Posted in: Batman, Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, DC Comics, Justice League, Superman | Tagged: 1982, DC Comics Style Guide, jose luis garcia-lopez, Standards Manual

Standards Manual's José Luis García-López 1982 DC Comics Style Guide

Standards Manual to publish José Luis García-López 1982 DC Comics Style Guide for public consumption for the first time.

Standards Manual is an independent publishing imprint founded by designers Jesse Reedand Hamish Smyth to archive and preserve artifacts of design history and make them available to future generations. That includes the likes of reprinted graphics standards manuals to new compendiums of archival work, such as classified advertising, in prestigious printing formats. And now they are republishing the DC Standard Guide. "Reproduced from a rare original copy as a 1:1 hardcover book, featuring the legendary art of José Luis García-López"

In 1982, Spanish-Argentine artist José Luis García-López was hired by DC Comics to design an in-house document, the DC Comics Style Guide, delivering a consistent look and characterization for DC's Super Heroes that influenced their comics, animated series, action figures, toys, clothes, lunch boxes, trading cards, sticker books, and more. Anytime a DC artist wanted to use one of their established characters, they'd pull the DC Comics Style Guide (shared internally as 3-ring binder) as a reference for the costume and the general style of the characters' appearances.

Despite much fan interest, the DC Comics Style Guide was never published as itself, leading to copies fetching high prices on the aftermarket after they leaked out. One copy recently sold on eBay for $2250.

José Luis  García-López's model sheets in the DC Comics Style Guide became the standard reference for DC artists and license holders working on DC releases for decades and continued to influence many DC artists and fans to this day.

As well as the Standards Manual edition, pages from the 1982 DC Comics Style Guide by José Luis García-López will also appear on variant covers in July, on a set of Artist Spotlight variant covers on Batman #150, Green Arrow #14, Green Lantern #13, Shazam! #13, Superman #16, The Flash #11 and Wonder Woman #11.

The José Luis García-López 1982 DC Comics Style Guide will be published by Standards Manual in Augist 2024.

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