Poster Haul 2024!
As I was cleaning out my office/ laundry room for the anticipated delivery of our new washer and dryer, I finally got a moment to go through this random pile of posters I picked up a couple months back on my birthday. I wanted to take a minute to do a quick write up about these relics of yesteryear.
All of these posters are promotional posters to be used in comic shops. I picked them up from a used-toy store in town and this was largely a blind purchase as they were rolled and taped up. Ended up paying about 15 bucks for the lot. Not the best given the condition of these posters, but considering the shop wanted 20 for the collection and their overall prices were a bit too high for my taste, I consider it a deal.
I honestly never heard of this crossover but given the glut of Marvel and DC crossovers in the 90’s, I am not shocked. Love the art here, though. It is implied that the art is Dan Jurgens and Alex Ross which is wild.
There’s a tendency to think that the deluge of Batman-related titles is a recent development, but DC was publishing multiple Batman solo titles even as far back as the 90’s.
A lot of these posters have the tagline “The Original Universe” on them. Let me say the nature of comic book multiverses and DC’s love of having them in Crisis had made this tagline have terrible SEO. That said, putting on my detective cap for a moment, I would wager this is a shot at Marvel coming off of Heroes Reborn/Return.
This is the poster I really wish wasn’t as worn out as it was. You could tell a comic shop hung this on their store window for a while given how washed out it looks. Still, I am glad to have this piece of marketing for one of my favorite cartoons.
Now, this is a great poster for the Post-No Man’s Land launch of Batgirl with Cassandra Cain in the lead.
Another miniseries I have never heard of but then again I am not the biggest Gen13 fan. The poster is great though. I love this era of DC comics for their artistic choices. Might need to check this mini-series out.
When a bunch of DC books were hitting their 100th issue around the same time, DC made a big branded banner called “100 Centennial” and we got these painted fantasy style posters. While it doesn’t always work, I do like these pulpy paperback novel cover style posters.
I am sucker for Superman Blue and finding this poster in the blind lot was so exciting for me. I love this 90’s revision more than most.
Fifth week events are weird and this little discussed one is no different. The art direction on this poster stands out. It’s also messed up that DC’s big female led push had THREE of the one-shots be co-branded by their male counter part. At least you can make the case that The Mist isn’t a known name and including Starman makes sense. Yet, Lois Lane and Batgirl are plenty strong enough to stand on their own.
DC’s first attempt to revisit the world of Kingdom Come. While I’ve never read The Kingdom, I do love the visuals of the poster.
I have been itching to do a big dive on the justice Society and with the new series dropping next week, this poster feels oddly fitting. Such a clean look.
This is for Superman Y2K which helps kick start the Our Worlds at War storyline that I love. I am a sucker for Ed McGuiness Superman art, too.
Another Fifth week event promo to close it out with Tangent Comics. This art direction of Tangent comics was so sleek. The conceit of it being an attempt to do to modern DC Comics what Silver-age DC Comics did with the Golden-Age comics was a novel one. Think about how Barry Allen Flash is different from Jay Garrick. They have attempted to bring this universe back a few times but never gets over. Shame because it’s such a really neat concept.
Overall, I am glad to find these comic book ephemeral posters. They serve as a time capsule to years gone by and reminds of what comics are out there.
