The evolution of Iron Man from his bulky original suit to the current look happened over the course of several redesigns, including a gold version of the original, the "Silver Centurion" armor of the '80s, and Football Pants.
Oh, Sue Storm. I don't know what possessed someone to redesign your costume as a swimsuit with a giant "4" cut out over your cleavage. Oh wait, yes I do. As you might expect, the Invisible Woman's costume reverted back to the bodysuit that Jessica Alba later donned in the movies, and the "4" costume now lives on only in infamy.
By far one of the most absurd costume changes in comics history, Speedball was a happy-go-lucky teen hero who made colorful energy bubbles, until one of his teammates accidentally blew up 612 civilians. He renamed himself Penance, as now dresses in a metal gimp suit with 612 internal spikes that stab him every time he moves. You know, as penance.
In the '90s, Aquaman ditched his original costume in favor of an updated look with long hair, a beard and a hook in place of his left hand, because his Super Friends gear apparently just wasn't piratey enough.
After Bruce Wayne had his back broken by the villain Bane during the 90s, another vigilante took over the mantle of Batman -- while wearing brightly-colored battle armor and excessive yellow pouches. He also eventually started killing people, forcing Wayne to take back the Batman name -- and the costume we know and love.
After his secret identity was revealed in the 90s, Daredevil faked his own death, had a breakdown, became a street hustler, and returned in a mecha-suit with razor shoulderpads. Mercifully, none of this lasted, and he returned to his old identity and costume for reasons that ultimately, don't really matter.
One of the most famous costume changes in comics history, Spider-Man's black suit was actually an alien symbiote that bonded to his body during an intergalactic conflict called the Secret Wars, but we're pretty sure it was really put there because everyone was tired of drawing all those webs on his classic costume. He eventually removed the symbiote and returned to his classic costume, except for a brief period when Aunt May was hospitalized and he decided to dress in a non-symbiotic black costume to express the darkness of his soul.
While a lot of folks (including Jughead) went punk in the '80s, Storm's transformation into mohawked, leather-wearing badass was less about the music and lifestyle and more about going down into the sewer and having knife-fights with super-powered gang-leaders. And THAT is punk as hell.
The biggest major change from Wonder Woman's traditional costume into something with pants coincided with the rise of the Women's Lib movement, but unfortunately involved her losing all of her powers in the process, which is kind of a mixed message. Much like bell-bottoms, her groovy costume soon disappeared in favor of a more classic ensemble.
The X-Men have worn a lot of colorful costumes over the years, but it wasn't until Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely gave the X-Men a more paramilitary-inspired uniform that they actually made sense for the mutant fighters. The more realistic take was also adopted by the movies, where they donned appropriate fitted black uniforms rather than neon spandex.
Comments:
(8)Add a comment
Monday 20 July
By Tyler Chin-Tanner
I don't get it. I thought the point of it was that it was clip art. Isn't that public domain? And how am I going to get through the day without my Mango-a-go-go?
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Monday 20 July
By Laura Hudson
Sure, the clip art is available to anyone just as it was available to Rees, but he took those stock images and made something original and distinctive with them. The problem isn't that Jamba Juice used clip art, but that it used those precise images in a way that borrows almost entirely from what he created with them.
I also love Mango-a-go-go. :(
Monday 20 July
By James
It seems like kind of baseless whining. If you're going to use clip art to create something, you can't really complain if someone else uses the same clip art to also create something.
Reply
Tuesday 21 July
By derivativecomics.com
Rees infused stale, meaningless clip art with his outlook on political, social, and moral woes. Jamba Juice has divested the strips of such meaning, and transformed them into stale, meaningless clip art. In a way, it’s genius.
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Wednesday 22 July
By misterfricative
You want mockery? I got your mockery right here -- http://tinyurl.com/nv68g5
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Wednesday 22 July
By Justin Maudslien
I am outraged beyond words. David Rees may not draw the comic, but his unique and original style was stolen. At least give the boy credit. It is obvious Jamba Juice said lets try to cash in on his popularity and get better numbers in the 20-30 year old geek demographic. If there was any justice in this world David and I would dance in the ashes of this crappy corporate chain.
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Saturday 08 August
By jimmyjohnson
I've been enraged that "Get Your War On"s bland, predictable "satire" gets printed and written about over more interesting comics that cartoonists spend hours drawing by hand.
Never been to Jamba Juice before, but I'm starting today!
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Friday 06 November
By Erik Cyree
So, people are upset that Jamba Juice stole the art that David Reese is too lazy to draw? That's weird.
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