Drawing Superman: Man of Style

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.

Sketching Superman: Man of Style

So, Project: Rooftop has another big redesign event coming down the pike, and this time, they're not fooling around.

Man, trying to redesign Superman is like trying to come up with a new flavor for oxygen.

Anyway, here are some sketches, as I tried to puzzle this particular conundrum out:

Mid-Life Crisis Iron Man.

Project: Rooftop and Westfeild Comics are sponsoring Iron Man: Invincible Upgrade, for which I'm a commentator. This is my ineligible little contribution.

I'm not really an Iron Man fan, and it seems me that, on some secret level, you kinda hafta want to have sex with a Japanese motorcycle in order to design a really good suit of Iron Man armor. And, well, I do not want to have sex with a Japanese motorcycle. So, it was difficult to find a direction on this one. Then I read Michael Chabon's article in the New Yorker on superhero uniforms as "True Skin." From that thesis, the notion of Tony Stark choosing to wear the machine as his flesh is distinctly creepy. From there, I liked the idea of lumpy, hirsute, middle-aged Tony wearing lithe, young machineflesh, and not really getting why the other superheroes aren't comfortable with this latest upgrade.

Not my most inspired redesign, but they can't all be Ma Hunkel.

This is a different version than will appear when the Invincible Upgrade runs. Dashing Dean Trippe generously offered to color my entry, and who'd say no to that?

Rest in Peace, Rocketeer!

Project: Rooftop is running a tribute to the recently departed Dave Stevens. Dave's most lasting legacy is probably the revival of Bettie Page as a cultural icon. But a little more in P:R's bailiwick is his high-flying retro-hero, The Rocketeer.

There's not much that can be done to improve the Rocketeer's design. It is so perfectly what it is supposed to be: the perfect leather jacket; the perfect jodhpurs; and, of course, the absolute perfect helmet. When I first saw The Rocketeer, I had a hard time comprehending that this was a new character. How could the Zeitgeist of the Thirties not have produced this character?*

So, I wasn't too sure what to do with this drawing, and I kept putting it off, hoping for inspiration to strike, until the very last minute. I like it okay as a drawing, but I don't think it makes much sense as a character design (where are the straps for the rocket? The wires for the hand-controls? Why is he wearing that particular jacket?). I'd like to take this design as a first sketch and develop it further, but given the other demands on my punch-clock, I think I'll just go enjoy some of those old Rocketeer comics, instead.

* Obviously, King of the Rocket Men only half counts.

Wondering About Wondering About Wonder Woman

Project Rooftop has just posted the winners and finalists of the Wonder Woman Wardrobe War, featuring special guest commentator Gail Simone! There's some really nice stuff over there. Joe Quinones' piece just may make you swear off drawing forever, but that's okay, because Maris' will have you reaching for the pens to make up some rootin'-tootin' adventures for her adorable Wonder Woman. And, of course, Ming Doyle just rocks it.

In other news, I was just interviewed by the Associate Press (Cincinnati) about comics in colleges. I don't know when the article will run, and one never knows how widely an AP story will carry, and, geez I don't even take a paper, so if anyone sees this article, I'd appreciate you bringing it to my attention. Always good to have things like that in the job file.

Okay, This Time, For Real

The battle is joined!

Hop on over, and vote for your favorites. Some teams of personal note: Skin and Bonez, featuring friend-of-the-blog, Marauding Maris Wicks; Team Awesome-As-Hell, featuring former teammates Cruel Chris Haley and Shattering Shane McDermott; and Team De-Nile, featuring present students Dastardly Derrick Dent and Cantankerous Cody Barnhill.

Other news: not so many blog posts lately, eh? My scanner and computer are having some sort of a tiff, and I just can't get them to talk to each other. I've got a call in to Dr. Phil's toaster, who is apparently great with these sorts of appliance-related disputes. Also, there's a new update over on the Rooftop, in which I use the words "ridiculous cleavage hole." So, you know, good times are to be had.

Defending the Skort

Project: Rooftop and Girlwonder have teamed up to review some of the redesigns to come out of the ongoing Supergirl meme. It's a roundtable-style discussion, and, as the week progresses, you may notice a certain Simon/Paula vibe develop between Vito Delsante and myself. I can only imagine that I'm Paula.

Liberty Belle

As you may know, I'm a reviewer over at Project: Rooftop, a Dean Trippe joint where people give superheroes makeovers. As one who is usually dishing out the criticism, I felt like I'd better pony up sooner or later, and submit a design of my own.

Liberty Bell was one of the legions of patriotic superheroes to come out during World War Two. Originally, she was pretty much just a good scrapper who was alerted to danger by the ringing of Philadelphia's own Liberty Bell. Later, it was shown that she drew strength from the bell's ringing. Still later, she gained the boilerplate power of shooting sound waves out of her hands.

I like to think of Belle as super-infantry on the frontlines, and so I've stuck her in a practical-but-stylish ensemble that wouldn't stand out too much among the grunts: jodphurs and a modified Ike jacket. The early Belle was modeled on Veronica Lake, and I couldn't see improving on that. Going a little past the mandate of a P:R makeover, I've fiddled with her powers a smidge. Libby now has a great big bronze bell to haul around, and uses it to generate the soundwaves which she super-powerly manipulates into blasts. A degree of enhanced strength is implied by the fact that she can schlep the thing without much effort. She has a hammer, because the bell doesn't have a clapper.

We'll see if someone chooses to review it. I haven't hesitated from bring the harsh in a couple of my reviews, so I'm kinda nervous.