Marvel, Please Stop Letting Artists Mess With Captain America's Costume!

[Holdyourfireal]

I seriously can't take it anymore! Captain America was my first comic. My Dad bought me an issue of the Tales of Suspense reprint series called Marvel Double Feature when I was 4 years old in the early 70s. Cap is my favorite superhero and I'm growing increasingly frustrated with Marvel for allowing artists to alter his costume at their every whim.



That being said, I honestly love the work of folks, like Kevin McGuire, John Cassaday, and Bryan Hitch, but I can't stand their interpretations of Cap!



I mean, how would all of you feel if an artist working for Marvel suddenly gave Spider-Man webshooters to wear outside his costume (ala the TV series) and every artist thereafter ran with it???? I think there'd be a bit of outrage.



Anyway...the problem began here...







...in this mini-series, Kevin McGuire introduced us to Cap with a "molded" mask and over-exaggerated scale mail.



This was taken to a whole new level by John Cassaday here...







Then, Chris Bachalo (I think!) introduced us to the VERY annoying "utility belt" and lines on the mask here...







Finally, we have the cover of Captain America Reborn # 4. Bryan Hitch has decided to change the A...







I just don't get the need for these annoying changes in one of the best superhero costumes of all time?!?!?!?



THIS was Cap's costume since he was revived in 1964...



*see the cover to Captain America #193 (I can't include a fifth pic)



...and it was the standard for 40 years!!!! Here's a list of some of the artists that saw no need to change this brilliant outfit...



Jack Kirby

Jim Steranko

John Buscema

John Romita Sr.

Sal Buscema

John Byrne

Mike Zeck

Ron Garney

Steve Epting (when he drew Avengers)



and so many others!



Why can't Marvel's current artists just follow their lead? I don't get it?!?!? I LOVE Brubaker's Cap, but these changes are a glaring annoyance everytime I read an issue.



Please, Marvel...make it stop.



Thanks!



HoldyourfireAl of www.statuemarvels.com

[Jake V]

It's no different than the various interpretations of Batman's costume, and he's a much more iconic character.

[StoneGold]

Originally Posted by Holdyourfireal

...in this mini-series, Kevin McGuire introduced us to Cap with a "molded" mask and over-exaggerated scale mail.

]

You can blame Simon and Kirby for the mask. Go back to the first issue of Captain America, and Cap has that little Cap mask. And I can't find the piece, but Joe Simon did this lithograph bit where he drew Cap putting together the costume for the first time, and the mask was a combat helmet.

[Leocomix]

It's part of the trend to make things more realistic. They add elements that make Cap look more like a soldier.
For instance the soles of his boots were flat, now they're like army boots (they did the same to Batman)
The new A looks like a white painted army letter.
Too bad you don't like it. I don't like everything they do (like the painted wings on a helmet in Reborn) but I give it a chance. Basically ever since Lee brought them back, super-heroes have been a medley genre borrowing elements from other genres. Or, in other words, it moved away from straight super-heroes. This is what keeps it interesting. For instance, Batroc looks better now.

[FlintEastwood]

Originally Posted by Holdyourfireal

I mean, how would all of you feel if an artist working for Marvel suddenly gave Spider-Man webshooters to wear outside his costume (ala the TV series) and every artist thereafter ran with it???? I think there'd be a bit of outrage.

Speaking of Spiderman...






Those are two prime examples of Spiderman's costume being changed. The difference in costume is much greater than the Captain America costume changes you cite, which are, minuscule at best.

It's not just Spiderman. Look at Daredevil - yellow, red, armored - his costumes have been changed significantly over the years. The Fantastic Four have had updates to their outfits. We have had different Hawkeye outfits. Different Antman outfits. The Wasp has had updates. Even effinThor has had slight alterations here and there. If you GIS you can find examples of all of these.

Costume changes are something you are going to have to get over. Every artist will want to realize the character in a different way. If it really bothers you that much, just be happy it has happened so little with Cap. There hasn't been a huge change until Alex Ross updated the costume for Bucky (with that triangle design he's been trying to sneak in for a while) - which likely will not stick after Steve returns.

[daveageallen]

the reborn one is supposed to be a metal helmet with an A stenciled on it. like in wars their metal helmets have their batallions logo or number stenciled on. its not changing forever yeah to me the scales got out of control. way to many and big now.

