Supercapes Instill Super Cynicism

I hate to be a buzzkill -- I really do -- but whenever I see a small business appropriate the Superman "S" shield, question marks start to fly around my immediate vicinity like Black Lantern rings at a Gotham City cemetery.

It all began with Geoff Johns' enthusiastic Tweet, directing the curious to Supercapes.com.

My first, sensitive inclination was to congratulate the cape creators on producing a custom product with self-esteem applications for kids of all ages. The capes seem cute, soft and safe (they seal with a magnet to avoid scratchiness or knots that can cause choking. That's all awesome.

Unfortunately, they take the premise into some questionable territory by employing numerous DC Comics and Marvel Comics logos on their products. There's the aforementioned Superman "S," of course along with capes adorned with the Wonder Woman "W," Flash's chest emblem, Batman's bat and others.

Now, why any kid who has paid attention to comic book characters in any medium would find logic in a Spider-Man, Venom or Flash cape, I cannot say. My bigger worry is that this seemingly genuine endeavor is going to get shut down over licensing issues I've always assumed to be waaaay too expensive for a small company to obtain.

Maybe -- nay, hopefully -- Supercapes is legit. But even if they are, I'm still disoriented from seeing a Hawkman cape. Dude's got wings! Gah!