Note: Batman’s probably tops when it comes to the hero with the most costume variations over the years, but artist Coran Stone hits on something special with this take on Bruce Wayne. If you like this, click through to Stone’s DeviantArt account to check out his “Ego” series of hero pin-ups. – Chris A.
Note: One of our most popular P:R Regulars in quite some time is artist Joe Quinones. Fresh out of college, Quinones began wowing us here at P:R before he caught the eye of Marvel and DC. Joe has placed high in a number of our contests, and won our spectacular Wonder Woman: Wardrobe War contest a few years back. Thanks, Joe! – Chris A.
Note:Imagination is a key part of making a redesign work — and some of our regular contributors have that in spades. Artist Maris Wicks has participated in several of our contests and even a few standalone entries, and she always brings an inventive spirit that’s unafraid to take some chances. This one-time Marvel zombie considers her the Fred Hembeck of the P:R HQ, and looks forward to seeing more from her. – Chris A.
Wonder Woman
Vampirella
Wolverine
Dick Grayson as Batman
Black Canary
Aquaman
Note: Transposing your favorite characters to another gender has been a popular pastime for both artists, cosplayers, as well as comic creators. This pin-up by Yasmin Liang takes inspiration from the recent “gender bent” Justice League cosplayers from Comicon to wonderful effect. - Chris A.
Note: Good news, comics fashion fans — the upcoming video game Batman: Arkham City will be including a variety of classic looks for Batman. These playable character skins are based on designs from Batman Beyond, The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: The Animated Series, Neal Adam’s Batman from the 70s and even the unreleased Batman: Earth One graphic novel design by Gary Frank. For more, head over to ComicsAlliance to read an article by P:R alum Andy Khouri. - Chris A.
Note: Comic fans have been blasted with volley after volley of revamped characters and titles coming out from DC over the past few weeks. After taking a bit to catch our breath, the P:R team is here to give their own take of the costume redesigns coming from Jim Lee, Cully Hamner and the DC artists. There’s so much to go over we’re doing it in three parts — stay tuned for Part 2 on Wednesday and Part 3 on Friday. – Chris A.
Vito: I don’t wholesale hate it. I’ve grown to accept, if not like, Wonder Woman’s current look. Batman will always look like Batman if he has that cowl and cape and a bat symbol of some sort on his chest. GL, Aquaman and Flash all look recognizable. What I don’t like: Cyborg looks too bulky. I have this character that is essentially a geomorph and he uses plates of stone/rock as armor, much the way that Cyborg has metal and technology as his armor. My biggest hurdle was, “How do I make him look like he won’t fall over?” We fixed and tweeked it, and my character looks fine now, but Cyborg is still too top heavy. He wouldn’t be running, as he is in this image; he’d faceplant.
And Superman…I’m just. I’ll say that I love the traditional classic Superman costume and leave it at that.
Jon: I never understand why so many designers always seem to want to make Superman’s costume look more formal. The way it looks traditionally – the exposed neck, the t-shirt cut on his shirt and the shirt-sleeve cuffs – are important to the character, because they visually acknowledge Superman’s connection with the common man.
The high collar, sleeker body and cuff-highlights admittedly make Superman look more authoritative, like a police officer or a military figure – really, it’s not a bad design in general, but just not for what Superman is supposed to represent. If you acknowledge that there’s a persistent societal conflict between the powers-that-be and the hoi polloi, then the look of Superman’s costume here puts him firmly on the side of The Man, which is not where he’s supposed to be…
Jess: With the exception of Wonder Woman and Cyborg (and I totally agree with you on the latter, Vito), these redesigns mainly seem to consist of taking the classic costumes and making them busier. But strong, clean lines are what made those costumes classic and those characters iconic. These redesigns are just confusing.
Wonder Woman here is actively infuriating to me, and just goes to show how pants or lack of pants isn’t the problem for her. Her choker is clearly supposed to evoke the collar of all the male heroes, but it just begs the question of why she doesn’t get a collar, and a proper shirt, instead of breasts that have such little support from her clothes I’m getting sympathy pains looking at her. If she’s supposed to match the guys, give her the same amount of coverage. If she’s not, let her look like she’s looked for three quarters of a century.
Joel: There’s a story-reason why everyone has the same collar, right? There has to be. Otherwise, it seems to point to a lack of… consideration which would be odd for such valuable properties. I agree with the general consensus that most of these are pretty much the same old thing, only busier, with Flash and Cyborg suffering the worst.
