Martinex1: It is time for another round of the $1 Challenge. This time we are taking a look at characters' fighting togs, but not their usual and most iconic examples. These covers look at the various costume changes for our beloved heroes. A few of these costumes lasted for a reasonable period, others just for a few issues; some of the looks were tied to power changes and others were simply a dive into the laundry hamper. I may not share the exact issue in which the change occurred, but simply a cover where the change was clearly visible.
Here are my initial thoughts about some of examples below: I liked that Ant-Man look and I'd like to see Hank swing a rusty nail more frequently. Did Binary have any real adventures in that guise? Is Dazzler still dazzling without the dazzle (say what you want - but I think she needs some glitter)? I refuse to believe Vance Astro had a mullet beneath his space suit. It may be from the year 2000, but I don't mind Hellcat in blue. On the other hand, back in 1993, I am not sure what that were thinking about Sue Storm. I'm a fan of Strange with a mask. And Clint Barton sure picked some extreme clothes over the years.
Pick four that you like and comment on the style and substance of the change. Did you like the design or did you lament the revamp? Choose your favorites and share some thoughts. I know I missed some key examples, so feel free to expose those as well.
14 comments:
I have to say I'm not much of a fan of most costume changes; in most instances I subscribe to the philosophy that if it isn't broken, don't fix it. Most of these changes aren't permanent, and are obviously just an experiment or intended to "refresh" the character visually. Still, there are a few costume changes that I like:
(1) Spider-Man's change to the black and white costume back in 1984 (Amazing Spider-Man #252/Secret Wars #8);
(2) Wolverine's costume change from the blue and yellow costume to the orange and brown costume); and
(3) Superman's costume change that removes both the red underwear and the yellow belt, leaving him primarily blue & red only. Also, the costume change in the 90s where Superman received a black costume with a silver "S" on his chest was somewhat appealing to me, even though it was clearly a gimmick. Apparently Henry Cavill will be appearing in a black and white Superman costume in the Justice League film. Here is a link to the image; it looks impressive but does give Superman a menacing appearance >>> http://images1.cosmicbooknews.com/man-steel-superman-black-costume-2.jpg
For me the four worst costume changes were 1) Dr. Strange's blue mask 2) the Fantastic Four's "negative" costumes with those appalling white collars 3) Spider-Man's black costume and 4) Storm's horrible Mohawk hairdo (which has recently made a comeback...sigh). But I did quite like Namor's new costume - at least it was more dignified than when he was walking around in just his underpants. Another costume change that could have been mentioned is Captain Britain - the new (well, early '80s) version even appears on the BITBA masthead !
Colin's right -- the FF is a look that just shouldn't be altered. And the covers you provided should cement that notion. "4" boob window... Sheesh!
Doug
PS: I always thought "Major Victory" was a moniker that one might have found in a Mad or Crazy parody. But no -- in the 90s it was serious.
Yeah, Major Victory. Yeesh. At least DC's Major Disaster was usually played for laughs...
Anyway, my four picks are Marvel Feature #7, Wonder Woman #179, Dr. Strange #177 and Sub-mariner #67. Not because I necessarily like any of the costume changes (well, Subby's was pretty cool), but because I just wouldn't mind having those issues.
As for some of the ones pictured here, while I always thought Spidey's black costume looked really sharp, I'm just too attached to his original, red and white webby look.
I've always liked the Yellowjacket look and power set, which is my favorite for Hank Pym. Didn't really like Clint becoming Goliath, but I think that outfit is really nicely designed for a guy calling himself Goliath (by the way, I read both of those stories as reprints in Marvel Super Action). And I agree that the dark blue look for Hellcat is actually pretty cool.
On the other side, despite the admittedly silly armored breasts, I nonetheless prefer Valkyrie's original look over the shiny silver bodysuit (maybe if the black and blue color scheme had been maintained I wouldn't have minded the change as much). And without getting into the deeper issues of Byrne's revamping of the Vision, I don't see why he had to bleach him white as well. He should have at least stayed red, dammit.
By the way, Iron Man's stealth armor from the Michelinie/Layton run wasn't really a change - it was just a special purpose armor, which I thought was pretty cool, like his special outer space armor that also appeared in that run.
Always fun when the new designs came out.
1) Ironman's new armors were always a treat
2) Vision's whiteout was awful
3) any of the FF changes were not good
4) the electric blue Superman was to funny for words
The two that come to mind are Wonderman's poor customer choices, (the red jacket was especially painful to look at) and of course the Wasp had at least 30 changes. There is a great Perez poster of the Avengers, where he uses Wasp's many looks to border the image.
Among those changes I liked:
Spider-man and his black duds
Hellcat's Blues
Storm- yes, I actually kind of liked the mohawk...I also liked Wonder Man's red safari jacket...
Sub-Mariner, with the body suit- very sharp.
On the other hand:
Magneto- looks like someone draped a purple curtain over him. Hideous.
Valkyrie- I'm with Edo, stick with the original.
Sue Richards- ohhh, that cut-out suit....no......
As for my picks-
X-Men 160 and 164
Sub-Mariner 67
Avengers 59
Wonder Man's red safari jacket look is a sentimental favorite, and I honestly can't think of a better set of duds he's ever worn, with the possible exception of the black jumpsuit with the red 'W' from the West Coast days.
Well, you guys KNOW I love the Judas Contract ;) and Nightwing's outfit was cool. I like Carol Danvers, but I always preferred her as Ms. Marvel, not Binary. I have that Captain America issue (#340), and I thought his stint as "The Captain" was kinda cool, though we all knew he'd get the red white & blue back sooner or later.
