PaRARGdox 37
More bad news: All the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place for our heroes… so maybe it’ll soon be time to stop talking and start fighting.
If I can just have a quick rave about superhero costumes – I know that in these cynical “too cool” times, colourful costumes are seen as gaudy and ridiculous. But for me, especially as a kid, it is something I love about the superhero genre. It can help individualise the characters and make them easy to recognise and identify at a glance. I guess, in a universe where you don’t want to stand out that would be a liability. There are plenty of minuses, but lots of pluses! As you might guess, I was a bit disappointed when the original X-Men movies went with black leather costumes – sure, it looked cool, but the characters really lost something in that process. I’ve appreciated the more recent trend in both Marvel and DC movies in trying to be more faithful to the original costume concepts, while still bringing in muted, more practical considerations. Anyway, this was all triggered by the fact that I love the bright clash of colours on this page… as our heroes realise that they are sinking quickly into the shit!
Drongo: Australian slang for dipshit or idiot!
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Families/Cемьи: Page 12 is now online. Page 13 will go up on Monday June 1, about 6pm Sydney/3am New York time. Stay tuned! By voting you not only get a new page of this story but you help raise Magellan’s profile and help potential new readers find us.
Next update: Wednesday, June 3, 2020: War footing…
Alien “logic”… go figure. Oh well, no time to be discussing fine philosophy points!
This isn’t good… Major attack incoming.
There are plenty of considerations for costumes, both plus and minuses for every style, and the thing is that in a well-rounded world there’s little reason for every single super to have the exact same view about it. I think you do a good job of showing a variety of aesthetics, even if you tend toward the more colorful types.
Colorful makes sense for the superheroes, they’re symbols, they want to be distinct and stand out from each other. They probably don’t want to look like they’re wearing uniforms. They’re not “uniform”, each super has their own set of powers and skills and in the field, it’s probably pretty handy to be able to quickly differentiate them, make it easier to remember what they do even if you’ve only known them for a short time. Their name and costume may even be a handy shorthand for their capabilities. And loots oof supers have very straightforward flashy powers.
Those with more subdued abilities, like Maestro, go for more muted color schemes. And the edgy ones like the Red Path Ninja go for the all-black cool costume. And then you have all the criminals who don’t even wear costumes, and just do their thing in casual clothes.
Sista Superior’s chosen outfit is pretty distinctive among the criminal element, even if it does look like she has a habit of hanging out in Catholic cloisters. The green outfits of the loonies following around the Master Ass-ass-in are also pretty distinctive, but I guess they could be considered a uniform after all. If I recall, the Baxter Gang had matching outfits, but clearly distinct powers; now they also have matching outfits: prison uniforms.
Brainspike put them in matching outfits. I don’t think they actually had them in the physical world.
There is one specific point about bright color on costumes: even when originally bright, they are unlikely to remain bright when the costumes would be used, especially in something as heavy-duty as superheroing.
However, I agree with superheroes being symbols and wanting to be different and having their own “brand”. In fact, in case of X-Men, I would say that the uniform look was in-universe deliberate …
“Drongo” is something I associate with Mortal Kombat’s Kano, so it always sounds like an Australian curse word to me. Meanwhile, “root” as a slang word I learned from this comic (as well as “going pear-shaped”).
Also, as for colorful superhero costumes, I’m a big fan. I actually enjoy highly saturated colors (when people say a film has an eye-bleeding color palette, I actually tend to enjoy the colors in it). Still, colors also say who a superhero is. Bright, saturated colors signify the paragon, or at least the one who wants to be seen and lead by example. Muted to grey/black colors are for the ones who would rather be more clandestine. Superman leads by visibility. Batman sticks to the shadows. Hence, they have quite different approaches to costume coloring. One of the many reasons I don’t like the Zach Snyder DC movies.
If you love colourful costuming, I recommend you take a peek at City of Heroes: Homecoming, Grace.
Same goes for all the fans here.
https://forums.homecomingservers.com
The costume creator is pretty robust, particularly for something from 2004.
On the costumes, it’s honestly my favourite part of your comic. One of my favourite scenes was the page, where we had the students learning about how to design their costumes (I think it was wayyy back in the first story arc with Dragonklaw and those).
As for the current storyline.. Uh oh
Yes, that was a fun scene!!
Oh by thre way, I’m taking an extended leave of absence offplanet….
Say what you want about the Rarg, but they’re clearly not cowards.
They see what they believe is the biggest threat and… “Rarg!”
Where did Judy’s coffee cup come from? It wasn’t on any previous pages. Do her superpowers include the ability to summon a cup of coffee whenever she wants one?
She was keeping it warm between her thighs…
Okaaaay. Moving right along….
TMI! 😅
They could use a longer table. With The Hierophant taking up all the room at the end, and RB sitting to your immediate right, you might not feel safe leaving your cup in front of you!
Oh well, it makes marshalling your forces and protecting the civilians from collateral damage a lot easier if the alien invaders are kind enough to drop down straight into your superhero base. Especially since the Rarg have a bomb that blows up the entire earth, better they land on your doorstep than somewhere in the steps of Mongolia.
(Although it’s possible that the Rarg don’t have the bomb yet, and are relying on psionically copying the homework from other tech-savvy inhabitants of Magellan island to complete it once they land.
If it turns out the key to making the Earth-Shattering-Kaboom-Device work is messing with The Man Who Can’s mind, it’s time to tell the Character Assassins that Gary is the alpha character.)
When the excrement hits the rotating thingy blowing air. Those two wanted to stay away from danger and now they dead. Is there a job for super people that wont put them in dangerous situations?