Songbird's new look

[flint_marko]

Parker: "It's funny. You see a little bit right off the back where Songbird thinks, 'Why are they bringing Moonstone in? They already tried with her, and it didn't work out.' Luke tries to explain why they still thing it's worth doing with Moonstone. Everybody tends to think that they're special, and say 'It worked for me, but I don't know that everybody will respond to the system.' Even though Songbird changed, she felt she was never that bad to begin with.

"And Moonstone was an Avenger the other day! Her status goes way up and down pretty fast. She's usually thinking, 'I've been a Thunderbolt before. Blah Blah Blah.' But it's not that anyone will care. And who knows what Man-Thing is thinking!"

Walker: "I was just really conscious of making Moonstone and Songbird different, perhaps even opposites. Moonstone is flighty and excitable, fiery even, self confident, perhaps even arrogant. When I looked at the existing designs for these two women, it was hard to tell them apart, the hair was the same, the suit was almost the same, the way the walked was almost the same. These two women are like fire and ice, light and dark. Moonstone is the Light, so I guess Songbird is the Dark.

"I just had the feeling that [Songbird] was more menacing, more brooding. I read the TPB where she had the big run in with Bullseye, and they seemed pretty evenly matched. That struck a chord, as if she's the female version Bullseye. Moonstone might stab you in the back, but Songbird would twist the blade. The haircut reflects that. Perhaps she's in some kind of character shift, heading towards some kind of break down? I don't know. But I wanted her to look as if she inhabited a darker space than she used to."

See the rest of the designs over at CBR

Comments

[darkknightjrk]

I REALLY dig the Luke Cage design--it still gives him an "everyman" feel, while not putting him in jeans and a t-shirt. :)

[icon_uk]

Ummm... Moonstone? Flighty? Possibly arrogant?

Songbird more menacing and brooding? The one to twist the blade?

Has this writer read ANY story featuring these two?

[arbre_rieur]

Kev Walker's a penciler, not a writer.

[icon_uk]

My mistake, but a minor one in this context. I would still hope that one of the two primary creators on the title has at least read the title he's working for to get a feeling for the characters, in which case, my point still stands.

[stolisomancer.insanejournal.com]

If you read the article, Walker's in there talking about how he hasn't read anything featuring the characters at all. Hopefully, he'll take the time to do so before doing too much more work on the book.

[blue_canary]

...Why is Gozer in the Thunderbolts?

[jcbaggee]

ZUUL MOTHERFUCKER ZUUL!

[nezchan]

There is no Tony Danza? Man, those old Who's The Boss repeats just won't have the same zing without him.

[jcbaggee]

I dunno, I could get behind a few seasons of Zuul's The Boss.

[proteus_lives]

"The nice lady who paid us in advance before she turned into a dog."

[zemo]

...No, just no.

This look absolutely doesn't work for me.

[shadowpsykie]

its not the look that bothers me, its the artist's interpretation of the character..... i REALLY hope they dont go the dark path with her and make moonstone "LIGHT?" yes moon stone is "LIGHT?" ugh, i really hope they dont ruin Songbird...

[badficwriter]

Songbird looks like she's hearkening to her punk wrestler days.

Luke's fist is bigger than his whole head. XO

[theanswer]

Ugh... all the dudes have tiny heads and huge bodies.

[nezchan]

Thank you! I was beginning to think I was the only one creeped out by that. Especially Luke Cage.

[aaron_bourque]

Moonstone was an Avenger the other day!

AN EVIL AVENGER!!!

What the heck? It's like half of comic creators have gone insane, lately.

[okkult3000]

I'm okay with it. She used to be Screaming Mimi and she shouldn't be allowed to forget that.

Also, "possibly arrogant"?

[freezer]

"Not allowed to forget" is one thing.

"Thrown in her face, 'Hank Pym, Wife-Beater'-style" is quite another.

[zemo]

Motto

[okkult3000]

I mean the stripes on her costume.

[freezer]

Why should those have to be there? Why does she have to carry around a constant reminder that she was a C-list bad guy once upon a time. I sincerely doubt she forgot.

[okkult3000]

It was a joke. If I recant, will you stop yelling at me?

[jlbarnett]

Screaming Mimi was a minor villain. She's functioned as a major hero.

[okkult3000]

I was talking about the costume.

[mr_austin]

Holy SHIT the proportions on those designs are fucked up. Why is he trying to make Luke Cage look like the Tank from Left 4 Dead?

That Songbird redesign bites ass too.

Pssst comic writers/artists: I know you're just making pulp for fans and idiots here, but you still have to TRY and keep up on who the characters are and what works/doesn't for their personalities before you try and force square pegs into round holes.

