Top 5 DC Comics Laziest Costumes

[caj]

Looking at the costumes of some of DC Comics heroes and villains, what are the top 5 laziest costumes?

In other words, they didn't do too much in the categories of design or reflection of powers.

[Robanker]

ITT: Superheroes in civvies.

You'll be seeing a lot of:

Johns era Conner Kent
Jack Knight
John Constantine
Diggle on Arrow if he counts.

Also the Spectre.


Not saying those are bad looks, but they're lazy insofar as, well, they're not costumes. I think Jack Knight's look reflects him very, very well... but if we're looking at the lineup of a super team, these are the guys who look like they mistook the final battle for the fate of the Multiverse as casual Friday.

[caj]

I'll add Fire from the JLI days

Gypsy as well even though her costume does resemble a fortune teller

[j9ac9k]

ITT: Superheroes in civvies.

You'll be seeing a lot of:

Johns era Conner Kent
Jack Knight
John Constantine
Diggle on Arrow if he counts.

Also the Spectre.


Not saying those are bad looks, but they're lazy insofar as, well, they're not costumes. I think Jack Knight's look reflects him very, very well... but if we're looking at the lineup of a super team, these are the guys who look like they mistook the final battle for the fate of the Multiverse as casual Friday.

I'm trying to get your point, but I can't. Jack Knight in particular you mention reflects his character - because it's well designed. It's not lazy - it's well thought out, to being borderline iconic, regardless of whether or not it's civvies.

To me, lazy is some of the generic body-armor looks that are around. Tim Drake's Drake costume comes to mind.

Also, Sandman's purple/yellow supersuit. There was no effort there.

[Gaius]

"Armored versions" that look like 90s action figures. Bad 90s action figures.


Better known colloquially as the the design ethos of the Injustice franchise.

[Robanker]

I'm trying to get your point, but I can't. Jack Knight in particular you mention reflects his character - because it's well designed. It's not lazy - it's well thought out, to being borderline iconic, regardless of whether or not it's civvies.

To me, lazy is some of the generic body-armor looks that are around. Tim Drake's Drake costume comes to mind.

Also, Sandman's purple/yellow supersuit. There was no effort there.

I'm looking at lazy insofar as costumes being the uniform. Think of the Captain Marvel idea of "would Carol wear this to a funeral?"

If Superman died fighting Doomsday again and everyone is showing up in their Sunday best or work clothes, the guy in a T-Shirt, combat boots and jeans is clearly phoning it in or didn't care.

In any formal situation, Jack showing up in a cool bowling shirt does look kind of like he just rolled off the couch (and sometimes he did).

It communicates his character, absolutely, but part of that is he's lazy about his costume. It's just his clothes. He just puts goggles on whatever he's wearing and a badge with a star on it. That's the equivalent of buying a tie and saying you're dressed for a black tie event.


I love the Jack Knight look, but again, in-universe he's definitely just going to look like he got the call to action while listening to a record in his underwear.

I'm approaching things from in-universe, not the actual meta concept of the IP.

I guess that's not really the prompt now that I reread it, though I do think it's more fun. Even so.

If that's the case, Zatara. He's just a stage magician. No more or less. It's detailed to draw sometimes, but if you asked someone "draw a stage magician with a mustache," you'll get Zatara even if they've never seen him before in their life.

[Timothy Hunter]

75% of the redesigns from the New 52

[Johnrevenge]

Also, Sandman's purple/yellow supersuit. There was no effort there.

Yeah, that costume was really boring, especially after his classic costume.

[Jim Kelly]

I look at this question in either of two ways: outside the world or inside the world.

Outside the world, is the artist being lazy in designing the costume? Inside the world, is the character being lazy in designing the costume?

For Conner Kent, even though the T-shirt and jeans design seems simple, outside the world I think the artists were clever to come up with that idea--cutting through all the busy jazz of the earlier design. Inside the world, Conner is being "lazy" in that he's just putting on a Superman T-shirt (anyone can buy in a shop) and jeans--low effort.

For Wesley Dodds, it's a bit more complcated.

Outside the world, the artists were not coming up with anything new for the first design--in the suit and hat he looks like any old mystery man. The gas mask is a nice touch, but hardly a big leap, given he's using sleeping gas and has to have the mask. I don't imagine kids at the time thought this was an impressive design--so guys like Sandman and Crimson Avenger had to get with the times and dress like other super-heroes. Paul Norris gave Wes the yellow and purple outfit, including cape--which Wes already had laying around from his previous outfit. It's not a stand-out but a perfectly respectable super-hero costume which suited the style of Simon and Kirby when they took over the series.

Inside the world, (yawn) sleepy old Wes is rather lazy wearing his regular suit and not bothering to design an action hero costume. Rather boring, I say. The only real effort was in designing the gas gun (zzzzz). But Wesley woke up later and realized he needed to be fit and action-ready. He looked around and saw the costume that this new chap, Tarantula, was wearing and ordered that from Gambi's clothiers, adding his dear old purple cape that had served him well in previous adventures. Not terribly inventive, but a bit more than the previous outfit. And he had to hire a young lad to run around with him. So probably quite the work-out for the tired Sandman.

[j9ac9k]

I'm approaching things from in-universe, not the actual meta concept of the IP.

Oooh, okay - I get it. Thanks. Yeah, I was approaching it from the real world context of an artist designing someone's look. But it's fun to consider the question both ways.

[Dr. Skeleton]

B'wanna Beast

Cassie Sandsmark Wonder Girl's various looks except her Donna Troy inspired costume

Supergirl's costume from Superman: TAS. That looked God awful.

[caj]

For Conner Kent, even though the T-shirt and jeans design seems simple, outside the world I think the artists were clever to come up with that idea--cutting through all the busy jazz of the earlier design. Inside the world, Conner is being "lazy" in that he's just putting on a Superman T-shirt (anyone can buy in a shop) and jeans--low effort.

The important thing was the guy could definitely fill out a t-shirt.

[Riv86672]

This one right here…:

Outside the universe the artist is just going w. an all white dog!
Inside the universe, well, c’mon Rex. Not even a collar? You’re nekkid!

AKA I gotta rank Martian Manhunter as one of the laziest designs…:

His classic look is just…not great, though some artists have made it look good, even regal.
It’s only been recently (relatively speaking) that artists have really put some effort into MM’s design.
And the great thing about him is as a shapeshifter an artist can not only tweak his outfit but his entire look/body/proportions, really playing w. his alien-ness which is pretty awesome.

[Restingvoice]

Hm I guess every time they give Wonder Woman pants because the reason is because they don't want to sexualize her

The problem is how she's drawn and posed (and maybe that one time they gave her a pants so small half her ass is shown) so the solution giving her long pants is lazy

[Robanker]

Hm I guess every time they give Wonder Woman pants because the reason is because they don't want to sexualize her

The problem is how she's drawn and posed (and maybe that one time they gave her a pants so small half her ass is shown) so the solution giving her long pants is lazy

Yeah, the artists perving on characters is the biggest problem. Power Girl's regular costume is actually less revealing than almost every Wonder Woman one, but artists can't help themselves. When reigned in, most costumes aren't that big a deal. Don't get me wrong, some costumes are problems, but the biggest issue is how they're portrayed.