[GHalecki]

I don't mind the boots too much. The belt is just fine. The restyling of the "A" is quite unfortunate though.
And I hate how they turned the chain shirt into scale.
I don't mine (I actually even like) the heavy emphasis on the pattern, like in the Maguare/Austin cover shown here.
I HATE how it ended up getting turned into something completely else, something that really redefined the charachter, as shown in the other covers listed.

I think the redefining of the costume attributes match up with how people have been redefining the charachter for the last decade or so.

Cap has always been a soldier by MOTIVE, but he wasn't a soldier by MOTIF since he was reintroduced in the 60s.
All the way from the 60's through around 2k, cap was a costumed high flying acrobat that would bound accross a room and weave in and out of enemies with blinding speed and agility. Lately, I guess in some attempt to make him more "realistic" his style at some point changed into what someone or another thinks "real" fighting looks like.
Somewhere along the line, they made his fighting style more the Rock and less Bruce Lee. More George Foreman, less Ali. More barbarian, less swashbuckler. More Shwartzenegger, less Errol Flynn.
His costume has just reflected that.
It is a real shame too.

[Holdyourfireal]

Originally Posted by Jake V

It's no different than the various interpretations of Batman's costume, and he's a much more iconic character.

They've been changing Bat's costume for years. Captain America had never been altered in decades. Seriously, if they suddenly started changing Spidey's costume, how would you feel?

.

[Holdyourfireal]

Originally Posted by Leocomix

It's part of the trend to make things more realistic. They add elements that make Cap look more like a soldier.
For instance the soles of his boots were flat, now they're like army boots (they did the same to Batman)
The new A looks like a white painted army letter.
Too bad you don't like it. I don't like everything they do (like the painted wings on a helmet in Reborn) but I give it a chance. Basically ever since Lee brought them back, super-heroes have been a medley genre borrowing elements from other genres. Or, in other words, it moved away from straight super-heroes. This is what keeps it interesting. For instance, Batroc looks better now.

Do you really think something like the plates/"feathers" look better than the subtle hint of chainmail? Personally, I don't get how artists would enjoy drawing each & every "feather" on his shirt. I think it looks awful.

.

[Holdyourfireal]

Originally Posted by FlintEastwood

Speaking of Spiderman...






Those are two prime examples of Spiderman's costume being changed. The difference in costume is much greater than the Captain America costume changes you cite, which are, minuscule at best.

It's not just Spiderman. Look at Daredevil - yellow, red, armored - his costumes have been changed significantly over the years. The Fantastic Four have had updates to their outfits. We have had different Hawkeye outfits. Different Antman outfits. The Wasp has had updates. Even effinThor has had slight alterations here and there. If you GIS you can find examples of all of these.

Costume changes are something you are going to have to get over. Every artist will want to realize the character in a different way. If it really bothers you that much, just be happy it has happened so little with Cap. There hasn't been a huge change until Alex Ross updated the costume for Bucky (with that triangle design he's been trying to sneak in for a while) - which likely will not stick after Steve returns.

I'm talking about keeping the same costume, but using revisionist history & changing what had already been established. Besides, Cap's had totally different costumes before...Nomad, the Captain, and what about "battle armor" Cap?

.

[Holdyourfireal]

Originally Posted by daveageallen

the reborn one is supposed to be a metal helmet with an A stenciled on it. like in wars their metal helmets have their batallions logo or number stenciled on. its not changing forever yeah to me the scales got out of control. way to many and big now.

If you mean how it appears it the first issue of Reborn, yeah...I get it. Whatever...that change won't last. Epting's already drawing it "correctly" in the EXCELLENT, The Marvel's Project. What I'm concerned about is Hitch's change for the cover of issue #4. The stenciled "A" on the mask looks to be the latest disregard for established canon & I fear it will be permanent...

[carabas]

Originally Posted by Holdyourfireal

They've been changing Bat's costume for years. Captain America had never been altered in decades. Seriously, if they suddenly started changing Spidey's costume, how would you feel?
.

When haven't they been suddenly changing Spider-Man's look in the last 20-30 years (symbiont, regular black, armour, red/golden arnmour, armpit webs, big eyes, tiny eyes, visible webshooters or not, thin webs, thick coiled Todd-webs...)? And the black version still rivals the original in popularity.

All of the really A-list superheroes have a dozen or more permutations of their costumes, without exception.

