Everyone’s talking about the DCnU. If you don’t know about it (and really, where have you been?), here’s the deal: In a few months, DC is relaunching (not “rebooting”) it’s universe with 52 new titles hitting the shelves. Some characters are getting a modernized origin. Others are getting new costumes. We all have questions and very few answers at this time. But we do have some new designs to look at and discuss.
Now, keep in mind, I have not gone to the future and read these new titles coming out. So I don’t know if some of these costumes that are drastically different will be perfect for the new version of the character coming out. I can only judge these based on gut reaction and my familiarity with how the character has been presented in the past. I’m also only selecting a few of the DCnU titles to look over, otherwise we’ll be here all day.
So let’s start the action.
HAWKMAN
Here we have some of the old school flavor. Carter Hall, archaeologist, who became Hawkman with help from anti-gravity Nth metal and a cool wing harness. He also enjoys maces, katar blades, spikey gloves. Anything that would have TSA tackle you to the ground.
Wow, DCnU Carter is angry. Now, initially this seems a bit much to me. But the title is Savage Hawkman now and this look definitely carries that. We’ve been told for years that Carter is a fearsome warrior you have to sometimes hold back from tearing his enemies apart (which makes it odd to me that he was able to be leader of the Justice Society for so long, but that’s another discussion). Now he actually looks as fearsome and bloodthirsty as everyone says he is. Even the handle of his weapon is designed to mess you up. Interesting.
GREEN ARROW
Oliver Queen is a rich playboy who later wound up on a deserted island and learned new tricks to survive, honing a natural talent so much that he became among the world’s greatest archers. He’s had a few looks over the years, all of which resemble Robin Hood in some way.
DCnU Ollie Queen has evidently decided to steal some fashion tips from his Smallville TV counterpart. And I’m okay with that. He’s still recognizably the Green Arrow, he just looks more modern and more sleek than I’ve really ever seen him be in comics before. Added gear to the belts, padded gloves, cool new bracers and boots with knee pads. This guy’s prepared. Dig it.
OMAC
The original OMAC (One Man Army Corps) is one of those designs that definitely comes off as dated, even if you love artist/creator Jack Kirby. A guy in a mohawk with a funky jumpsuit. Just under ten years ago, it was re-interpreted as blue, glowy people with a mohawk shape to their heads.
Now the look we have here… well that is just weird and alien looking. And I’m okay with that. It keeps the Kirby flavor while tweaking it to seem like something that exists in a time or place we haven’t been to yet. My only concern is that this look may be one of those that is completely made or broken by the artist. We’ll have to wait and see.
BIRDS OF PREY
Okay, from the Birds of Prey cover we’ve seen, I’m going to focus solely on Black Canary and Poison Ivy (assuming that this is Poison Ivy and not a newly re-imagined version of Thorn). Above, you can see some looks that Dinah Lance has worn as the Black Canary. With the exception of a couple of short-lived outfits, she’s been known for a leather jacket, fishnets, and sometimes impractical footwear.
Poison Ivy has had a few designs over the years, but they’ve all been pretty similar with the biggest change being her skin tone going from Caucasian to green. She’s a woman who uses pheromones, poisons and her natural sensuality to get people to do what she wants while never actually giving them what they want. She’s the kind of lady who makes you think about sex and power immediately when she walks into a room.
Now here they are on the cover of the upcoming Birds of Prey #1. Poison Ivy doesn’t look terribly sexy or powerful to me now. In fact, she looks pretty bland. Black bodysuit with leaves drawn on it. It seems like a lazy attempt to portray her at a convention or costume party.
Black Canary, I see what the idea is here and I can respect it. But for me personally, this doesn’t quite work. The shoulder pads and fishnets on the arm are just a little too much and make things seem very busy. And where did the boots go? Dinah’s worn heels and she’s worn heavy leather boots. I preferred the latter. But here, are those just sandals? It seems out of place with the rest of the outfit.
NIGHTWING
Nightwing is Dick Grayson. He began his heroic career as the original Robin and then, soon after entering and dropping out of college, he decided to change some things about his life. Taking a name from Kryptonian mythology, he began calling himself Nightwing. He’s had a lot of costumes over the years, most notably a black body suit with a blue chevron style design on his chest.
Recently, Dick Grayson has been operating as Batman in Gotham City. But in the DCnU, he’s returning to his Nightwing identity, making a few tweaks along the way. This actually looks very much like the Robin costume that was used in the live-action film Batman and Robin, minus the cape. I think it works quite nicely. The scallops on the bracers nod back to Batman and the red is a nice callback to his original identity.
The cartoons have often altered Nightwing’s costume to have more of a bird design and I think that it looks better then merely a large blue V on the chest. I realize the V was supposed to imply a wingspan, but this is just stronger. It references Robin without actually regressing the character. The only thing I’m not keen on is the eyes. Red eyes make him look quite fearsome. That’s cool, but Dick Grayon is a much more light-hearted character than Bruce. Less “demon of the night” more “costumed crusader.” Just my thoughts.
TEEN TITANS
The new version of the Teen Titans is going to include some new characters. And there might be members we’re not aware of. For this, I’m going to focus on Wonder Girl II (Cassie Sandsmark), Superboy (Conner Kent), Red Robin (Tim Drake, the third Robin) and Kid Flash II (formerly Impulse). All have had a variety of outfits, especially Cassie and Tim.
Concerning the relaunch design, I’m of mixed emotions here. My initial reaction is “this looks like a 1990s comic from Image.” But then again, that’s not necessarily a bad thing and some folks are fond of 1990s fashion as I am of 1940s fashion. So let’s push that aside. Kid Flash looks very busy to me. But this is a kinetic character and this look may grow on me depending on the character wearing the outfit. Plus, there are reports that this is not the final costume he will be wearing for the new status quo so it could be that he gets a new costume in issue #2 that will be more pleasing to my eyes.
There are also reports that the look on this cover will not be Superboy’s new, standard look and I certainly hope not. I’m okay with non-costumey costumes for superheroes, depending who they are. The previous T-shirt and jeans outfit was pushing it but it fit Conner. This, though? He doesn’t look like a superhero at all, he seems like a Abercrombie and Fitch model who messed up a Superman tattoo on his shoulder. What kind of diamond-tipped drill was used to give a Kryptonian a bar code tattoo? Or are we back to tactile telekinesis where he can still be hurt and cut more easily under the right circumstances? Or maybe he’s a robot in this new reality and that’s a stamp. Maybe he’s just a model who hangs out with the Teen Titans. No clue.
Wonder Girl looks like she stole Speedy or Arrowette’s wardrobe. Seriously, I thought it was Speedy or Magdalena with the Witchblade as a whip. I liked that Wonder Girl was rocking her own style while sporting the familiar decorations of Diana. Now she looks a bit closer to Donna Troy, the original Wonder Girl look. Which I would understand except that Donna’s starry costume was a mark that she was no longer under Diana’s shadow and was adopting her own style. So now Wonder Girl is imitating that by stepping out of Diana’s shadow and more into Donna’s shadow? And a barbed wire lasso? So wait, she won’t be able to use this weapon without bloodshed? This is a very different character indeed. And I’m not sure I’m looking forward to what’s in store with her.
Red Robin. The more I look at this new outfit, the more I’m okay with it. Tim’s previous Red Robin look seemed a bit too similar to Dr. Mid-Nite. That problem is gone now. And while the mask reminds us of his Robin roots, the rest of the design is very different. He’s his own man now, not a sidekick and not an older version of Damian Wayne.
Batman’s younger partner was initially modeled after Robin Hood. This new Red Robin clearly owes more to the bird of the same name. And Tim’s always been a tech savvy guy, making sure his costume was utilitarian, such as turning his chest symbol into a throwing blade. So the glider wings (with added rockets for mini-bursts of flight) make some sense to me. The other costumes all give me pause, but this outfit I can work with. And if he teams up with Nightwing and Robin in the future, it’ll make him stand out that much more.
And that wraps it up for Part 1, folks. Rest assured, we will discuss certain Amazon and Kryptonian characters in Part 2. This is Alan Kistler, Agent of S.T.Y.L.E., signing off.
