superhero costumes

Welcome to Give ‘Em Elle, a weekly column that hopes to bridge the gap between old school comics fandom and the progressive edge of comics culture. This week I wanted to talk about superhero costumes. I solicited questions on the subject on Twitter, but a lot of what I got were variations on the same basic question: "What's wrong with superhero costume designs these days?" So I'm going to attempt to delve into that. First, a caveat. I’m going to focus on male superhero costumes in this column. Obviously I have a lot of feelings about women’s superhero costumes as well, but they’re a whole different set of feelings about a whole different set of problems. So I’m going to cover the men for now, and return to talk about the women another time. It’s very rare that you’ll catch me focusing on men over women, but in this case there’s a lot to say, and I feel like it hasn’t been covered as thoroughly.

We live in a time of awesome superhero costumes in comics. The rise and rise of cosplay culture, the emergence of comic artists with a savvy understanding of fashion, and the slow diversification that's making heroes palatable to a broader audience, have all contributed to a costuming culture with more to offer than capes and pants. Superhero costumes have always been an asset to the industry, because iconography helps establish character and create a brand. But the value of costumes in reaching audiences and reinventing characters seems to be recognized now as never before, leading to the rise of artist-designers like Jamie McKelvie and Kris Anka, who don't even need to be on a particular book in order to be called in to make-over the characters. This is a great leap forward in understanding just what a good costume can do -- and the special skills required to do it.

Halloween is almost upon us, and along with candy, scary movies, and souls rising from their graves to torment the living, that means it's time for the annual parade of "sexy" Halloween costumes. The idea of women using Halloween as an opportunity for dressing up in a risque outfit is, of course, nothing new. You may want to check on this, but I'm pretty sure the Sexy French Maid costume

Art: Fantagraphics highlights cartoonist Bruce McCorkindale's "Hellboy"/"Peanuts" mashup, 'Hellbrown." The right hand of doom has never looked so adorable. Industry: Heidi MacDonald compiles the reactions of creators like Warren Ellis, Gail Simone, Brian Wood and Kurt Busiek to the closing of Wildstorm...

Melbourne, Australia has just broken the Guinness World Record for largest number of people in superhero costumes gathered in one place. A little over a week ago, 1245 people dressed up like their favorite comics characters and headed for Federation Square to be tallied up by Guinness officials ...

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/comics_animation/The_Craziest_Costume_Changes_in_Comics_PICS'; digg_bgcolor = '#ffffff'; Comic books might not be the first place people look for fashion, but come on: Who can forget the surprising accuracy of their prediction that we'd all be wearing capes and tights by the year 2000...