Redesign Superman Contest!!!

[grafunkel]

(Yes, it's about me, myself and I again ;D )

The Pulp Secret Video Podcast and Project:Rooftop were doing a Superman: Man Of Style contest, where you had to redesign Superman's costume. My entry's one of 21 finalists. Wheeeeeee!!! The results of the contests'll be made public around monday evening. (That would be THIS evening. Argh.)

- - - -

Dang. Didn't win.

Better luck next time.

[boomvavavoom]

do hotlink the image that did win and the one you send in

[grafunkel]

The winning entry was this one, created by Ming Doyle, talented artiste extra-ordinaire, funny as hell, and pretty as a button.



Aaaand, this was my entry. I wrote a small accompaying textblurb, just to put my design in its context, but I guess nobody really paid any attention to it. Maybe rightly so, the design has to speak for itself, no?

Anyway, here's mine.




And the little blurb:

"They acted at the exact same moment, several blocks away from each other.

The first one stabbed Jimmy Olsen, causing only some internal
bleeding, thanks to the Flash's swift intervention.

Superman could crush the second one's throat before he could kill a
random passer-by.

The third one shot Lois Lane in the face in her own kitchen.

Alienated more than ever from the people he once protected, Kal-El,
the Superior, the Man Of Steel, the last survivor of Krypton, has now
become his own Fortress Of Solitude."

- - - -

So Kal-El, now more a palladin/vagrant, left everything behind, and
carries around everything he still wants close to him in his belt:
objects and memorabilia from his old Fortress Of Solitude. The cape he
once wore has become more of a robe/cloak, making him look like a
prince and a vagrant at the same time, and it also protects him from
the outside world... of course more on a psychological than a physical
level. The suit is a traditional Kryptonian grieving uniform: cold
metal, engraved with the Kryptonian sigil for "tear". ... No, really!

[boomvavavoom]

well

you did way more then just a redesign, so kudos for that. The again. They DID ask for a redesign. YOurs is more an Elseworld-version.

Still, I love Elseworld and would love to see more

[grafunkel]

Jul 8, 2008 21:40:11 GMT 1 boomvavavoom said:

well

you did way more then just a redesign, so kudos for that. The again. They DID ask for a redesign. YOurs is more an Elseworld-version.

Still, I love Elseworld and would love to see more

You're absolutely right: It's a really fine line between redesigning the costume, and redesigning the concept. And it's hard to keep off the original (conceptual) material, because when your fiddling with his general style, logo, colours, hairstyles, whatever, you start thinking about WHY exactly you would want to change his general style, logo, yada yada... and if you're not finding any particular reasoning in his existing history... well, why not change his history just a tiny little bit? Or maybe juuuust a little bit more? And then some more here, and then tweak that over there... and soon enough you end up with a total alternative Elseworlds version of the character, in this case Supes.

I'm considering doing a redux version of my design: different hairstyle, lose the beard-mustache-thing, lose the trinkets on his belt, slightly happier expression and more iconic pose... maybe that would've worked better.

Ah well. I had fun doing this.

Oh, and I already had some stuff featured at Project:Rooftop in the past, so I'm still happy about that! Hah!

[boomvavavoom]

they indeed DID give you loads of kudos!!!

Dean: This is one of the more radical entries we got! I’m surprised by how much this feels guy feels like he belongs in the Superman mythology. Maybe not Supes himself, but I dig the Kryptonian cleric-plus-techno vibe. Could easily work as a Zod, Eradicator, or possibly a new villian created by Brainiac? Any way you slice it, this is a cool look, but unless the Superman titles take a hard turn, it’s just not Superman. Totally wicked, though.

Jess: I’m with Dean: this isn’t Superman himself, but it’s definitely someone in his world. I’m actually getting a Vandal Savage vibe from him, myself.

Rachel: I was thinking Mr. Sinister, but that might just be the hair and cape. Incidentally, this is one of a number of designs we got in which Superman is barefoot, something we haven’t seen with any other character.

Chris: Art is showing a metric ton of creativity here, but it’s taken him on a journey outside of who Superman is. But man, I’d love to see this guy face-off with Superman.

Joel: If Superman had been created in the Seventies for Warrior Magazine, this is exactly what he would have looked like. Grafunkel goes very the bold, creating a new image for Supesf rom the ground-up, but I think he misses the boat when it comes to the gadgets, specifically. At risk of stating the obvious, the essential, timeless appeal of Superman is that he is a Man who is Super. That is, he is the basic human experience raised to the level of hyperbole. Gadgets get in the way of this by making the character a specific sci-fi conceit, rather than an enduring metaphor-mask.

Vito: It’s definitely “out of this world” which is not only the norm with Art, but also the whole kit and kaboodle with Superman. He kind of looks like one of the Obsidian Age characters from the Joe Kelly JLA run, though. I like it, but I think we all agree that this isn’t exactly Kal. And is he packing Kryptonite on his belt?

Waid: Blurgh. Really creative, but zero to do with Superman.

DO tell me you ar going to try out for the VAMPIRELLA REDESIGN as well...my fav character in comics!!

[grafunkel]

Aug 14, 2008 9:05:00 GMT 1 boomvavavoom said:

DO tell me you ar going to try out for the VAMPIRELLA REDESIGN as well...my fav character in comics!!

Haaah! I read about their Vampi contest and the first thing that popped in my head was: Boom would love this!

I don't know anything about Vampi though, (other than that she's an alien vampire, and she wears a skimpy bathing suit with a silly collar) so I'll have to do some googling... but I guess I'll give it a try. ;D

[boomvavavoom]

factscon.proboards20.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=Comics&thread=770&page=1

I added some useful images and links

Have fun researching