[darkblade]

Songbird darling, why are you wearing a rejected 90s Wasp costume?

[sinisterlink]

Noooooooooo. Songbird, where is your hair? What happened to your hair?! I remember even when I knew nothing about the character I thought she was cool just because of how her hair looked. *pouts* And I'm going WTF about where the artist is talking about Moonstone and Songbird and says, "When I looked at the existing designs for these two women, it was hard to tell them apart..." Yeah, I always had a hard time telling apart the one who has pink/white hair and wears a blue/white/gold uniform from the one who has blonde hair, wears a mask, and has a gold/white uniform. Seriously, unless you can't get past the fact that they were both women with long hair, I have no idea how you could confuse the two of them.

As for the other redesigns...yeah, I can't get past the tiny heads. Juggernaut especially makes me laugh considering every part of him has been beefed up except for his head, which seems to have shrunk. No wonder he looks so angry.

Lastly, this is just a general question about the new book since I haven't really read much about it, but what the heck is Man-Thing doing on a team? I mean, I haven't read tons of stuff with him in it, but from what I've seen, he's the, "Leave me alone, I just want to be in my swamp, now go away or I'll set you on fire" type. And really, his powers aren't that good to have around large groups of people. All he needs to do is accidentally brush up against someone who's a little bit afraid and it'll be barbecue time for them.

[jlbarnett]

it's just sprayed up with hairspray. If she lets it down the only difference will be it's a bit shorter.

[darkblade]

Man-Thing was caputred by the Dark Avengers recently. Since he was in goverment custody they decided they needed to do something with him and this was it I guess.

[icon_uk]

As he's the Guardian of a little thing called "The Nexus of Realities" in the swamp he lived in, they better hope to heaven that keeping him away from it doesn't come back to burn them in the ass.

[long_silence]

Set up for the next event where the Ultimate, Ape and Zombie universes all come in at once?

[khamelea]

Didn't Juggernaut's design always tend toward him having a disproportionally tiny head, though?

[kd_the_movie]

I always thought Songbird had one of the better costumes in the entire MU.
:(

[falseaesop]

I swear to god if someone at Marvel said, "She looks too much like Victoria Hand, we need to change her hair" they should be taken out back and shot. Not killed mind you, I'm not suggesting a death threat here, just winged, or maybe just shoot them in the foot.

[joasakura]

maybe because I just got up and I haven't had any coffee or anything, but does:

"Cain Marko stands even more monstrous than ever under Walker's pen, revealing that all the heroic moves the mystic-powered bruiser took over recent years with Excalibur have stuck enough to keep him from being dangerous when the Thunderbolts need him to be."

make ANY sense to anyone? If so, plz to be explaining.

(also, GODDAMNIT, I liked semi-heroic Juggernaut. )

[jlbarnett]

it seems to contradict itself.

This guy doesn't have a clue. He makes the good guys look the most evil.

[akodo_rokku]

Songbird turning a bit dark kinda makes sense. She had to deal with a LOT of shit when Osborn took over, and she was one of the first people trying to get rid of him (before he took over the Marvel U even) so... yeah, I imagine she's got a lot of anger.

[punishermax]

Songbird loves Rock n Roll

So put another dime in the jukebox baby

[tacobob]

Yeeeeeck. And did she get a boob job? Give her red hair and she'll be the "Mankiller".

[skalja]

Songbird was definitely in need of a redesign, because her costume had way too much going on. This? Is headed in entirely the wrong direction.

[shadowpsykie]

i really hope that the writer does not make Songbird "Dark" and Moonstone "Light" that is a gross misscharacterization of both!

[zemo]

Wait a second...where is her tech-thingamajinga? You know, the one she needs to actually form sound constructs? I am fairly sure there wasn't established that she could make them without the technology.

[kusonaga]

Whisky Tango Foxtrot.

[ian_karkull]

What on earth is that guy talking about..?? He makes Moonstone sound like the protagonist of some bizarre shojo anime and not like, you know.. friggin' Moonstone! Thank god he's just the artist, because this characterization wouldn't even make sense on Bizarro World or Opposite Day.
And not to harp too much on the guy, but with the exception of Ghost and Crossbones,those designs are.. kinda terrible.

At least Parker seems to understand Ghost (and having Melissa & Abe back is also nice.), which allows me to have faith in this seemingly awesome team, despite the frankly bizarre soundbytes there.

[lencannon]

Yes. I've always thought of SONGBIRD as the dark, dangerous other side of Moonstone (QUESTION MARKS)

[thatnickguy]

Man, DC is going to be PISSED when they find out Livewire is joining the Avengers.