In a random conversation with a friend, I got the idea to create a series of political campaign posters for comic book characters as an experiment in how messaging takes a role in graphic design.
The first of these was imagining J. Jonah Jameson as a presidential candidate. J. Jonah Jameson is Spider-Man’s nemesis in the press, so I imagine that with his ability to control the media, he would be able to rile supporters up on a platform of “Accountability for ‘Super-Menaces'”, harking back to his constant calling Spider-Man a menace.
I think JJJ would position himself as a stern leader who doesn’t falter in the face of superheroes and their celebrity status. I think he would also lean into patriotism, so I stuck with bold reds, whites, and blues and extremely bold text, with a rather serious photo inspired by the classic Obama “Hope” poster, but a little more gruff.
Fun fact– JJJ was once the mayor of New York City in the comics! He resigned after the city was almost destroyed.
The first character who came to mind to run against him for President was Captain America. Cap, being a superhero himself, would run as the anti-JJJ. I think he would try and position himself as a centrist, trying to win over as many people as possible by not committing too hard on many controversial issues and trying to win on star power alone.
This design was inspired by a JFK poster, also leaning into the patriotic theme (how can you not– it’s Captain America, after all) and the circle being reminiscent of his shield. I still want to try out a few iterations for Cap, I think I can get a bit more creative here.
Inspired by the 2025 Superman movie, I made a poster for Lex Luthor. He has actually been president multiple times in the DC comics, but here’s my take on it. While the above two were done in Photoshop, this one was done in Adobe Illustrator.
This is an ongoing project, and I’ll develop this page further as I go! I hope to experiment more with a variety of different styles and try to go deeper than the standard red-white-and-blue that we see everywhere today and explore how different characters may choose to differentiate themselves from the crowd in a way that reflects their core message.