Justice League Products for Kids at Target

Justice League tray at Target

After noticing the huge Justice League at Target promotion ad spread for summer products in the last Entertainment Weekly magazine, I had to stop by and check out what they had.

The press materials make a big deal out of “inspired by the new 52”, but the images, when used, are clearly the traditional José Luis García-López figures. (He did the look book full of samples well-known for their classic styling.) Here’s a serving tray, for example.

Justice League tray at Target

It’s nice to see Wonder Woman leading the way, but the orange stripes clash with the characters.

There are tons of products, but it’s all aimed very young. There are bath towels and pool toys and bedding and bathmats and aprons and t-shirts. The one area I thought I might be able to find something for all ages was the plastic ware, plates and cups. Nope, even there the sippy cups with handles and little plates divided into sections said “kids only”.

Justice League plates and cups at Target

The faceless snack boxes, with hair or cowl and bottom bowl (shown on the bottom shelf), and the matching straw cups (middle shelf) are cute but odd, with their capes and sculpted hair. The set of four logo tumblers (top shelf) were the most tempting for me, but the bright colors came out a bit garish, and $12.99 seemed a lot for an impulse buy. Note that they’re showing the traditional star-shield Justice League of America logo, the one that’s 50 years old. And of course, since Superman gets red and blue, the Wonder Woman things are all pink. Here’s a lenticular placemat:

Wonder Woman placemat at Target

Aside from what I took pictures of, there were a bunch of tableclothes and placemats and plates and such that weren’t logo-ed at all. Instead, they appeared very pop art, with starbursts and lightning bolts and rainbow stripes. If not placed in the context of this collection, I wouldn’t necessarily think “DC Comics” at all when seeing them.

I’m glad to see the traditional DC superheroes get some product attention, but everything is so removed from the comics (which aren’t suitable for kids anyway) that they become mere symbols — and it’s fascinating to see the 70s-80s versions then show up as the visuals, underwear on the outside and all.



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