Today is the eleventh birthday of my nephew, Ryan.  I’m very proud of him.  He’s a bright, clever, talented, respectful kid and a great big brother to his sister, Taylor.  Another thing I love about him is that at such a young age, he’s already found a niche in life and he’s pursuing it with all the passion and energy that youth allows. 

At the tender age of 11, Ryan is already building his own multi-media empire.  He loves to create his own movies, which he posts on his own YouTube channel.  (He successfully lobbied his father for a second YouTube channel which will have a different focus, so he already understands the value of branding!)  Ryan’s filmed his own talkshow, with a studio audience of neighborhood kids, then sold the DVDs of the show.  However, the crown jewel of the nascent empire is his pro-wrestling blog, RPD’s ArmBAR Pro Wrestling Review.  Since he started the blog in March 2010, Ryan has been updating it religiously with reviews of WWE and TNA’s weekly programs and even conducts his own original interviews.  He’s like a modern day “Mean” Gene Okerlund!  I’m a big wrestling fan, but Ryan came by his appreciation for it independently.  (Although I did help him name the site, from my own love of technical, submission wrestling and Chris Jericho’s famous “Man of 1004 Holds” promo.)  On weeks when I might miss the shows, I’ll go to the ArmBAR to catch up on what happened.

Ryan is thoroughly enjoys the “sports” aspect of “sports entertainment,” but also gets that it is “entertainment.”  This is who pro-wrestling was made for.  He IS their intended audience, so for a unique, fun, non-jaded perspective on the world of pro-wrestling from the eyes of a 10 an eleven-year old, you can’t go wrong with the ArmBAR Pro Wrestling Review.  When you do, tell him that “Uncle” sent you.  Whattya think about that, Ryan?

Thought so.  Happy birthday!

- JEP

DUE TO ARTIST ERROR*, TODAY’S STRIP WILL BE POSTED BY 6:00 pm, INSTEAD OF THIS MORNING.

SORRY ABOUT THAT, Y’ALL!

- JEP

* Feel free to speculate about the nature of my “error.”

The new strip is up!

- JEP

For some reason, I started thinking about costumes this week.  Possibly because none are featured in WORLD OF HURT, sometimes I just get the hankerin’ to draw superheroes.  As I was considering some of my favorite costume designs, and what makes them work, I realized that they fell into two very different categories: the simple and the complex.  This entry looks at my top five in the former category, whose creators managed to create a unique look while keeping the overall design quite clear and uncomplicated.  I don’t do this nearly as well as Agent of S.T.Y.L.E., Alan Kistler, over at Blog@Newsarama, but here goes:

#5:   Raven of The New Teen Titans

As much as I love George Perez, most of his costume designs are so ridiculously complex, that only he can do them justice.  However, his design for Raven was gloriously simple, elegant, and character-appropriate.  It was mysterious, sexy, and reasonably modest.  Raven was the acolyte of an otherdimensional religion and the outfit served the dual needs of looking like both a cleric’s robes and a superhero costume.  Recent interpretations of Raven’s costume have altered the design with thigh-high boots which don’t seem to work as well as the flats which Perez gave her.  Also, current artists tend not to include the shadow across her face, I suppose in the name of “realism,” but it was a wonderful touch by George Perez that I miss.   Having Raven’s face hidden by the heavy, black shadow even figured into the Trigon plot with a startling pay-off later in the classic Perez/Wolfman run of the 1980s.

#4: Orion of Jack Kirby’s The New Gods

Most of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World costume designs were mind-bogglingly ornate.  Sometimes they defied logic (see Mr. Miracle’s mask), however like everything he did throughout his career, the designs served the story and the characters.  Orion was a no-nonsense soldier and, minus the complex Astro-Force harness, which had a purely utilitarian function, his costume had a similar Spartan  simplicity.  The dominant red color reflected his warrior status, but the costume lacks a cape, insignia, or extraneous elements.  If you remove the red body suit, he is basically dressed like an MMA fighter.

