• Graphic Design

Superhero Posters – Weepy Stories in Past/Present Series

“This is my work, my life
This is my creation, my world
This is for you”
Khoa Ho

Did you ever dream to become a superhero being a child? Everybody did, we guess. Why not? Superheroes are usually portrayed so courageous and omnipotent. Besides, they are so seductive and attractive in their costumes. It seems as if they never mess with minor people’s affairs. Superheroes are destined for higher purposes like saving thousands of lives, prevention of global catastrophes, fighting with insane super maniacs and so on. This is how we perceive the superheroes, how we imagine them. These are the outward features we want to take after.

But…

There always exists another darker or lighter side of any object or person as in our case.

Thanks to Khoa Ho, a Californian creative artist, we can see this other side of some famous superheroes. Khoa Ho’s past/present series of superhero posters are something mind-blowing. His approach is so cool and individual, that it turned those posters into real artworks. The posters are created in black and white color scheme, showing only silhouettes of the heroes. The technique visually divides the lives of superheroes into before and after parts. This way we can trace which accidents, some of them were really tragic, made the characters the personalities known and admired by millions of fans all over the world. These past/present series of superhero posters carry an important message to the humanity: only our actions make us who we are, no branding can affect your destiny, only your personal desires and pursuits.

But enough words, let’s get a closer look on Khoa Ho’s artworks.

Batman

Young Bruce Wayne is depicted kneeling at his parents’ dead bodies. They were shot by some hoodlum whose identity was “never determined”. That day has become a turning point in Bruce’s life, when he decided that no common citizen like his father Thomas, and mother Martha would be abused again.

Superman

Superman’s silhouette is portrayed over the farm in Smallville, Kansas, where he was raised by his foster parents Jonathan and Martha Kent, which didn’t know about his extraterrestrial origin and the explosion of his mother planet Krypton. The Kents named the infant Clark and raised him as their own son.

Flash

Jay Garrick, a research scientist, gained his incredible super speed by accidentally inhaling the hyper-charged atoms of a radioactive liquid. The incident is represented on the poster below.

Spiderman

Peter Parker’s parents died in a plane crash when he was still a young boy. He was raised by Ben and Mary Parker, his father’s older brother and wife. What differs Spiderman from the rest of superheroes is his difficulties with friends, family, sweethearts and employers. He feels guilty for his parents’ death and tries hard to please the foster ones. Maybe that’s why Khoa Ho entitled the poster “The Nerd” and painted the boy climbing up the sheer wall.

Iron Man

Tony Stark has no super powers of his own, but has enough money and genius to invent the armor he wears. A bright dot at Tony silhouette’s chest symbolizes his damaged heart. Actually, he couldn’t survive without the iron costume. Eventually, after certain surgeries, Tony Stark has become a mixture of man and machine, or a cyborg if you find this word more relevant.

Wolverine

Wolverine is commonly known as Logan, but his real name is James Howlett. As a child James was a frail and sick boy. His allergies didn’t allow him to go out and play with other kids. We won’t bore our readers with the long history of Logan’s path to super abilities. Let’s just mention that after World War II, Logan was taken by a group of scientists led by Dr. Cornelius as part of the Weapon X program. Cornelius was hired to perfect and use a technique that would bond the indestructible element adamantium to human bone cells. Logan’s skeleton was bonded to the adamantium, and he was indoctrinated into the Weapon X assassin program.