It’s hard to keep track of superheroes these days. DC had to press the reset button with the “New 52,” but that still doesn’t solve the problem of Batman’s countless sidekicks, protégés, and offspring, and we’re still seeing weird offshoot Supermen. Meanwhile, Marvel is trying to bring an end to its endless plague of infinite universes with Secret Wars, a crossover event that‘s even more complex than the Spider-Verse storyline. That’s to say nothing of the constant reboots, resets, and reimagining of cinematic superheroes.
That plurality of vision is definitely a good thing; mainstream comics are affording more creative choices for artists and writers than ever before. But sometimes you just want to go back to the good old days, when Wolverine’s spandex and Aquaman’s hair were the same ridiculous lemon yellow hue, before Rob Liefeld violated the laws of human proportions, and before superheroes got so scowly.
Enter the 1982 DC Comics Style Guide, created by José Luis García-López as a definitive compendium of the main cast of DC superheroes—the Justice League of America. Inked by the late Dick Giordano and with lettering by Todd Klein, the guide served as a reference manual for other DC artists, also providing spec illustrations and color palette guidelines for licensing and merchandising purposes.
Head over to the García-López Facebook fanpage to get a look at the full collection.
[via Comic Book Resources]