So, if I had to pick four of these, I'd probably go with Storm's punk look, Spidey's black costume (which was cool while it lasted, but I was glad when they brought the red-and-blues back), Hellcat, and "Wicked Wanda" in West Coast Avengers ... bad girls are always fun, aren't they?
Mike Wilson
I liked Wonder Man's safari jacket because it was different than other characters' costumes but I also really liked his previous red, green, and yellow number. It had a different color set and I liked how the pattern formed a W M.
I couldn't find a good cover that showed the Wasp clearly but she seemed to be the poster woman for costume changes. I liked the red black and white outfit ( with an arrow design) that she wore circa Avengers 187. I also liked her blue and white one pant leg missing outfit from the Taskmaster stories.
I'm going to make my choices based on stuff that came along after I was out of comics and I'm just intrigued and wondering what the heck's going on.
So give me...
Warlock
White Vision
Hulk in a Suit and...
what the heck, the 4 boob window. Sorry Doug.
One thing I remember from my comic buying days - Namor from issue #67 was definitely cut out and taped to my closet doors. I also liked that story where Reed designed the costume to save Subby's life. After all, what are frenemies for?
Tom
I'll do two that I liked and two that I didn't much care for.
Liked:
1. BLACK SUIT SPIDER-MAN - When it was first announced I was none too happy to hear about this major upcoming change in Spider-Man's status quo. But the stories and art in Amazing Spider-Man proved so good during the initial introduction of the black suit that the new look quickly grew on me, and that costume actually became a big favorite of mine. In fact the DeFalco & Frenz run on ASM is my favorite Spider-Man era ever (edging out the Stern & Romita Jr. and Lee & Diko eras). I grew to like the black suit so much that if they had chosen to keep Spidey in that look permanently I would have been OK with it.
2. NIGHTWING - Probably my favorite superhero makeover ever. I was a big fan of the New Teen Titans, and Robin was probably my favorite single character on the team. But the problem is I never really cared for Robin very much. First of all his name is not very intimidating. If I was a criminal the name "Robin" wouldn't strike much fear in my heart. And his costume is pretty atrocious. The green shorts, and little green booties were a bit hard to take even on a kid sidekick, but on an adult superhero the look was nothing short of ridiculous. So, when they decided to give Dick Grayson a whole new superhero identity as "Nightwing" and upgrade his look to something much cooler than green underwear, I was 100% on board.
Did not like:
1. SLUTTY INVISIBLE WOMAN - Sue Storm's abrupt change to a "sexy" new costume in the 1990's was one of the worst examples of pandering that I've ever seen in a comic book. First of all, it was so out of character that it made zero sense, and second it was uncomfortable in a way like seeing your mom in her underwear. It just did not work on any level. Bad move Marvel.
2. ELECTRIC BLUE SUPERMAN - Hey, you know what would make Superman better? Taking away his classic powers and replacing them with electricity powers. It'll be like if Electro was a good guy. People will love it. Books will fly off the shelves. And we'll give him blue skin, because blue. Uhhhhhg.
Hmm OK I'll pick four that I like -
1) Hellcat - outfit looks great, I've never read this title but it looks like a welcome change from the old predominantly yellow outfit.
2) Iron Man's blue stealth armour - OK, yes, technically it's not a costume redesign because Tony has quite a number of different armours, from the Silver Centurion to the Hulkbuster to the space armour. I like the look of this stealth one, though.
3) Spidey's black costume - one of the few changes from a classic costume that I liked. Somehow his black outfit suited him well, after all many spiders are black! Hmm, how many are red and blue? Not much, I think.
4) Namor's blue outfit - hey, anything once it covers his body more than a green speedo, right?
Awright, now that's out of the way, here's some I didn't like -
Magneto's purple outfit - I didn't follow this story arc too closely, but when I saw him wearing that my first reaction was, 'gee guys you all made Magneto into a wimp now!'.
Doctor Strange's masked outfit - a mask, really? Does he want to hide his face from Dormammu?
Vance Astro's Major Victory - he shoulda stayed in that metallic shell!
Iron Fist's red costume - nah, stick with the green one, Danny! Shkow!
Sue Storm's stripper outfit - egads, did the costume designer once work at Frederick's of Holywood? Sad, sad, sad!
- Mike 'looking to buy a turtleneck' from Trinidad & Tobago.
I guess I am a negative Nellie, because I mostly dislike the changes! I recall when Storm appeared with her mohawk, that really bothered me -of course, they were changing the character's personality as well. I must be the only person who dislikes Namor's blue suit -for some reason, I feel like he looks like a thug in it. Give me the green trunks! So regal!
But I will try to pick 4 that I like (or at least, don't hate!):
1) I do like Binary's fiery look
2) Dr. Strange's masked look was appropriately mysterious
3) The stealth armor was a neat concept
4) Blue Hellcat is a nice switch on the color scheme.
Storm's "punk rock" look remains my favorite of her looks, though I like that she changes it around occasionally.
I loved the Spidey black costume when it came out, but looking back I do not like it aesthetically as it too often looks like an inked shape of a body instead of a 3-dimensional figure in that world.
Put me down for Wonder Man's safari jacket. I hate him in any kind of typical superhero outfit.
I love Dazzler, but her disco look is superior to the blue jumpsuit.
As a bonus, today I posted an article about Invisible Woman and mention the 4-shaped boob window fiasco: Girl, You’ll Be an Invisible Woman Soon: Defining Serial Characters
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