As part of an evolution, Wonder Woman’s costume is a positive step. It’s shares the the same urge towards the contemporary as the previous attempt at a redesign, but is more streamlined. But there’s too many metal accouterments, and they are too pointy. This is something I’ve seen on a lot of Project:Rooftop submissions, lately: putting big, pointing ornaments made out of shiny, rigid metal on parts of peoples bodies that need to flex and move. And I don’t get the appeal. Do lots of comics artists own stock in the company that makes those little round band-aids?
Chris: I can’t un-see the unified collars now that it’s been brought up here. I assume this is all Jim Lee at work here redesigning the costumes. Wonder Woman stands out as the best of the bunch here, but the others seem like an overcomplication of the classic designs. I wonder how long it takes before these revisions fall by the wayside as the designs go into usage across the line.
Jess: Is it just me or does Booster look like he really, really liked Tron and adjusted his costume accordingly? I’ve always thought that Booster’s costume, both with the collar and without, was perfect for his flashy personality while still being really simple and clean. This seems too busy to me, though I suppose it works for the more serious direction they’re trying to take the character in. That mask is gonna lead to some wicked tan lines, though.
Vixen’s another one where I thought her costume worked really well, so I’m wary about changes, though it’s hard to see the full costume here. I actually like Ice’s new costume a lot, but that redesign is from Generation Lost and not the reboot (and could stand to lose the fur belt). And I love, love, love that when given the option, DC redesigned old stalwarts like Superman and the Flash, then apparently looked at Guy Gardner’s baffling turtleneck/vest/moonboots ensemble and went, “Perfect. Don’t change a thing.”
Vito: I’m not sure why they changed Booster’s current costume (basically, the same without the disco collar). It’s certainly not the oddest of choices in the redesigns, just slightly unnecessary.
Joel: Re: Booster: It’s busier, but most of it looks like it could work. I’m perplexed by the open forehead, though. I have a feeling that’s going to screw up a lot of artists’ attempts to get Booster to emote. And is he wearing a skin-tight suit with sleeve cuffs? That looks okay in this pose, but I’m skeptical about how it will play out in a standing pose.
Rocket Red looks like he might have made pretty decent upgrade, though. Wish I could see the gloves and boots.
Jon: None of these are particularly offensive or impressive, although Booster’s gauntlet might get unwieldy rather quickly. I always thought the point of the Rocket Red armor was that it looked clunky and retro, but the new streamlined look is pretty nice. I wish everyone had their heads raised, though, so we could see if they’ve got those collars…
Vito: While I don’t hate it (it certainly falls in line with who and what Hawkman is), he reminds me too much of the Teen Titan, Golden Eagle (Charlie Parker).
Jon: I can’t even make heads or tails of this thing. I can’t parse how that shoulder thing works at all, or what’s going on with the knee – I’d need to see this one more straightforward.
Joel: I can’t see enough of this to really say anything about it other than to voice a bit of skepticism all the spikeyness.
Note: Hot on the heels of DC’s own redesign of their flagship team, P:R regular Daniel Irizarri has brought his own ideas to the Justice League. Irizarri takes the Jim Lee designs and pushes them one step further, giving them a stylish symmetry and classic look. – Chris A.
Daniel Irizarri:
With all the hubbub and complaints about the DC relaunches I was seeing all these designs that frankly just weren’t aesthetically pleasing to me. they had some cool things i guess. but too much of it just looked like bad 90s EXTREME designs. shoulder pads, collars, chokers for the ladies etc. etc.
So as an exercise in design, I took it upon myself to imagine Some designs for a JLA team that A: I’d read and B: would provide a fresh new look to the characters while really highlighting the things that make these characters quintessential. So in essence, I didn’t want to completely overhaul Superman or the rest of the JLA, I just wanted them to look a bit more fresh. (i’m sure DC was trying this too, but its hard to make something look fresh when its being designed by 40 or 50 year olds.)
This is someone who just DOESN’T need kneepads. What’s he going to break? Other than that i feel like there was a classy-ness that was missing to him and red for his belt was just a bad idea.
I didn’t want to fix what wasn’t broken and I’m going to admit that the gloves were a completely arbitrary change. I made sure he looked padded, armored and ready to fight at any moment. this is my happy medium between current and Year 100 Batman.
I wanted her to be regal again. No chokers. I don’t get why DC insisted on making her more streetwise or whatever it is they did to her in the past year. My Wonder Woman is Greek, or inspired my Greek clothing. Everything about her should look more like that of a warrior.
