Characters: Wonder Woman
Publishers: DC Comics
Artist: Jamie McKelvie
Reviewer: Chris Arrant

In this modern redesign of DC’s Wonder Woman, Jamie McKelvie has taken the core conepts of the character and brought them into more formal wear while maintaining an iconic look. You could even factor the recent events of Infinite Crisis #5 into shared thinking on this subject, as the Earth 2 Wonder Woman talks to our continuity’s Wonder Woman with the advisement to be “”the one thing you haven’t been for a very long time… human.” As a representative from her race and culture, you could easily imagine her adopting the looks of Earth as opposed to war-like adornments that serve no practical purpose due to her magical nature.

“I always felt that [Wonder Woman’s] costume and accessories were a real mish-mash with no overall unity, which is something I’ve tried to bring to this design,” McKelvie stated in his submission. “I also felt that it was highly impractical – one wrong punch of jump and her boobs would come flying out of her costume.” By eschewing the strapless armored top we’re familiar with for a more bodice-like top, it both is more practical for physical altercations and even for casual events. As the commentators on fashion programs sometimes say, this outfit is ready for work or play.

Characters: Blue Beetle
Publishers: Charlton Comics / DC Comics
Artist: Ian Sta Maria
Reviewer: Chris Arrant

Based on the Steve Ditko’s redesign for the debut of Ted Kord under the mantle of Blue Beetle in 1996, Ian Sta Maria’s work here ties into the roots of the Kord character as a genius-level inventor. With Ted Kord having no superpowers of his own and a thriving technology-bent creative mind, one could easily see Ted Kord taking his costume to the next step with this more armored and functional costume.

While not going into the full-armor treatment of Marvel’s Iron Man, this redesign leaves room for Kord’s trademark acrobatics when these new Beetle wings removed. The wings themselves are the major component of this redesign, and one would assume that they would be functional for flight and for added armor protection from attacks.

Much has been made by the recent redesign of the new Blue Beetle by Cully Hamner; you can count me of the many who really enjoy it. But the key to Hamner’s redesign is that it is to a new person under the mask, and resultant of the return of the Blue Scarab that has powered Blue Beetles prior to Ted Kord. Hamner’s redesign is so distinct that it would be at odds with the Ted Kord character, but fits perfectly natural with the new person under the Blue Beetle mantle and DC’s new direction with the character. The redesign shown here by Ian Sta Maria is intended and more befitting the long running Ted Kord Blue Beetle.

Characters: Fire and Ice
Publisher: DC Comics
Artist: Meg Hunt
Reviewer: Dean Trippe

This submission threw me for a sec with its fairly non-mainstream mojo, but after considering for a bit, it won me over big time. Meg has masterfully taken two characters that have been through a lot of semi-generic superhero costumes and put some real life into them. I would seriously add a Fire and Ice book with this kinda vibe to my pull list. (Though I guess the writer of such a series would need to negotiate Ice’s return to the land of the living, and Fire’s removal from corporate/espionage activities. I thing both characters would welcome the change of pace.)

By retaining the color scheme and emblematic nature of each character, and visually linking the pair via their belts and tops, Meg has cleverly united the longtime friends and frequent teammates. The outfits walk the line between being clothes and being costumes, a choice which compliments the relaxed atmosphere Meg has created.

I mean honestly, if you’re a former Justice Leaguer, chilling out in a pool hall, you want to be dressed down enough to not catch too many looks, but superheroey enough that bystanders know you’re the good guys in case you have to throw down on some meta-criminals.

Character: Power Pack
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Pencils: Bannister
Inks & Colors: Joel Carroll
Reviewer: Joel Priddy

I picked up the first ten or twelve issues of Power Pack back in the early Eighties. The grand concept was kid superheroes that acted like kids. The series was written by Louise Simonson, who must have actually met human children at some point. (My favorite Power Pack memory is from the letter column: a reader with too many Superbaby stories under his belt complained that Katie, the youngest, should speak more realistically. His suggestion of age-appropriate four-year old dialogue: “Me make pretty lights! Me shoot bad snakes!”) I don’t know much of what has happened with Power Pack since 1984, but a quick stroll through the internet indicates that they’ve been put through the inevitable continuity ringer as editorial visions come and go. Did they really try to make Power Pack “dark?”

If their kiddishness was the best thing about the Power Pack, their costumes were definitely the worst. The silver moon-booties made sense in the context of a decade that thought turquoise and black checks looked sharp, but body-hugging spandex on pre-pubescent children? Where’s Dr. Wertham when you need him?

What I like about these designs is that 1) they play up on the kiddishness, and 2) I’m not going to have to look at any delicately rendered drawings of eight-year old buttocks. The moon-boots are still there, but considerably played down. The age-appropriate personalities are painted in clear, if broad, strokes. By gawd, they look like kids! Kids who should have fun, slightly goofy adventures.

There is, of course, the continuity question of how, exactly, one turns an alien space suit into a pair of bib-overalls. I leave that to someone more informed in Power Pack lore.