Digital Comic Museum
General Category => Comic Related Discussion => Topic started by: jfglade on October 15, 2011, 04:51:34 PM
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Yoc recently said that Captain Couragous "had the worst golden age costume going," and I'm not sure he's correct. I think Microface has the worst color scheme (or perhaps he's colorblind) I've ever seen and his costume is so homely that I feel sorry for him, but I'm still not sure he has the absolute worst costume. Any of you have nominees?
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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 (http://goldenagemicros.com/index.html) Micro heroes site.
-Yoc
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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 (http://goldenagemicros.com/index.html) 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.
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That's a nice list Jon.
I forgot about the Moth. I'd nominated Seigel's 'Funnyman' as insanely over the top if we are exploring beyond the GA. Yeah, I left out Speed Centaur, Fantomah, The Eye, etc figuring mythological and alien race characters off my list. They can't help themselves right?
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For shame, Jon & Yoc!!
Mother taught me that it's not polite to snicker at anyone's clothes: they may be poor; they may have poor eyesight (or a bad mirror) ... & for all you know, they may be on their way to a halloween party. (Confidentially, I was about to laugh out loud at Jon's descriptions of Blue Blade & the Moth ... until I remembered mother.)
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I was also gonna nominate the Zebra....soon as I saw the thread title, I thought of him. Air Wave had a goofy one, too.
I'm not familiar with Microface--I'll have to look him up.
The Jester looked retarded, too--though I guess the outfit matched the name.
There was a Quality hero who was dressed funny, too--in early issues of Hit Comics---was it the Red Bee? He had a see-through shirt of some kind. Looked like a gay pirate.
moondood
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As I am looking around I am surprised by the number of shirtless heroes any of which could be nominated.
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Hydroman. An aviator's leather headgear fused to the collar plate of a deep-sea diver's helmet, neither of which has much to do with being able to turn oneself into a puddle of water.
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Only Lou Fine could make The Red Bee look good - and he sure did. A silly costume though for sure.
Microface's headgear might remind some of the GA Sandman but he was in a spandex costume and not the cool raincoat.
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I forgot about Hydroman. He would have really looked rediculous if anyone other than Everette had handled the artwork. Everette was the saving grace on the early Aman stories, both suffered when they went to divers hands. Similiar to Lou Fine doing some nice covers with the Red Bee. You know an artist is good when he can do nice artwork despite silly costumes.
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It's so funny, but I actually like some of the costumes that have been mentioned here. For instance, the Kirby-redesigned Sandman and Sandy with the yellow and purple spandex is a favorite (I know I'll get chased out of this thread by Yoc for that one). The Jester and Zebra costumes seemed fairly silly, but quite appropriate given their double identities. And to be honest, I kind of like the Zebra's second costume with the red shorts and striped shirt. Nightmare from Clue Comics went from having one of the creepiest and outright best costumes from the Golden Age to one of the absolute worst after it was redesigned.
Ranbow Boy (with the rainbow helmet) and Hydroman are also fairly bad, which makes me wonder if certain comic book companies like Eastern Color had a problem coming up with costumes for their heroes, while other companies like Prize Comics Group or Better/Nedor/Standard -- with Black Terror, Fighting Yank, American Eagle, and even Then American Crusader in their stable -- did a much better job.
For the bottom of the barrel, The Moth and Kismet (fromBomber Comics) take the prize.
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On the mention of shirtless heroes (got to be careful with my spelling there), Santo the Mexican superhero wrestlers has mask, cape, tights and no shirt. Yes, I know he's a wrestler but in his comics, photonovels and the Turkish movie, he's out there fighting bad guys sans chemise.
I was never keen on Sandman's change from gas mask and suit to the garish skintight thingy. Much more menacing and mysterious
Surely the strangest cossy is not in comics but pulps with the Crimson Clown, strangely enough in his balloony crimson clown costume. Mind you, The Jester looked pretty daft.
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On shirtless heroes it's interesting how many familiar American characters ended up that way on the covers of British reprints: Batman, for example, looked particularly odd with a bat symbol tattooed onto his bare chest (not to mention his carefully shaved bare legs!). And who remembers that the mighty Galactus appeared to be wearing short pants during his initial appearances in Fantastic Four?
