Aquaman vs. Mer-Man

As many have pointed out, the art for the new DC vs. MOTU 2-packs is rather unimpressive. For example, here’s the Aquaman vs. Mer-Man art:

It’s just not very good. Aquaman’s right hand looks oddly twisted, his spear is an inch thick, Mer-Man sword is too narrow and the blades are parallel rather than inclined, and most importantly, Mer-Man is green. The whole point of the set is that he’s a blue repaint!

To show Mattel (or DC, since they provided the art) what the set could look like had they hired a more–experienced?–artist, former Masters of the Universe comic artist and walking MOTU encyclopedia Emiliano Santalucia produced his own version. Feast your eyes upon this, my friends.

(Click the image for a super-hi-res version)

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20 Comments

  1. I just realized that the characters are in different locations on the background between the miniposter and the package cardback. To me that confirms that someone just drew the figures first (and I'm convinced they were meant to be under water, just like Hawkman and Stratos are in air), and they were later pasted on this generic scene.

  2. I thought that the package art looked pretty bad, but now that I just purchased it, and have the little poster in hand, I find that I like it quite a bit. The blue sky and white clouds look a little boring against the blue water and white crests, but I like the characters. One thing I notice is that it looks like the artist drew the characters, and then they were just pasted on a generic background. Aquaman is almost hovering in air, it makes me wonder if the unnamed artist had originally intended for them to be under water, because both of their poses appear that they could be.

    True, Mer-man doesn't look like the toy, but I like the style the artist used. It looks like something that could appear in an old comic. I really like the webbed toes the artist gave Mer-man, and kind of wish that Mattel had spent the money to give him feet like those.

    In any case, it doesn't appear that the artist spent a whole lot of time on it, but I like what was put together. Santalucia's pic is cool looking, but doesn't blow me away. It just looks like a different style that accurately portrays the figures in package.

  3. @Creature E: Uh yeah, talk about overreaction. It's not swiping artwork when you obviously redraw it as an example of how it might have looked better (in their opinion). Swiping is copying and not giving credit where it's due. We all know the original source.

  4. Poe

    @Creature E: I just don't see this as the egregious breach of decorum that you do, CE. We'll just have to differ on that point.

  5. Creature E

    @Poe:

    You're misunderstanding the main point of my objection to what Santalucia's done here. He hasn't offered "his own interpretation" of the artwork. He's swiped another artist's work, redrawn it nearly identically, and presented it as his own work in a forum entirely friendly to him that is reciprocally hostile to the original artist, who did most of the hard work of authorship of the piece, regardless of whether or not the faceless corporations he produced it for give it to him.

  6. Mark

    Nice as Emiliano's looks. The way they are holdin their weapons is completely wrong, you would not be holding a sword or spear like that if you were charging towards an enemy. The original actually looks as if they are about to engage in combat.

    Also the original has a nice retro look to it like the old comics.

  7. Call me crazy, but I prefer the original as well. For one, that's Aquaman. I dunno what Emiliano drew, but it doesn't say Aquaman to me. Not that Emiliano's work is bad, but I like my Aquaman like the original artist drew him.

    As for Mer-man? Yeah I can see the 50's B movie monster look to him and that's exactly why I like it.

    Then again I'm a huge fan of simple Alex Toth type drawings.

    Emiliano's has a lot more technical stuff going on, but the other art is much more fun in my view and a more traditional take on the characters.

  8. Mark

    Give me a paint brush and I could do better than both of them. 😀

    I think all the criticism is in bad taste. Regardless of what anyone thinks of the original, it doesn't mean anything. It pleased Mattel, they used it and he/she got paid. When doing commission work, even thouh you don't like the subject matter or the style you do it anyway as its work. This is probably following the assignment guide lines Mattel gave him, for all anyone knows had he/she been given diferent instructions maybe tey could have produced a far supperior piece of work.

  9. americanhyena

    I actually don't hate either piece.

    I think the original has a fun retro quality while the new one looks a lot more bombastic and energetic.

    They're both not without their flaws (the coloration on Mer-Man's jaw in the original and his left forearm and guantlets are misproportioned in the new one).

    Still…they're both pretty neat. Far better that I could ever do certainly :-p

    Now…if only I could FIND this set, lol.

  10. Emiliano's art is great, as always but I actually like the retro-classic feel to the original art. Isn't it quite possible that the original artist was asked to draw in a specific style? Everyone is entitled to their opinion and they are certainly free to express their opinion, agree, and disagree with others. Still, I find it a little silly that people are calling into question whether or not the original artist is talented or not and coming up with various scenarios to which this piece was commissioned. I think art can be very subjective, and its like comparing Da Vinci to Michelangelo or Mozart to Beethoven.

    My biggest problem with this versus two-pack is that I have yet to see any in person. The He/Supes and Skele/Lex sets are still clogging up shelves. I'm glad I don't have any interest in the Green/Zodak and She/Girl sets because at this rate I doubt those will show up either.

  11. Poe

    @The Flash III: Get him noticed? He's done packaging for Mattel before. He drew the MOTU 200X comic book. He works for Hasbro now. Mattel knows who he is. He has nothing to prove to anyone.

    I knew I should have just posted Emiliano's art without comment and without comparison to the original piece…

  12. The Flash III

    @Poe: Yeah, all for fun after they've tried to sell work to Mattel over and over again with no luck. He can say it's for fun, but he knows releasing it somewhere that obsessed fans go will make people write articles like this and get him noticed. Don't be so naive.

