“The Craftsman Technician”? Really? OK, I suppose that this isn’t the first time product placement has hit the comic book world, but every time it does it feels so forced, like when the characters in your favorite prime time TV show suddenly decide to talk about the features of the car they’re driving… Last week Craftsman boasted of their new Bolt-on tool, which is a new 12V and 20V Max cordless product designed to accomplish a lot of different tasks through the use of various heads that can be placed onto the main tool body. This week, a new Craftsman Tools Superhero comic was announced whereby a character called “The Craftsman Technician” foils a villain named “The Key” while he’s at the Justice League satellite repairing something with his new Craftsman Bolt-on System.
Craftsman is releasing this comic and will have a presence at Comic-Con this year, with the intention of showing off its tools to a new generation of DIYers. As for Hank Kanalz, SVP of digital, DC Entertainment, he says “We loved working with the Craftsman brand team on this project. In the new, custom comic book we spotlight how tools play an important behind-the-scenes role in this Justice League story, from tuning up the Batmobile to getting the Invisible Jet back up and running after an epic battle. It’s a unique angle, one that we don’t get to see in the normal course of our stories.”
Copies of the Craftsman comic are going to be available at Comic-Con in New York and will also be available as a digital download (for free) on the DC Comics app the same weekend.
So what’s next? I think Superman’s eyes should fail him and the Justice League has to use a Milwaukee M12 Thermal Imager in order to see through walls and catch the bad guys… Who knows, it could just work!
