"Superman" #38 Debuts New Power, New Costume for the Man of Steel

[Tra-EL]

I, too, thought the suit looked better overall with the Man of Steel-esq oval shaped belt. The yellow made it look more classic IMO as well. So...is this new suit apart of Bruce's closet then? The scene with Alfred and Bruce in the Batcave made it apparent that Supes is powerless and that he needed a set of clothes to go about his way to go alongside his cape.

What happens when Clark's powers re-store? I know the armored suit is incinerated, but I take it as his powers regenerate, the Kryptonian armor will not? Weird since the Kryptonian suit and the armor formed around his body as a form of protection. Maybe Clark's new suit is one of Batman's suits as far as fabric goes. I do agree with prior posters that the changes are barely noticeable. Just a few minor tweaks you can easily miss.

[stillanerd]

The fact that the New 52 Superman suit was tweaked at all after 4 years is, IMO, an all-but tacit admission that Jim Lee's original design was a poor one, to say the least. After all, any time someone else other than Lee drew it, it looked awful, bulky, and needlessly complicated. Thus the reduction of the number of seam-lines, the return of the classic boots, and a belt with a oval buckle that also looks smoother--it's all to make Jim Lee's suit simpler (and therefore easier) for the other artists to draw and that's it. Because even though some cosmetic changes, there aren't any drastic alterations to Lee's original design, as much of the things were an eye-sore to begin with are still there: the militaristic-looking Mandarin collar, the all red belt (which, as others pointed out, looked better when the belt buckle was yellow), and now those sleeves which make it look as though Superman is wearing fingerless gloves when they're just needlessly long. So now, it looks as though not only DC over-hyped something which (surprise!) turned to not be that drastic, but it looks if they're trying to have it both ways by trying to appease fans who liked the classic suit but hate the new one, while still trying to keep the new one still retain Jim Lee's design as much as possible in order to save face.

[Sacred Knight]

I disagree. I think its been 4 years shows that overall it mostly works. These are very, very minor tweaks to a general design that's still in use and shows no signs of leaving. Compare that to the past, in which the longest time any significant change to Superman's costume has lasted before was a year at best, and for a specific story. Weighed against history, the costume has staying power. Its already lasted four times as long as any other change has. The idea that they're just trying to save face doesn't hold up to scrutiny; if they wanted it changed more they'd change it more. Its the perfect time to do it with Convergence coming. They just decided to give back a couple elements that were almost universally asked for and that there's no real reason not to have, like the v-boots. Its really a stretch to try and make this out as some sort of negative assessment on the overall look, again simply because they could have changed it more if they wanted to. Why would they have to save face with Lee? Absolutely no reason, as they obviously had no problem with some liberties being taken with his design from artists to artist before now. Nothing wrong with still preferring the classic costume and wishing they'd just gone back to it, but a couple of tweaks being seen as an indictment of the overall new costume to me is ass backwards logic if anything.

[stillanerd]

I disagree. I think its been 4 years shows that overall it mostly works. These are very, very minor tweaks to a general design that's still in use and shows no signs of leaving. Compare that to the past, in which the longest time any significant change to Superman's costume has lasted before was a year at best, and for a specific story. Weighed against history, the costume has staying power. Its already lasted four times as long as any other change has. The idea that they're just trying to save face doesn't hold up to scrutiny; if they wanted it changed more they'd change it more. Its the perfect time to do it with Convergence coming. They just decided to give back a couple elements that were almost universally asked for and that there's no real reason not to have, like the v-boots. Its really a stretch to try and make this out as some sort of negative assessment on the overall look, again simply because they could have changed it more if they wanted to. Why would they have to save face with Lee? Absolutely no reason, as they obviously had no problem with some liberties being taken with his design from artists to artist before now. Nothing wrong with still preferring the classic costume and wishing they'd just gone back to it, but a couple of tweaks being seen as an indictment of the overall new costume to me is ass backwards logic if anything.