Alan Kistler writes the comic book history/fashion column Agent of S.T.Y.L.E. He is an actor and freelance writer living in New York who has been recognized by Warner Bros. Films and major media/news outlets as a comic book historian. He is also a creator/host of the web-show and podcast “Crazy Sexy Geeks: The Series.” He knows entirely too much about the history of comics, Star Trek, Doctor Who, time travel, and vampires that don’t sparkle. You can find him on Twitter: @SizzlerKistler
June 10th, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Apparently the “tattoo” on Superboy’s arm is actually a barcode. That would be interesting, as it would symbolize the “ownership” Cadmus (or whoever made him this time) of him. It’s the only interesting thing about his new look, really.
i don’t like any of the Teen Titan designs that much, but the rest are pretty good. I especially like Nightwing’s new look. It’s still simple, but a little more symbolic now.
June 10th, 2011 at 5:23 pm
The costume designs of both Dick and especially Tim are very evocative of the design for the Batman Beyond costume. It’s been confirmed that Tim’s wings allow him to glide and he has rockets in his boots. That combined with the red and black on both characters just screams Terry McGiniss.
June 10th, 2011 at 5:28 pm
Dick’s costume also reminds me of Daredevil’s armored costume from the 90′s a bit.
June 10th, 2011 at 5:42 pm
I kind of felt the same way about the new Red Robin costume. My first impression was wow that’s a huge change. The more I see it the more I like it. Especially, for Tim who always struck me as a guy who enjoyed the gadgets more than Dick or Jason.
June 10th, 2011 at 5:43 pm
Actually, the Superboy look reminds me of Jon Bon Jovi circa 1993.
http://www.entrelineas.org/public/entrelineas/galeria/jon-bon-jovi-superman-tattoo.jpg
June 10th, 2011 at 6:08 pm
RE: The new Teen Titans’ costumes.
To quote King Louis XVI; “Everybody’s so …RED!”
June 10th, 2011 at 6:24 pm
Actually, according to the Booth interview here (and common sense), those are the final designs of Conner and Bart for the time being (a probable soon-ish S-shield addition to Superboy’s chest notwithstanding), but for some reason they sport other costumes (“fresh-outa-tube” and Impulse, mayhaps?) in the (beginning of the) first issue.
June 10th, 2011 at 6:35 pm
I just don’t like the wings on Tim’s costume trying to look like feathers. It just makes me think he stole Falcon’s wings and I thought the full cowl suited him better because he is trying to be his own man, and that hides his youth. Superboys just makes me sad, and I agree Wondergirl’s is too much like Donna Troy’s although have we even gotten any confirmation on Donna being around?
OMAC, Nightwing, Superboy, Kid Flash, a bit too many red eyes going on.
June 10th, 2011 at 6:43 pm
When ever I see the new Red Robin costume’s wings, I can’t help but think of the Falcon’s wings. That said, it’s still a good look.
June 10th, 2011 at 7:33 pm
I actually love the new Red Robin look, but that’s the only one of the Titans redesigns that I like. Maybe the rest will grow on me. I like the new Nightwing costume, although, I agree he shouldn’t have red eyes. I would have also preferred his color scheme to remain black and blue, rather than adding the red in, but it is still a striking look. I really hate Canary’s new outfit.
June 10th, 2011 at 8:07 pm
The Red Robin look is a nice progression from his last outfit and the wings have definitely grown on me. I love Cassie’s new look, the lasso is ace, it’s a real weapon now.
June 10th, 2011 at 8:38 pm
All bad. DC couldn’t be messing up there line any more.
June 10th, 2011 at 9:19 pm
I completely don’t understand Wonder Girl, Ivy or Canary’s new looks. All of them seem like lazy designs and quite honestly, boring. They don’t stand out enough. I think this attempt to make everything so “ready to wear” like Smallville, is unnecessary. I don’t expect heroes and villains, particularly those with large bank accounts, to get their super wardrobes from Cabela’s or H&M. I expect them to look custom and these don’t.
June 10th, 2011 at 9:42 pm
I think I would like a cowl on the new Red Robin, it would stress his ties to Batman a little more and still make the outfit unique.
