Favorite 'era's of superhero costumes

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Ares
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Favorite 'era's of superhero costumes

Post by Ares »

Superhero costumes, like fashion, change with the decade. Some aesthetics come and go, some remain constant, some become infamous and the subject of mockery. Looking at you Iron Age pouches, shoulder pads, bandoliers and guns.

Now obviously in any era you're going to have massive variations, especially between companies, but I find that you can usually point to certain stretches of 5 to 10 years at a company and get a feel for certain trends.

The Golden Age tended towards simple/minimalist costumes, with an emphasis on symbols, capes, trunks and the like. There was also a mild trend towards pulp-style domino masks and trench coats. Patriotic costumes were also super popular. Superman, Capt. Marvel, Batman, Capt. America, Wonder Woman, etc.

Silver Age costumes tried to be a bit 'sleek' in terms of design, emphasizing the sci-fi roots. Flash and Green Lantern got more streamlined outfits, and we'd get iconic costumes like Spider-Man.

The Bronze Age was heavily influenced by the 70s. There was a trend towards 'sexiness', with a lot of open shirts, high collars, bare skin, etc. See Nightwing, Black Lightning, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, the Nearly Nude Legion era, etc.

The late 80s and 90s in general had two sorts of design aesthetics. The first was what I'd call 'EXTREME!!!'. Everything had to have the designs that I'd call BAAB, for Bad Ass And Bland. A lot of trenchcoats, spikes, pouches, lines all over the place, etc. Basically any Image character fit this mold, but even guys like Biker Thor, Azrael Batman, Electro Superman and Biker Wonder Woman fell victim to this.

The other was 'Neo-Classic', where heroes would tend towards Silver Age designs, but with a slightly more modern twist. The Flash and Robin would get minor re-designs, a lot of Avengers got more classic costumes from Perez, etc.

The Neo-Classic era lasted for a while, but it's been replaced in what I call the Post-Movie Age. The influence of the films has resulted in costume redesigns that tend towards complicated, even complicating previously simple outfits. Superman lost the trunks, got a high collar and both he and Flash got all these unnecessary lines on their uniforms. Captain America's outfit would sometimes look more like his movie outfit. Hawkeye has completely flipped to his movie outfit, etc.

This is also an era of 'no costumes', where a lot of heroes just go around in plain clothes, like Luke Cage, Kate Bishop, America Chavez, the Runaways, etc. There's also a more mild version of the EXTREME!!! designs, where a lot of costumes are just a lot of lines with no real symbol or trend.

So is there an era or comics you can point to with your favorite design aesthetic?
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Re: Favorite 'era's of superhero costumes

Post by greycrusader »

The Golden Age produced obviously produced multiple iconic costumes, among the most recognized superhero costumes ever worldwide are worn by Superman, Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman, and also produced Captain America, all of whose looks have mostly remained intact over decades. And certainly there were others-the Marvel Family, the wonderfully rendered Quality heroes (particularly Black Condor and Ray) also stand out, even if they've fallen into obscurity. Likewise, the Silver Age (when there were still a lot of talented GA artists working) saw the FF uniforms, Spider-Man's costumes, and the new Flash and GL outfits-again, all mostly still used today.

The Bronze Age is pretty weaksauce in this regard-Wolverine's first costume is really good and suits the character, a lot of Cockrum, Steranko, and Byrne designs were great, but a lot of the stuff is just goofy or really dated. The LSH costumes of the era are sort of notoriously bad in this regard. The "Neo-Classic" designs really improved quite a few costumes, while keeping the core elements that worked.

So overall, I'd have to favor the Silver Age for actually producing the highest number of solid designs overall, with the early Bronze Age coming in second; the best GA stuff remains iconic, but there was just too much cut-rate junk churned out during the 1940s and 50s, as most artists didn't see comics as any kind of long-term career.

Just my musings.

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Re: Favorite 'era's of superhero costumes

Post by RUSCHE »

Has there ever been a Conan and Doc Savage crossover? Doc surely woud not approve on Conan's conflict resolution techniques.
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Re: Favorite 'era's of superhero costumes

Post by RUSCHE »

Have no idea how it ended up here, sorry i thought i placed this in the cross over thread..
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Re: Favorite 'era's of superhero costumes

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RUSCHE wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 2:30 pm Has there ever been a Conan and Doc Savage crossover? Doc surely woud not approve on Conan's conflict resolution techniques.
Both those guys are huge and ripped, bronze skinned, and travel the world while bare-chested and clad in leather thigh-high boots! Same fashion sense, so they DO belong here.

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Re: Favorite 'era's of superhero costumes

Post by RUSCHE »

greycrusader wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 10:36 pm
RUSCHE wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 2:30 pm Has there ever been a Conan and Doc Savage crossover? Doc surely woud not approve on Conan's conflict resolution techniques.
Both those guys are huge and ripped, bronze skinned, and travel the world while bare-chested and clad in leather thigh-high boots! Same fashion sense, so they DO belong here.

All my best.
I stand corrected, thank you. Haha.
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Re: Favorite 'era's of superhero costumes

Post by Ares »

Well, I was going to move those posts to the other thread, but I think I'll just quote you over there instead. :)
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Re: Favorite 'era's of superhero costumes

Post by Jabroniville »

I'm not really sure I have a "Favorite" era, though it might be that Kurt Busiek/George Perez "informed by the past, but less Baggy Kirby Undies" era of the early 2000s.

