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Thursday, April 08, 2010

Super Powers Anti-Coloring Book - 1984

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F.O.A.M.er Marc Tyler Nobleman assumed I had a copy of this, The Super Powers Anti-Coloring Book, when he casually mentioned it in an email, but I didn't!

Marc generously sent me a .pdf of it; sadly it only features Aquaman once in the entire book. But, as Marc pointed out, "
The only page with Aquaman is 26, but even Flash doesn't get his own page, Hawkman appears only on the cover, and merchandising mainstays like Captain Marvel, Batgirl, Plastic Man, and Atom don't appear at all."

Here's the Aquaman page:

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It looks like someone along the line took the Jose Luis Garcia Lopez stock shot and re-drew the head a bit so he's turning more to the right. Nicely done, considering how hard that must have been.

Glad I finally got to see this book, thanks MTN!

9 comments:

JasonMotesBowles said...

I used to LUST after this thing back in the day! It was just slightly too expensive... I think it went for like $12-15 back in the 80s. I still remember the glossy pages and everything. I swear a day doesn't go by that I don't think of this book! SERIOUSLY!

Russell said...

I've never even heard of this! If I had seen it back in the 80s or 90s I definitely would have picked up a few copies. Thanks for showing it to us, Rob.

Earth 2 Chris said...

Anti-coloring book? That name is just a huge put-off! That's bad marketing.

Or maybe I'm just not getting it.

Chris

Joe Huber said...

The name was based on a whole series of books by the author. Anti-coloring books was meant for parents to purchase for their creative children who didn't like to stay within the lines. I would always draw extra items in the margins of my coloring books, so this would have made my day. Sadly it was expensive, and continues to be so on eBay.
Thanks for sharing this with us Rob! I too am glad to finally have a peek inside of it.

JasonMotesBowles said...

The "anti" thing just means it's more of an activity book. I remember seeing one page featuring Raven and I think you had to draw something based on emotions and one with Changeling, which presumably would have been where you draw an animal. I recall the New Teen Titans being heavily featured in this book, which was probably a first.

Wings1295 said...

Interesting, I had never heard of this, either.

A little bit, but reprints of the Aqua-page would make a good notepad, I think!

Earth 2 Chris said...

I get the concept, but the name still seems odd, and negative. Anti-freeze makes sense (since freezing is bad), but Anti-Coloring Book seems wrong, since coloring books are considered by most fun.

But the artwork is nice!

Chris

IADW said...

When I fist looked at this I thought it was some form of letterhead, which would also be pretty cool!

Marc Tyler Nobleman said...

You can buy it as a PDF here: http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=211&it=1&filters=0_0_0&manufacturers_id=9.

And it's very affordable.

But by random, totally freakish chance, the author, Sue Striker, is my daughter's art teacher, and she generously gave us a copy!

BTW, the retail price was $3.95 - what stores were you guys shopping at? :)