Style Guide? No Thanks- Give me the Off-Model Any Day!

[AndyFish]

Over on 13th Dimension Bill Morrison ran a great article on the off-model nature of some Batman collectibles from the vintage period.

https://13thdimension.com/why-dc-needed ... lectibles/

I'll take any of these any day over the incredibly boring lifeless generic art we've been getting for at least the last 10 years-- especially when it comes to "Classic Batman '66" Merchandise"-- I put a lot of the fault on the Garcia Lopez style guide which manufacturer's seem to just cut and paste onto their packaging.

There's no life, no energy, no uniqueness, and while I respect Garcia Lopez as one of the most brilliant illustrators of all time his work on the sytle guide is devoid of any personality whatsoever. I'm grateful that the recent relaunch of Mego ignored current licensing and went with those great illustrations of the originals.

The Style Guide is why we get such generic packaging on the McFarlane line-- it's really sad.

[BiffPow]

Good article! I had that school binder. Mom and Dad picked it up for me and I used it even in the early 70s. A favorite, even with classmates, none of whom had seen one before.

[Therin of Andor]

Isn’t the problem also that the company creating the packaging has no artist on staff any more, so designs are assembled like a Photoshop image.

Book covers are the same: no more painted art, just an assembly of images that are less likely to get stymied by someone with likeness approval.

[Yellow Oval]

Holy Old Toys, Andyman! I'd completely forgot over all these years of the old magic rub-off sets. I had the Batman one as well as a couple of others. I'd love to get my hands on one of those Batman Annual Story Books to read through. As for the differences of now and then concerning toy and product marketing, it's the same as pretty much everything else - back then? Definitely! Today? No freakin' way! Everything today has no soul, no life, no spirit, nothing.

[BiffPow]

Everything today has no soul, no life, no spirit, nothing.

Including much of what now passes for “entertainment.” My son greatly prefers the old TV shows to most anything on television now, although he does like “Frasier.”

[Therin of Andor]

... the old magic rub-off sets. I had the Batman one as well as a couple of others.

Yeah, we were onto the sets that were like Letraset! (Before Letraset was suddenly everywhere! And then Letraset killed by desktop publishing.)

I'd love to get my hands on one of those Batman Annual Story Books to read through.

Relatively easy to find on eBay. 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969 are all TV-related.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/therinofa ... 296273378/

[BATWINGED HORNET]

Some of the off-model art posted at 13th Dimension was quite horrendous--most of it I'm familiar with, and it was never a great representation of the characters. On the other hand, I felt the art was found on the covers of the Whitman & Watkins-Strathmore coloring books were excellent, though not specifically based on the comics:



1966 Bat-merchandising would have been out of this world with that extra special effort if the kind of style above was the norm on various products.

[AndyFish]

While I certainly have a soft spot for horrendous art, I do like it when things work out-- but imagine if they did a Batman Bubble Gum Card set today-- instead of the terrific Bob Powell / Norm Saunders art we'd get Clipart from Jose's style guide! Give me life! Give me LIIIIIIFFFFEEEE!!!

[BiffPow]

Norm Saunders did have a style you just can’t duplicate. I still have good memories of buying those wax packs for five cents at Scotty’s delicatessen (owned by a guy named Frank, but I assumed named after his child). Those and the Foldees, troll dolls, the parachuting hollow plastic army man, Monster sticker packs which I believe could’ve been drawn by Basil Wolverton, etc. And big Chunky candy bars for a nickel!

So many happy memories as a child.

[SteveA]

Over on 13th Dimension Bill Morrison ran a great article on the off-model nature of some Batman collectibles from the vintage period.

https://13thdimension.com/why-dc-needed ... lectibles/

I'll take any of these any day over the incredibly boring lifeless generic art we've been getting for at least the last 10 years-- especially when it comes to "Classic Batman '66" Merchandise"-- I put a lot of the fault on the Garcia Lopez style guide which manufacturer's seem to just cut and paste onto their packaging.

There's no life, no energy, no uniqueness, and while I respect Garcia Lopez as one of the most brilliant illustrators of all time his work on the sytle guide is devoid of any personality whatsoever. I'm grateful that the recent relaunch of Mego ignored current licensing and went with those great illustrations of the originals.

The Style Guide is why we get such generic packaging on the McFarlane line-- it's really sad.

I have to agree whether it's Comic Books, Merchandise, Movie Posters or trading Cards, the lack of quality has shrunk.Whether clip art or standard in house stylized art, it has left us with unimaginative lifeless products.

Isn’t the problem also that the company creating the packaging has no artist on staff any more, so designs are assembled like a Photoshop image.

Book covers are the same: no more painted art, just an assembly of images that are less likely to get stymied by someone with likeness approval.

You could be very right on that assumption and I would tend to agree. The time factor, the need to get things done fast and inexpensive has cut into the quality of all visual graphics. But then we could just be nostalgic about are art, Naw , it's bad. I would still put any comic book cover from 1939 to 1969 up against any today or movie poster or the boxes on toy shelves and say they were much better with talented, imaginative artist doing them .

[BiffPow]

Naw , it's bad. I would still put any comic book cover from 1939 to 1969 up against any today or movie poster or the boxes on toy shelves and say they were much better with talented, imaginative artist doing them.

I’ll also add paperback book covers from the 40s and 50s, especially.

As technically proficient as I know most of the modern comic book art is, there’s no “warmth” (or charm or character) to the art to draw me in. The only modern comic books that have any “eye appeal“ are the ones that duplicate the style of golden age or silver age comic books.

But, yes, I remember mentally rejecting even looking at anything that was packaged with that repetitive style guide art that seemed “detached” from both of the product and the consumer (me).