Friday, January 06, 2006

The Absorbascon versus the Unscrupulous Art Dealers

Kids today! They don't even know the Joker used to have his own series. More on that little DC Implosion experiment some other time ... .

In the classically bizarre (but still not very good) Joker #5, the Joker battles the Royal Flush Gang (which turned out better for the RFG than their most recent meeting with Mr. J, in Infinite Crisis). The plot hinges on the practice by unscrupulous art dealers of quartering large masterpieces and selling them as four separate paintings to increase their profit.

Well, somebody at DC must have read that comic and used the idea to create the four successive covers that introduced the new members of the Detroit Justice League, Vibe, Vixen, Steel, and Gypsy (JLA 233-236).

Thanks to the generosity of one of the Absorbascommenters, the glorious Captain Infinity, I now own the entire run of the Detroit Leaguers. More on that little post-Implosion pre-Crisis experiment some other time ... .

And that's what makes this NEW gift even more special to a Vibe-fan like me. Thanks to the generosity of brainy and beauteous Amy Who Is Not A Were-Lesbian, I now also own the original masterpiece that unscrupulous art editors quartered to make these covers.

Yup. The Justice League of Detroit POSTER.

I never knew there was such a thing, but it makes sense. It must have been one of those promotional posters the companies send to comic book stores. But what kind of madman would SELL such a thing? The mind boggles. I'm having my framed to hang on my wall, as the sole piece of comic book related art allowed in my entire house. In fact, I think I've found a company that will print the image on bedsheets....

















6 comments:

naladahc said...

Bedsheets?

Um. Ewww.

Anonymous said...

I like Gypsy's comment - "when she comes out of hiding - WATCH OUT!"
It's beaten by the insipid nature of Steel's and Vibe's little blurbs, and I am shocked that Vibe is the only one who has a halfway decent tagline.

Were DC even trying to make them sound formidable?

Amy said...

Oh my good Lord. Even I didn't know what I had. I hadn't the foggiest idea that the composition responded to those covers... this is my first tiem seeing those issues, ever.

It has to have been some kind of dealers-only promotional poster. Your average fan posters wouldn't have had the character's faces repeat so many times in the same image.

Amy said...

Also: brainy and beauteous? You flatter me, sir.

naladahc said...

I remember that back in the 80s though when I worked for Monarch Comics in Toledo OH.

We used to get so much promo material from DC back then.

I framed my promo poster for Supergirl's death. It sits next to my promo poster for Infinity Inc.

Do you all remember when Marvel and DC actually used produce a lot of posters for sale back in the 80s? Remember those Marvel stickers that were a huge rage too?

Anonymous said...

Justice League Detroit rules! (For the first ten issues or so anyway.)All you nay-sayers can go to one of the Marvel or DC Hells!