I know nothing about this character, so I’m not sure how the clothes fit her personality. She does mention med school, but I’m not sure if that indicates anything about her personality.

Pose: What I notice first is how she is posed. I say posed because looks like she is posing and isn’t just naturally standing that way. She seems off balance, but not as if she is walking somewhere, just like she is striking a pose whether for her own reasons or because the artist chose to have her do so.

Cleavage: I also noticed the cleavage. Although upon second (and closer) examination I notice her breasts aren’t pushed together but the shading tends to make it look as if they are. Is it really needed? Probly not.

Collar: I also noticed the collar. Its kind of like the one Iron Fist has, but much shorter. Once again, not really necessary but I like it.

Colors: I like the combination of colors: green, gray and white. Making the top lighter and bottom darker (I guess) draws the eye to her top. But the green nimbus (to a degree) along with the leftward thrust of her hips counters the effects of having the bottom be a darker.

Skin Tight: It almost goes without saying that the outfit is skin tight; which is fairly standard for women in superhero comics. Necessary? Hardly.

Footwear: Too bad we can’t see her feet to see what kind of footwear she has on.

Natu is one of my favourite new characters, and I’ve been reading her as confident and professional in all things. Were she wearing a variation on the standard (it seems) named female GL costume of a thong-swimsuit and thighboots (Boodikka and Larisa), or some other skin-revealing getup (Arisa’s dog’s breakfast), I’d feel her character were being betrayed. She’s a professional adult, a very highly talented brain surgeon, and I’d have considerable difficulty taking her seriously if she was flashing flesh.

I’m lousy at fashion analysis, but to me, it feels like a well-designed costume. It’s simple, and it doesn’t clash with itself. Depending on the artist, the neckline can get stupidly low, and that does affect my view of the character, but for the most part, it seems to stay around reasonable. I’d prefer it if her neckline was higher, as with Hal, Kyle and Jade, but as I’ve got clothes that are cut with a similar neckline (perhaps an inch or so higher), I don’t get to bitch too much.

To me, it says she’s comfortable in herself, and doesn’t feel the need to make people like her by flashing her bits – she’s got the skill as a doctor and a GL that she doesn’t need to play those games. She’s introduced in all GL comics as Dr Soranik Natu, Brilliant Surgeon, not Soranik Natu, tasty bit of ass and somebody’s love interest.

I like it. Far more than the other female GL costumes I’ve come across.

Looks like she’s trying to go for the Pat Benetar look. Strong willed? Sexy with an attitude? Although, I have to admit I’m factoring in her hair and body language into the total look of her costume.

I agree that it looks like somebody fell back on a personal “standard sexy chick” pose in this panel.

She certainly seems to be proud of her crimson cleavage, or at least the artist seems to be proud of his ability to draw same. Not having been a Green Lantern reader since I was in grade school (a LOT longer ago than I care to discuss, thanks), I have no idea whether this suits the character or not.

As Green Lantern unis go, it’s OK I guess- the only way it seems to deviate from the norm is the little collar and of course the cleavage-baring v front. I’ve seen worse deviations here and there- this at least makes an attempt to be true to the spirit of a “uniform”.

In the case like this, it would interesting to see the script.

Or, for an exercise like this, it would be nice to dissect the costume of a more known character.

For example, the PAD incarnation of Aquaman had the character Dolphin, who (at least in a great number of her early appearances) IIRC walked around in Daisy Dukes…

Anyways, back to this art piece, the character is written as someone who is more than a “pretty face”. But it is feasible to be highly intelligent, accomplished and proud of your body. Odds are in the real world (where Green Lanterns don’t exist, it might be good to note) this character would find herself saying: “My eyes are up here.” to staring chest guys.

That being said, and while my standards may be too low, I’m just happy the air conditioning ain’t on high in this scene and I don’t have to endure the “headlights” look on the character (a look perfected to my horror, by Paul Gulacy).

Tim — Actually, I picked this one because she’s not a very well-known character. Less people know anything beyond the single panel, so we get a real test of “fits the character” here.

I agree with Michael; variations are fun, but this looks to me just like the regular male version of the costume + cleavage (because we wouldn’t know she was a woman without two big arrows pointing at her vagina?). I don’t like that the insignia is off-center and smaller than the guys’; I know boobs interfere with costume design in that aspect (guys have big flat chests that lend themselves nicely to giant symbols, which don’t look quite the same over folds and distortion due to boobage), but for a superhero, the insignia should be the first place where your eyes go. I do like the stand-up collar, though. It’s…businessy? The costume’s not awful on the whole (no heels, no midriff, pants–how sad is it that I have to say, ‘thank god, she has pants’?–, and it’s not a ridiculous amount of cleavage), but it seems lazy and it could be better.

I really don’t like the new GL costume in general (where the green part extends just to the waist instead of being leotard-shaped), I think it looks too top-heavy and too much like a waistcoat or vest. Also too generic; it’s pretty much just a green triange on a black bodysuit. Boring!

Disclaimer: I know nothing about the character, or even much about the Green Lanterns in general, so this is pretty much completely going off the panel.

1. I do know enough about the Green Lanterns (from appearances in other DC comics, seeing cover art in the shops, and from the Justice League/JLU cartoon) to recognise her outfit as similar in style, color scheme, and insignia to those worn by other Green Lanterns. So, I identify her as a Green Lantern, and one who respects her membership in the organization enough to wear a “standard” uniform. That is, her identity (how she sees herself) is bound to her membership in the Green Lanterns. She doesn’t want to stand out from her peers as “special,” she wants to be an integrated part of the group.

Speculating from there, I might guess that she is the sort of person who wants to be recognised for her competence and contributions to the Green Lantern team, rather than for any particular personality quirks she might have.

2. And yet: the cleavage. If I didn’t know that superhero comic book art was All About the Boobies, I’d say that she was verging on the unprofessional by hanging out like that. Either her overt desire to be a functional member of the team is subverted by a subconscious desire to get laid OR she is naive and doesn’t understand that wearing her uniform open to breast-level undercuts her authority as a law-enforcement professional. Note that her head-tilted, hip-jutting-out sexy pose does a lot to reinforce these impressions. I can easily imagine that if she were posed in a power-projecting way (e.g. standing up straight, arms akimbo, or in a fighting stance), I would not be so distracted by her chest.

I haven’t read all the comments, so I apologize if someone has already addressed this, but Soranik Natu is a surgeon. It seems to me like that should inform her costume choices, which would mean something tight, utilitarian, and something that covers most of her skin, particularly her hands.

This costume, with its unnecessarily plunging neckline, clearly doesn’t fit all those criteria. I suppose there might be a greater reason for this; Natu began as a very reluctant recruit, and the more casual costume might be a symbol of her opening up and easing into the role. But, somehow I doubt it.