2013 Merchandise & Miscellaneous News Archives

November 3, 2013: Superman Through The Years - Costume Evolution

Superman Costumes Artist Alexandre Séquard was kind enough to send us an exclusive look at his artwork showing the different interpretations of Superman's costume, from his first publication in 1938 through to 2011 at the start of the New 52 comic book universe.

    My initial idea is born from the wave of hate I observed against the "Superman Returns" suit. Indeed, every artist interprets and plays with the suit with his own twist. From this basic idea, I developed the concept to expose all those different subtleties and confront them.

    The goal was to identify the differences according to the era, basing most of the work on the medium in which Superman exists first and foremost: comic books. Hundreds of artists worked on the Superman character over the years so I selected the pencillers who brought the most to the suit or to the character and whose ideas have been then passed on. I also decided to add the creators who made the suit their own. For example, the symbol on the chest has never been reduced after John Byrne decided to make it bigger. Before him, the logo was medium (C. Swan) or small (J. Kirby). It is also John Byrne who was the first to truly drape the cape that much, this was then followed by D. Jurgens.

    The costume often borrowed from the films or cartoons that were developed at the same time, this is the reason why I included them here.

    I did not include one-time suits, nor those from the different Elseworlds, nor from alternative realities.

    This work necessitated more than 150 hours of work, including research and colors, over more than 8 months. This work would have been impossible to achieve without a deep passion for the character, this is the reason why I'm very proud to present this gigantic Panorama of Superman.

Visit Alexandre Séquard's DeviantArt page for the full text, with a complete list of the Superman references.

[Posted here with the express permission of Alexandre Séquard]



2013 Merchandise & Miscellaneous News

Listed below are all the Merchandise & Miscellaneous News items archived for 2013.


Back to the News Archive Contents page.

Back to the Latest News page.