- Phil Rushton
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...Come to think of it, another Golden Age costume I've never been entirely sure about is the Spectre's. When I initially came across the character during his Silver Age revival I though his green and white outfit looked really neat - until I noticed his similarity to the painting of a crucified Jesus Christ which appeared above my church's altar. Since then I haven't been able to decide whether he's wearing a white costume with green accessories (neat!), or if the white bits are actually meant to be exsanguinated corpse-flesh (seriously creepy!). :-\
Does anyone know if there is a definitive answer to this...?
- Phil Rushton
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...Come to think of it, another Golden Age costume I've never been entirely sure about is the Spectre's. When I initially came across the character during his Silver Age revival I though his green and white outfit looked really neat - until I noticed his similarity to the painting of a crucified Jesus Christ which appeared above my church's altar. Since then I haven't been able to decide whether he's wearing a white costume with green accessories (neat!), or if the white bits are actually meant to be exsanguinated corpse-flesh (seriously creepy!). :-\
Does anyone know if there is a definitive answer to this...?
- Phil Rushton
I've always assumed the green was costume and the white was bare pastey-white skin.
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I've always assumed the green was costume and the white was bare pastey-white skin.
That's what I always thought.
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I've always assumed the green was costume and the white was bare pastey-white skin.
That's what I always thought.
Same here, but I do remember reading the two-part origin story as it was reprinted in "Secret Origins" back in the early 70s and I remember Jim Hammond sewing a costume in the last pane of the second story which I assumed was just the hooded cape the Spectre wears. It looked like sewing was a major undertaking for Hammond, so I assumed he only made a minimal costume. If I recall correctly, and I may not, there was also a panel showing what the Spectre would look like which may have been miscolored; in that single panel, the Spectre was shown in his familiar costume but his "skin" was green and his costume was purple. If that had been the original costume colors and a wise editorial decision was made back in 1940 not to use it, that color scheme would have been a strong contender for sheer ugliness.
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Well, ghosts are almost always colored white in comics, so I don't think I ever suspected it was "skin" so much as...whatever Casper is showing.
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Yes, that's the way I prefer to think of the white bits: a kind of solidified ectoplasm. The problem is that the idea of the Spectre as a superhero and member of the JSA has always conflicted somewhat with the alternative tendency to portray him as a horror character where the image of a resurrected corpse in a green shroud is more appropriate.
- Phil Rushton
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Honestly I always thought Mr. Scarlet and Pinky's costume sucked; the characters were fine though. It's like they slapped on red body suits and remembered at the last minute they needed a contrasting color.
My sister LOVES the Golden Age Spectre and we both thought Jim Corrigan just wore underwear, hood, gloves and shoes. The costume was something we loved to joke about. ^-^
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Honestly I always thought Mr. Scarlet and Pinky's costume sucked; the characters were fine though. It's like they slapped on red body suits and remembered at the last minute they needed a contrasting color.
My sister LOVES the Golden Age Spectre and we both thought Jim Corrigan just wore underwear, hood, gloves and shoes. The costume was something we loved to joke about. ^-^
I generally feel that Pinky's costume has aged better than his nom du costume. Originally, the name made a sort of sense in connections to his mentor's code name, seeming more logical than the Black Terror and Tim for example. Then came the associations with pinkos during the cold war years, and now it just seems effeminate, when it originally had neither connotation. Life can't be easy for a boy called Pinky.
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"I generally feel that Pinky's costume has aged better than his nom du costume. Originally, the name made a sort of sense in connections to his mentor's code name, seeming more logical than the Black Terror and Tim for example. Then came the associations with pinkos during the cold war years, and now it just seems effeminate, when it originally had neither connotation. Life can't be easy for a boy called Pinky."
I do agree that the code name Pinky has aged the worst. If Mr. Scarlet and Pinky had debuted today a lot of people would be making homophobic jokes about him. Actually in Power of Shazam issue #44 the New Mr. Scarlet A.K.A. the former Pinky commented on his name in a very similar manner as yours ;)