Don’t ask me why but I just don’t like his white gloves; they throw me off. Jim Lee gave him these weird shoulder things that I immediately removed from my design. I removed his boots and gave him a more smooth look. black all the way down to the feet and some padding for protection in the soles.
Nothing really to fix except I’ve never enjoyed the concept of his costume magically coming out of a ring and and wrapping itself around him. I wanted him to wear something that looked wearable. something that breathed and shoes that could hold the use he gives them.
A blend between the animated series design and his more current get up from Flashpoint. I don’t enjoy bulky characters so I wanted to keep his silhouette as human as possible. I took some liberties but those were my own choices.
A blend of the current Aquaman and a designI had done for him previously. I insist that Aquaman should have bare feet since I’m sure its just annoying for him to swim any other way. Other than that, a slight trim there and a snip here. Removed that weird collar they gave him.
Note: P:R Reader and artist Karl Savage sent in this inspired mashup of PIXAR’s Incredibles with DC’s Justice League of America. Look at the bottom of the post for a surprise guest! – Chris A.
Karl described the origins of this mash-up, saying:
Doing a sketch a day, I was just supposed to be drawing the Justice League of America. But after I drew Freakazoid! two weeks ago in that Incredibles costume, I decided I would do this ‘What If…’
What if the JLA joined the Incredibles? Namely, what would it look like trying to wrangle all the JLAers into a specific uniform costume template, like the Incredibles or the Fantastic Four wear?
I tried to include aspects of their individual costumes that are integral to the characters. Batman still needs his cape, cowl and belt. Green Lantern’s ring can only create a black, green and white uniform for the wearer. Plastic Man also has color restrictions. Martian Manhunter doesn’t need a mask because he’s a big green Martian, Wonder Woman needs her bracelets and tiara, etc.
It was a great deal of fun.
Editor’s Note: The following entries are the winners and finalists from our Batman 2.0: The Dynamic Do-Over contest, with prizes provided by Rogues Gallery. We received well over a hundred entries! Our guest reviewers this week are Batman: Club of Heroes artist, J.H. Williams III and Detective Comics artist, Dustin Nguyen. – Dean
GRAND PRIZE WINNER!
Jon: 8. Terrifically fond of the mask on this design, evocatively bat-like in a way that the current costume isn’t, but still expresses the same, er, streamlined bat-ness. I like that it allows enough room for his expressions, particularly the smart-ass grin on display here. Interesting color palette, I’m surprised more folks didn’t touch on a “Batman Beyond” scheme, great replacement of the cape with the batons across the back, adds a lot to the silhouette, and I love the practical look of the outfit. Certainly not the only design that employed Nightwing’s chest-and-arms logo motif, but I like the placement and the actual line, using it across a jacket rather than a skintight outfit.
Joel: 9.5. Having lost my ability to read Dan Didio’s mind since he started lining his hats with tinfoil, I can’t say if this is a design DC would ever go for, but I’m pretty sure this is my favorite out of a very strong collection. This really reads as a second generation Bat—a younger man trying to shoulder a mantle in his own way. I love that it looks so practical without looking mundane, so batty without just repeating Bruce Wayne’s admittedly uber-iconic image, and so Grayson without simply cramming Batman and Nightwing into one costume (there’s an image to set the slash community atwitter). I dropped half a point for the sleeve designs, which strike me as needing some more consideration, but would like to add about twenty points for glow-in-the-dark bat-nostrils. Make it fifty if Anjin has specific ideas as to what the nostrils do.
Vito: 8. This is drastic enough to make me notice. It’s a bit of Nightwing, Red Robin and Batman, and that’s not even getting at the actual costume. It’s functional, it’s stylish…it’s nouveau pulp hero. And say what you will for the mask, I think it’s killer. Part motorcycle helmet, part mask. It fits with Dick Grayson. It’s a great looking set of pieces, but the whole is almost all there. My only minus is that it’s an outfit, not a costume. I still like it a lot.
Chris: 9. I absolutely love the mask on this — it’s shade of the wonderful design that Gene Ha did in Batman: Black & White, but I don’t know if Anjin was inspired with that. The decision to go with a red color scheme is bold, but it definitely steps out of the Bruce Wayne Batman into a whole new Batman. I would have given this a 10 but I had to shave off a point for not liking the glider he has below. But amazing design!
Joel: You don’t like the glider? That’s crazy talk. Love the glider!
