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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Patch Subscription Ad - 2008

Two weeks ago, I wrote a post about a 1970s DC Superhero Patch Ad, and I said at the time: "Patches were a real 70s and early-80s phenomenon; nowadays you don't see too many of them around, outside of bikers and people wearing the same jacket they had in 1974, which they attached patches like this to."

Well, I was more wrong than a blindfolded Dick Cheney, because a day later or so I got sent this by
F.O.A.M. member John Lijewksi III:
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Now this is an odd offer!

Apparently via a company called Willabee & Ward, you can "subscribe" to a series of DC superhero patches, featuring stock art we've all come to know and love.

John told me he was interested in this to get the Aquaman patch (drawn by Eduardo Baretto). But it costs $20 a month for 2 patches, which he thought was too pricey just to get the Aquaman one.

I agree, that's a lot to spend for one measly patch, and then finding yourself stuck with the rest of them. Wait a few months and we'll probably see the Aquaman one show up on eBay.

So, even though he didn't get the patch, John sent me scans of the multi-page ad for them. Cool, thanks John!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've actually subscribed to this thing!

Each patch comes on a double-sided Collector Panel detailing the history of the character. In some cases, the history sacrifices "classic bits" for more recent history. For example, I'm looking at the Batman panel right now and it starts with No Man's Land then goes on to mention Hush, the death of Stephanie Brown, Zatanna's mind wipe, Infinite Crisis, and Damien: the Son of the Bat. No mention is made of Bat's actual origin. Weird.

Some of the patches and panels feature stock art by Garcia Lopez or Barreto. Others like Batman and Green Lantern have art I can't identify. It might be Ed McGuinness.

Finally, the selection of characters and their presentation seems odd. As always, Superman gets a lot of exposure. Beside the special panel they send as the first order, I've also received a Clark Kent panel, a Lois Lane panel, and another, completely different Superman panel. There's also Lex in his battlesuit and Brainiac in his skull-headed robot form from the 80's. Catwoman, however, is in her most recent costume. And there's Firestorm and Dr. Fate panels. And Bane, which I just don't get.

So far I haven't rec'd the Aquaman panel. I'll send along a scan when I do.

Anonymous said...

Whoa, this is an odd offer to see nowadays. Sounds neat, but a bit steep for my blood. I hate "blind" promotions like this as well. I like to know what I'm getting, but that's just me.

Chris

chunky B said...

I received one of these in the mail too, talk about your target audiences.

I thought it was a bit pricey as well, and for some reason I thought you already knew about/posted about it. My mistake.

If these were about ten bucks a patch, maybe.

Scurvy said...

I'd do it till I got the Aquaman one and then cancel. Looks like a quality patch. I just had some done for a club I belong to (patches are a big thing among vanners too) and the things they can do now are incredible. The level of detail in mine really just blew me away. This looks to be the same quality.