Are the red trunks being banned again?

[oneveryfineday]

That's kind of the elephant in the room. The shorts do serve as a form of modesty so there's not too much of a super bulge under the tights visible. He looks naked without them.

I don’t see the modesty argument being applied to other spandex superheroes like Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four, or even Superman analogues like All Might or Omniman. As long as they’re not doing a Batman & Robin they’re fine.

[Ascended]

I don’t see the modesty argument being applied to other spandex superheroes like Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four, or even Superman analogues like All Might or Omniman. As long as they’re not doing a Batman & Robin they’re fine.

Yeah, that's just an excuse. Flash, GL, Spidey, pretty much every other hero out there wears a spandex bodysuit and "modesty" isn't a problem for them.

From a design standpoint, the trunks simply aren't necessary. The belt breaks up the blue, as we see with guys like Flash. The "bulge" concern isn't valid since this is art and a bulge is only there if it's drawn that way. The trunks are simply a thing we're accustomed to seeing on Superman, so it can look odd when they're not there. But every argument that they serve some kind of design purpose? Totally false, and easily proven wrong. The trunks call back to the circus strongman days, so there can be a thematic element to their inclusion, but that's as far as it goes. They're not even on the list of what a Superman costume "needs" to look like Superman; the shield, cape, and spit curl (and color scheme of course) are essential, but nobody is saying "Wait, this guy looks like Superman, has the shield, cape, colors, and red boots, but he doesn't have trunks so it must be Hyperion!"

It's just personal preference. And if you wanna dive into the business/marketing side of things, there's reasons to both include and exclude them. Mostly exclude, honestly, but a lot of those concerns aren't valid in comics because the industry is so insular and isn't expanding anyway.

[Powerboy]

I am kind of curious if the Superman & the Authority suit will carry over along with that team.



I really love that Tom Strong-esque outfit, but Future State had Clark only wearing the trunks, shield, and cape on Warworld, so I don’t know if it will carry over:



Personally I don’t mind either way. I like the classic costume with the trunks. I like the S&tA outfit. I like the Reborn outfit and wouldn’t mind him wearing it again. I think Sampere makes the classic costume look damn good though.

I like these versions. Some versions, it seems there's nothing to it except that the trunks are gone and it's obvious. In one of these versions, it looks like he's wearing actual pants, not tights, which is cool.

Still, I like the classic costume with the tights. However, as has been pointed out, you need to give him his full history if you do that. That would mean that, in DC, circuses stayed popular or he got the idea from a rare circus. But that goes hand in hand with being the first superhero and, honestly, with a culture that doesn't exist anymore.

[JAK]

Grown men and women are writing the books, so why not?

True, but grown men and women wrote the books back then, too.

My point is that Superman's trunks are a call back to days of yore when that was the trend. Do some still back the look? Of course. Setting aside normalization, change is just a difficult bridge to cross for many. I'm not one of them. I'm totally in favor of him going without the trunks in pursuit of a more updated look. But to each his own.

And that's fine. I'm speaking more on the judgement call than the preference. I remember when "grown man in a superhero costume" was something that was distinctly chastised in the same way, and now "cosplay" is completely a thing.

As for the design sensibility, it boils down to personal preference. The trunks are not a "necessary" element for color balance, nor are they relevant to modern fashion (and capes get a free pass via 'cool factor'). I spent years as a graphic artist, believe me the trunks are not necessary from a design standpoint. But while I do believe the trunks are a minor turn off for young potential readers who lack our affinity to the classic aesthetics, they're not a total deal breaker. A kid who can accept the premise of Superman likely considers the trunks part of the buy-in.

True. It's also why I make jokes about no one caring about "Batman's blue-black armor panties" in the first 2 Arkham games when Superman's are questioned. Does anyone care? I've seen all of one person mention it, and that was on here. Those games are huge, and it wasn't a problem.

Plus, they're selling He-Man toys in stores again. Those furry man-shorts are definitely a barbarian aesthetic, but imo not *that* far removed from the trunks.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

There was a much harder push to get rid of them 10 years ago. Now it seems more flexable. Like in 2011 it seemed like dc was straight up embaressed by their classic costumes. Now the impression I get is that they aren't embaressed by them so much as they know they aren't needed all the time. Plus I think its funny that we haven't seen a Batman actor wear trunks since the 1960s with Adam West. But for Superman it was like 2 weeks ago.

[Jim Kelly]

Batman's movie costumes all tend to be one colour. But if you look at them closely, they are not one continuous piece of fabric--they're made of panels--with one panel covering his groin, like a codpiece.

If Superman was wearing an all blue costume, I doubt anyone would care about whether it's all one piece or different pieces stitched together. It seems to be the red contrasted with the blue that gets some fans in a lather.

[The Frog Bros]

True, but grown men and women wrote the books back then, too.