Dean: 9.5. This design gets me totally psyched for Batman 2! The color choice is perfect given the red-and-black fixation of Batman R.I.P., as well as a nod to Dick’s background as Robin. The mask is fun, and Dick’s expression is character-perfect. I’m really impressed by the scalloped red batwing shapes following down the arms, and the armor plating looks wicked. Easily one of my favorite entries.
JHW3: 6.5. An interesting idea, very street, but Batman isn’t Batman with out some sort of wing/cape aspect to the design.
Dustin: 5. Agreed, though a nice idea, batman shouldn’t fall with trend and jump on the urbanized apparel. also needs the cloaking element.
FIRST PRIZE WINNER!
Vito: 8. This is more like it. It’s clearly Batman, but not Bruce. That’s the kind of bold fashion statement that Dick would make (remember the disco collar?). It also looks functional, which is what Dick, an acrobat, would want and need.
Jon: 9. Love this – elegant, agile, acrobatic, great pose and setting too. Batman as a daring young man on the flying trapeze, fearsome because he’s fearless. The cape is terrific, great lines to it – I also really like the solution to the eyes, rather than giving him Batman’s white eyes, he’s got these supernaturally piercing blue ones. Nice military overtones to the costume gives it an air of authority Nightwing might otherwise lack, picking up for his mentor. Really well done.
Chris: 7. Definitely Dick Grayson. I see this Batman jumping deftly through Gotham more akin to Spider-man than Batman. The idea of changing the batcape to a batponcho is hiliarious to me though. But not bad.
Joel: 6.5. While agreeing with all the above kudos, I can’t quite buy the Bat-poncho. Not only would it get in the way of your basic acrobatic hand-to-hand combat, just think how undignified Batman would look having to scrunch it up every time he needed to access his utility belt.
Vito: I don’t know if it would scrunch up so much. It looks like it’s made to move with him.
Dean: 6. Good drawing, but I don’t care for the cape-poncho. That kinda thing could work for a Robin, but it looks childish on Batman.
JHW3: 9. This has a nice feel to it for sure but I think the poncho/cape thing is a little off. The basic design shape of the poncho aspect would be better if it was much longer like a real cape but kept to the specific design sense that is already here.
Dustin: 8 i dig the flaps
SECOND PRIZE WINNER!
Vito: 7. At first glance, I don’t think you would see anything more than military Batman, but looking at how this costume is accessorized, it’s totally Dick. I’d like to see at least one bright color on it though, because, to me, Dick is about being the light in darkness…he’s not one to fully give in to the night.
Jon: 6. It’s a costume that makes sense, it’s protective, evocative of the character, certainly feels like a new Batman, if not Dick Grayson specifically, but it doesn’t excite me. Could serve as a totally functional riot-squad Bat-Costume, but for just about any Batman.
Chris: 7. A military Dark Knight for a modern age? Perhaps. This strikes me as very similar to what John Paul Leon might do on Batman. I really enjoy getting rid of the bland compartmentalized utility belt in favor for recognizable items on the belt. While it does complicate the design when simplicity is key in sequential art, I do think it gives this a more down-to-earth approach to Batman.
Joel: 7. This design seems very sympatico with the Nolanverse Batman. If part of the mandate with a Dick Grayson Batman was to bring the comic’s sensibilities in line with the movies, than this would be a very good way to go. In the established DCverse, however, it looks a little heavy for Grayson.
Dean: 9. I’d play this videogame. All of this seems incredibly practical. I’d like to see more of Dick Grayson’s personality, though.
JHW3: 8. This has got practicality all over, nice touch. However, the look of it isn’t giving us anything new. I want to see the classic elements remixed in a way that feels fresh.
Dustin: 8: very well drawn
INELIGIBLE P:R STAFF ENTRY!
Vito: It’s a safe bet that when/if Dick takes over, he wont change the costume much if at all, but Dean’s change is on the logo, and I like that new logo something fierce. It’s a mixture of both, and the color of it is bright and stands out against that maudlin gray. But I would have killed to see Dean take this further.
Jon: An excellent, straightforward take, loving the Thrillkiller palette in the costume. I’m a little confused by the cape, though, is it a two-piece cape-like Batwings, or a scalloped cape with a red interior lining?
Chris: I really enjoy it that Dean dramatically changed the Bat emblem not only in color but in shape. It makes me think — would they change the batsignal too? For a new person stepping into the Bat-mantle, part of me would think they would want to change things up– and changing the logo would do that.
Joel: A beautiful drawing, and many nice features, here: split cape, great utility belt modules, and an oh-so-now chest emblem. This looks like a younger, fresher Bat. But I’m not sure I’m getting a coherent vision that ties all those nice new details together. I’m dead certain that Dean has such a vision in mind—the guy likes to think about Batman—but I’m not quite getting it.