[GHalecki]

Originally Posted by carabas

When haven't they been suddenly changing Spider-Man's look in the last 20-30 years (symbiont, regular black, armour, red/golden arnmour, armpit webs, big eyes, tiny eyes, visible webshooters or not, thin webs, thick coiled Todd-webs...)? And the black version still rivals the original in popularity.

All of the really A-list superheroes have a dozen or more permutations of their costumes, without exception.

The only exception os that you are completely wrong.

If by permutation you mean one artist not drawing EXACTLY like every artist before them, I guess you would be right. Except that is a really dumb interpretation of the word permutation.
John Romita, JR jr, Eric Larson, John Byrne,and Jim Starlin have all drawn Spider-Man's red and blue costume. None of those artists draw him to look exactly the same. However they ALL drew the same costume. It is not a "permutation". It is each artist drawing the same thing in his own style. You DO realize that Todd drawing the weblines as thick and gooey where Ditko drew them as fine and thin, doesn't mean that the webs are actually diferent right? It is called artistic interpretation. Same thing with the black spider on the chest. Just because one artist happens to draw it a little bigger or smaller than another artist, does not mean that they are "tweeking" the design. It is just the way they draw it.

Stylistic interpretations for various artists and is not a design change. It is is a stylistic interpretation. The costume that McFarlane drew was the exact same design as Romita, DItko and others used. He just drew it "his way", meaning overly complicated.

You had the original costume, and the black costume as the only two MAJOR designs.
You had the Ben Reiley modification that can almost count along with the other two, as it was an actual change in design, but it really didn't last too long.
Then you has the Iron Armor, that pretty much only lasted one or two storylines before it was gone.
Anything else was pretty much a "one off".

How many interpretations has the flash had since he was recreated in the 60's? Basically two. The Barry/open eyes/straight belt and the Wally/covered eyes/forked belt. That is it. Hardly a dozen.

The Hal Jordan/GL costume has been consistant since inception to the best of my recollection, with the exception of the slight variation on the shoulders.

Wolverine has pretty much had two consistant costumes to his name since hthe first modification on his mask was made right after he was created. There is the original blue and gold and the Byrne redesign. That is it. Just because he was occasionally seen wearing something else, doesn't mean that there was any design changes to his costume.

Daredevil's wardrobe consists of a single costume, for all intents. His original costume was drasticly diferent looking but didn't last very long at all before the perminant one was created. ANd the partially armored one was just a quick interluse that was done for the in-story purpose of him pretending to actually be someone else.

How many adaptation are there of the Superman costume? Really hardly any. You had the original 1930's version, and for all intents and purposes, it is the same today. Sure, the chest logo looks a bit different, but there was never a point realy when they changed it. It was just an endless progression of artists who just drew it a little bit diferent sometimes, having what it looks like 70 years later just be an interpretative diference on the same design. It is like how the pronunciation of a word can end up changing over time. The word is the same word, and it is clearly intended to be the exact same thing as it was a hundred years earlier. Surely you can't count the electric Superman story as a change to his costume, since it was actually not his superman costume he was was weraring at the time. Same thing with the black and silver costume he had for about three minutes after he came back from the dead. That wasn't a costume. It just happened to be the clothes he had on. If you count those as changes to his costume, you could just as well as call it an alteration to his costume for every single diferent outfit they show him wearing as Clark Kent, because it would be just as pertinant.

[Holdyourfireal]

Originally Posted by carabas

When haven't they been suddenly changing Spider-Man's look in the last 20-30 years (symbiont, regular black, armour, red/golden arnmour, armpit webs, big eyes, tiny eyes, visible webshooters or not, thin webs, thick coiled Todd-webs...)? And the black version still rivals the original in popularity.

All of the really A-list superheroes have a dozen or more permutations of their costumes, without exception.

You aren't getting it. I'm not talking about new costumes. In Spider-Man's case, there have been no changes or additions to the Steve Ditko designs, except if the pits have webs or not. The small eyes/big eyes is an artistic style thing, not an addition or a change.

.

[Jake V]

Originally Posted by Holdyourfireal

You aren't getting it. I'm not talking about new costumes. In Spider-Man's case, there have been no changes or additions to the Steve Ditko designs, except if the pits have webs or not. The small eyes/big eyes is an artistic style thing, not an addition or a change.

.

The style of the spider on his chest changes all the time.