Full DC Universe Reboot (Along with the heroines)

Superman, Supergirl, Superboy #1 Covers:

www.bleedingcool.com/2011/06/09/dc-relau...ergirl-and-superboy/

Superman, Supergirl, Superboy #1 Covers:
www.bleedingcool.com/2011/06/09/dc-relau...ergirl-and-superboy/

It could have been MUCH worse:


It could have been "practical" with pants:


Instead - it's - it's - <sigh>:

Some here will like the boots - some will like the non skirt leggings - some will like the cape - but she's not my SG - I guess I'm getting old/lame.

Is it just me - or do they all look the same and generic now?

Wait? Actual blue skin or just blue tights everywhere?

I think PG is gone for good. It looks like they are merging the two characters – I could be crazy – but no skirt - strange fuller cape - bit older look. Makes me wonder.

I also think the "holes" in the boots are either intended to be white material or it has all been quickly re-colored because the tone doesn't match her skin/face.

What I don’t understand is how is having a skirt that might blow up worse than having a bathing suit straight shot all the time?

For the record - I don't like it. It could have been worse - but I don't care for it – she looks like she’s from Portland/the 90’s and I will not buy the book going forward. I miss the "classic" once piece look so much.

By rumor I read it should have been actual blue skin, but the test audience rejected it.
Anyway all these redesigns looks a bit too extreme to me, I'm starting to suspect that this reset will actually be a a publicity stunt.

Blue skin, seriously who at DC thought that was a good idea? I thought the current SG line had finally gotten to a good place and what do they do, restart everything. I'm asking this seriously, is DC run by people who have had intelligence removal surgery?

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Yeah, it's a mixed bag from my point of view.

The boots are just weird. I almost like the suit, but the red wedge is awkward and I'm getting tired of almost every rebooted character having a collar. The hair is nice.

A slightly different view of the new Teen Titans.

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Wonder Girl looks a little better here (although her lasso still looks like Red Vines) and it appears that she is Cassie rather than Donna. The other female characters look like they are new.

Don't get the problem with a skirt. I've always seen the skirt as the kind that ice skaters have. According to DC, women ice skating is a continuous upskirt.

I'm with you, Cranky... and I'd add competitive ballroom dancing to the list of "acceptable" activities where skirts are appropriate and designed to lift and fly and tease a little. And thanks to Dancing with the Stars and a some of the female professional dancers on that show, that kind of "up-skirt" is flaunted every week on prime time.

Why the comic publishers suddenly have an issue with super heroines and skirts is a mystery to me.

My suspicion is that they feel they have to change their game every decade or so to keep themselves "fresh" and grow their market. Thus the retcons and do-overs and rethinks. But it doesn't work for me.

I mean, I could buy into WW in leather pants (given I like very tight leather pants on a woman with the legs to wear them), although I'm in a minority in this, but taking away SG's miniskirt is a bridge too far. They did that in the 70's and part of the 80's with hot pants and I wasn't pleased then.

Here's an image from the first issue (in 1983) where they put her back in a skirt. Like a dancer or skater, she simply wore her leotard under it.




Shadar

I'm with you Shadar. Miniskirts worn over a leotard are sexy without being slutty and they are very practical for flying around in. SG's current skirt is basically a bikini bottom with the skirt sewn on. I don't like it as much as I do the Leotard/Miniskirt combo, but it is OK in my book.

Hopefully, we will not have to put up with this new look for too long.

One of the problems is that there are two kinds of skirts. The original type was designed for modesty, and was long. Women wore skirts instead of trousers for practical reasons, and that became part of the culture. As the skirt grew shorter, starting in the 60's, it became a tease, and could sometimes reveal more than the wearer intended.

But dancers and skaters (and superheroines) wear leotards or bikini bottoms or whatever, and their skirts are simply a fashion accessory. It has no function in regards to protection or modesty. It can come off completely with no change in proper exposure. Its there to tease the eye and show-off the dramatics of their movements, which involve a lot of spinning around.

Skirts respond freely to G-forces and air flow, and therefore add eye-catching drama to an energetic performance of skaters and dancers.

Shouldn't be any different for superheroines who can fly.

Strange that as skirts disappear, overflowing boobs seem to still be in fashion. If anything, PG has gotten bustier with time.

Be interesting to see how PG comes out of this reboot, assuming she even exists any more.

And if we have to do without skirts, I'd prefer hot pants to a plain leotard bottom as in this photoenhance by Chillyplasma. A rare "photo" like this, capturing the moment of transformation from ordinary girl to Supergirl, is always insanely cool. Stuff of dreams.



