Wizard Magazine's Ultimate DCU
Jun. 19th, 2011 11:54 pm![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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scans_daily Way back when Marvel's Ultimate Universe line was becoming popular, Wizard Magazine commissioned a series of pictures of what various characters and groups from the DCU would look like if DC decided to follow Marvel's example and have an "Ultimatised" universe.
Here are the ones I've found so far.
The Flash - I think that this one actually works, possibly because at the speeds he runs he'd presumably get a lot of bugs in his eyes and mouth... Nah, he's probably bugproof because of the Speed Force or something. And why not, it does everything else they can't explain the Flash books.
Superman - This one I'm a bit more blaise about. The use of the Kingdom Come "S" Symbol is interesting and invokes a futuristic feel to the rest of the outfit, which is kind of apt for "the Man of Tomorrow". Like it more than the ACTUAL DC reboot version, though that's just me. Probably wouldn't read this as a series though, as reading yet another Superman origin story would bore the pants off of me. Just jump straight into his early career just after his introduction if need be.
Green Lantern - to be absolutely honest, I'm very much a John Stewart fan when it comes to my Green Lanterns, probably because my love of JLU and the DCU to be honest. IF he had been Earth's only Green Lantern I'd have been cool with it, as most of the time he has the maturity and focus to actual sell the character without devolving into Hal Jordan. Seriously, if John was the star of the movie it might have actually made some money.
Batman - this one I really like. Has the essentials of the costume, but adds additional armour and rivets to actually make it look like it could stop the frequent gunfire that accompanies Bruce's nightjob. I also like the little details like the holster for his grappling gun, which makes for a more logical accessory to the belt than the current method, which I believe involve Bruce clenching it between his buttocks when he's not using it. Commissioner Gordon as Morgan Freeman is a nice touch, possibly a reference to Samuel L. Jackson being cast as Nick Fury over in the U.M., and since this was made YEARS before Batman Begins Mr Freeman being attached to the Bat Franchise here is just a coincidence. Heh, and I just realised that if he were the Commissioner than that would technically mean that would be the only appearance of an African American version of Batgirl as well, which would have been interesting to see.
And now the groups!
First the Teen Titans. I like Cyborg's design, it's a lot more streamlined than the current one, which seems as graceful as a Cyberman a lot of the time. I also like that he has more of his face exposed, which makes him seem more human whilst the loss of the fleshy sections on the arms paradoxically makes him seem more machine-like.
GothRaven I guess looks sort of interesting, though it depends massively how they were going to portray the character in the series. A girl who was raised in another dimension by monks or something would be less included to dress like that than a girl from this universe who had her powers and parentage suddenly thrust upon her for example.
Aqualad... well, he's shiny. I'll give him that. I do get a royal vibe from him, though I'm not really that up with the costume to be honest. It could work I guess, the fishscales incorpered into his trousers is interesting.
Robin's outfit...kind of works... I guess? There seem to be several elements in there that seem to have been used in later Robin designs, the mask looks like the lower half of Tim's Red Robin cowl for example, and I guess that it works as a balance to the above Batman picture but... Just seems a little off.
Donna, no. No, no, no. Nooo. I get that presumably she's meant to be filling in Starfire's role as "the sexy one", but this is just BAD. And the boots look stupid.
Roy pretty much looks exactly the same as Olle does in the comics. It's a good outfit, but it's kind of weird seeing him in green.
The JLA: first in silhouette!
Then beating up Despero!
Alright, Bruce, Clark, Barry(?) I've covered, now the rest.
Wonder Woman: Not a fan, fails for the same reasons that Donna's does in the one above, in that because she's "the Sexy One" she's give the most revealling costume. Admittedly being Wonder Woman she technically doesn't need to wear armour as she's been submerged in molten metal before and come out unharmed, but it doesn't really scream "representative of an ancient culture and member of its Royal Family". Being able to see her butt every time there's a slight breeze would also make her loose cred with the diplomatic community. I guess that in story she could fill the role that Thor did in the first two series of the Ultimates, with no one believing her stories of being an Amazon created from clay and given life by the Gods, which would be an interesting slant in her story, I think.
The Atom: the costume looks good, and I am intrigued by this African American female Atom. Who is she? If she's the Atom does this mean that Ray Palmer hopefully doesn't exist? Would they end up pairing her up with John just because she's the only other black person in the group, which is something I've seen before in fiction and I think that it's stupid.
The Martian Manhunter: J'onn seems to be riffing ET in his appearance here, which I think is interesting for a number of reasons. Him being kind of squat is an interesting deviation from the normal human-sized and shaped version, or the version where he's taller and more willowy than a human being. Him being kind of short and dumpy could be translated as him being effected by Earth having greater gravity than Mars... I think, which would in theory be why he's in the control-room instead of fighting Destro.
