The LEGION in Disguise run by Stuart Immonen has some clunkers.
The LEGION in Disguise run by Stuart Immonen has some clunkers.
Honestly I never understood the hate for this year long story arc. Personally i think most haven't even read any of it and are sheep, go along with the detractors simlply cause they cant be bothered to form there own opinion.
The blue superman run starts off pretty epic with the final night story, a huge story arc for hal's parallax redemption.
The Transformation story is awesome, the sun going black in final night due to sun eater, a strange energy creature in the artic, and kandors force field all distort supermans powers changing him into shapeless energy being. Saved by special fabric lex designs.
About 70 issues as well as some of morrisons JLA tell an amazing story arc which builds to the Millennium giant story arc.
Fucking epic stuff..
Saddly most didnt wanna go along for the ride.
Finally Superman Forever returns supes to his orignal powers and suit...
Honestly amazing
I ascribe resistance to the Superman Red/Superman Blue plot to the speculators market getting fatigue from the insistence that, one again, the character would “NEVER be the same AGAIN!” and that it was a permanent change, after the whole Death/Reign/Return saga. Also the gimmicky factor of Red/Blue split in 2 did t help it along. The market started getting wise to money grabbing stunt plots geared to make the reader think developments would be historically significant and that issues bought would be worth more because of it...instead of just being a good story...
I think that's right on the money, and more than that, it's a trend of fatigue that continues to today!
And honestly, it's a shame, because some of those "NEVER THE SAME AGAIN" stories that lasted for just about a year, are actually pretty solid, including a lot of the '90s Superman Blue stuff!
"You know the deal, Metropolis. Treat people right or expect a visit from me."
I don't mind silly/ridiculous costume if it feels in character. For example: Alan Scott, Jay Garrick, Ted Grant, B'wana Beast, Plastic Man are supposed to look a little silly and off and it adds to their charm.
Bad designs are either stuff that feels out of character, too many details to the point of redundancy, excessive details or design or just plain badly drawn with unnecessary elements which can detract from even a good design.
Eg:
Nu 52 Superman costume (armor? seriously?)
Flashpoint Zatanna (where should I even begin?)
HellHound (from Catwoman Annual #2 where he had a million knives on him)
Jim Lee Huntress/Helena Bertinelli (the 'I'll risk bullet wounds to show off my abs' costume)
Jim Lee Katana/Tatsu Yamashiro (just plain gaudy and hard to look at)
Raven's costume (the cartoon had the right idea with the leotard instead of the robe/dress with high slit)
Nu 52 Supergirl (why did they have make it look like a diaper?)
JL Action Hawkman (Hawkman fully covered up just feels wrong)
Sandman and Crimson Avengers Silver Age costumes (the coat and hat were SO MUCH cooler than the spandex)
Classic Black Canary outfit (the outfit just hasn't aged that well and just gets sillier every year especially when she is with the JSA and JLA)
Nu52 Harley Quinn (I prefer Timm's jester design over sexy porcleain girl in booty shorts she got turned into)
This pic always makes me laugh. It looks like Kyle is about to get both hands full of Jade.
New 52 Superman's armor wasn't such a bad idea, I don't think. After all, the pre-Crisis suit was invulnerable to the questionable extent that it worked as bulletproof armor if an ordinary person put it on for some reason. The New 52 armor still wasn't as invulnerable as Superman - in fact I don't even think it was as invulnerable as the pre-Crisis suit was, or even close.
That said, from a design stand-point, some artists made it work, and some didn't. I think Jim Lee always looks bored when he tries to draw the "Classic" Superman suit with the trunks and all that, and any Superman comic drawn by Jim Lee should absolutely use the New 52 armor, or something close to it.
But many if not most other artists, the number of fiddly details got in the way of what they were trying to draw. The armor would either look bad because it was too fiddly, or it would look good because they just didn't draw in all the details! I'm fine with the latter, but the former is obviously not ideal!
Also I don't think the high collar ever looked that good in general.
Honestly, I don't think Superman should have one single completely uniform outfit across the board. I think the writer and artist should work it out based on what kind of story they're trying to tell, and what kind of outfit the artist is best at drawing.
Last edited by Adekis; 08-13-2020 at 07:03 AM.
"You know the deal, Metropolis. Treat people right or expect a visit from me."