The reason why those past costume changes never lasted long (such as the Electric Superman suit) is because those changes were part of an ongoing storyline. The reason why Superman's costume was redesigned for the New 52 was because the whole concept was that everything was starting over from square one, which means the New 52 suit was meant to be a permanent, just like the classic costume Superman wore prior to the New 52. And I would say, more than any other character, Superman for DC represents the philosophy and aesthetic of the New 52, that if DC openly admits that the changes they made to Superman for the New 52 have failed, then the New 52 itself has failed. Yes, DC has gradually been giving Superman more "traditional" elements as of late, such as toning down his aggression, more scenes with Lois, returning him to the Daily Planet, etc. but a lot of the more significant stuff, including the basic look and nature of the costume, has remained. It might be an overreach on my part, compared this to some of DC's other titles, in which many of those Jim Lee designs have been abandoned and had more significant status-quo shake-ups

And it terms of staying power, the New 52 suit, in my opinion, doesn't compare the more "classic" version, red trunks and all, which is more familiar with the general public. Granted, that's in large part because it's been around, in one form or another, for almost 75 years. Not even <i>Man of Steel</i>, which came out two years after the New 52, adopted the look, favoring a suit which harkened back to the more classic costume minus the red trunks. In fact, I'm a bit surprised that Superman's "new costume" wasn't made to look more like the one he wore in Man of Steel and the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

I would also argue the reason why the New 52 costume has "varied" from artist to artist wasn't so much due to artistic liberties but because based on the why the New 52 suit was designed, with all those convoluted "armor-plated" seam lines, which it made it difficult to figure out whether or not Superman was wearing something more metallic even though it's still supposed to be fabric. Highly advanced fabric, but fabric all the same. Even the Direct to DVD Justice League films, War and Throne of Atlantis, dropped the seams altogether, probably because it's far easier to animate something the less detail it has. The only artist who has ever seemed to get the New 52 suit "right" was, of course, Jim Lee. But naturally, Jim Lee can't always be drawing the costume, which is why I believe this so-called "new costume" was primarily "created" just to make it easier for different artist to draw the New 52 suit, with a few tweaks just to make seem "different."

None of this isn't to say that I'm not in favor of Superman's costume getting an update, and I do appreciate the fact that DC decided to make some minor alterations to the costume to make it look more streamlined and sleek than it used to be. But I still think the suit needs improvement, and I find it funny that, what appeared to be a coloring mistake from the first released image of Superman's "new costume" looked better than the "corrected version."

[Sacred Knight]

I get that the past changes were never meant to be "permanent" and this New 52 suit was. Thing is, thus far it has been permanent, so I fail to see how what essentially amounts to two tweaks that frankly are hard to notice to the layman is any indictment against the design is all.

[manofsteel1979]

I think the truth lies somewhere between honestly. I don't think anyone expected the classic suit to return. Those that did were setting themselves up for disappointment. I think all of us knew whatever changes would be minor. It was just a question of HOW minor.

I do think the version of the new suit that was debuted on the printed page was not exactly what was originally conceived, based on the initial cover art for #39. The collar WAS a tad shorter and there was yellow on the belt. That was likely what was supposed to debut, but at the last minute SOMEONE changed it. Who and why we can only guess. However, as it stands it is a far more simple design that artists should be able to make look good. Hitch's first crack at it looks good (even though the belt is diff....again), and i'm looking forward to how Kuder draws it, as well as Mahnke and Fabok.

I do think though, as we move further and further into the Post-52 era, more tweaks will eventually move the suit to something like this, which I think would make everyone except the most ardent "Trunks or bust" crowd happy.

Supermannewlook.jpg

[Sacred Knight]

I'd be fine with something like that except the belt. Ultraman's is ugly. JRJR's model is better, again if they'd stuck with the yellow buckle. Still perplexed as to why they removed that. If anyone's listening, go ahead and put it back. Otherwise the previous red belt was better anyway.

[Tandaemonium]

With the DC news just out, here's the new suit drawn by another artist (Bryan Hitch). I still can't figure out what that design inside the buckle is. Seems like an arrow pointing upwards or something. I like how the sleeves don't extend that much all over the hands here.

They should have kept the yellow oval. *shakes head* Now we have the Super fanny-pack.

[Kid A]

loool

http://www.theonion.com/articles/sup...=Pic:1:Default

[daBronzeBomma]

This 2nd Superman costume / 1st "upgrade" for Kal-El (Post-New52) is going to be nothing more than what the 2nd Nightwing costume / 1st "upgrade" was for Dick Grayson (Pre-Flashpoint). Remember that costume? Not the 1st flared-collar version from 1984, nor the 3rd sleek-ninja version that he got in the late '90s. The one in between those two:



I forgot how long he had this one, but it was definitely not permanent. Such will be the same with Superman's new look. It feels incomplete.