#3: Captain Marvel (Marvel Comics)

The Gil Kane re-design of Marvel’s Captain Marvel takes many of the basic elements of a standard superhero costume: trunks, recognizable insignia, gloves, mask, etc., and remixes them just enough to create something wholly unique.  The half-cowl which lets the hair poke out doesn’t really work in the real-world, but it looks great in comics. The high, jagged cut of his trunks was also something that set Capt. Marvel apart.  The deep red, blues and yellows of his costume are the classic primary color scheme shared by many superheroes.  Everything about the costume is bog-standard superhero stuff, but there was something about how it all came together that felt fresh, but the ChrisCross re-design of the costume in the 1990s made it even better by lengthening the trunks into pants and adding a star-field effect to its shadows. 

#2:   Black Panther (Marvel Comics)

Much like the other Jack Kirby creation, the Silver Surfer, everything you need to know about the character is communicated in one color and a distinctive silhouette.  What more could you want in a costume design?

#1: Captain Marvel (DC Comics)

With the gold armbands, the gold braiding, and the buttoned tunic, the martial aspect of Captain Marvel’s name is conveyed beautifully in C.C. Beck’s design.  The deep blood orange-red of Captain Marvel’s costume is so distinct that Spider-Woman is the only other comic book character who shares that shade.  The short cape with the gold trim is also a nice touch you don’t see on many other heroes.  During the 1980s, there was a tendency to draw the cape’s  collar high and stiff, like the one on Dr. Strange’s Cloak of Levitation, but Jerry Ordway and Alex Ross did a lot to restore the look where it hangs more naturally.  Captain Marvel’s costume also lacks the underpants-over-tights look that has been a sartorial thorn in the side of his Golden Age counterparts like, Superman, Batman, and even the Specter.  There’s nothing I don’t love about it.

- JEP

#5   Jack Of Hearts (Marvel Comics)

Jack Of Hearts has one insanely complicated costume that must have driven artists insane.  The costume embraces a deck-of-cards theme and then proceeds to squeeze the life out of it.  Nonetheless, it’s one of those gloriously overwrought 1970s-era comic book costumes that matched the soap operatic nature of the character.

#4  Manhunter [Mark Shaw] DC Comics

I remember when this book came out John Ostrander bragged in an issue of Comics Scene that the book could sell on the strength of the costume design alone.  Largely, I think he was correct.  Artist, Doug Rice, designed the new Manhunter costume to include nods to the legacy of Manhunter characters in the DC Universe, including the blue-faced cosmic robots and the Paul Kirk version made famous by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson.  The stylized jhodpurs and the scarf which Doug Rice added gave the costume a jaunty, fun feel, and is something you don’t often see in superhero costume design.

#3  Storm (Marvel Comics)

Dave Cockrum designed some of the sexiest costumes around (and he had a penchant for thigh length boots for both sexes).  Personally, I don’t think that Marvel has ever improved on Storm’s original costume.  The rounded cape connected at the wrists to help catch the wind was an inspired choice.  Also, I’ve noticed that some modern bathing suits echo the design of Storm’s costume in the way the top connects to the trunks. Cockrum was ahead of his time.

#2 Manhunter [Paul Kirk] DC Comics

Nothing should work about this costume.  It’s needlessly busy and garish, but it’s probably the genius of Walt Simonson’s pencil and the bravura ballsiness of the design with its flared sleeves and shoulders and the Japanese lantern boots that makes it work.

#1  Big Barda (DC Comics)

Big Barda is Wonder Woman done right. I love the character of Big Barda, but this costume was so complicated that even Jack “King” Kirby struggled with rendering it consistently from page to page.  However, it’s brilliant because it embodies so much of that wonderfully brash Kirby aesthetic.  The elaborate headdress mirrors a bouffant hairdo, but also echoes Egyptian design.  I like the way the thick, chunky lines of the belt flow into a miniskirt/loincloth.  The bright red cape gives her an air of royalty.  As a former soldier in Darkseid’s honor guard, I always envisioned that this was her dress uniform.  Despite her decision to disassociate herself from Darkseid, I could easily imagine her wanting to keep this uniform as a souvenir, because she loved the way it looked, too.
- JEP