So DC is introducing some new uniforms for what many fans refer to as the big three: Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman. It's clear from looking at these new designs that DC is going for a completely different feel not only to the characters but for the entirety of DC.
So here's Superman who looks like a more like he belongs in the old Valiant Comics with their "gritty" look that always made their characters seem indistinguishable to me. That said, intellectually the idea that Superman wouldn't run around with a secret identity really isn't all that farfetched. I mean no one could possibly hurt him without kryptonite so why should he fear if anyone knows who he is? I mean except for the fact that any loved ones he might have could be held ransom, killed, raped, and put in constant danger to manipulate him like a puppet.
By far the best redesign out of the group is Wonder Woman. It's just a great look minus the needless Wolverine-esque spikes jutting out from her wrists. Still looks like a Valiant reject, but it's better than Batman.
At this point I don't even know why they're still calling him Batman. He's a giant, robotic, rabbit with a gun. Fuck he'd be more at home in Savage Dragon
or the TICK
than he would as Batman!
or the TICK than he would as Batman!
I totally get that at this point DC is trying to go for a grittier feel with the books - all the redesigns, from Batman's smoking gun to Superman's fists dripping blood, reinforce this - but making the DC universe into a new version of WildStorm isn't the way to go. Look Lee and DiDio are steering this ship and it's clear that they want to go down this way but I'm just not looking for these changes to be long term. If anything I expect them to be in retroconned into an alternative DC Universe at the end of the run when they reintroduce the classic uniforms like Old Coke coming back after New Coke pissed everyone off.
What do you all think?
I've never been a big fan of Superman but even so I can't help but feel that he shouldn't have bloody fists. Isn't he supposed to be a symbol of hope and goodness, not a symbol of bludgeoning people to death?
ReplyDeleteThe less said about RoboRabbit the better.
Either DC has lost the plot once and for all this time or it's a deliberate grab for attention and it'll all get reset in six months.
Those bloody fists could have come from using an asteroid as a punching bag, he suffers for all of us and wha not.
DeleteI'm pretty sure they're just shaking things up a bit, for the short-term, to try to get some PR, some new readership, etc. They need to have something that's "newsworthy" for people to pay attention to them (not just DC - Marvel does this kind of stuff, too). All of it - retconning characters who used to be straight and making then gay, changing the ethnicity of characters, changing the origin stories, and changing the costumes... these are all just ways of trying to create "news" that people will notice and talk about.
ReplyDeleteSuperman's "new design" won't last long, or like you said, it'll be siphoned off into another universe, Post-Convengence. Their new strategy seems to be emphasizing story over continuity and that can be a good thing (although I look at some of the years-long continuity-driven stuff that someone like Geoff Johns has done with Green Lantern and I hope those kinds of stories don't go away, either).
As an example, check out this week's new Action Comics #40 by Grey Pak and Aaron Kuder. It's a one-off story that doesn't really tie into too much that's happened before, and also doesn't really seem to "fit" with anything else that's going on or that's been shown in the New 52 so far. And Pak deals with this head-on on the first page by basically having Superman talk to himself and tell us (the readers) not to worry about it and just sit back an enjoy the story. He doesn't literally say that, but that's the intent, and it's by far my favorite Action (or Superman) story in the New 52.
I looked at Batman and my first thought was Appleseed.
ReplyDeleteI had to look that up, but it's totally true!
DeleteOr Chappie.
DeleteOr Bubblegum Crisis. Come to find out they've "killed" Bruce Wayne -- again -- and replaced him in the suit with Priscilla S "Priss" Asagiri...
DeleteSeriously? Why do they keep doing this stuff?
Delete"That said, intellectually the idea that Superman wouldn't run around with a secret identity really isn't all that farfetched. I mean no one could possibly hurt him without kryptonite so why should he fear if anyone knows who he is? I mean except for the fact that any loved ones he might have could be held ransom, killed, raped, and put in constant danger to manipulate him like a puppet."
ReplyDeleteAgreed. The next logical step is to eliminate Dragons from Fantasy. I mean, they don't make any logical sense. If any animal existed with the capabilities attributed to the average folkloric dragon, it would render itself extinct since it would go unopposed through it's environment, wiping out everything on the food chain including us.
