Thursday, September 18, 2008

Cool Costumes Revisited

I mentioned several of them before, now let's look a few more great costumes out there.

Spider-Man 2099

Spider-Man has had 3 different costume designs over the years (4 if you count Scarlet Spider), but the costume of Miguel O'Hara beats anything Peter Parker's ever worn.

The familiar colors of Spidey's red and blue are here, but done in a completely different way. Parker's Spider-Man seems simple, but there's something dark and sinister about the 2099 version. Looking at him makes you think of a deadly spider like the black widow, rather than the generic feel of the original.

Unfortunately he doesn't really get to hang around much anymore. Currently, Miguel is in some alternate dimension with his own version of Mary Jane living a "happily ever after". Of course, in comic books this never happens forever, so we'll hopefully see him in action again soon.

White Tiger (original)

Hector Ayala is no longer the White Tiger (or even alive, for that matter), but in the 70's he was rocking the plain look. Very understated, he first appeared in the pages of Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, a black and white comic magazine.

Given the fact that his first appearances appeared in a book with no color, it's easy to see why they didn't put much into it. Still, the relatively plain costume worked great for a kung-fu master, allowing clean lines to present fluid movement in his fight scenes.

Eventually, White Tiger moved into The Spectacular Spider-Man as a series regular in the first year. His secret identity was eventually revealed on television and his family was killed as a result. Hector sought and found revenge before moving on to retirement for a while before being brought back in Daredevil for the sole purpose of killing him off.

Havok (original suit)

Seems understated, but this suit serves its purpose. It might appear a little boring, but when those white rings of power start pouring out of him, it gives a cool contrast to the look.

Of course, the suit was originally created with a purpose. It was made to help Alex control his power and focus it rather than just explode. Over the years he's adapted and learned to control the power without the suit.

I imagine this was one of those costumes that was so easy to draw the artist loved having the character in the book. Of course, the guy in charge of inking probably hated every frame he was in. Imagine trying to color in that costume!

Nightwing

Hey, I put Red Robin on here once, so it seems only natural to give Nightwing a chance. I'm talking about Dick's current suit here, not the famous "disco collar" version he had when the reboot started for him.

His current outfit fits the character well. It's functional, and it allows the freedom of movement a former circus acrobat would need. It's dark, allowing him to stay in the shadows as needed just like his mentor does. And I like the fact that he doesn't have a cape. I have nothing against capes at all, but it just wouldn't work for him.

This is one of those rare occasions when a costume just suits the character perfectly. The light-blue-and-yellow look he started with has gradually darkened along with his character. The quips and jokes don't fly as freely as they did when he was Robin, but the kicks and fists are still working well.

Yellowjacket

Hank Pym has been some pretty cool heroes in his day. He was the original Ant-Man, then he tossed the helmet and became Giant-Man, then Goliath, and finally Yellowjacket.

Originally presented as a bad guy who had "done away" with Hank, it was just the start of his schizophrenic phase. Still able to shrink, Yellowjacket had the ability to fly and shoot beams from his hands. How Hank was able to accomplish this all of the sudden we'll never know, but the suit was cool.

Though he's been a lot of different heroes over the years, this costume has pretty much stayed constant for him. The changes since its introduction decades ago are minimal (the wings are a little different). Not many heroes can wear yellow in public and not get laughed at, but he does it.


I've done two lists on cool costumes, now let's hear it from you. Who did I miss?

2 comments:

The Groovy Agent said...

Excellent choices, all!

My all-time favorite, though, is the Angel's blue and white costume designed by Neal Adams (the one they made red and yellow in the Champions by Byrne and Layton).

I also liked Dave Cockrum's Lightning Lad design (which was based on or an homage to Adams' Angel costume).

Rick L. Phillips said...

How about Red Tornado's second suit? that was pretty good.

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