chances are he drew it. The exceptions would be pre-Donner Superman merch, as they used some Carmine Infantino material for several things, as well as Swanderson, and Murphy solo. I recall a DC poster book, from the mid-late 70s, that was predominantly Infantino pin-up reprints, as I recognized a couple from the Secret Origins of Super-Villains treasury (first one) and a couple of his Batman.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Nov 18, 2020 6:10:13 GMT -5
I went to the Smithsonian in 1990 as well and in fact, bought that particular poster (not the book, just the poster itself). I misremembered. This was a stand-alone poster, not something out of a poster book. I've gone back and corrected the OP. I've just now remembered the poster book was of McFarlane Spider-Man art. I guess I never really looked at any of those. It was always this poster that captured my attention. Yes, I'd long considered that too! It made me wonder if there had been plans for more seasons of the cartoon beyond what we got. There are some known plans and prototypes for toys that never made it to the shelves, but none of them included any of these characters. The fact that Cyborg is missing (as well as Robin, actually) might suggest this was an earlier plan for the 1985 or 1986 lineup that got axed (Firestorm was added in 1985).
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Nov 18, 2020 6:10:42 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure I was in DC for a family trip in 91 but I have no memory of seeing this. It was a travelling exhibit, so I'm not sure when (if ever) it was actually at The Smithsonian.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Nov 18, 2020 6:35:50 GMT -5
one of the dudes I knew who was on my floor in my freshmen dorm at university had that poster up on his wall and it was what started us talking. Much as I love this poster, it's pretty unusual in some respects. How slow did Flash have to be running to be captured, mid-run, by whatever imaginary camera they are posing for? And why didn't the photographer ask Hawkman to quit staring at Ralph's neck and face forward for another shot?
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Post by MDG on Nov 18, 2020 9:25:12 GMT -5
one of the dudes I knew who was on my floor in my freshmen dorm at university had that poster up on his wall and it was what started us talking. Much as I love this poster, it's pretty unusual in some respects. How slow did Flash have to be running to be captured, mid-run, by whatever imaginary camera they are posing for? And why didn't the photographer ask Hawkman to quit staring at Ralph's neck and face forward for another shot? At least in this one--as in some I've seen--Flash doesn't have speed lines coming from him, like he started a mile away and the photographer had to catch him at the right second. Murphy Anderson did one of the few images that kind've captured how awkward something like this would be in "real life":
(I always feel in the Alex Ross Universe, superheroes spend half their time in photographer's studios.)
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 18, 2020 11:06:46 GMT -5
I went to the Smithsonian in 1990 as well and in fact, bought that particular poster (not the book, just the poster itself). I misremembered. This was a stand-alone poster, not something out of a poster book. I've gone back and corrected the OP. I've just now remembered the poster book was of McFarlane Spider-Man art. I guess I never really looked at any of those. It was always this poster that captured my attention. Yes, I'd long considered that too! It made me wonder if there had been plans for more seasons of the cartoon beyond what we got. There are some known plans and prototypes for toys that never made it to the shelves, but none of them included any of these characters. The fact that Cyborg is missing (as well as Robin, actually) might suggest this was an earlier plan for the 1985 or 1986 lineup that got axed (Firestorm was added in 1985). The Super Powers brand logo was used on things not related to the toy line or the cartoons. It was a way to tie the characters to it, even if they weren't appearing in it. That is the then-current JLA line-up. You'll notice it is only the JLA characters and not the Hanna-Barbera created ones (El Dorado, Samurai, Black Vulcan, Apache Chief, The Wonder Twins) and also does not include Robin. The Super Powers action figure line included characters not used in the cartoons, as well. Here's a Super Powers jigsaw puzzle... Note Captain and Mary Marvel, not featured in the cartoons, plus Batgirl. The Big Red Cheese was featured in the toy line; but, not Mary. Also, Supergirl is in her redesigned costume, with the headband, from her 1982 series (the second year). You can see some of this art on eBay; but, I saw a couple of listings that indicate to me that they were recent era copies. One featured the heroes facing off against the villains, on 12 x 18 "high quality coated 100lb stock." The image shown has white framing at top and bottom. Anything actually produced for DC, under license, would be printed "full bleed" (edge to edge) and 12 x 18 is an odd size for commercial posters. Usually 11 x 14, 18 x 24 or 24 x 36. It looks to me like it was resized in something like the production system I use at work, which will add white space to the dimension that comes up short, when resizing an image to a set size, not proportional to the original size. Our system maintains the ratio length to width, so the image isn't distorted. If you see stuff like this, be wary. Why 12 x 18? It's the largest size we can print on our copiers and the largest size for which we have cardstock. 100lb is also the heaviest cardstock we use. Anything bigger would need to be printed on our oversize printer, which is charged by square foot. The seller was looking to do it as big as they could, as cheaply as they could, but make it look better than standard paper.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Nov 18, 2020 11:14:36 GMT -5
And the Titans in the background.. though Beast Boy and Raven are flying for some reason.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Nov 18, 2020 11:18:03 GMT -5
The Super Powers brand logo was used on things not related to the toy line or the cartoons. It was a way to tie the characters to it, even if they weren't appearing in it. I was not aware of this. Thank you! Of course, those characters were no longer appearing in the rebranded "Super Powers" cartoon either. Excellent point.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Nov 18, 2020 11:28:05 GMT -5
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Post by berkley on Nov 18, 2020 20:39:15 GMT -5
one of the dudes I knew who was on my floor in my freshmen dorm at university had that poster up on his wall and it was what started us talking. Much as I love this poster, it's pretty unusual in some respects. How slow did Flash have to be running to be captured, mid-run, by whatever imaginary camera they are posing for? And why didn't the photographer ask Hawkman to quit staring at Ralph's neck and face forward for another shot? I more puzzled by Flash and Zatanna holdng hands - or were they a couple at some point?
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