Now, his new power, "Solar Flare", on the other hand?

THAT is a stroke of genius! The only tweak I hope they eventually make to that power (aside from increasing it's maximum potential damage), is that the lowest power levels Superman can go down to after using it is NOT 100% human ... which doesn't make any sense: Kryptonians should be cold-blooded photosynthetic organisms, nothing like warm-blooded humans on the inside.

Superman's power level after using his Solar Flare should be exactly as he was in Action Comics #1, volume 1 in 1938: still clearly superhuman, bulletproof, leaping tall buildings / one-eighth of a mile, capable of picking up a loaded car and smashing it into a brick wall.

It would work (for me) on one primal level: the power (and particularly its consequence) would permanently tie Superman back to his real-life Golden Age roots. That's awesome. I hope every version of the character going forward has this tweaked power + consequence.

[swimmermdg]

Superman's power level after using his Solar Flare should be exactly as he was in Action Comics #1, volume 1 in 1938: still clearly superhuman, bulletproof, leaping tall buildings / one-eighth of a mile, capable of picking up a loaded car and smashing it into a brick wall.

It would work (for me) on one primal level: the power (and particularly its consequence) would permanently tie Superman back to his real-life Golden Age roots. That's awesome. I hope every version of the character going forward has this tweaked power + consequence.

I couldn't agree with you more, this would balance the idea of Kryptonians being different from humans while ensuring the Super Flare has a cost to Superman.

[daBronzeBomma]

I couldn't agree with you more, this would balance the idea of Kryptonians being different from humans while ensuring the Super Flare has a cost to Superman.

Ugh. That name. "Super Flare".

Leave it to DC to come up with a pretty cool new power for Kal-El but then give it a dumb name that makes me think of this (hilarious) 1996 movie OFFICE SPACE scene:



"Super Flare" as the name for the new power sucks.

"Solar Flare" is better, but that word "flare" is still in it, which makes it also suck somewhat as a name.

Why don't we just call this new power "Super Nova"?

Super Nova reminds me of this image instead:


When a star goes super nova, it explodes with a violent shockwave, leaving what's left of the star's core in a very diminished state. Seems appropriate to me.

Vote Super Nova!

[Ascended]

THAT is a stroke of genius! The only tweak I hope they eventually make to that power (aside from increasing it's maximum potential damage), is that the lowest power levels Superman can go down to after using it is NOT 100% human ... which doesn't make any sense: Kryptonians should be cold-blooded photosynthetic organisms, nothing like warm-blooded humans on the inside.

Superman's power level after using his Solar Flare should be exactly as he was in Action Comics #1, volume 1 in 1938: still clearly superhuman, bulletproof, leaping tall buildings / one-eighth of a mile, capable of picking up a loaded car and smashing it into a brick wall.

It would work (for me) on one primal level: the power (and particularly its consequence) would permanently tie Superman back to his real-life Golden Age roots. That's awesome. I hope every version of the character going forward has this tweaked power + consequence.

Agreed wholeheartedly. Leave it to Johns to completely miss the mark on Superman. Even when he does something right, he does it wrong. Hopefully Pak and the new guy can make it work. The only thing this "depowered for a day" thing could do to make it a worthwhile addition to the mythos is taking Clark back to Golden Age levels.

Ugh. That name. "Super Flare".

When a star goes super nova, it explodes with a violent shockwave, leaving what's left of the star's core in a very diminished state. Seems appropriate to me.

Vote Super Nova!

Totally agreed. Super Nova power ACTIVATE!!!

[stephens2177]

Two things about the new power
1- should have been a extension of his bio field,fueled by all that psionic energy boiling in his head
2- shouldn't EVER be human levels,he is kryptonian they are from a planet with a monstrostly huge gravity,he should not be below golden age in power levels.

About the suit
1-get rid of the silly extra crap,these three supersuit that are on three different SUPER characters besides kal are way better and would make everyone happy.


Yeah it's pretty bad when Bizzaro can dress himself better than you can.

[Lairston]

I had hoped that the new costume would be different since I don't like how it looks without the trunks because of the amount of blue. I was hoping they would do something like this: