Hey, Superman! Where’s the Beef?
April 22nd, 2008 by Gavok | Tags: 355, animated, badass, Batman, catwoman, comic con, darkseid, DC comics, flash, guy gardner, hood, lex luthor, lobo, Marvel comics, movies, supergirl, superman, thor, video, wolverine, youtubeI’m going to have a big post about Comic Con later in the day, but something caught my eye today and I felt I needed to make mention of it. Back in the mid-90’s, DC released a commercial to the masses about their comics. It was well-produced and even though at that age I couldn’t name half the characters shown, I still thought it was pretty badass.
It would show character art of heroes from that era and morph them into other characters as the announcer went on. Here’s a quick transcript, minus the echoing female voice:
Announcer: DC. Incredible action. Astonishing adventure. The coolest heroes. The hottest heroines. And the most outrageous villains…
Darkseid: TOO TOUGH FOR TEE VEE!
Announcer: …in the universe!
Lobo (with an animated mouth and a voice that tries way too hard to be animated Wolverine): This ain’t yer daddy’s comic book, fanboy!
Announcer: DC Comics!
I never got the whole “too tough for TV” thing. Didn’t they have Batman: The Animated Series around that time?
Maybe you remember this. The only reason I still do is because a fairly local comic shop, Zapp Comics, used the same commercial. After DC decided to stop using the ad, Zapp just took the same commercial and added their store’s information to the last few seconds. It’s weird that they would do a commercial that doesn’t even mention Marvel in any capacity, but like I said, it’s a well-produced commercial.
They aren’t the only ones who do this. A quick search on YouTube helped me find the same commercial, only with information from Humungo Comics in Pennsylvania tacked on.
Why do I remember this commercial and bring it up? Because they still play it! I just saw the damned thing on TV less than an hour ago!
Yes, it’s a nice ad, but it’s been like 12-14 years. Look at all the dated stuff in that commercial. Murderous Hooded Green Arrow, Yellow-Ringed Guy Gardner with the G jacket, Deathstroke shown as one of the “coolest heroes”, Matrix Supergirl, Catwoman with her huge curly hair as one of the first villains shown, MOTHERFUCKING LEX LUTHOR JUNIOR! I could have sworn I saw Evil Raven in the commercial I saw on TV, but she’s not on the YouTube video.
I know comic shops may not have the revenue necessary to make a flashy new commercial every few years, but at this rate, some kid will be watching this and Lobo’s one-liner will be wrong. Those actually were that kid’s daddy’s comic books.
Similar Posts:
- And Now a Word From Our Sponsors
- Identification
- Ain’t Nothin’ But Sweat Inside My Hand
- The New Avengers Cartoon Makes Me Go XD
- Black History Month ’09 #09: Shakey Dogs
That commercial was created by DC and is still supplied to shops if inquired about. I bet they’ll send you a brand new copy on Video CD if you send them a legit enough looking email.
Malibu self produced several “JUMP ON” commercials for their comics back in their heyday that were pretty much the same idea as the DC one aside from Lobo speaking about your father.
I think he says “too tough for TV” which doesn’t even make sense.
You’re completely right. I fucked up typing that. I think I put “too hot for TV” because that’s what half of the commercials in the 90’s were about.
When WB still had those VHS releases of B:TAS (the ones that had episodes that were villains specific). I remember seeing this video being played before the episodes (at least on a couple of those tapes, if not all).
Those tapes are in boxes somewhere. I may have to dig them out.