BATGIRL by Gianmarco Magnani
As established in a previous list, I have a preternatural warmth towards all things "Batman ’66". Extremely happy M decided to finish out the “trilogy” here with a delicate depiction of Yvonne Craig and her frilly ride. Wish we could have done out the villain cars too, especially Eartha Kitt’s furry roadster.
THE MAN WHO KILLED BATMAN by Phantom City Creative
Justin Erickson, of Phantom City Creative, should add this episode’s title after his name. He positively face-stabbed each and every Batman assignment this year to bloody beauty. This is my favorite of the victims with an endearing whimsical visual punctuating such a grave honorific. Simple yet mind-branding.
GODZILLA by Shan Jiang
We did a few Godzilla posters this year... maybe you noticed. Shan Jiang’s in particular holds some weird appeal to me. There’s an attractive uncanniness to the illustration. The only thing I can oddly compare it too is the first time seeing a Mad Marc Rude image in a magazine. A similar dense darkness in detail that makes the uneasy vibe depicted hit a hundred times harder. A slow vibration of the dread you feel when walking into a spider web face first.
BADLANDS by Tomer Hanuka
I’m sure Kit would take this poster as a compliment, quick as he devoured the notices of the cops who told him he looks like James Dean.
INVISIBLE MAN by Elvis Dead
My absolute favorite labor that Mat and Nick have sweated over. They’ve fashioned an entirely fresh take from a scene memorized and endlessly mined by monster kids. I would fist an anthill to see a Nicholson “Joker" version of this with purple gloves.
DAREDEVIL by Tom Whalen
My eyes drank fire when I first caught the interesting compositional take Tom developed for his brilliant Mon Oncle poster. Here though it’s tailored with framing of various scenes doubling as indications of DD’s sense rings. It was a riot watching Tom shape bits of Matt’s history toward a coherent whole.
ROCKETEER by Martin Ansin
A goofy grin cuts my face every time I see this image. A lot of posters made for Rocketeer seem to celebrate speed rather than the marvel of a solitary airborne human. This faux flight show poster really communicates in any era the promised marvel of such a spectacle. One always pictures aeronauts zooming effortless and acrobatically as opposed to the stilted reality of jet packed showmen. However, I like how Ansin suggests it’s still a dangerous endeavor by featuring the torn sleeve.
GREMLINS by Jessica Seamans
Jessica really pulled a hot trick here faithfully translating the uneasiness of Gremlins in a single image. It’s at once amusing and horrifying at the same time. The depicted pandamonium immediately suggests a soundtrack. My wide eyes hear the cackles, the projector hum, and the sticky squirm of jostling monsters.
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK by Ken Taylor
Hard as Bronson’s stare to follow the original one-sheet for this film. The task of creating a new bend becomes especially difficult when limited to a singular likeness. Luckily, that likeness belongs to Kurt Russell, the closest our reality comes to achieving the perfection of Khan. I rewatched it for the Xth time on the phone with Ken after a bunch of ineffective compositional bouts. We both agreed that solo Kurt looks coolest in the film during his glider close-up with colored rimlighting around his indomitable mane.
THE TWO MOUSEKETEERS by Anne Benjamin
Last year when I made a list, I think it came due before the early December release of this poster. Playing safe and including it as it still stands as one of my favorite all time posters for Mondo. This particular cartoon fills a special niche among my youthful memories pushing an early digestion of someone dying on television, albeit a cartoon cat. The short ends with a guillotine coming down in the distance presumably on Tom. It’s weird, it’s not in a celebratory fashion and barely a punchline. Just stuck on the end as a consequence of Tom’s failure to stop these jerk mice from ruining a state dinner. He gets decapitated, and the small mouse exclaims “C’est la guerre.” Again... a jerk. Anyways, that situation and the little mouse’s flippancy always grinded my gears. Happy to display Anne’s art showing poor headless Tom in his prime and remembered well.