And that's fine. I'm speaking more on the judgement call than the preference. I remember when "grown man in a superhero costume" was something that was distinctly chastised in the same way, and now "cosplay" is completely a thing.



True. It's also why I make jokes about no one caring about "Batman's blue-black armor panties" in the first 2 Arkham games when Superman's are questioned. Does anyone care? I've seen all of one person mention it, and that was on here. Those games are huge, and it wasn't a problem.

Plus, they're selling He-Man toys in stores again. Those furry man-shorts are definitely a barbarian aesthetic, but imo not *that* far removed from the trunks.

Let's not forget about Boromir ca. 1970s LOTR cartoon. He dominated the barbarian aesthetic, as did all the old school D&D imagery.

bakshi-boromirle.jpg

Regarding Superman's trunks, I think either works depending on the artist. Sampere and Reis totally rock the red trunks and prove they can still look great in the modern era. On the other hand, I do think the look for the upcoming Morrison book looks pretty sharp too. For me, its not necessarily make or brake, its more of a variable thing based on the artist and the story.

[PurpleGlovez]

I don't care what anyone says, I fricking love the New 52 Superman armor and I think it is the coolest costume ever, especially when rendered by Jim Lee or Kenneth Rocafort. Yeah, I get it, the trunks aren't necessarily outdated - but come on. It's been eighty years. New 52 Superman is a sensible modern look for the character that can go toe-to-toe with MCU aesthetic. I will always stan the armor.

[Sacred Knight]

A couple tweaks I never got and it would have been my favorite. But I'm comfortable in being an outlier in that. If it comes to trunksless looks most people vastly prefer the Reborn look.

[Ascended]

A couple tweaks I never got and it would have been my favorite. But I'm comfortable in being an outlier in that. If it comes to trunksless looks most people vastly prefer the Reborn look.

This.

Jim Lee seems like a really swell guy and I don't like being mean to him. I'll just say that the armor could have been a really fun update to the classic suit, but Lee's design was not good. With a few changes it could have been, but it wasn't. Somehow, it was both close to being great *and* missed the mark by miles (sorry Jim! Still love ya!).

Reborn, on the other hand, is a near perfect update. Other than the wrist cuffs, which are something of an outlier in the aesthetic and need adjustment, it's exactly what a trunks-less Superman should look like.

I'm still kinda salty that it was taken away from us after a few short years. We were stuck with the damn armor longer than that. The t-shirt has lasted longer, and since it was only the main look for four issues that's really saying something. DC never should have changed Reborn back to the original, they had finally stumbled upon a update that works and is easily adaptable across media formats.

[Last Son of Krypton]

I don't like the Reborn suit, it's the classic suit with a different belt area, it's lazy.

The New52 suit needed some tweaks/streamlining, it would've probably look similar to the current Hoelchin's Supes suit on CW.

[Sacred Knight]

For me what the New 52 costume needed was no collar, some yellow in the belt, and fewer lines. The latter other artists eventually did, and Fabok did at least minimize the collar. The metallic sheen I didn't mind at all, in fact I was a fan of it. Reborn needed to lose the movie gauntlets, and instead just adopt the New 52 red trim if it wanted a cuff accent. I also prefer the classic oval buckle to the S outline utilized by both.

But I'd really like to see a fan artist take a crack at the Authority suit turned proper costume. Long sleeves, standard S and a cape. There could be something cool there too.

[Frontier]

For me what the New 52 costume needed was no collar, some yellow in the belt, and fewer lines. The latter other artists eventually did, and Fabok did at least minimize the collar. The metallic sheen I didn't mind at all, in fact I was a fan of it. Reborn needed to lose the movie gauntlets, and instead just adopt the New 52 red trim if it wanted a cuff accent. I also prefer the classic oval buckle to the S outline utilized by both.

But I'd really like to see a fan artist take a crack at the Authority suit turned proper costume. Long sleeves, standard S and a cape. There could be something cool there too.

Most adaptions of the New 52 suit or it's aesthetic seemed to streamline it immensely.

[Last Son of Krypton]

For me what the New 52 costume needed was no collar, some yellow in the belt, and fewer lines. The latter other artists eventually did, and Fabok did at least minimize the collar. The metallic sheen I didn't mind at all, in fact I was a fan of it. Reborn needed to lose the movie gauntlets, and instead just adopt the New 52 red trim if it wanted a cuff accent. I also prefer the classic oval buckle to the S outline utilized by both.

I didn't mind the collar, it needed to be lower and without the red trim, imo.

The Reborn suit was better designed in the DCAU in RoS/Apokolips War.

But I'd really like to see a fan artist take a crack at the Authority suit turned proper costume. Long sleeves, standard S and a cape. There could be something cool there too.

This would look like Hoelchin's suit too.

[Sacred Knight]

Ha, yeah I guess it would. I don't watch the show so its not as ingrained in my head, I had to take a second look.