June 10th, 2011 at 9:44 pm
Man, I usually agree with you, but I dislike nearly all of these, Red Robin the most so. He looks like Falcon’s over-prepared teen sidekick. Out of the costumes for which we’ve seen decently visible redesigns, I’ve liked OMAC (but won’t read a DiDio book), think Wonder Woman is okay, and love Apollo. The rest have gone from meh to preposterous, like Deathstroke.
June 10th, 2011 at 10:16 pm
Other than Ollie, all bad. IMHO.
Eerything is looking so 90s, so DC One Million…
June 10th, 2011 at 11:07 pm
You were way too kind with the Titans and Black Canary. Red Robin’s i like enough a little busy though. But Kid Flash’s Mask and Wonder Girl’s costume in general? not ok.
Maybe its just badly drawn. Booth is the next generation liefield. he’s really terrible. as an illustration major who will be making a living out of drawing professionally, i can tell you that his work is just bad.
June 11th, 2011 at 12:20 am
Whenever I see Red Robin, I see the Falcon. I thought you were too kind on that suit, if that one isn’t “too busy” then I don’t know the meaning of the term.
What at all about Wonder Girl’s outfit evokes the feeling she’s a member of Diana’s Wonder Family? or even on the right side of the heroes? Remember she’s a “mysterious, Belligerent thief”. This says to me she’s just some renegade Amazon and not a member of the pantheon of heroes.
Bart’s costume is the only one that I like. It conveys the frenetic energy of the character while toning down that gaudy yellow that plagued the Kid Flash costume
June 11th, 2011 at 12:51 am
Let me throw in with Seamus and King Louis the XVI….too much RED! (even with Nightwing)
I also agree with the comments on Wonder Girl, Poison Ivy and Black Canary….needless changes for change sake.
After reading the interview about the Titans costumes there seem to be some actual character reasons tied in with the barbed lasso. That said Wonder Girl’s costume apparently went through
Booth: Wonder Girl had me, Jim, Cully , Scott, Bobbie [Chase] and Bob [Harras] going back and forth. That was the toughest one. I think I did like 8 or 9 designs or variations on her. Cully did three or four and Jim did two. We then decided to just keep her in regular clothes for a bit to get a feel for the character, so we concentrated on her bracelets and lasso.
Yup, and it looks like it.
I honestly think DC is making the same mistakes that were made in the 90′s. Coolness and hipness trumps all other considerations here. Superboy’s outfit (if you can call it that) completely reminds me of “Poochie” from when the producers of Itchy and Scratchy were trying to introduce a new character that was “hip” and with it to their new generation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Itchy_%26_Scratchy_%26_Poochie_Show
Fortunately, these outfits all seem experimental (even to the teens themselves) and hopefully will evolve over time.
The thing that most is perplexing to me (going back to the 90′s comment) is how un-iconic ANY of them are. If DC is hoping for any kind of instant recognition branding out of any of these characters I think they will have a tough time garnering long term mass public awareness / association with any of them.
Red Robin would be the exception. At first I was taken a little aback (Tim with a feather cape?) yet with the rocket thrusters (as Alan said) it becomes scientifically functional. As long FREEDOM FIGHTERS go back to another Earth and fight Nazis who one World War Two (read that costume is almost EXACTLY a red version of the modern Black Condor with a shirt and more gadgets) then this is actually an improvement IMHO over the current Red Robin outfit (my apologies to Alex Ross and Kingdom Come, but yeah too much Dr. Midnight…)
June 11th, 2011 at 1:07 am
One more comment from Brett Booth had me a little worried…
-
Nrama: How do you go about “researching” or finding influences for the way teens dress today, that you think will resonate and feel true to this generation?
Booth: Google helps out. Plus Scott and I haven’t completely forgotten what it was like to be a teen. But TV and movies help. I might have to suffer through some horrible, horrible things, but I will do it, especially if I can’t find the remote.
-
O.K., I work with high schoolers and have for seven years now. I can without hesistation give you some insights into their pop-cultural preferences
- They may listen to stuff that is force fed them on the airwaves, but when they really want to dance and have a party they pull out the 80′s.
- They know more about good 70′s rock than I do.
