Best and worst character redesigns in comics.

[enyawd72]

What are your top three of each?

My votes are for...

Best:

Brainiac. A skull faced robot trumps a no pants guy wearing a pink polo shirt any freakin' day of the week.
Black Costume Spidey. It was sleek, scary, totally different, and he still wears it sometimes 30 years after it's debut.
Battlesuit Lex Luthor. Lex finally trades in his boring mad scientist outfit for some cool armor to lay the smackdown on Supes.

Worst:

Joker. The scariest villain of all time is now a pathetic Leatherface wannabe. Whoever thought this was a good idea?
Captain Rogers. Captain America minus the "America" equals LAME. Nuff said.
Ghost Rider. Went from ultra cool demonic version of Evel Kneivel to a blue flamed World of Warcraft character.

[thunderbolt]

Joker. The scariest villain of all time is now a pathetic Leatherface wannabe. Whoever thought this was a good idea?


Jim Lee and Didio.

[Bruce Banner]

A lot of the Marvel redesigns from the 1990s still rank as some of the worst ever.

Thankfully the characters reverted to their more classic looks pretty swiftly in most cases.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Joker is the absolute worst, and a total violation of the character as represented for 70 years.

If you want to get technical, I'd go all the way back to the Silver Age Flash and Green Lantern being the best redesigns ever. Infantino and Gil Kane streamlined the super hero design, and those looks are the basis for their costumes today, even.

Chris

[MIB41]

^^^ I agree. I saw the newly designed Joker and it disgusted me. That's taking it to an entirely different level that concerns me for young kids reading this material. No regard for it's audience whatsoever. I think some of these people who get hired to write and illustrate comics today have some serious mental issues.

[madmarva]

I have to line up in Chris' corner with the re-designs of GL and Flash for the silver-age. Sleek and clean.

I still love the classic red and gold Iron Man armor. Such an improvement on the Micheline Man look.

I think the S shield which National/DC standardized more or less in the late 40s for Superman is an elegant classic

Neal Adams reworking of Batman's cowl and flowing cape added so much to the character's design.

Neal Adams' Green Arrow redesign and then Mike Grell adding the hood and tunic worked for me.

Tim Drake's Robin costume. I prefer the green pants as a link to the original costume.

Wonder Man into his red safari jacket look.

Redesigns that didn't work for me:

I miss Luke Cage's silk yellow shirt and matching pirate boots

I cannot think of a New 52 design that works better than what came before, other than Wonder Woman. The current version is better than the jacket and pants that directly preceded the New 52.

[hedrap]

Thor always goes to the top of both lists.

Simonson 80's Thor was fantastic.



Heroes Reborn Thor would have made a great Chippendale.

[johnnystorm]

BAD:
Any redesign of Power Girl that deviates from the classic with " boob window"
The new 52 Creeper
New 52 JokerFace
80s Black Canary
80s Zatanna
Depp Movie Tonto
Red & Silver WCA Iron Man

GOOD:
Tim Drake Robin
New52 Wonder Woman
McFarlane's "webby" Spider-Man
Danny Ketch Ghost Rider

Many more bad than good though... Flip through most any 80-90s DC book, look for leg warmers, headbands, puffy sleeves, etc.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Neal Adams did some great redesigns for Robin. Both the red/green Earth-Two Robin and Tim Drake costumes are great reinterpretations of the classic Robin design.

Chris

[stevenlore]

I always hated the "boob window" on Power girl.

[VinMan]

I always hated the "boob window" on Power girl.

I love me some of them... but I agree. Hate the window. Its really stupid.

[The Toyroom]

BAD: The Azrael version of Batman