Hi Jon,
I kinda like Microface, it could be used in a modern comic pretty easy.
I stand by Capt Courageous as among the worst - I'd also nominate Timely's 'Blue Blade' (see The Twelve),
Holyoke's 'The Hood' (yellow ver), Hillman's 'Iron Ace' (just plane silly), the purple 'Mad Hatter' (on DCM in unsorted), and DC's Kirby purple version of 'Sandman' (why change a classic??).
Perhaps #1a with ol Cap Courageous could be Harvey's 'The Zebra' from Green Hornet Comics who must have been influenced by Novelty's 'The Twister' from Blue Bolt v2.
A good reference site for this kind of question would be Copper Age's Golden Age Heroes & Zeroes Micro heroes site.
-Yoc
I was just hoping to generate some discussion, but I should have probably made an attempt to define "worst," since ugliness is, like beauty, very subjective and depends a great deal on which beholded is giving it the eye.
First off, I rather like Microface myself, but he has a lot going against him visually (and I don't think his name would put fear into the hearts of the cowardly and superstitious). Microface's color scheme strikes me as too busy, as if a third grader tried to uses all of his favorite colors on an image in a coloring book with no regard to how those colors looked together. On top of that his helmet is positively odd. I think I do like Microface stories is that I have no doubt that he's couragous; anyone who would wear his costume in public is obviously fearless. Still, I think he's just one of several contenders not the real champion of the worst.
I agree with Iron Ace, but I don't think his suit of armor is inherently silly since it would look just fine in most Arthurian age stories; Iron Ace is guilty of wearing a perfectly good costume in stories of the wrong genre. I expect an aviation hero to look like he might be at home in a cockpit, not on a warhorse. Similiarly, Blazing Comics had a character who was called, I believe, Red Hawk who antiipated DC's Johnny Cloud in that he was a First American fighter pilot stationed in the Pacific Theater, but he dressed like he was a stereotypical "Injun" in a western feature. I agree that that sort of thing is silly but not because the costume designs are inherently bad... until they are applied to the wrong genre. Harvey's Clown also strikes me as an odd hero because I assume everyone knows clowns aren't heroic, they're evil.
Silly hats can ruin an otherwise acceptable costume, as witness the headwear of characters as different as Centaur's Blue Lady, Shock Gibson's original headgear (one of the silliest of silly hats), the Whizzer's helmet with the stylized wings, and the fez with a big "V" worn by Elliot's short lived Kismet. I think a major part of Captain Couragous' problems have to do with his strange "star" mask/hood, although if I were among the cowardly and superstitious I'd be afraid to fight him for feat he could accidently put one of my eyes out with the many points on his headwear.
Amazingly underdressed male characters unnerve me, but incredibly underdressed heroines don't for some strange reason. The Blue Blade's costume, what there is of it, makes me wonder if he wasn't escaping from a confrontation with someone's husband and had only time to grab his cape, mask, hat, boots, sword, and in the dark grabbed one of the lady's undergarments by mistake. I am particularly puzzled by heroes, like Quality's The Unknown and MLJ's Red Rube, who wear pants and capes but no shirts; at least The Unknown got passed the bare chested look in favor of a white shirt to make his red cape and blue pants more patriotic. I like Amazing Man very much, but I've long been puzzled by the large A and the straps that hold it in place on his chest and why his underdressed appearance is excused by saying he is wearing a "Tibetian uniform." I understand it is cold in Tibet at least half of the year.
I suppose we should leave the "what were they thinking" characters like the title character of "the Eye Sees", Speed Centaur, and Timely's Electro and The Terror out of this because they don't actually wear costumes, but they certainly do cut unusual figures. I know you're fond of Fantoma but I find her fantasitically bizarre when she's in her avenging fury mode.
I don't mind the Zebra's second costume with the red shorts and stripped shirt, but I do find his original costume firmly on the ugly side but it is meant to be home made, make that prison made. I should check a reference before I say this, but I'm fairly certain he predates the Twister, who wasn't around long and may have his costume as an excuse for such a short run.
I was using Wikipedia's Public Domain Super Heroes material as a visual reference, but Copper's site is much easier to use and it is good to be reminded that some heroes had more than one bad costume. I've finally decided my candidate for Worst Costume is Fox's The Moth in his barechested second costume. Not only did he wear a cape but he also sported transperent fairy wings, high collar, and silly hat; I wouldn't be suprised to learn that he decided to become the Lynx instead after appearing in public in his eyesore costume which probably made the cowardly and superstitious roll around on the graveyard ground in laughter. Easily mistaken for Batman? I think not.
I'm glad I limited this to the golden age, because there are some silver age costumes that I really don't want to recall.