- re:Star Wars – original trilogy trumps the prequels by a mile (even if they’ve only seen them on their home televisions)
- Johnny Depp trumps Orlando Bloom
- Harrison Ford trumps Shia LeBouf
(actually Johnny Depp seems to trump over everyone except Chuck Norris)
What I’m just trying to say is that good remains good, no matter how old it is.
Speaking of old, when I look at that Superboy costume what came to mind was two things
http://supermantv.net/art/data/media/8/Lois%20Clark%20Tattoos.jpg
and
http://www.comicartcommunity.com/gallery/data/media/564/cosmicboygrell.jpg
(yes, Mike Grell’s Cosmic Boy from the 70s…well hey at least it was MEMORABLE….)
And to quote David Bowie from The Breakfast Club
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They’re quite aware of what they’re going through…
June 11th, 2011 at 1:10 am
One more note, then I’ll leave this alone. I think it’s O.K. that teen agers haven’t picked iconic representations of themselves, because one staple of that period of most of our lives is that we are all still “figuring ourselves out”.
June 11th, 2011 at 1:37 am
DC said they’re trying to appeal to younger and new readers, yet many of these new titles and costumes are quite intimidating to me if I were completely foreign to DC. If the idea were to make it more new reader-friendly, wouldn’t you want to trim down the line? There are still way too many Batman titles. If I were a new reader, I wouldn’t know which one to read. And way too many of the costumes are way too busy and complicated. A better approach would’ve been to take a hint from the WB-version cartoons: simplify the costumes down to their core elements. This makes the characters more quickly recognizable, but it also makes it easier for company artists and fan artists to draw the costumes themselves out of memory. Being able to recreate on paper my favorite super heroes was one of the things that helped me get into comic books more as a child.
June 11th, 2011 at 3:01 am
Someone’s already said it, and I agree.
Robin’s looking way too much like the Black Condor from Freedom Fighters.
I liked Brett Booth back in the nineties, but his art style is dated and screams Image Comics.
June 11th, 2011 at 4:00 am
Black Canary needs help somebody please rescue her from that grotesque Apokolips inspired outfit. I couldnt believe Black Canary could ever be portrayed as unattractive.
June 11th, 2011 at 4:18 am
You guys have hit the Nail. On. The. Head.
Whether these comics are good or bad stories have let to be seen and I’ll reserve judgement until then but as far as these redesigns are concerned – bleurghh!
‘Image comics’
‘From the nineties’
Jim Lee is getting the gang back for a 20 year reunion.
What’s with all the tiny lines of yellow in Canary, Arrow, Booster and every other new costume it seems?
Iconic? No? Dated? Yes!
I’ve yet to see one I like.
June 11th, 2011 at 6:21 am
Why change the Red Robin outfit? It seems changing for the sake of changing to me(like I suspect this whole “revamp” will be). It was designed in Kingdom Come by Alex Ross and I thought it was perfect to me. And Hawkman is completly ridiculous. Like a bad Image take on the character.
June 11th, 2011 at 8:31 am
Red Robin? Nah. “Red Condor” seems more like it.
And Bart’s new duds are a bit too reminiscent of 1990′s Iron Man in their use of color.
The headpiece on Cassie looks like she’s trying to do Elektra only the knot came loose.
June 11th, 2011 at 8:52 am
I like Red Robin and Wonder girl costumes considering cassie has a whole personality change but Tim should have more of a mask at least leave the hair exposed.
Kid Flash seems just so wrong and evil looking why not give him the yellow eye goggles of impulse?
Hope you mention Batman seemingly dressed as Batman: Arkham Asylum the game
June 11th, 2011 at 9:19 am
We must convey good moral through media
June 11th, 2011 at 9:19 am
You know, now that I look at Canary’s outfit again, it really screams “ninja” to me. That mesh underneath the armor she’s wearing along with sandals, that looks like what a ninja would wear, instead of the “biker chick” look shes rocked for years.
Superboy’s outfit is so…plain. I like the bar code tattoo, but there’s nothing really going on with it.
Red Robin looks more like the falcon, but they’re both birds, so it works.
