Tagged: Cosplay

New ‘Watchmen’ Film Image Released – Meet the Minutemen!

New ‘Watchmen’ Film Image Released – Meet the Minutemen!

Aint It Cool News posted a new image from the big-screen adaptation of Watchmen today, and its a pretty impressive one.

The image features a 1940s-style photograph of "The Minutemen," the precursor to the superteam that came to be known as The Watchmen.

From AICN:

Who are the Minutemen? Well in WATCHMEN – it was the first TEAM of superheroes that formed in 1939 and pulled a BEATLES in 1949. In the pic below you’ll see the classic SILK SPECTRE and NITE OWL… you’ll see CAPTAIN METROPOLIS, MOTHMAN, SILHOUETTE, COMEDIAN, DOLLAR BILL and with the noose… HOODED JUSTICE.

I love this photo… just look at those costumes, the hairstyles and makeup. Isn’t that classic? It’s that attention to detail that I think bodes very well for this project. Cuz with WATCHMEN, the devil’s in the details.

 I’ve posted a full-size version of the image after the jump, but head over to AICN for the full story.

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Vogue, by Martha Thomases

Vogue, by Martha Thomases

There is a special exhibition at the Costume Institute at New York’s Metropolitan Musuem of Art called Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy. I haven’t been able to go yet, but according to the exhibit’s web site, the show features costumes designed around these groups:

•The Patriotic Body (Wonder Woman, Captain America)

•The Virile Body (they cite The Hulk and The Thing, which sort of creeps me out)

•The Graphic Body (Superman and other characters with logos)

•The Paradoxical Body (Catwoman and other hyper-sexualized heroines)

•The Armored Body (Iron Man, Steel)

•The Aerodynamic Body (The Flash)

• The Mutant Body (they cite Rogue)

• The Post-Modern Body (Ghost Rider, Punisher).

The show and its parties are sponsored by Conde Nast, DC and Marvel, and Giorgio Armani. The opening night was extremely glamorous, with attendance from stars like George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Tilda Swinton, and the Olsen Twins. Heidi has written great stuff about it at The Beat and the Fug Girls are all over it.

Some of these groupings I understand, and some seem to be redundant (really, is Rogue that much different from Catwoman in the way she’s presented in this show?). However, none of them seem to consider superhero garb the way I did, when I was considering being a superheroine.

It’s true that I was designing my costume when I was eight years old, when fashion was not my foremost concern, nor did I need to worry about where I was going to keep my breasts at that time. I wanted something that would allow me to hide in the shadows, mysteriously, even while showing off my beautiful blonde hair (I had a few blonde cousins, and thought all I needed was more time in the sun to achieve the same golden tresses). Midnight blue, I thought, was the perfect color, at least among those choices in my Crayola box.

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Images of New ‘Iron Man’ Game Armor Revealed

Images of New ‘Iron Man’ Game Armor Revealed

One of the staple of comic book videogames is that players can unlock alternate costumes that the characters have had at one time or another. (My favorite is still the Spider-Man costume featuring a paper-bag head, Fantastic Four uniform and "Kick Me" sign pulled from Amazing Spider-Man #258 and available in the Spider-Man videogame that was released with the first film.)

Since Iron Man rarely settled on a suit for very long, it’s no surprise that Sega decided to include a variety of unlockable costumes in the upcoming Iron Man movie-based game in addition to the three models seen in the film.

To add a dash of "Armor Wars" to the eternal war over which console is the best, there will be exclusive armors for different systems: PlayStation 3 gets Ultimate Iron Man from The Ultimates. Xbox 360 gets the Silver Centurion Iron Man from Iron Man #200.

A gallery of 360-degree visuals of all the armor is posted after the jump:

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Photo Gallery: Anime Boston 2008

Photo Gallery: Anime Boston 2008

ComicMix reader (and aspiring anime/manga artist) Heather recently sent me a gallery of photos from Anime Boston 2008, heralded as "The Northeast’s Largest Anime Convention." The three-day convention was held held last weekend at Hynes Convention Center.

As anyone who’s attended enough anime, comics or pop culture-related conventions over the last few years will no doubt agree, the anime/manga crowd rarely phones it in when it comes to costumes. Sure, there are always a few kids who slap on a metal-plated Naruto headband and call themselves cosplayers, but by and large, the average anime fan’s costume looks like the product of some serious time and effort.

So, with that in mind, I’ve posted some of the photos she sent me after the jump. Consider it a salute to the cosplayers at Anime Boston ’08 and anime fans everywhere. Heck, I have trouble buttoning my shirt correctly most days — I can’t even imagine crafting some of the outfits in these photos.

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ComicMix at WWLA: Photo Gallery – People, Places and Events

ComicMix at WWLA: Photo Gallery – People, Places and Events

In addition to the costumes, comics, movies and occasional booth babes, conventions like Wizard World LA often provide the opportunity to see a few celebrities (and, of course, give them $15 to sign a photograph). This year’s WWLA was no exception, and some of the entertainment industry’s most semi-famous people turned out for the show.

There were also some cool booths, events, panels, artists and a bunch of other things that made Wizard World an enjoyable time. Following the jump are a few images of some the celebrities, booths, panels and other sights from this year’s show.

And if you haven’t seen our gallery of costumes from Wizard World LA posted earlier today, be sure to head on over and check that out, too.

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ComicMix at WWLA: Photo Gallery – Costumes

ComicMix at WWLA: Photo Gallery – Costumes

When attending conventions like Wizard World Los Angeles you often get to see just how devoted to their favorite character some hardcore fans really are. How can you tell?

