Thursday, May 3, 2012

Jim Lee's Superman Costume Design


The DC Source blog has begun posting some of the back material for the JLA-Origins trade collection, on sale today. Some of that back material is the costume concept art for the DCnU redesign. Here is the Superman page: http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2012/05/01/justice-league-sketchbook-superman

The picture to the left is Jim Lee's original concept art and the rest is from Cully Hamner. And I have to say I appreciate these behind scene creative peeks and really up close looks at these new costumes. There are some elements of these new costumes that haven't sat well with me. I mean, why mess with iconography. But this look let me focus a bit on the good, the neutral, and the not so good.

The good. I have to say  the thing that stands out to me as an improvement is the treatment of the cape. I like the black shield on the cape. And, for some reason, I really like the fact that it tapers to a point in the back. And it is said that it attaches directly to the costume as opposed to being tucked into the shirt. I jhope he can take it off to carry something in if needed. And, as always, I like when the S-shield is large on the shirt. It should be.

The neutral: I have come to accept the lack of red shorts and even the high collar.

The not so good: I just think that all of these new costumes tend to run a little bit too busy. I want a sleek Superman. So all these creases and piping and recesses and seams just seems to make it feel cluttered. And the piping is supposed to be red! Even busier.

I just think the costume should be emblematic of the man. I don't think of Superman as being this fussy or detail oriented about his fighting togs. So I don't think his clothes should be either.


This is the same sort of complaint I have with the new Supergirl uniform, the same sort of unnecessary use of piping and corners (although Kara's looks relatively unadorned when compared to Kal's).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Agreed with everything you've said, here, Anj. I just hope they don't mess up this iconic character on thine inside, as well. From what I hear, he's been moody in the series.... I miss the old days where he and Lois were just great together, Lois knowing the big secret, or not. For me, I think the biggest mistake they did was One More Day-ing the Clois/Super-Marriage. As in, just retconning it, and other folks on the DC team dismissing it as part of something coinciding with L&C:TNAOS, when, that really was never the case to begin with. The Super-marriage was one of the biggest things I remember seeing as a kid, growing up, and for others to just to downright dismiss it altogether just annoys me to all ends. :-|-ealperin