Cassie looks like a psycho little red riding hood, and now that I look at it, I like it. Maybe I’ll read teen titans after all
June 11th, 2011 at 9:54 am
is this the IMAGEnU, Can’t wait for Wildcats and all those characters with excessive cutlery
June 11th, 2011 at 10:07 am
Why change anything? What is wrong with DC? I think what they have now is more than good enough.
June 11th, 2011 at 11:23 am
I think Hawkman need less armor.
Green Arrow looks cool.
The Birds of prey looks pretty crappy.
OMAC is like it or not.
Teen titans looks cool, just not digging the wonder girl arrowette hybrid.
@Alan kistler
how many of these are you gonna do cause im thinking you might need to do like 5 or 6 to cover everyone.
June 11th, 2011 at 11:36 am
Just when was it that Hawkman got “savage” — it certainly wasn’t in the original silver age version, or the bronze age “conservative” character. Not Truman’s gritty space cop. Sure, I can see why they push this direction, from the weapons to the general commerciality of it, but just seems forced / added on. But I haven’t paid much attention to the character for a long while except for the Johns JSA revamp (which was a pretty good amalgamation of all the different facets, as Johns is good at doing). And I’m not even complaining, really — I’m just interested to know when / how that characterization evolved. I’m guessing somewhere around the time of Seagle’s “Hawk / Shaman avatar” (if that’s what it was)
June 11th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
ZIYAD: At this point, your guess is as good as mine.
DECO: Johns was actually the one who began and started really pushing Carter’s savage mood swings. He had it remarked upon several times in JSA, particularly when there was a debate about whether or not to kill an enemy, and he had many characters remark on it when he was writing Hawkman’s own title, that Carter became more savage, more brutal when he put on the helmet.
June 11th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
The “new” DC designs are some of the most boring, lazy cleashade, uninspired and quite frankly pointless costume rethinks I have ever seen, Superman with body armour? (Superman 1) or looking like areject from the Village People (Action Comics) Red Robin dressing like the Falcon from Marvel? Superboy looking like a bad Anime character? And lets not get started with what they have done to poor Harley (Suicide Squade 1) I really hope that this is just all building up to another majour cross-over next year when we find out that all 52 comics are just in one of the 52 multiverse dimentions and that the real DCU characters have to battle Onslaught hoping that their next leap will be the leap home and out of this nightmareish universe 13!
June 11th, 2011 at 5:31 pm
The Teen Titans are very red, aren’t they…
June 12th, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Something needs to be done about Black Canary,she looks rode hard and put away wet. Urgent Lazarus Pit injections please.
June 12th, 2011 at 2:07 pm
Are we absolutely SURE this whole thing isn’t some elaborate one-month prank DC is pulling on everyone for publicity?
June 12th, 2011 at 7:22 pm
Anyone else think that OMAC really resembles Gladiator now?
June 12th, 2011 at 10:50 pm
Honestly Jim Lee, I loved your designs for the xmen in the 90′s and even your Wild Cats…but these designs are just sad. I think everyone in this post can agree that these designs scream 90′s, and while it was prosperous time for comic books, people (not just avid comic readers) want to erase teh 90′s from there minds. Mindless sharp objects, belts, sacks, satchels, gratuitous, messy, unecessary styles with no thought are not things you want to bring back ( Deathstroke, Red Robin, Kid Flash, Superman). I dont understand why creators dont put thought into costumes, I mean this is the ONLY selling point a character has on the shelves. Readers and even the casual ones, know good fashion sense and practicality when they see it. Look at the awesome designs they have now in new video games. Why cant they translate these cutting edge designs into comics? i just dont understand it Mr. Kistler. Just don’t…
June 12th, 2011 at 11:55 pm
Red Robin looks like a rejected design of Marvel’s character Falcon from a forgotten 90s reboot. A cowl with a more stylized mask or hood would be much better for Red Robin than the modified domino mask. The red wings are far to much, and the red needs to be restricted to a waistcoat that covers his chest (robin red breast, after all)
Superboy’s previous jeans and tee outfit was note perfect, this remake is garbage. Unnecessary garbage.
Kid flash is a mess, the three background characters aren’t even recognizable as anything but 90s cookie cutter crap, and Wonder Girl’s laser lasso seems pointlessly flashy.
