The Light Fantastic

Over at Project Rooftop, they've put out a call for Fantastic Four costume redesigns, to be co-judged by Start Immonen (so no pressure then!). I thought this would be fun but actually it turned out to be surprisingly difficult...

As the team are essentially explorers not crimefighters, my first instinct was to add pouches and stuff which would use Pym particles to reduce all their equipment into their pouches. This would be activated by sensors in the glove fingertips, which would also activate a com link as they team would be separated quite often but need to remain in communication.

However, I prefer sleek, elegant costumes over unnecessarily complicated ones (so the original Infantino Flash design from 1955 is far better than the silly "defaced"-that's what it looks like to me- DCNu version, a shame as I think I'd actually like to read the book...) so jettisoned extraneous paraphernalia. I think the team's physical attributes benefit visually from an uncluttered look rather than a ribbed Hitch-style design and I wanted to keep a test-pilot/flight suit look while being instantly recognisable as the FF. This meant retaining a circular collar motif if possible and the main colour blue.

After loads of thumbnails and combinations, I had a version I was...comfortable with and cracked on with the finished designs. Ben, Reed and Johnny took a single side of A4, which meant Sue was drawn at almost twice their size as she took a whole separate sheet. I think the design is OK, traditional but current without going OTT. When it came to colouring, I hit a problem I still can't resolve: which works better, the white trim or the light blue? I like the "pop" of the white but the cool blue seems smoother and somehow feels more true to the team.


Anyway, results are here, see what you think...