OSJ Posted July 7, 2017 Share Posted July 7, 2017 Okay, to begin with let's not kid ourselves about what's going on here... Nighthawk and the rest of the Squadron Sinister was a not-so-subtle swipe at DC's big four: Hyperion = Superman Dr. Spectrum = Green Lantern The Whizzer = The Flash Nighthawk = Batman They actually did a pretty nice job riffing on both Batman and Dell Comics' The Owl. I suppose they had to use a light blue as gray would have been close enough to get the lawyers all excited and shit. Rating = Pretty damn good, conveys the concept of "creature of the night" rather nicely. Now, the makeover... WTF is going on here??? For any other character, this costume (while not a big favorite) would be perfectly adequate, however, this is Nighthawk that we're talking about here. Nothing says "creature of the night" like a bright yellow hawk emblem on your chest and matching boots and gloves. Absolutely ridiculous. On the flipside, here DC does a great job with their Silver Age re-imagining of their #3 GA character: Now from a character standpoint I find Jay Garrick 100 times more interesting than Barry Allen, who is about as bland a superhero as Cody Rhodes is as a wrestler. But we're talking about appearance here, not character development. This isn't just impractical, this is downright silly: Yeah, I'm literate enough to get that this is a riff on the famed sculpture of Hermes/Mercury, the fleet-footed messenger of the gods of Mt. Olympus, but let's pause a moment to consider the laws of physics eeef you weeeel. How in the hell is that helmet supposed to stay on his head as he zooms around at sound barrier breaking speeds? The answer is that either Mr. Garrick has a garage full of the things or someone at DC didn't think this through very well, hmmmm? Now, the SA makeover: Not one of my favorite costumes, but damn, this is light-years ahead of the duds that Jay Garrick was stuck with. Best thing of all? The Flash began the tradition of eliminating the almost totally useless item of apparel that we refer to as a cape. Okay, if you're Batman, Sandman, or the Shadow it's more than an accessory, it's actually a useful and functional device, if you're Superman, Shazam, or Dr. Fate you are so powerful that you can wear whatever the hell you please. On the other hand, if you're the Martian Manhunter, Hourman, or someone like that, you're wearing a useless accessory that can actually be such a hindrance as to endanger your life by restricting your movements. So knock it the hell off, capes are fine if you're going to the opera, on the other hand, if you're going out to project the city by roughing up the ruffians, leave the damn cape at home. There are tons of other horrid examples, the GA Green Lantern coming to mind, but you'll have to go a long. long way to find a costume as inappropriate to the character as that of the original Marvel Daredevil (the real original Daredevil had one of the coolest costumes of all time); I realize that the guy is blind, which I suppose could serve as an excuse, but one would think that a public-spirited citizen just might take a moment to let the poor man know just how awesomely foolish he looks prancing about in this: Man without fear? Perhaps. Man without taste, most def. So who ya got? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spritenaut 32 Posted July 7, 2017 Share Posted July 7, 2017 Drawing DD's costume like it's a sleeveless vest worn over top a turtleneck didn't do the character any favors either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted July 8, 2017 Share Posted July 8, 2017 The Silver Age Flash costume, and it's various tweaks and upgrades while largely staying true to the design, is probably my favorite costume ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.H. Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 Sue Storm is NOT Power Girl ad should never be dressed as such James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 The Jim Lee bare midriff Huntress costume was similarly terrible (not to mention she should've had a giant scar from when Joker gut shot her in No Man's Land...) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.H. Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 In all fairness, most costumes designed by Jim Lee are just plain terrible James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 This is beyond true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spritenaut 32 Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 Terrible costumes by an Image artist, you say? I see your Jim Lee Huntress outfit and raise you: I'm actually a fan of McFarlane's work on Infinity, Inc. The layouts especially were fantastic. But he's never been good at designing costumes. There are probably worse examples, but these two stick out in my mind. Dr. Midnight II's outfit just looks silly and Rick Tyler's first costume could probably induce seizures. Purple and red? The giant gloves? The flange on the boots? Lee's Huntress costume was the one with the "belly window", wasn't it? I didn't hate it, but the classic costume was better. Not really sure why a vigilante would choose a costume that exposed her midsection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.H. Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 Because Lee's sense of design will always appeal to 16 year old boys who just discovered porn and fringe horror movies? James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Unholy Dragon Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Specifically a hero who was specifically shot in the stomach in a major scene not long prior. That said, Nicola Scott did a full body covered take and it was a vast improvement so some aspects of that design were good. Just not the skin baring parts. A lot of New 52 redesigns were awful but the Teen Titans especially got hammered. Red Robin, Wonder Girl, and Raven were fucking nightmares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 33 minutes ago, The Unholy Dragon said: A lot of New 52 redesigns were awful but the Teen Titans especially got hammered. Red Robin, Wonder Girl, and Raven were fucking nightmares. I'll second the bad New 52 costumes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Spider-Man has my favourite alternate costumes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 7 hours ago, The Unholy Dragon said: Specifically a hero who was specifically shot in the stomach in a major scene not long prior. That said, Nicola Scott did a full body covered take and it was a vast improvement so some aspects of that design were good. Just not the skin baring parts. A lot of New 52 redesigns were awful but the Teen Titans especially got hammered. Red Robin, Wonder Girl, and Raven were fucking nightmares. Brett Booth is a great guy and I really like him and.... Nope still can't defend those. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.H. Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Shit I've hated Raven's look since the Johns er on Teen Titans. . Hell most of Johns Titans run doesn't hold-up well for me James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Unholy Dragon Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 13 hours ago, Brian Fowler said: Brett Booth is a great guy and I really like him and.... Nope still can't defend those. Did Booth do the designs or was he handed them from Lee? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSJ Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 Some good choices, I had forgotten that iteration of Hourman as the full purple with the big clock, ("clock", damnit, I said "big clock") has burnt its way into my brain and simply won't go away.However, for a two-for of sheer awfulness, you'd have to go a long way to improve (if that's the word I'm looking for) on Dr. Mid-nite and Hourman. Though in all fairness, Doc has always shown some ghastly taste in threads. Far as blind superheroes, can't find fault with Nightro's costume; you can find much to fault with everything else about the strip, but the costume earns a plus: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSJ Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 On 7/9/2017 at 7:49 AM, J.H. said: Sue Storm is NOT Power Girl ad should never be dressed as such James I thought that this was a new character, the Cougar... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 1 hour ago, The Unholy Dragon said: Did Booth do the designs or was he handed them from Lee? I think Brett. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Unholy Dragon Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 1 hour ago, Brian Fowler said: I think Brett. I googled a bit and apparently it was Brett, Jim Lee, and shockingly Cully Hamner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Jim Lee did not do the New 52 Teen Titans. He just didn't have the common sense to refuse the proposals for them. I recall him totally throwing those guys under the bus on that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Unholy Dragon Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 I found a 2011 interview with Brett Booth where he explicitly says Lee helped with some as did Hamner. He even said which ones. So someone is lying there and tbh I doubt it's Booth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spritenaut 32 Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 34 minutes ago, Eivion said: Jim Lee did not do the New 52 Teen Titans. He just didn't have the common sense to refuse the proposals for them. I recall him totally throwing those guys under the bus on that one. If only he had done that before the designs were approved. Throwing the sketches under a bus would have been an improvement. Only if the bus backed up an ran over them a second time, though. There were an awful lot of bad designs coming out of New 52, though. I really hated how they sexualized Starfire (particularly dumb given the success of Teen Titans Go). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 52 minutes ago, The Unholy Dragon said: I found a 2011 interview with Brett Booth where he explicitly says Lee helped with some as did Hamner. He even said which ones. So someone is lying there and tbh I doubt it's Booth. Helped can mean many things. For all we know they could have been even crazier. All I recall is Lee mentioning trying to give people freedom creativity wise on the New 52 redesigns and trying to take no credit for the TT. To be fair I think it was more of playful comment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 It's not like Jim "I put Superman in armor" Lee did a great job on the rest of the designs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebor Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Wonderman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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