DC seems to be doubling down on the status quo of the 90′s and early 2000′s instead of trying to be creative in any way shape or form. I hope they still keep publishing Vertigo and let real artists and writers get paid to work in comics. This revamp is a real shame.
June 13th, 2011 at 7:31 am
I really don’t know why they’re doing this. The only new costume I kind of dig is Supergirls. This is not the DC I want to read. Sucks.
June 13th, 2011 at 2:37 pm
is no one going to ask how or why it looks like witchblade has joined the teen titans?
June 14th, 2011 at 1:35 pm
BigTodd: I actually did comment on that.
June 14th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
Is it just me, or does the Titans look like and old cyberforce concept that jim lee wiped his ass on in 1992? ” No one is going to remember ripclaw after all this time” The whole thing is crap and it reeks of desperation
June 14th, 2011 at 8:32 pm
Kid Flash’s costume shouldn’t have been changed. It’s always been one of the best costume in comics. Evocative of being a “sidekick” but still striking and iconic.
Nightwing’s costume design is incredible. I don’t have strong feelings about red vs. blue, but I understand wanting to fuse Nightwing with Robin from the pre-Nolan movies, which is still in the mainstream pop culture consciousness. However, the design itself gives him a weight that he was missing in the old Nightwing suit and that he should carry with him as he leaves the Batman cowl (yes, that still happened in this continuity, check out the interview with Kyle Higgins).
The Teen Titans are a disaster. Terrible designs. The wings and jetpack on Red Robin are actually fine, and show the way to Batman Beyond, but the rest of the suit is busy. Everyone else looks like a rejected Todd McFarlane design. The Teen Titans TV show paved the way for a fun, vibrant TT book that kids could jump on, but they’ve bogged it down with old baggage and then went ahead and turned it into a dark, wannabe Wicthblade.
Red Hood and the Outlaws is my book to watch. A pseudo-reformed Red Hood is a better companion for Arsenal than having his personality vacillate between Nightwing and Deathstroke. Also having Dick Grayson’s deranged little “brother,” battle-scarred best friend, and former lover on a single team is a stroke of genius.
June 14th, 2011 at 8:45 pm
Ollie is also pretty solid. It makes sense to go with a fusion of the Smallville suit and Ultimates Hawkeye. It’s the contemporary standard for archer characters. They should clear out some of the ribbing and look to Red Arrow in the Young Justice cartoon for cues on how to look modern, but still have clean lines.
Black Canary should have just been the design from either Young Justice or the Green Arrow short in the Superman/Shazam anthology. The ninja embellishments don’t really jibe well with her Americana street fighter style.
June 15th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
In the new issues dated 6/15/11, alot of the new designs are included in the converse ads. The new look superman is in the bottom left corner, the Flash redesign is the left panel, and the batman redesign is the top left .
June 16th, 2011 at 12:11 am
Feels like heroes Reborn.. A tweak or 2 is fine,but this is too much change..
June 17th, 2011 at 3:56 pm
I am a huge Red Robin fan, and his redesign has Not grown on me. The Red Robin costume was bad, but they needed to keep it around for a little while for the sake of continuity from the Robin to Red Robin brand. However, though I did not like the Red Robin suit, it had a couple things going for it that this new suit does not: it was practical and it fit the Bat Legacy.
Tim has always been more about function than style. This new design is all flash though. The old cowl gave him more head protection and the cape gave him a bulletproof shield. How the Hell can Tim protect himself with those silly looking wings? How can he blend with the shadows? If you saw this costume without Tim’s name, I would never associate it with a member of the Bat family. It strikes the wrong tone.
If they change Tim’s back story, I’m pretty much done with DC.
Hawkman is okay, Ollie is good, OMAC is horrible, the Birds are okay if a bit generic (I still find Ivy sexy), all the Titans suck.
The Nightwing design has grown on me, but I think they should have stuck with blue.
June 20th, 2011 at 7:49 pm
Red Robin looks like a Silver Hawk! Yes I went there… hehe….
March 15th, 2012 at 12:33 am
When ever I see the new Red Robin costume’s wings, I can’t help but think of the Falcon’s wings. That said, it’s still a good look……..