SubscribeEditor’s Note: The following entries are the winners and finalists from our Wolverine: Look Sharp contest, with prizes provided by DCBService.com. We received over 160 entries in this contest, and proved to be one of our biggest ones yet! Our guest reviewers for this contest are the creators of the new Marvel series Wolverine: Weapon X, writer Jason Aaron and artist Ron Garney. – Chris
GRAND PRIZE WINNER!
Lee Chen Fang
Total Score: 65
Dean: 10. I’m usually not that into retreading the familiar Wolverine-as-soldier motifs, but this is just too great a design. The chest armor, the light-up elements, and the partial mask are all brilliant and could be implemented in the actual comics immediately.
Rachel: 8. This Wolverine should be a video game character design. He’s got it all: flourescent highlights, too many straps, impractical and overcomplicated but visually stylish armor. It’s a sharp design, though.
Chris Arrant: 6. A very Metal Gear Wolverine. Like an earlier entry, this more looks like a side costume for something Logan would have done on Team X. I think the uses of the “X” is a bit overdone, but there’s a solid idea in here — just not finished. Sometimes less is more.
Rachel: Hah–exactly. Sneaking Suit.
Vito: 10. One of two absolute winners to me. I want to read this character’s adventures. There is nothing here that doesn’t say Wolverine to me. He even has a SHIELD logo on his belt! There’s an obvious Japanese influence, maybe in the vein of video games like Final Fantasy, but this just looks like Wolverine to me without being 100% traditional. I love it!
Jon: 8. This is utterly nuts, in a good way. I almost feel like its fatal flaw is that there isn’t quite enough stuff on him. At this stage, he’s got so much gear and so many competing lines, I’d recommend also giving him some kind of giant backpack, a few holsters, a bedroll, some pots and pans, and add enough lights that he looks like a major city from orbit. This really appeals to me – and I think it’s worth saying that, even with as much as is going on in the costume, it’s still very clean and the shapes complement rather than confuse.
Joel: 7. Paratrooper Wolverine? It’s hard for me to look past the gratuitous straps, which are a particular pet peeve, but I have to admit, this looks good. A lot of interesting details that come together harmoniously. It doesn’t make a lick of sense, but it’s sharp.
Jason: 9. Really busy for my tastes, but the cool little touches win me over, like the glowing stripes on the gloves and the X chest armor.
Ron: 7. good for a video game warrior design
FIRST PRIZE WINNER!
Gabriel Pinto
Total Score: 62.5
Dean: 8. This is very nice. Clean, utilitarian, superheroey, and definitely Wolverine. Lot of good, simple choices here, Gabriel. Nice work.
Chris: 8. Although I’d recommend altering the colors a bit, the design itself is one I really enjoy.
Rachel: 7.5. The seam at the jawline of the cowl really bugs me, I think the transition between the shirt and the cowl is too abrupt, and I agree with Chris about the colors, but otherwise, I like this one. It’s clean, fun, distinctive, not too fusty, and a good fit for the character.
Vito: 9. One of my favorites. I’m with Chris and Rachel that colors don’t really jive, but it looks great. Of all the designs presented, this seems to have elements that everyone included in their submissions, elements of all the Wolverine costumes, and still it really stands on it’s own as a new design. That’s gotta be tough to do.
Jon: 8. It’s one of the strongest. More red, less green, in the palette and I’d rate it even higher…
Joel: 8. I keep wanting to say that this is a fun design, because of the drawing style, but this would translate well into anyone’s style and still be a great Wolverine costume. The only thing that a, say, Brain Hitch would need more information on, I think, would be the boots, which are pretty radically minimalized.
Jason: 7. Not real daring. Again just seems more like a tweak. But very nice tweaks.
Ron: 7. but more of a batman theme there to me
SECOND PRIZE WINNER!
Ricardo Venâncio
Total Score: 62
Dean: 7.5. Very cool samurai Wolvie.
