If you’re looking for high end hero inspired goodies this year look no further than the Heroes & Villains “Deadpool & Wolverine“ line. We had the opportunity to speak to Creative Director Doug Johnson at NYCC this year about what goes into expanding the world of something like a Marvel Comics project.
Character Considerations:
“With Heroes & Villains, you know, we like to tell the backstory of the characters more so or more so than, like, asset slaps of the characters. We want to tell the in-world stories, and this year is Wolverine’s 50th anniversary so the whole idea with this particular booth and the development that went into it was based on telling that backstory of Logan becoming Wolverine.
Where that takes place is Weapon X Facility, so all of the testing and that stuff, and then of course the next most popular that we know from the Weapon X experiment is… (The Merc with a Mouth).
So we couldn’t leave him out!”
Building Cohesive World:
Because of production lead times and creative considerations of course the team at Heroes & Villains has to stay in conversation with Marvel to make sure everything is aligned.
“There’s a bunch of back and forth, and with there being so many iterations and different representations of characters and or storylines and what those things look like, our booth was inspired by both cinematic and comic renditions of the Weapon X facility. So with Marvel all of this stuff, like every single detail in this booth was submitted as a piece of art.
So it’s just developing that relationship with your partners on the IP side.
Easter Eggs:
“So with Wade we wanted to tell his backstory by showcasing he was part of the Canadian Special Ops. So everything is Wade’s old gear from when he was in the Special forces, but you know how much he loves Chimichangas…
We had to make a pocket just for that.
I also really love the Logan denim, it’s like knife proof (don’t test it), but the flannel lining is what I really love. We all know Logan sports flannel.”
Trends in Design:
Especially as comic book characters have become more mainstream, Heroes & Villains have had to adapt and had the opportunity to expand their reach. As for when they decide something has hit the inflection point where they should consider making a line from it:
“It always starts small, right? It’s always like there’s this group that’s like the inner circle of niche (folks), we all know, we all read the comics. Then that turns into more of a mainstream thing where when films are released or there’s a big marketing event – at Heroes & Villains we (try to) identify different customers within pop culture: there’s the customer that’s casual and there’s the customer that’s trend driven, and then the one that has consumed all the content and knows the backstory and appreciates that we’re telling something deeper.”
More about Heroes & Villains
Heroes & Villains exists for the collector; our loyalty lies with the story.
A timeless and authentic approach to wearable lifestyle gear for those who expect more from the story. We are honored to work with some of the most celebrated storytellers in modern history and work to serve the audience.
Our product collections feature officially licensed merchandise from Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Dungeons & Dragons, and much more.
