Note: This week’s Bart Allen (aka Impulse aka Kid Flash aka The Flash) redesigns are presented in honor of the character’s co-creator, artist Mike Wieringo, who passed away on August 12th. More info here and here.
Impulse and The Flash by Joel Carroll
Dean Trippe: Mr. Carroll went the extra mile here and worked up Bart’s teenage and adult costumes, using sweet visual cues to link them up. Both designs rock, but I think I’m particularly impressed with The Flash. Joel’s really done a great job of making the open mask work on an adult character. The big opaque goggles are great, and the short hair looks really cool on Bart. Beside that, the over-sized chest logo and racing stripes are are too slick.
Joel Priddy: This is something that keeps coming up in the designs we received: the reoccurrance of visual motifs across the different stages of Bart’s career, and how his own imagery interacts with the previously established Flash iconography. Looking at all these great ideas, it seems a shame that DC just stuck post-Impulse Bart in Wally’s old clothes. I like the jacket, but there is a kinda Marlboro-Man thing going on there that might want to be reconsidered. The high waist seems like a good choice for a runner. Great use of white piping on the Flash costume, especially on the shoes.
Vito Delsante: Almost all of the artists who submitted this week seem to be thinking very smartly about the footwear a speedster would wear. Joel’s are phenomenal…the graduation from high tops to hero boots is in line with the graduation from sidekick to outright hero. I’m a huge fan of the track jacket, as I was in all the other designs, but looking here, Bart doesn’t need it. In fact, it looks like it would make him fidgety. Add an emblem to that costume, sans jacket, and it’s golden. The Flash design takes its cues from what sprinters wear in the Olympics, which is a smart angle. My favorite part is how the sleeves come to the hands.
Impulse by Rick Cortes
Dean: Whoa…probably the biggest departure of the bunch in terms of color, Rick’s design’s rocking a wicked retro future vibe, which could work in a number of different story ideas. In any case, it’s fun as all get out.
Vito: This reminds me of the future Flash, John Fox. Blue isn’t a color you would usually associate to someone whose nickname is, “The Scarlet Speedster,” but I like it. A blue blur is just as effective as a red one, right? Again, check out the footwear on these redesigns! It looks like everyone is conscious of the effects of the Speed Force on feet!
Joel: I really like this costume, especially for fresh-from-the-future Impulse. Great helmet, great shoes, great use of the lightning motif. I’m not sure I’m getting head around the blue color scheme, though. I keep thinking of electricity-based characters who use blue jaggy-bolts on their costumes: Black Lightning, Lightning Lad, Livewire, etc.
Kid Flash by Alexandre Louzada
Dean: Wow, what a fun design! Alexandre’s take on Bart is even more “track-and-field” than mine (check back tomorrow)! The slick lightning edges keep the suit looking appropriately superhero-y. I’m surprised that the shorts look is actually possible! I love it.
Vito: I’d actually like to see it with long pants, instead of shorts. Shorts only work on Robin, and they changed that. But I do like the look of the short sleeves. That seems very doable for a kid hero.
Dean: Dude, it’s 95 degrees where I am. I say, if Bart wants to battle evil in shorts, he should go for it.
5 Comments so far
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Only when he’s running straight at you, so you’d only catch the briefest of glances–a flash, as it were.
Comment by Joel Priddy 08.28.07 @ 7:54 amPerhaps the blue costume is a nod to Bart’s old mentor Max Mercury?
Comment by Paul Sebert 08.28.07 @ 3:14 pmAw, the shorts for that last design make me think of his cousin XS’s Legion uniform! I wish DC would give us one of the 52 worlds with Bart and Jenni as partners with coordinated costumes, like their parents. Of all the legacies Bart has to draw from, you never see anybody having him honor his dad! What, people don’t like purple?! (hahaha!)
Comment by denimdamsel 10.27.07 @ 4:31 pmLeave a comment
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If he runs fast enough he looks blue anyway, no?
Comment by K2 08.27.07 @ 1:40 pm