Plus, how does something that size fly? Honestly it's just ridiculous. Forget weight mass ratios in our Earth normal gravity, go back to what I just said. How much would it have to eat to sustain the energy for flight?!
So no dragons, because they're too farfetched.
Forget Faster-Than-Light travel. Nothing moves at the speed of light besides light. Recent experiments suggest that neutrinos might be able to outpace light under certain conditions. So we, and the vehicle we were traveling in, would become a scattering of neutrinos.
Yeah, remove FTL from all our Science Fiction. It's too farfetched.
Thanks for reminding me why I can't run Superheroes anymore Charlie.
Also, I forgot to remind everyone: Old woman don't live in shoes, at the end of a beanstalk is a pod with beans, there are no giants, and probably never were, and cars do not explode when they crash under normal circumstances like they do in movies.
DeleteShall I call all your children and tell them there's no Tooth Fairy, or Santa Claus, or are you guys gonna do that yourselves?
Heheheheh! Okay. Point made. I was a bit of a dink on that one!
DeleteLike Batman told the future Robin -- in the last movie: "The mask isn't to protect you, it's to protect the ones you care about."
ReplyDeleteI don't care for the Superman/Batman changes, though Wonder Woman's isn't too bad. Except, as said, the Wolverine wrist bands.
The good parts of Wonder Woman's costume:
ReplyDelete1) she took Kal's old shirt, you can tell by the neckline, and put it under her armor. Must've been from their last sleepover.
2) she has actual armor that works like armor and doesn't make her breasts into giant targets.
3) the gold.
On the downside: the white on the neck should be gold. Those shoulder pads are amazingly stupid. They will snag her hair and possibly cut it, leaving her with a mullet or a mohawk in short order. The dangling bits of cloth hanging off her belt look like an Amazonian menstrual pad came untied. Seriously, does Finch not THINK about that? Also, hip wader boots go with fly fishermen, sewer workers, and go-go dancers. The pants are fine, they can stay. But they came from the previous artist so that explains it.
And really? Cestus-bracers without hand-grips? No. That's a broken arm or a skewered ally, given that there's no apparent way to make them go away. She was given a pair of bracers that create swords out of nothing. Apparently-perma-extended cestus blades? Is this the new "pouches"?
Yikes.
ReplyDeleteSuperman: Lazy
Wonderwoman: Okay but maybe over the top?
Batman: WTF?
Hmmmm DC announced nutty stuff and I have to remind myself that it's just DC and I still love the actual comics when they are finally out, usually. But for some reason it feels like they're pulling the same stunt Marvel has with it's Doc Green, Superior Iron Man, Lady Thor and other stunts....just with much, much worse costumes.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts? Either DC is trolling us with a massive Rickroll, or they've completely lost it. I blame Harras, Didio and Johns.
ReplyDeleteQuite DC with the NU52, a sad day in my life, oh well...at least I have enjoyed the Marvel CU....
ReplyDeletewonderwoamn looks okay. batman just ain't batman. superman looks like he woke up from a bender and decided "oh screw it a t shirt is fine they'll be able to figure out the flying guy carrying the sears tower is superman."
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Wonder woman is the best of the bunch.
ReplyDeleteSuperman is ok, if they are going to go gritty then I guess that's what it's going to be..
To me the worst part of the Batman costume is not that it's so different it's the way that it's executed. I'm really not a fan of that selective silhouetting, and the line work while crisp, seems lazy, were the PikaChu ears added latter..... The whole image feels almost "underdone?" if that's a thing.
To me it feels like they're trying to go back to Lee's WildStorm imprint with the DC Universe which is just . . . I don't even know how to talk about that.
DeleteWow, that's dumber than nipples. Can't handle it.
ReplyDeleteI'll just have to be pedantic and comment on your word choices instead ... Uniforms are for police, soldiers, and Catholic children. Superheroes wear Costumes.
Your face wears uniforms!
DeleteU_U
Sick burn. *walks away without looking at explosion*