For legality, Teen Titans goes Meta!
I seems that Kid Devil was a fan of Hellblazer. Which means that Hellblazer is fictional in the DCU, even though it has characters from the DCU in it, some of whom Kid Devil probably met, like Zatanna who was his best friend's cousin.
I guess that it could be interpreted that since John is something of a celebrity, both from his punk rock days and his magical reputation, that some of his exploits have been turned into comic stories after being filtered through the writers' imaginations, but it's still kinda weird.
Here are the ones I've found so far.
The Flash - I think that this one actually works, possibly because at the speeds he runs he'd presumably get a lot of bugs in his eyes and mouth... Nah, he's probably bugproof because of the Speed Force or something. And why not, it does everything else they can't explain the Flash books.
Superman - This one I'm a bit more blaise about. The use of the Kingdom Come "S" Symbol is interesting and invokes a futuristic feel to the rest of the outfit, which is kind of apt for "the Man of Tomorrow". Like it more than the ACTUAL DC reboot version, though that's just me. Probably wouldn't read this as a series though, as reading yet another Superman origin story would bore the pants off of me. Just jump straight into his early career just after his introduction if need be.
Green Lantern - to be absolutely honest, I'm very much a John Stewart fan when it comes to my Green Lanterns, probably because my love of JLU and the DCU to be honest. IF he had been Earth's only Green Lantern I'd have been cool with it, as most of the time he has the maturity and focus to actual sell the character without devolving into Hal Jordan. Seriously, if John was the star of the movie it might have actually made some money.
Batman - this one I really like. Has the essentials of the costume, but adds additional armour and rivets to actually make it look like it could stop the frequent gunfire that accompanies Bruce's nightjob. I also like the little details like the holster for his grappling gun, which makes for a more logical accessory to the belt than the current method, which I believe involve Bruce clenching it between his buttocks when he's not using it. Commissioner Gordon as Morgan Freeman is a nice touch, possibly a reference to Samuel L. Jackson being cast as Nick Fury over in the U.M., and since this was made YEARS before Batman Begins Mr Freeman being attached to the Bat Franchise here is just a coincidence. Heh, and I just realised that if he were the Commissioner than that would technically mean that would be the only appearance of an African American version of Batgirl as well, which would have been interesting to see.
And now the groups!
First the Teen Titans. I like Cyborg's design, it's a lot more streamlined than the current one, which seems as graceful as a Cyberman a lot of the time. I also like that he has more of his face exposed, which makes him seem more human whilst the loss of the fleshy sections on the arms paradoxically makes him seem more machine-like.
GothRaven I guess looks sort of interesting, though it depends massively how they were going to portray the character in the series. A girl who was raised in another dimension by monks or something would be less included to dress like that than a girl from this universe who had her powers and parentage suddenly thrust upon her for example.
Aqualad... well, he's shiny. I'll give him that. I do get a royal vibe from him, though I'm not really that up with the costume to be honest. It could work I guess, the fishscales incorpered into his trousers is interesting.
Robin's outfit...kind of works... I guess? There seem to be several elements in there that seem to have been used in later Robin designs, the mask looks like the lower half of Tim's Red Robin cowl for example, and I guess that it works as a balance to the above Batman picture but... Just seems a little off.
Donna, no. No, no, no. Nooo. I get that presumably she's meant to be filling in Starfire's role as "the sexy one", but this is just BAD. And the boots look stupid.
Roy pretty much looks exactly the same as Olle does in the comics. It's a good outfit, but it's kind of weird seeing him in green.
The JLA: first in silhouette!
Then beating up Despero!
Alright, Bruce, Clark, Barry(?) I've covered, now the rest.
Wonder Woman: Not a fan, fails for the same reasons that Donna's does in the one above, in that because she's "the Sexy One" she's give the most revealling costume. Admittedly being Wonder Woman she technically doesn't need to wear armour as she's been submerged in molten metal before and come out unharmed, but it doesn't really scream "representative of an ancient culture and member of its Royal Family". Being able to see her butt every time there's a slight breeze would also make her loose cred with the diplomatic community. I guess that in story she could fill the role that Thor did in the first two series of the Ultimates, with no one believing her stories of being an Amazon created from clay and given life by the Gods, which would be an interesting slant in her story, I think.
The Atom: the costume looks good, and I am intrigued by this African American female Atom. Who is she? If she's the Atom does this mean that Ray Palmer hopefully doesn't exist? Would they end up pairing her up with John just because she's the only other black person in the group, which is something I've seen before in fiction and I think that it's stupid.