Joel: 9.5 Now this, I dig. This design builds on a lot of what we have seen from Wolverine before, but creates something new with it. You’ve got the brown costume, the Logan-as-Samurai look, the big ol’ X, and a general air of scruffy brawler. The Pacific Northwest motif on the back is a new addition, as far as I know, and a welcome one. The helmet looks like an actual piece of headgear that could physically exist. The open-legged pants with the tabi-feet create a distinct silhouette. And bonus points for both the cigar and the unfashionable hair. I have two quibbles, however. Where and how do the two ends of the belt/sash join? And this may be something that just existed in my reading of the character when I was 13, but didn’t the metal covers on the back of Wulvie’s gloves somehow aid in the popping of the claws through his flesh? I was under the impression that when wearing the gloves was the only time unsheathing didn’t hurt him. If that’s the case, then I’d like to see them brought back. Because we know Logan’s tough, but that doesn’t make him a masochist.
Rachel: It’s not hard to make a seamless looking sash, although I’d probably give it a fold or two to hint at tucked-in ends, since lycra or snap hooks seem out of place in this particular costume.
Chris Arrant: 6. All the elements are here, just as Joel said: The Brown & Tan, the Madipoor era wolverine, and the whole brawling nature that Logan brings to comics. But I think the X on the front is detrimental to this particular design, and the mask needs some work. Ricardo’s really onto something — I wish I could get him to play with it a bit more.
Rachel: 9. I love this a lot–I think it speaks to the eclecticism of Wolverine’s origins and influences in a way that few designs do.
Jon: 7. A lot of well-thought out designs here. I’m with Chris, I think the mask is almost there, just needs a little something to make it distinctly Wolverine’s. The only thing I don’t like is the open hand on the back of the gloves, it’s the one shape that doesn’t seem to fit anywhere else on the costume.
Vito: 9. Doggone it! I was hoping there was a wolverine design on the back! This is a great piece, but I just don’t dig a helmet over a mask. I think no mask, and it’s good to go. I’m not sure about the loose pants, but as an overall piece, it holds it all together. Absolutely wonderful!
Jason: 8. I really dig the front. Just think the back needs a stronger design.
Ron: 6. could be good with some adjustment but a bit like an indian meets a genie. work on the pants and the mask.
RUNNERS UP!
David Kennedy
Total Score: 59
Dean: 7. I love Feral Freeze Wolverine! Must…collect…him… Nice jeans, btw, totally-disconnected-from-humanity-guy.
Jon: 7 Finally, a Wolverine costume that looks like a wolverine! I like this as an alternate costume, something he might only wear for a single story arc for a very specific purpose, but I like it. There’s just enough of the familiar shape to the cowl that it evokes classic Wolverine, despite the fact that the colors and lines have otherwise been changed.
Joel: 7. I guess it’s not surprising that so few people have incorporated actual Wolverines into Logan’s look—for such vicious animals, they look like cuddly mountain-otters. David gets a lot of points from me for using the critter, and making it look menacing. This looks great for Logan’s wild-man-of-the-Yukon years. Although I had to deduct points because I don’t know what’s happening on the chest, or on the feet, and, well, yeah, the blue jeans.
Chris: 6. When I see this I think of the American Indian storyarc that Wolverine did in Marvel Comics Presents. I’m amazed that this works as well as it does — this could be a pin-up for the underrated Marvel Visions projects from years ago. I want to see the story behind this.
Vito: 8. I dig it. It’s very true to the character. I’d love to see a better pose to get a real feel for the piece, but it’s pretty good where I’m standing. I think that when Wolverine isn’t with one of the teams, this is what he SHOULD be wearing.
Rachel 7: I don’t get the waist–why is it in two strips? Would this be clearer if we could see it from the front? Also, the jeans-complete-with-belt throw off the feel of the piece a bit.
Jason: 9. I’m really digging this. That looks like a guy called “Wolverine.”
Ron: 8. I like this–but more if wolverine were doing a tribal, rite of passage story –but its cool as hell though.
Note: More Runners Up after the jump! – Dean
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