Finding the original version of the image above got me thinking about Superman's color scheme and how the shades of reds and blues have changed a little depending on the version. (I think I may do a poll to see what people prefer). I changed the colors around in Photoshop, as you can see below (unfortunately I didn't realize this image had so much dither in it).

The one on the far left is the one I grew up with and the one used for the bulk of Superman's existence -- the light blue that borders on becoming a blue/green with the red that has a hint of orange to it. Curt Swan's Superman was colored this way, Christopher Reeve's costume used this color scheme and John Byrne's rebooted Superman was colored this way.

Then in the 90s, we started seeing Superman colored like we do in the second version, with a more royal blue and a slightly darker and more pure red. This is basically how he looked in the comics and it was the color scheme Dean Cain's suit had.

The third one is how this image was originally colored when I found it and it looks like the Brandon Routh version -- red becomes somewhere between burgundy and maroon to make the blue portions of the costume pop (Singer said he envisioned this 'electric blue' popping out from the screen).

And the fourth one is the Henry Cavill MOS/BVS color scheme -- very dark with much less color saturation in the blue (it's almost a greyish blue).

Which do you prefer? Do you have a different preference for comics versus live-action?

The second one is too purple but I don't mind any of the other ones.

The 2nd one looks like what is used in "TAS," and I've come to like it more than the light blue. I vote for number 2. #JeffIsWrong

Racist thread.

For me, the first option just looks right. I sometimes wonder if that's because of the slight green in the blue (green and blue are complementary colors), but it's probably just nostalgia more than anything else.

For a contemporary costume, I wish they'd go with the Kingdom Come version. The angular logo with black background, black belt, no shield on the cape, muted blue and red.

Otherwise, I prefer the Curt Swan Superman and his primary colour scheme. Not overly garish, not overly dark.

1

Linda, what do you think of this logo?




Here it is in red and black...

This reminds me - I recently got a Superman shirt with the logo from the new movie but with the Kingdom Come colors (why they did that, I don't know). What do you think of this logo?

I like the black background in general. Your t-shirt insignia looks cool -- better than the movie version, to my eyes. (I also like you as Superman better than the movie Superman, but that's another thread.)

DC used this colour scheme in the '00s with the traditional "S" and it still looked pretty good.

The Kingdom Come "S" is so stylised, so sharp, that it looks very "no nonsense" to me which fits that version of Superman -- a Superman I'd like to read on a monthly basis. I found the KC Superman was very enjoyable to read as a member of the JSA, for example. No froof, no pandering, no posturing.

I think I like that Grant Morrison 'S' shield posted above in red and black better than the Kingdom Come version -- it's got a lot of that stark, graphic simplicity, but there's more of a suggestion of the letter 'S' than the KC symbol.

Though if you go with the idea of his emblem as a Kryptonian symbol, maybe having the symbol look less like an actual 'S' is a good thing.

No, I never liked that explanation for the insignia. It looks visually appealing to me -- it looks like a stylised "S" to my eyes.

I really like variations on the Fleischer S-Shield.

I went with (1). I would say just slightly darker than (1), somewhere between (1) and (3) but forced to choose among the choices above I went for (1). (2) just stands out like an off duck to me now, though I might have liked it/preferred it at the time.

Heh. Clark from Ork.

Fake fan.

He's Firestorm.

1

Basically, the answer for me for everything -- costume, voice, hair, you name it -- look to Superfriends.

How do you like it when Alex Ross paints the traditional Superman?

Ross' work on traditional designs has always made the characters seem silly, like they're wearing Halloween costumes. Photorealism requires that the look be redesigned as it would be for live action. In Kingdom Come, the new costumes (even the ones I didn't like) looked a lot better to me than when he painted the classic ones.

Okay, here's the colors applied to this classic Byrne splash.