The Martian Manhunter: J'onn seems to be riffing ET in his appearance here, which I think is interesting for a number of reasons. Him being kind of squat is an interesting deviation from the normal human-sized and shaped version, or the version where he's taller and more willowy than a human being. Him being kind of short and dumpy could be translated as him being effected by Earth having greater gravity than Mars... I think, which would in theory be why he's in the control-room instead of fighting Destro.
For legality, Teen Titans goes Meta!
I seems that Kid Devil was a fan of Hellblazer. Which means that Hellblazer is fictional in the DCU, even though it has characters from the DCU in it, some of whom Kid Devil probably met, like Zatanna who was his best friend's cousin.
I guess that it could be interpreted that since John is something of a celebrity, both from his punk rock days and his magical reputation, that some of his exploits have been turned into comic stories after being filtered through the writers' imaginations, but it's still kinda weird.
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Date: 2011-06-20 12:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-20 12:15 am (UTC)Same comment then as now.
Beast Boy... ignored as usual.
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Date: 2011-06-20 12:34 am (UTC)And Diana's tiara looks odd with the tip pointed down.
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Date: 2011-06-20 01:09 am (UTC)Insert own joke about Bruce being a tight ass or having something up his bum here.
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Date: 2011-06-20 01:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2011-06-20 01:20 am (UTC)As for the team, everyone except John's outfit makes me vaguely to very unhappy, Flash especially. Although his suit is arguably more practical now.
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Date: 2011-06-20 01:36 am (UTC)I'm trying to remember if that's the Superman costume Tim Gunn really liked when he was going over superhero costumes...
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Date: 2011-06-20 01:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2011-06-20 02:14 am (UTC)I liked Wizard's commissions. Sometimes they were fun (like Alter Ego's covers). Wouldn't mind seeing more if you had them. There was this Phil Jimenez one for an April Fools Day with Swamp Thing and either Teen Titans or a Crisis theme that a friend of mine had ages ago.
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Date: 2011-06-20 02:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2011-06-20 02:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-20 02:57 am (UTC)I mentioned this a while back on the DCnU talks. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU SO MUCH for posting this! This is the one and only issue of Wizard I ever bought.
Some comments:
I LOVE John as GL. He is favorite, he definitely has the most character. I find Hal boring and Guy one-note. Kyle is okay, but John is my FAVORITE.
Wonder Woman costume. This comes closer to what I want it to be, something like what the Spartans wore. She's a warrior, she should LOOK like one. I like the pleated skirt (on her blouse though) and the helmet.
J'onn as a Oracle type figure is pretty cool, but the ET look sucks.
Finally, Atom. Like you said they would probably pair her up with John. Something I liked about the JLU series was that John was paired up with Hawkwoman. In a sense, it was interracial (bucking trends and stereotypes!) but it was really interspecies I guess?
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Date: 2011-06-20 02:59 am (UTC)And I actually thought it when DC revealed their "Batman Earth-One" design last year:
http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/files/2
Looks kind of similar, no?
BTW, can someone tell me how to embed images for future reference?
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Date: 2011-06-20 03:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-20 03:35 am (UTC)When Wonder Woman was in silhouette, I thought the costume looked really cool, enormously badass while still maintaining a strong Wonder vibe. It also kinda looked like it had pants. Then the un-silhouetted version ruined that happy delusion.
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Date: 2011-06-20 03:53 am (UTC)Honestly, I remember when I first saw the movie Se7en I thought to myself, "Morgan Freeman's basically playing Jim Gordon without Batman by his side."
Anyways--while I like more or less the costumes for the DCnU (the corresponding ones, at the very least), I wouldn't mind if some of these were used either.
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Date: 2011-06-20 04:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-20 04:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-20 04:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-20 06:54 am (UTC)And is Atom by any chance an Asian woman? I'm guessing a riff on Ultimate Wasp there.
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Date: 2011-06-20 08:58 am (UTC)Not fan of slutty gypsy Wanda ripoff-Donna Troy.
Wonder Woman...I'm okay with that. It's easily 100 times better than both Jim Lee redesigns.
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Date: 2011-06-20 12:12 pm (UTC)And I just noticed Batman's cape: it seems to almost originate from the chest symbol, meaning that when the cape is closed, the symbol would still be visible, a neat visual, especially when Bats is coming out of the shadows and making a nice padded target for the criminals to shoot, the in-canon explanation for the yellow symbol.
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Date: 2011-06-20 12:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2011-06-20 01:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-20 08:34 pm (UTC)Couldn't help but notice that the Superman costume has that same @#$%ed mandarin collar thing which they're using in the JLA reboot.
While I actually love Tim's new feathers, I like this even better. He looks so comfortable and confident -- a natural leader. And Cyborg -- well, hellooooo there, you shiny thang! Come on over anytime, and bring all your attachments.