Here's the
finished Superman design. I'm glad to see, from the comments, that people pretty well support this choice. My thinking was that,
Chabon's
Secret Skin theory aside, the big problem with Superman's costume is the whole body-hugginess of it all. If I had superpowers, I wouldn't want to dress like that. And I'd rather not be rescued by someone dressed like that, either. I mean, of course, I'd like to be rescued, but given a choice of heroes, I'd prefer the one that leaves a little something to the imagination.
Partly, this comes from the sense of real-world aesthetics that puts me in worsted wool slacks more often than painted-on blue jeans. But another undeniable aspect is that I am now older than Superman is traditionally portrayed. As I said over on
the Rooftop, it's very hard to realize that one can no longer grow up to be
the Man of Tomorrow. So, I tried to come up with a costume that would allow a young man to run around being the pinnacle of all human hopes and dreams without making bitter old codgers like me feel worthless in comparison.
Weird, then, that the resulting costume looks so clerical. By weird, of course, I mean perfectly logical.
And from there, I couldn't resist drawing the other members of the Superman Family in costumes derived from the cassocked Kal-El. Pictured are:
Bizarro,
Power Girl,
Supergirl,
Superboy,
Streaky the Supercat,
Krypto, and, of course,
Zibarro!
Not pictured are Superman's
Super-Robots, although I have some sketches I should get around to scanning.
I appear, in all my pedantic, monochromatic splendor, over at Let's Be Friends Again: The Webcomic For For Friends, The Friends of Friends, and The Friendlier of The Friendless. Nice. The more fictional appearances I make, the more real I feel.
Jess Smart Smiley, whose work is both smart and smile-inducing, offers up these three wonderful chimera to the Parade!
It's been a crazy, busy, sleep-deprived year of wonder and fulfillment since the Adorable Progeny was born. These panels don't scratch the surface.
Solomon Kane!
More Tor!
Poor Rock's chin just gets bigger and bigger, each time I draw him.
Been hard at work, raisn' babies and drawin' pictures. I have several irons placed in the general vicinity of fire, right now, none of which I can talk about, but I'll share some of the visual tidbits when I can. This one, f'rinstance, would appear to be some sort of, uhm, interior space. In which things might occur. Like people walking in, and having conversations. Maybe they fix themselves a drink, and then sit down to read a magazine. Not even reading, really, just flipping through the pages, grazing the images. Then something—a color, the twist of a model's ankle, the sheen of shampoo-ad hair—inspires reverie of days long past: the petty embarrassments of high school, the first adolescent fumblings at love, the girl with the crooked tooth and green eyes that one never quite built up the nerve to approach. You know, exciting comics stuff like that.
Here's the finished Superman design. I'm glad to see, from the comments, that people pretty well support this choice. My thinking was that, Chabon's Secret Skin theory aside, the big problem with Superman's costume is the whole body-hugginess of it all. If I had superpowers, I wouldn't want to dress like that. And I'd rather not be rescued by someone dressed like that, either. I mean, of course, I'd like to be rescued, but given a choice of heroes, I'd prefer the one that leaves a little something to the imagination.
And from there, I couldn't resist drawing the other members of the Superman Family in costumes derived from the cassocked Kal-El. Pictured are: Bizarro, Power Girl, Supergirl, Superboy, Streaky the Supercat, Krypto, and, of course, Zibarro!
Man, trying to redesign Superman is like trying to come up with a new flavor for oxygen.
