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Bill Guerra
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 29 March 2012
Location: United States
Posts: 1065
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| Posted: 06 July 2012 at 6:48pm | IP Logged | 1
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I hate to say it, but I feel superhero costume design is a quickly dying art. There is no reason that Hawkeye should be wearing a t-shirt and sunglasses (just for an example). Why would a guy who is extraordinarily dependent on his vision wear sunglasses? To look cool? I've been complimented on costume designs I've done because I've been told they look "cool" and/or "like superheroes". I always say I've studied from the masters, like Kirby, Byrne, Perez, etc. They are people who understand how costumes should look dynamic and interesting...even how a team may "work" together (if it's a case of individualized costumes). Unfortunately, there seems to be very little of this nowadays.
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Robert Bradley
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 September 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 4829
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| Posted: 06 July 2012 at 7:24pm | IP Logged | 2
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It's funny, you used to have classic looks and you could pretty much tell who designed them -
Hey! It's a Jack Kirby costume! -
   
Hey! It's a Dave Cockrum costume! -
   
Hey! It's a Gil Kane costume -
   
Hey! It's a Steve Ditko costume! -
   
Hey! It's an Neal Adams costume -
  
Hey! It's a Don Heck costume -
   
Now every artists that comes along seems to think he either has to do a re-design or add all kinds of extraneous detail to existing costumes. (Cap needs pouches on his belt! And scales! And seams!)
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Shaun Barry
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 08 December 2008
Location: United States
Posts: 6833
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| Posted: 06 July 2012 at 7:58pm | IP Logged | 3
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(Robert Bradley, I never get tired of you posting those 'lil guys & gals!!!)
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Peter Martin
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 March 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 15803
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| Posted: 06 July 2012 at 8:14pm | IP Logged | 4
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Even when I was a Marvel nut and had never read any DC apart from Batman or Superman, I can remember looking at an action figure of the Green Lantern and admiring how perfect that costume was. Apart from the mask, which is very DC, it's a very Marvelesque superhero look -- very sleek, completely form fitting and nothing extraneous like a cape or a belt.
It actually looks far more modern than any of the nonsense modern-day rejigged costumes that Marvel have introduced, with the pouches, seams, laces and elbow/shoulder/knee pads.
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Mike Norris
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4274
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| Posted: 06 July 2012 at 8:56pm | IP Logged | 5
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I pretty much hate the most of the "modern" design elements in superhero costuming. Far too many cues from sports., military and police uniforms. Which is fine if the character is based on being an athlete, soldier or cop, but not for every freaking superhero on the planet!!!!!!! I find those looks to be far too clunky. Superheroes should look eek and streamline for the most part. The costumes need to imply freedom of movement.
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Ron Chevrier
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 1641
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| Posted: 06 July 2012 at 9:49pm | IP Logged | 6
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What really bugs me is that Hawkeye and Green Arrow used to be very easy to tell apart by their distinctive outfits. Now look at a black and white drawing of each character in their respective current incarnations and they look like nearly the same character. Very sad.
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Robert Bradley
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 September 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 4829
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| Posted: 06 July 2012 at 10:40pm | IP Logged | 7
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This isn't really a recent thing - there were plenty of early costume changes - Daredevil, Iron Man, Ant-Man/Giant-Man, Doctor Strange, and then there were these guys -
Original costumes -
"Graduation Uniforms" -
I know they were trying to stir up some interest in the X-Men since the title seemed to be floundering a bit, and of the five I like all of them except for the Angel's costume, but there was always something cool about having a somewhat generic team uniform.
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Robert Bradley
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 September 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 4829
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| Posted: 06 July 2012 at 10:44pm | IP Logged | 8
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Shaun - Thanks, I like to bust 'em out when we start talking about costumes.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132303
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| Posted: 07 July 2012 at 9:03am | IP Logged | 9
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…there was always something cool about having a somewhat generic team uniform.•• I think you mean "matching", rather than "generic". And the thing to keep in mind is that in groups like the FF, the X-Men, and even the Challengers of the Unknown, Kirby designed the characters with distinctive physiques. Take the Challengers. No super powers to give them unique silhouettes, but if they ran into a dark room and were rendered purely as outlines, you could still tell which one was Red, which one was Prof, which one was Rocky, which one was Ace. Factor in wings, or ape-like physiques, or turning to ice or flame, and it gets even easier!
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David Plunkert
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 03 July 2012
Posts: 536
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| Posted: 07 July 2012 at 10:02am | IP Logged | 10
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I read somewhere that since DC was Marvel's distributor back in the day and not only did they limit the amount of monthly titles Marvel could publish...but also wouldn't have been keen on Marvel publishing superheroes. So the FF's lack of costumes was a "stealth" move on Stan and Jack's part since they didn't know how their distributor would react.
Whether this was something on Stan and Jack's radar is arguable but I think its probably fair to say that DC didn't pay much attention to what Marvel put into the 8 titles they were allowed to publish per month.
More than likely I think Stan simply wasn't satisfied with the un-uniformed FF.
Also, hello all.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 07 July 2012 at 10:08am | IP Logged | 11
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I read somewhere that since DC was Marvel's distributor back in the day and not only did they limit the amount of monthly titles Marvel could publish...but also wouldn't have been keen on Marvel publishing superheroes. So the FF's lack of costumes was a "stealth" move on Stan and Jack's part since they didn't know how their distributor would react.•• I've not heard that. Seems unlikely, tho. National Periodicals could control Marvel's quantity, but not content.
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Valmor J. Pedretti
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 14 October 2011
Location: Brazil
Posts: 786
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| Posted: 07 July 2012 at 10:32am | IP Logged | 12
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Stan's talks on the aforementioned doc give an impression that competition wasn't so fierce back then, as heads of publishing offices would be playing golf together and exchanging thoughts about sales.
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Topic Closed)
