It’s the end of the month, so it is time to reflect, relax and rewind our way back through the one-sheets, banners, promotional artwork and posters released in the last calendar month, highlighting some of the ones we though were noteworthy. It’s a little section we like to call Best Posters.
What a month! Whenever it’s Comic-Con time, we get a ton of posters, and not just the ‘Con exclusives. SDCC is an opportunity for studios to unveil their latest one-sheets, but the weeks surrounding the event itself also wind up yielding some of the most interesting posters of the year.
So there’s a mixture of comic book creators in the film and TV field, through to powerful political messages, iconic images, and a surprising sequel.
Let us know in the comments below if we’ve missed your favourite, we got it wrong, or better yet, if we got it very right.
Ash Vs The Evil Dead: Season 2
Like a Tom Hodge design by way of photo montage, the second season of the glorious Bruce Campbell-led TV series is a terrific throwback to the exploitation posters of the 1970s and 1980s, while capturing the zeitgeist of the revival of said posters in the process. Either that, or it’s an awesome combination of humour and terror in a way that only Evil Dead can manage.
Beauty and the Beast (2017) – Designer: BLT Communications, LLC
The teaser poster follows in the minimalist design of the Cinderella poster from last year’s live-action remake (pictured here), simply showing the rose that is at the focus of the story. From the 1991 film: “The rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until his twenty-first year. If he could learn to love another, and earn their love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time.”
Birth of a Nation
This incredibly powerful second poster depicts Nate Parker with an American flag noose around his neck, tapping directly into the highly topical issues around Black Lives Matter and state-led brutality. “Healing,” wrote Parker on Instagram, “can only come through an honest confrontation with our past. Do we have the courage to examine the true Birth of this Nation?”
Blair Witch (aka The Woods) – Designer: LA
Long publicised as The Woods, the massive surprise of SDCC was that the film was actually Blair Witch, a long-awaited sequel to the 1999 found-footage horror film, The Blair Witch Project. This poster reflects the new titling, bringing back the iconic imagery that was absolutely everywhere when the original film blew up 17 years ago.
Kong: Skull Island – Designer: BOND
This is one of those clever designs where you literally don’t see the giant gorilla in the room at first. Maybe it’s the suggestive nature of the title and giant skull together, or the eye-catching green flare, but Kong himself blends into the smog so seamlessly that you’ll wish you went to Candy Apple Island instead. They still have apes, but they’re not as big.
LA LA Land – Designer: LA
Never has there been a more appropriately named design company for a film that LA on LA LA Land. Taking a leaf out of the cut paper style of Saul Bass, but giving it a musical spin in the shape of piano keys, the retro overlay on this forthcoming film from Damien Chazelle (Whiplash) makes us even more excited than the trailer released this month.
The LEGO Batman Movie – Designer: Proof
Darkness! No parents! Well, the latter is true on this otherwise bright, but ingenious, poster design for the Dark Knight’s very of LEGO feature. Apart from the fact that LEGO managed to get their name brand mentioned hundreds of times on the poster through the use of the studs, the simplicity of both Batman’s cowl and the familiar minifig proportions speak to the iconic nature of both franchises. It might just be the best Batman movie we’ve had in years.
Marvel’s Iron Fist
Along with a trailer released at SDCC, this is the first official look at the forthcoming Marvel Netflix series, the fourth piece of The Defenders puzzle. The poster itself draws on the ancient Eastern traditions of the martial arts at its heart, although several have commented that there is a distinctive Game of Thrones feel to the emblem. Commence the fisting puns.
Marvel’s Luke Cage – Designer: Joe Quesada
Former Marvel editor in chief and current Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada brings the next Netflix series to life in this throwback. “There’s always great pressure with superhero posters,” Quesada told TV Insider. “You’ve got one shot to encapsulate a character with a pose that’s provocative and that you hope will someday be iconic.”
Riverdale – Designer: Francesco Francavilla
Another comic book artist tackles the art for the upcoming CW series based on the adventures of Archie and the gang. Francovilla is actually best known in Archie circles as the artist on the mature readers’ title Afterlife with Archie, where several members of the Riverdale gang are eaten alive by zombies. We can only hope the TV show goes in this direction, but either way: this art is cool.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – Designer: LA
So there’s this little franchise you might have heard about, and they have a film every year for the foreseeable future. The brightly lit poster is a stark contrast with the doom and gloom that pervades most major events, although the shadow of the Death Star above the scene is more than enough foreboding for one A4 sized image. “Come and visit the sunny Empire,” would be an apt tagline were it not for the blaster fire.
Wonder Woman – Designer: Design Concepts
Last, but definitely not least, is the glorious one-sheet for the third member of DC Comics’ Trinity to get a theatrical film (and about bloody time). That strange stuff you notice all over the poster is colour, and it may not be familiar to people who are only familiar with the universe via Man of Steel or Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. There’s plenty we could say about the powerful Amazon warrior having her head only partially visible, and that’s a problem. However, this poster represents the collective hope we have for DC’s first female-led blockbuster since…2004’s Catwoman! *cough*
