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The mythical 1982 DC Comics Style Guide is finally being reissued

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

DC Comics, the home of Superman, is reissuing its style guide.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

A style guide for DC Comics.

INSKEEP: (Laughter).

MARTIN: OK, but why is that news?

INSKEEP: Well, fans have wanted for years to have some way to buy this guide to avoid having to scour the internet for rare and pricey originals.

MARTIN: So what is the DC Comics style guide? What are we talking about here?

INSKEEP: Well, it was created in 1982, to help ensure a consistent look for characters like this one.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BATMAN")

MICHAEL KEATON: (As Batman) I want you to tell all your friends about me.

CHRISTOPHER FAIRBANK: (As Nick) What are you?

KEATON: (As Batman) I'm Batman.

INSKEEP: A few years after the style guide came out, we got this Tim Burton blockbuster movie treatment. I believe that was Michael Keaton as Batman. Tom King writes for DC Comics, and expects to get his copy of the guide any day now.

TOM KING: Most people in this world cannot tell you when they learned who Batman or Superman or Wonder Woman are. By the time they're 3 or 4, they have an image in their head of who those superheroes are, what they look like - that close-your-eyes image, the image you've had since before you could remember, is the DC style guide.

MARTIN: I confess - I mostly care about their outfits for Halloween costume inspiration...

INSKEEP: (Laughter).

MARTIN: ...But OK, if you say so.

INSKEEP: Well, you want to make sure you have authentic costumes, I guess. Now, this style guide was drawn by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, whom Tom King compares to Italian Renaissance artists.

KING: Christianity was around for a good 1,400 years, but somehow, what Michelangelo and Raphael did with those images sort of defined how it exists in our subconscious. You could say Garcia-Lopez's effect on comics - like, that's the equivalent.

MARTIN: Now, I'm used to thinking about style guides that apply to, you know, news writing. That's something we would use.

INSKEEP: Yeah.

MARTIN: So why did DC decide its comics needed a style guide?

INSKEEP: There's a backstory, because in the 1970s and 1980s, DC Comics was falling behind a rival publisher.

KING: Marvel was, like, the cool kids.

INSKEEP: And DC Comics were stuffy.

KING: And that was the reputation - like, you wore a tie at DC. To sort of get young blood in, DC hired a 28-year-old woman to take over a company that was run by 60-year-old men (laughter).

INSKEEP: That 28-year-old, Jenette Kahn, revamped DC and set the stage for a style guide to make sure that character images stayed consistent, which helps Tom King as he writes DC comics today.

KING: When I look at that, it's like, that's what I want to capture - something both fun and transcendent. Superman is smiling. Batman looks sleek. You know, Wonder Woman looks strong. It represents the simplicity of a thing done right.

MARTIN: Back in print, four decades later. That's great.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BATMAN THEME")

NEAL HEFTI AND HIS ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS: (Singing) Batman. Batman. Batman. Batman. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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