The Golden Age has some simple, nice costumes, but some HOLY GOD awful ones. A few too many "guy in a colored shirt" looks.

The Silver Age was good for DC, with some designs that still look good (the Flash, Green Lantern, etc.), while Marvel had the iconic looks in ways that come off kind of cheesy today, as Kirby's style had people in very baggy uniforms. It took Iron Man a while to start looking cool; Daredevil too. The Legion looked like utter dorks at the time, however.

The 1970s led to some REALLY fun stuff, but every costume from that era now looks so, so dated. Especially the "Nude Legion" stuff and the era of "cleavage down to the pubis" designs for women (like Satanna, Gamora, etc.). The New Teen Titans are mostly known for the '80s, but their costumes are straight from here, with Dick's man-cleavage and the Donna Troy go-go outfit (which I LOVE, but again is so "1970s"). But my favorite Legion of Super-Heroes era for looks is easily from here.

The 1980s saw a good set with the X-Men and such, but some truly dreadful "heroes in regular/punky clothes" designs. The influence of John Romita, Jr. & Marc Silvestri on X-men.

The 1990s was pretty good in some regards, but naturally the excesses of the era just killed it. I mean, we all know what they are.

Nowadays a "1960s Retro" look is almost in in some regards (check out all the 1960s-looking Janet Van Dyne stuff), with a lot of modern indie artists using a "Mike Allred" look to goofy-up a few designs. You have even more "Clothes As Costume" looks as the '80s had, though, and the MCU has led to a lot of "add superfluous detail everywhere" stuff as well.

The 2000s led to a bit of a renaissance, with everyone adopting their "Old School" looks, but with modern touches that made them less funny or dated. Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, etc. all looked modern yet classic. I think the JLA book was the same way.
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Re: Favorite 'era's of superhero costumes

Post by greycrusader »

I think that's a great take on the subject, Jab!
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Re: Favorite 'era's of superhero costumes

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The second costume that DC gave their golden age hero Tarantula, I think is an excellent example of how costume designs change...

His original costume was a yellow tights with purple trim number. It was very golden age... cowl, cape, tights, gloves.
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Thing was, over in Adventure Comics, Sandman gave up his gasmask and green suit for a more "super" look...
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Now, admittedly, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby would streamline Sandman and Sandy's look some, but, yeah Sandman and Tarantula looked very similar. And they were both published by the "National Comics" side of what would become DC.

Now, years later, Roy Thomas was writing "All-Star Squadron", and he decided there had to be a reason Wes Dodds and Jonathan Law had similar looking duds, so he came up with one. But a few issues later, he contrived Tarantula to get into a fight that trashes his costume, so he needs a replacement. And conveniently, Olga, his housekeeper, had been working on a replacement one already. One that didn't look like Sandman.

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I love AND hate this costume. It is a great design. But it doesn't look golden age at all. Just look at it. It was designed circa 1982, and looks it. The flared leotard over black shirt and tights? The spider design on the leotard, and the one on the mask....

The same story in All-Star Squadron that debuted that costume also debuted Infinity Inc., via time travel, and Tarantula looked more like the Infinitors than he did his fellow All-Stars.
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Re: Favorite 'era's of superhero costumes

Post by Jabroniville »

Yeah, that outfit always stood out to me as being WAY outside of its own era. It was like seeing 1970s haircuts on M*A*S*H- somebody wanted something stylish and cool for today, regardless of it being a period piece. Great example of eras shifting.
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Re: Favorite 'era's of superhero costumes

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I agree, the Tarantula costume is a FANTASTIC outfit, but it's a terrible Golden Age superhero costume. The Golden Age was all about simplicity, and while not overly complicated, it's still too complicated for a GA suit. It's be perfect for when it was created, the late 70s/early 80s.

Speaking of complicated, I think my least favorite era of costumes has to be the 2010 to today. The focus now seems to either be on making classic costumes more complicated or more 'realistic'. Just look at what the Nu-52 did to the Flash and Captain Marvel. They took the Flash's simple and sleek look and added all of these useless lightning lines all over his body that glow when he runs.

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And Captain Marvel's wonderfully classic Golden Age look was replaced with this hooded, glowing chest hole monstrosity that is Nu-Shazam.

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Meanwhile Hawkeye lost hos classic purple and blue duds for a lazy leather outfit from the Ultimates Universe, when he's even wearing a costume at all.

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I miss unique costume designs like we got in the Silver and Bronze Ages. You don't see masks like Wolverine, Hawkeye or classic Mockingbird anymore. There was some uniqueness to those those looks, they could stand apart in a crowd without needing a billion random squiggles on their suits or just regular clothes and sunglasses.
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Re: Favorite 'era's of superhero costumes

Post by Ares »

Actually, the New New Warriors are a good example of current comic costume trends and how much they stink.

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"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

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Re: Favorite 'era's of superhero costumes

Post by greycrusader »

The first two really just look like outfits for speed skaters, except for the emblems and collars; the ones for Trailblazer and Screentime (not bad codenames, really) are brightly colored street clothes (except for the latter's headgear/visor), albeit the kind worn by urban youth. The last one is just boring.

These are all trying way too hard to be hip and relevant, instead of looking distinctive or memorable. They're not terrible, they are just forgettable. And the are NOT superhero costumes, though I can sort of see what the artist/designer is going for. But either go with the plain clothes look, or do costumes (or at least colorful uniforms, like the X-Men occasionally). In-between usually doesn't work.

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