Silver age vs Golden age superhero costume designs.

[mathew101281]

Some of the older superheroes have been around long enough to have been around in both the 40’s and 60’s without major redesigns. But some went through massive remakes. What was your favorite Golden age/ Silver Age redesign and which hero do you think actually looked better in the Golden Age?

[The Darknight Detective]

I'm trying to think of GA characters who were still around by the SA: Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Green Arrow come to mind first. Of that group, Batman was the only one who was really altered, but not truly radically. Of the Earth-2 characters, the Hawks would be number one, but I like the original costumes better (though I understand the reason for the change). Maybe the Earth-2 Robin had the best redesign?

[Lee Stone]

Edited to say that I can't really think of many characters that had changes in their costumes between the Golden Age and the Silver Age.

Crimson Avenger and Sandman are the only ones I can think of, and I liked their original costumes more.

[married guy]

For GA characters: Dr. Mid-Nite and Dr. Fate.
I also have a soft spot for the regular dress suit with a mask, such as Sandman, Midnight, the Spirit and Crimson Avenger.

One of my favorite re-designs would be Tarantula in All-Star Squadron.

My least favorite re-designs would be Sandman's yellow and purple outfit and Crimson Avenger's superhero costume.

I also didn't care for Beth Chapel's Dr. Midnight costume, Power Girl's new costumes during JLE or Star-Spangled Kid's outfit as Skyman.

That was the FIRST one that popped into my head!

[DrNewGod]

Flash's look definitely benefitted from the SA remake. Kirby's dream dimension Sandman had a better look than the GA skin suit makeover, but neither was as good as the original GA gasmask and fedora look.

[The Darknight Detective]

Okay, it seems like people here are comparing costumes beyond what the OP intended (at least from my understanding of that post).

[Jim Kelly]

Okay, it seems like people here are comparing costumes beyond what the OP intended (at least from my understanding of that post).

Sticking with the O.P., I would say Catwoman (although she's a villain) had a very different outfit when she was brought back in the 1960s from what she had in 1954. Although, in her first come backs she was seen in versions of the older model--when she returned in the Schwartz edited Batman comics she had an outfit that sort of looked like the T.V. version but not, which was coloured green (but this in turn was probably based on the costume Sheldon Moldoff gave her in the comic strip).

I much preferred the 1950s costume which made her look like a pirate queen.

Depending what you call "Silver Age," the Neal Adams redesign of Green Arrow--in THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD 85 (August-September 1969), on sale June 24, 1969--has to be one of the greatest redesigns in the history of human development. Nothing against the cute red and green number that Ollie pulled off since his creation, but the Adams costume is the one I wish Green Arrow would always wear. And when he teamed with Green Lantern it was a marriage made in comic book heaven--since the Gil Kane Green Lantern costume is perfection itself.

[The Darknight Detective]

Sticking with the O.P., I would say Catwoman (although she's a villain) had a very different outfit when she was brought back in the 1960s from what she had in 1954. Although, in her first come backs she was seen in versions of the older model--when she returned in the Schwartz edited Batman comics she had an outfit that sort of looked like the T.V. version but not, which was coloured green (but this in turn was probably based on the costume Sheldon Moldoff gave her in the comic strip).
I much preferred the 1950s costume which made her look like a pirate queen.

Agreed, Jim. The GA version was far sexier than the latter one, too.

Depending what you call "Silver Age," the Neal Adams redesign of Green Arrow--in THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD 85 (August-September 1969), on sale June 24, 1969--has to be one of the greatest redesigns in the history of human development. Nothing against the cute red and green number that Ollie pulled off since his creation, but the Adams costume is the one I wish Green Arrow would always wear. And when he teamed with Green Lantern it was a marriage made in comic book heaven--since the Gil Kane Green Lantern costume is perfection itself.

I agree with you again, except that I consider the Adams' costume as clearly BA instead of SA.

[DrNewGod]

I much preferred The SA Atom over the early-GA Atom's original costume. However, I prefer the late-GA era Atom costume to either the original, or the SA remake.

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[RobinGA]

I always tend to prefer the original Golden Age costumes over the Silver Age.
Something about those ridiculous costumes that in many ways were created
in the pre-World War II era.

The original Atom's costume was fairly ridiculous, but it is appealing.
I also like the original Sandman costume which looks like he is getting ready
to shoot teargas into a bank.
The original Robin costume is so iconic, much better than the adult Robin of the
old Earth-2.

[Jim Kelly]

The 1930s and early 1940s were looking back to the past for inspiration. The late 1940s started to look forward.

While I'm a great admirer of Carmine Infantino, I didn't get what the big deal was about his Flash redesign for Barry Allen, when I was younger. But I finally understood that it was the slick design--without much clutter--perfectly suited to a speedster. I still like Jay's costume more--and Wally's red and yellow suit--but I see how Barry's suit established the new trend in super-hero outfits.

Gil Kane's Atom design makes sense for the shrinking Ray Palmer--who is really a revival of Doll Man--because it's very simple, enough that any artist can draw a very small Atom on a page and the colour separations should be right (so it's frustrating when they got it wrong). Whereas, Al Pratt is a very different character with a particular kink. And I can appreciate that really fetishistic first costume now, even though I used to like Al's second costume more.

A young Carmine Infantino did that Atom redesign. And I remember on an old message board someone posted that this was when Julius Schwartz was doing his first "Silver Age." In 1946, Schwartz began to impose creative changes in his books. So you had the Atom redesign, more science fiction writers coming in, changes to Hawkman and Hawkgirl, the introduction of Black Canary and things like that.

What I like about the first grown-up Robin costume--or costumes, since there was more than one design--is that it looked like those earlier suits that borrowed from period costumes. It had the opera cape with the raised collar and it was a bit too busy with details. It looked almost as cluttered as Alan Scott's swashbuckler costume ball outfit. Whereas, if it had been a design for a new Earth-One character, then it would have been a stripped down design like Infantino's Deadman.

[superduperman]

I like the E-2 Superman "S" shield more than the current one. Don't know if that counts as official "golden age" since it came along after. And even though they aren't the same person, I like the GA Green Lantern. Particularly the purple cape. I feel like they went back to the GA Batman costume without the oval. I think it works better.