The colors of good vs. evil: comic book color palettes infographic

Britt of Colourlovers says:

I wanted to share with you an infographic that my team and I created that discusses common color schemes for comic book heroes and villains. It's called 'Behind the Colors: A Closer Look at Comic Book Color Palettes' and it has a bunch of quirky facts about how certain colors can give more insight into their personalities and hero type. Another neat aspect that I think you'll like is how the infographic discusses the different color schemes for DC and Marvel and shows how they set the trend for future comics.

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Djinn PAWN

I always thought that most villains (at least the older ones) were given colours because of the very limited old school printing palette.

When you had Batman, Spiderman, Superman, Wonder Woman all in primary colours then it stands to reason that you wouldn’t want your villains in the same colours, and since there were so few to choose from the only practical remaining ones left were purple and Green.

Purple and green, hmmm… Green Goblin, Mysterio, Scorpion, Sandman, Vulture, Joker, Riddler, Catwoman, Lex Luthor, Kang, Doctor Doom, Fin Fang Foom, Annihilus, Doc Ock, Kingpin, The Lizard, Two-Face, Brainiac, Parasite, Mole Man, Skrulls… and there are probably way more. These were just off the top of my head.

Now I’m not talking about the latest or revamped costumes, but when these folks first popped onto the comic pages. Printing has got much better since then so now we have 10,000 shades of blue – but when I was reading comics we only had 2, and because of the severe colour limitation that’s how most things got coloured – not by artist choice, but out of necessity.
- sagodjur
  
  Coloring has definitely improved since the old days. I don’t know how many 1960′s Superman comics I’ve read where many objects are all one solid color, and not even a color it would normally be. Someone would be piloting an all-red jet or giant wasps would be all yellow with only inking to add detail.
Lobster

In other words, every fanfic stars a guy in gold?
http://www.facebook.com/Spike.Vincent Michael Spike Vincent

Marvel is a good example. Look at the Green Goblin. Green and Purple. The Hulk Green and Purple. Then you have Doctor Doom Green. Vulture Green Doc Ock Green. Scorpion Green oh ya..the Skrulls were Green and purple Compare that to the heroes Spiderman Red and Blue ( same as DC Superman) Antman and Wasp Red and blue/black Thor Blue and Red cape. Fantastic Four Blue and black
Guest

More like: ‘Pink: ONLY used for female characters.’ :/

DC and Marvel both stink.
Stephen Anderson

Proof that Barney is a Bad Guy!