Dean: Thanks guys. I basically wanted to take Batman 2.0 a half step towards Batman Beyond. I made new glove and boot compartments to Dick here, and yeah, that’s a double cape. I imagined him using it as an airfoil rather than forming full batwings out of it. And yeah, the Thrillkiller color scheme came from my love of all things Halloween.
JHW3: I think the best thing about this is the yellow/orange chest emblem. The rest is too similar to things we’ve seen before.
Dustin: nicely drawn though looks a lot like batman now.
RUNNERS UP!
Jon: 8. I love the streamlining on this one, and the batwings with a different color on the interior and exterior. Also, a terrific looking mask. There’s something about the cut of the mask which seems to evoke a silent movie character, very lean, elegant and Nineteen-twenties-ish. I think I like this one because it looks, to me, like it could’ve been Batman’s costume since day one, it has a classic urban crimefighter look to it, and still something distinctly iconic.
Vito: 8. But, Jon, it says Nightwing with a Batman cowl. I love the colors, and the streamlining is fantastic, but why not utilize the utility belt more? I’m not sure what the reasons are for having the blue piping on the costume other than to break up the dark colors, but that’s minor. The logo is fantastic and I, too, love the cowl. Make all the fingers blue, and I’m there with you.
Chris: 8. Was Nightwing watching GATCHAMAN when designing this new Batman costume? That’s what I thought when I saw this entry come into the Project: Rooftop headquarters. Initially I was against the blue piping, but it works so well on the head portion of the costume. Great job, Hector.
Joel: 6. I think this is a case of losing the Bat. The chest emblem looks more like a manta ray. Combine that with the general… uh, wetsuitness of the costume, and I just end up in very different territory on this one.
Dean: 4. This one’s just a too complicated for me to enjoy the simplified bits. The chest logo is almost there, but the arm and leg piping seems useless, and the triangles on the feet are distracting. I also think he’s wearing his belt a little too high. I like the double-sided wings, though.
JHW3: 10. This is by far my favorite. It has all of the right elements but remixed with a freshness to it. It’s very smooth and very sleek. I agree with the Gatchaman reference but it really works for me. The designer really stretched things here without losing what makes for a cool Batman. Love the drawing style too.
Dustin: 8. this works great, batman beyond meets nightwing.
Jon: 7. Great illustration, great lines and colors, it puts me in mind of the 1960′s Batman TV show. Part of it because the cut of the cape, the bright lining and the size of the bat-belt remind me of Yvonne Craig’s Batgirl costume, and part of it is because this looks like Batman dressed as the Batmobile!
Joel: 6. Campy in the best possible way, this piece has me wanting to read a Joe Quinones comic full of fun superheroes. But, this should be making me want to read a Batman comic, not a Joe Q comic. I think this design in the hands of a lesser artist would suddenly look pretty flat. There’s just an awful lot of piping going on there.
Vito: 8. Not crazy about the cowl, but this is one of the costumes that uses the piping that I’m ok with. It streamlines the costume as a whole, and the color choice is bold. Anyone notice that Joe used Nightwing’s gauntlets in this design? That, to me, makes this work because it’s not Batman with a Nightwing logo or Nightwing with a Bat logo/cowl. It’s a great melding of both.
Chris: 7. This has got a lot of personality, but I can’t see Nightwing or Robin underneath the cowl. I’d like to see Joe go back and work this up some more and it’d be great.
Dean. 9. Dudes, this has so much class. I simply can’t say no to a Bat costume with this much love in it. Joe’s got the 60′s Batmobile and utility belt, Nightwing’s gloves and arm-stripes, and a simple double sided cape. It’s just so clean. Hopeful and simultaneously badass. I’m not totally sold on the old school duo-tone mask, but otherwise, this entry is a home run.
JHW3: 7. Has a nice retro adventure hero aspect to it. It would work best for a story that fits a pulpy period piece. Something about it reminds me of an action figure design I’ve seen though.
Dustin: 6. [No Comments.]
Note: More Runners Up after the jump! – D.T.
We’re narrowing down the finalists this week in what has become one of our most popular contests ever. To make the waiting a bit easier, here’s a glimpse of what the creator of the winning entry will receive. Artist and guest judge J.H. Williams 3 has signed a the copy of Batman: The Black Glove included in the Grand Prize package! Oh, and J.H. also drew this on the first page:
Stay tuned, Rooftop Rangers!
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