Not to tug on Superman’s cape but—

[superduperman]

Actually, like these:

This one is probably my preferred design.

[Kuwagaton]

Yeah. Once we got good modern coloring I wish it stuck

Thor? They make money off of selling Superman costumes--especially at Hallowe'en. But you can buy any old red cape and say it's Superman's. Having it branded with the "S" makes it authentic. And I remember seeing ads in old comics for Superman costumes for girls and boys. You need Superman's cape to make you fly--or no, kids, don't try this at home!

Even for the few years where Thor had to be his most popular in sixty years, and Superman was probably at his least, I would have a hard time thinking people equate the cape to Thor before Superman. If only because he didn't even wear a cape in a good chunk of the Avengers saga and he doesn't actually fly without his hammer.

Not that I prefer a generic cape myself.

[Jim Kelly]

We're talking about 1939, when the shield was first added to the cape. Sure, Superman seemed to be popular at that time, but he'd only been around for a year. The association of the cape with Superman would not have been totally established in the minds of people. And there started to appear other super-heroes on the scene, some also with red capes. I can see them wanting to nail down the furniture, to prevent theft. So putting a label on the cape would be one way to do that.

I like the yellow on yellow shield on the cape. I miss it when it's not there. And I don't like the attempts to fiddle with extra colour. This comes from long hours as a kid staring at the comics and wondering why it was yellow on yellow--at first being disturbed by it and then coming to see it as one those distinctive things about Superman--like the tapering lines on his cuffs and his boots or his belt loops.

You don't tug on Superman's cape
You don't spit into the wind
You don't pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger
And you don't mess around with Jim!

[TaliaJoy]

An all-yellow S-shield is good, and a plain cape is OK, but I think the ideal for me is either the reverse-color S-shield (like Kuwagaton posted) or the shield just being normally colored (the Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves did this).

[Jim Kelly]

Something else that disturbed me as a kid was why Peter Parker had one kind of spider on his chest and another kind of spider on his back. Given he started out doing exhibitions for money, you'd think he'd establish a unique brand--two different spiders, which is his trademark?

[Riv86672]

…coming to see it as one those distinctive things about Superman--

^^^I always thought it was cool Spider-man had his own version of the yellow S, his big red poofy spider on his back.

[Stanlos]

—how do you prefer it?

Yellow S shield or no yellow S shield? Or does it depend on the medium?



Also, when did the yellow S shield debut? He didn’t have it in Action Comics #1.

Yellow S shield and no longer than mid-calf length. That was another oddity that hampered my enjoyment of the DCEU Supes on the visual level

[superduperman]

An all-yellow S-shield is good, and a plain cape is OK, but I think the ideal for me is either the reverse-color S-shield (like Kuwagaton posted) or the shield just being normally colored (the Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves did this).

I like this idea too. I have an off color version of Superman #2 (1986) that has this in it and it looks pretty cool. I kind of want them to just do that.

[Jim Kelly]

I just imagine, even if they tried to reverse the colours in the old days, it was likely to have come out wrong a lot of the time. Just look at the number of times the Atom was miscoloured in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA--if you have any back issues. All kinds of things could go wrong with the colour separations and colours were often printed off register. It wasn't as simple as some people seem to think.

[The Frog Bros]

Yellow S shield and no longer than mid-calf length. That was another oddity that hampered my enjoyment of the DCEU Supes on the visual level

Agreed. That and the overall dark color palette of the whole thing was not among my favorite looks.

[manwhohaseverything]

Actually, like these:



Bonus

I like these as well as with no s symbol.

[Stanlos]

Agreed. That and the overall dark color palette of the whole thing was not among my favorite looks.

YES!! It looked dour and plastic-y especially when coupled with the actor's perpetual "I-need-to-poop-NOW!" face.

[Marvel Man]

—how do you prefer it?

Yellow S shield or no yellow S shield? Or does it depend on the medium?



Also, when did the yellow S shield debut? He didn’t have it in Action Comics #1.

Neither? The one I liked the best is the design they originally used for Jon Kent.
3a9cf5aba042a9211ffdd393badf0698fe0b532f.jpg

(And after that, the Yellow S shield. Without the S shield is just a generic red cape)

[superduperman]

There are some costumes that, if they are too "busy", like the one from Supergirl with the cape clips, where adding one more element just seems like too much. One could argue Cavill's suit is one of these but I also didn't care for that look overall either.

[daBronzeBomma]

Reverse-color emblem (gold S with red spacing) all the way, in every medium.