Well, these fans generally don’t just pay their money and passively attend the show going from one panel to another, buying the latest action figures, comics or t-shirts and generally having an "okay" time.

No, these hardcore fans go the extra mile and take their fandom to an altogether different level. They come in costume.

Following after the jump are a few photographs spotlighting these true hadcore fans. It can’t be easy putting costumes like these together.

So, for doing all of that hard work and going the extra mile, we at ComicMix salute you.

Check back later today for the second part of our WWLA photo gallery, featuring some of the other people, places and sights from this year’s convention.

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Michael Chabon Talks Supersuits

Michael Chabon Talks Supersuits

Michael Chabon, the Pulitzer prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, a novel about a Golden Age comic creator, is unabashadly a comic book and superhero fan himself. He even brought to life his fictional comic book from the novel, The Escapist, courtesy of publisher Dark Horse Comics.

In the latest issue of The New Yorker, Chabon authored an essay on superhero costumes that focuses on their genesis, evolution and what they mean about the character and the creator’s intent. If the idea of the litererary intelligentsia discussing the same topics as the local comic-shop crew makes you smile, make sure to listen to Chabon’s audio interview about why he wrote it.

Zack Snyder Answers Fans’ ‘Watchmen’ Questions

Zack Snyder Answers Fans’ ‘Watchmen’ Questions

Over at the official Watchmen film website, director Zack Snyder has answered a pretty hefty list of questions from fans about his upcoming big-screen adaptation of the groundbreaking graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

The Q&A is divided into two parts (part one, part two) and covers a lot of ground, from the difficulties of adapting Moore and Gibbons’ use of panels and dialogue to create "scenes between the scenes" to the costumes and fight sequences of the film.

On the subject of Rorschach’s costume, Snyder shed some light on the level of detail he’s aiming for in the character’s mask and the way it reacts with Rorschach’s mood and hidden expressions:

As you can imagine, the most effective way to render the ever-changing inkblot that is Rorschach’s face is with the use of visual effects. So, we created a blank mask and strategically placed small green tracking markers on it. The markers will be used to track the contours of his face throughout the shot. There is also a hole that reveals Jackie’s [Jackie Earle Haley] eyes not only so he can see, but also to help to the VFX artists later while they animate Rorschach’s face. The opening allows them to see what Jackie’s eyes were emoting. When completed, his open-eyed, green polka dotted face will have been replaced by a CG element, a slowly changing inkblot pattern. We’ve gone through and analyzed the many inkblots from the graphic novel and have assigned them each different emotional characteristics — so that when Rorschach is experiencing something in a scene, the shape on the mask reflects his emotions in a graphic and abstract manner. I have had the opportunity to see some of the early tests and I am very pleased with how it is coming together.

Oh, and as if that wasn’t enough, Snyder also addresses some of the rumors surrounding the development of The Black Freighter, the story-within-a-story that unfolds throughout the graphic novel.

 

Real-World Superheroes?

Real-World Superheroes?

Next time you see someone in a cape and tights running toward you on a busy street, you might not need to cross the road or locate your pepper spray, folks. You could be having a real-world superhero encounter.

This article in The Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages documents the presence of "Reals" – people who don costumes to do good as real-life superheroes – throughout the country. According to the article, 150-200 of these individuals operate within the U.S., with at least another 50 fighting crime internationally.

One such real-life superhero is "Geist," who dons a black duster and arms himself with smoke grenades, bolos, a slingshot, and a pair of six-inch fighting sticks to fight crime in and around Minneapolis.

A mission awaits and time is of the essence, so Geist eases his solid frame, honed from martial arts training, into his trusty patrol vehicle—a salt-covered beige sedan. Unfamiliar with the transportation tangle of downtown, he pulls a MapQuest printout from his pocket, discovering his goal is but a short cruise down Washington Avenue.

You know what? Forget that stuff we wrote earlier. You should still cross the street and put as much distance as possible between you and the masked guy in spandex… just to be safe.

… Tip o’ the hat to the Blog@ crew

Is Iron Man Mike Hammer? by Dennis O’Neil

Is Iron Man Mike Hammer? by Dennis O’Neil

So where we at?  For the past month or so, we have, in a scattershot and disorganized way, been discussing the various elements involved in the evolution of superheroes.  I don’t think we’ve come to any conclusions worthy of being preserved for the ages, nor should we: things change, darnit. But maybe a little tentative upsumming would not be inappropriate.

Upsumming:

Haberdashery: There is currently a trend away from putting superdoers in costumes, though the big bucks movie heroes are still wearing the suits and, judging from the films I know about that are in development, this will not change in the foreseeable future.  But most entertainment consumers — I’m excepting comics fans here — get their heroism, super and otherwise, from television and maybe because of tv production hassles, costumes aren’t common.

Powers: We’ve agreed (haven’t we?) that for a long time the superbeings of mythology and folklore got their powers from some supernatural agency: they were gods, or demi-gods, or friends of ol’ Olympus,  or something.  Or they were agencies of darkness — black magicians of one kind or another.  Then science became the rationale, most famously with Jerry Siegel’s extraterrestrial origin of Superman.  Last, and decidedly least, there was technology allowing the good guy to do his  stuff. And now…well, it’s anything goes time.  Look at the current television offerings: we have a superhero private eye whose abilities are due to his vampirism, which we can call magic; a technology-enabled superhero(ine); and a whole bunch of peripatetic whose gifts have “scientific” explanations, or so it currently seems.

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