  13. Poe

    In my opinion, the packaging piece is bad. It could be because the artist was rushed, because he/she was told to do it that way in some misguided attempt at a retro look, or because the artist is not very good.

    Maybe if I heard the story of why the art turned out as it did, I would shake my head in disbelief at the injustice of the world, realize that the end result was the best that could have possibly been done at the time, pat the artist on the back and treat them to a fancy dinner.

    But none of that would change the fact the art is (in my opinion) bad.

    Fortunately, we have no idea who the artist is, so his/her reputation doesn't suffer at all.

    As for Emiliano's piece, I definitely do not think it was meant as an attempt to "stick it to Mattel." I think he just did it for the fun of doing his own interpretation. End of story. Hell, it was another He-Man.org poster who challenged them to do it. Fans on the thread then turned the whole thing into a Mattel/DC vs. them thing. Val's own comment makes it clear it was all for fun.

  14. Creature E

    @FakeEyes22:

    I think you and everyone are absolutely entitled to be critical of the piece, whether or not you can better it. These toys do cost a shocking amount of money and I do think it's a shame that collectors don't get the niceties for our toy money as adults that we got as kids.

    The vitriol that's been aimed in the direction of the original artist (and the lionization of what amounts to a cover version of his drawing) seems unfair to me. Criticizing the piece is fine, but redrawing in comfortable circumstances in an effort to show up the original guy who drew his first work under possibly difficult circumstances to score some points with visitors to your forum seems over-the-line and almost abusive to me.

    I don't know Emiliano Santalucia and can't see into his heart, so I won't speculate on his motivation here. I don't visit the site often but I do listen to the he-man.org podcast. There's obviously a lot of water under the bridge between those guys and Mattel, so maybe I've read this gesture as more hostile than it was intended, and it seemed tacky to me to throw the first artist under the bus for the sake of sticking it to Mattel. Maybe I've misread the situation, I'll concede that.

    I would just like to see a bit more charity toward the artist who drew the first piece. No artist wants his work to turn out badly, and there are a lot of possible factors that could have made this piece less than it should have been.

    (Sorry for such a long comment, everyone.)

  15. Frogster

    @dayraven: Okay, Bro; I probably just misread you, which I figured since I know you are pretty reasonable. I have bought some MOTUC for my son. Not too often mind you because they are expensive, but I am on the hook for King Hiss next month though. Cheers!

  16. FakeEyes22

    @Dayraven

    I think that the senario you've presented is well explained and fair.

    Also, it made me cringe a little to do it, but I handed my 2 year old my Faker for a while when he wanted it. Thankfully he doesn't chew on stuff. My girl is older, so our She-Ra/Moss-Man battle was legendary.

  17. dayraven

    @Frogster: um, i think you missed my earlier post… i don't like the art we're getting, i just don't agree that the emiliano piece was a big upgrade.

    what i was saying is that perhaps we're collectively mistaken that this was the work of an inferior artist on a tight time deadline, when it may in fact have been intentional, and just not very successful in it's intent. i think a lot of fans don't understand how much thought goes into every aspect of figure creation. the packaging gets almost as much time in the working as the toy does most time. this piece, crappy as we collectively seem to be saying it is, might have been intentionally done this way for a reason, that's all i'm saying. not trying to change anyone's mind, merely trying to remind folks that not everything they don't like is the subject of neglect or ill-intent… and that perhaps things aren't as transparent as we all think.

    BTW, price point aside, these are kids toys. trust me, i've bought a few adult collectibles in my time, and brother, these ain't it. they're expensive toys, but toys nonetheless. if you have kids in your life, and you're not letting them at your MOTUCs, shame on you. 🙂

  18. Frogster

    @Dayraven I don't we are missing any point. You have your opinions, and just because others have an opposing view that doesn't invalidate anyone else's. I have handed plenty of stuff I don't like off to other people. Maybe that crappy poster has a purpose, but I think you are reaching here, since at that price point, I think this set here seems to be aimed at collectors. The art looks half assed and rush. If you like it so be it.

  19. FakeEyes22

    @Creature E

    I completely agree that this was a low priority project for most who had a hand in it. I can understand that even if some aspects of the art puzzle me. I also imagine that, like with any sort of cross-corporate partnership, the most loud and clear instructions for the piece was to treat each character equally, drawn the the same size with neither outshining the other. Any imbalance would have been a call for a revision, probably.

    I admit that I overreacted when I first saw the art a while back. It was disappointing that more effort hadn't been done on something that was replacing the comics that had made the wave 1 sets more worth the asking price. It seemed clear that the effort and resources spent producing the poster were even less than what it took to reprint old comics, and that came after a summer and fall full of frustrating Matty drama.

    On the plus side, I'm glad it's packaging and not figures. As frustrating and unnecessary as the constant excuses and penny pinching may be, I'm hoping it's done not because the line is in any danger, but because ToyGuru and company want to show the corporate guys the kind of numbers they want to see to show that it's a line worth expanding.

    I do enjoy Emiliano's piece quite a bit. I don't think it's quite up to par with amazing stuff that he's capable of in his full-time work, of course. I admit that I quit my crummy arrogant drawing attempt when it became clear that I couldn't beat the poster art in one everning, so I maybe I shouldn't be too critical.

  20. RageTreb

    What I really like about it is Emiliano kept the poses and layout completely intact, he just blew the original guy's art out of the water.

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