Saturday, August 14, 2010

Draw Draw Challenge #4: Costume Redesign

Hey, I know, like, zero of you are participating in this, but again if you want to just redesign a super-hero costume and feel free to mail it to me, and I'll post it on here if you'd like. It's really all about being productive rather than doing something mindblowing.

I re-did probably my favorite superhero Martian Manhunter. I adore J'onn J'onnz if, for anything, for how criminally misused he is - for one thing he's the only really, really notable psychi/mind power character in the DCU and it's forgotten or overlooked, or simply ignored ALL the time. Telepathy is crazy useful in the superhero game. But on top of that, you know, he's the archetypical DC power template: flight, super strength, impervious, eye beams. Oh yeah, and he can turn invisible, change shape and become immaterial. Oh and he's a "master detective." So he's like a mix between Superman and Batman if Superman could rape your brain and Batman could, you know, change shape and walk through walls. Essentially, he can do anything he wants. But no one ever cares. Oh, and unlike Superman, he's from another planet, lost here on earth as his civilization was destroyed and has taken to loving and protecting earth, but still feels 100% alien and actually deals with that regularly.

OH.

And he loves Oreos.

I blame a lot of the disinterest in the Manhunter because his costume is awful. It's 50s simple, and therefore sort of iconic and it really stands out, but frankly, it's sort of dorky. So, I wanted to keep what little portions of his current costume that screamed "Martian Manhunter" - which is to say, the big red X and the belt with the white logo - but I also wanted his new costume to look alien. After I reached a happy point there, though, he just didn't look right without something to add to his silhouette. And I just don't see J'onn as a cape guy, but I do seem him having a priestly or regal air that comes along with a cape. i figured the martians were a desert society, so I did a little research and decided I really liked the over-sized scarf/sash thing that I found in my simple google image related research and decided I really liked how it looked, it made him stand out, and it gave him a great silhouette. So, I'm prety fond of it - and I added some of my little doodles trying to get a costume I liked, but in the end I really liked what I came up with, which is pretty surprising since costume design is not anywhere on my forte list. Also, I really liked drawing Martian Manhunter all week.

so, enjoy:

Martian Manhunter costume redesign

1 comment:

  1. I love the design, but about his undercover human disguise, John Jones, that he spends 90% of his time in, solving earth crimes as a "human" detective?

    If you're interested in exploring it, here's an image of him from Detective Comics:
    http://a.imageshack.us/img137/5881/detectivecomics320020.jpg

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