Shadar

For some reason, the posting software doesn't always past links in.

Here's another try on that pict:

velorian.net/kara2_chilly.jpg

Shadar

As far as ice-blue eyes go... I use Photoshop, but should be about the same in every photo editor.

My premise is that Kryptonian (or Velorian) eyes look brighter and sharper than human eyes. Given their ability to project laser-like heat beams, the pupil would be unnaturally clear. The trick is to create an image of "superhuman eyes", which are slightly exaggerated in color and brightness with the emphasis on creating depth.

1) Select a pure black color.
2) Paint over the iris and pupil using a saturation brush. Goal is to completely unsaturate any color that is originally present. There are other ways to do that. This lets you change black or brown eyes to blue or whatever.
3) Select a brush that is only the width of her iris and a fairly deep blue color. Paint over the iris with brush set for Color Dodge and less than 50% saturation. Goal is to get a very bright, glowing blue that doesn't obscure iris detail.
4) Tweak as needed with brush set for Vivid Color or Overlay and a lighter shade of blue. At this point the color is right, but its not fully brightened yet.
5) Select the iris and pupil (none of the white) and crank up the Contrast until it jumps out.
6) Play around with overpainting entire eye socket with black Vivid Color paintbrush set to a very low saturation (5%). Goal is to increase contrast further without losing detail.
7) Paint inside of pupil with pure black using a standard brush to make it look bottomless. Make sure you have a bright white reflection point on the surface of the cornea. If one exists, I use a Sharpen brush on it to emphasize. If it doesn't exist, I use a square or irregular white brush to paint a tiny one in.
8) Play around with the Dodge Highlight tool, working just the iris, until it is a bright as you like.
9) I also often slightly enlarge eyes (and the sockets) using the Liquid Filter tool.
Sometimes this technique works really well. Other times its a bit electric and/or there isn't enough iris detail to pull it off. Irises are supposed to have facets and bright eyes have reflections in the camera.

Here are a few examples, some better than others:

Unknown model: velorian.net/kate04b.jpg
Jessica Simpson: velorian.net/kate05_js.jpg
Brooklyn Decker: velorian.net/kate_goddess2.jpg
Unknown model: velorian.net/susan_t04.jpg
Mila Kunis: velorian.net/ursa_la_ant.jpg

Given the names of the picts are of characters, they are part of a portfolio of a dozen or so picts I made for the story I'm still working on (the one that didn't make it to the Storybank in time for the contest). Hope to have it done this week.

Shadar

Last point that I forgot... my premise is that Kryptonian/Velorian eyes are so intense and bright that anyone looking at them would be mesmerized and unable to easily look away.

If done right, the eyes should draw you in and make you feel like you are falling into their depths, even as you are very aware that they could flare with a hellish light and cook you where you stand.

That's the ideal... hard to do sometimes with mere photos of mere mortals.

Here's a picture where I tried to capture the last second of some unfortunate bastard's life. He's mesmerized, staring into her eyes just as her pupils begin to flare with lethal power:


velorian.net/IMG_0002c.jpg

Shadar

One place where I remain unsatisfied with my portrayals is heat vision, although I've been getting better at it.

Here are three images that show where I've gotten to... I think I need more work before it matches my mind's eye. I'm open to suggestions. As you can see, I'm all over the map with techniques, none of which quite work.

NOTE: These are all NSFW images.

Taking down a low-flying helicopter, viewed from behind:
velorian.net/heat03.jpg

A young Kryptonian with a heated stare:
velorian.net/susan_t05a.jpg

A rather kinky application of heat vision and invulnerability:
velorian.net/heat.jpg

What is it about naked women with heat vision... <grin>

Shadar

Those subtitles were amazing... laughed myself silly. Brilliant!

That's the kind of fan that Jim Lee had better watch out for at the next convention.

Shadar

No matter what the topic, those Hitler videos are hilarious.

Definitely not the only one. They've finally got her back to sanity.

Perhaps they are blending PG's attitude (since she appears to be disappearing) with SG. If so, they are missing the vital point that these are completely different characters with radically different personalities. Or they should be.

Shadar

DC Bias - Maybe

Stats are stats – and we can often all read what we want into them – but do 97+ men for every 2-3 women really walk into a comic shop? Is there a serious misrepresentation at DC in the artists even compared to the consumers of the products and therefore possibly the pool of potential fans with a desire to be professionals in the industry?

If there is a bias – is it reflected in the new releases and the very strange changes to the female heroes? Is there an inherent dislike for feminine power?