Nowhere do you find better examples of color being used to convey properties of good and evil as in comic books. Comic ink artists are well versed in the subtle inferences that occur through the transfer of emotions via color palettes. Have you ever noticed what colors the costumes of your favorite comic book super heroes and heroines are, and how those make you feel? Aside from just making comic book characters look super cool, colors actually serve a dual purpose in establishing the characters’ identities and creating a psychological bond between fans and their comics.
It’s not something we may consciously pay attention to: Spider-Man’s classic red and blue webslinger suit and Thor’s red, blue, and gold — versus the visually disturbing purple and green combination used to represent twisted, insane evil villains like The Green Goblin or Batman’s archenemy, The Joker.
In the following infographic, we will explore the color pallets and how those are applied to help mold and shape comic book characters’ identities in our minds. I was surprised to notice that red is the most strongly identified color with the good guys in comics. Green and purple represent evil doers.
