Design is about character, not fashion
Thanks to our recently-introduced-workmate Jen, and her kind pointer to the excellent Project Rooftop site, the past few days have been lost to floating thoughts of superhero-based costume redesign. I had given myself many tasks to achieve over the bank-holiday weekend, the last of which was to “have a think about the current Wolverine costume redesign competition, if I get a spare minute”. Of course, when facing off against “clear out all unused items in the loft”, there was a clear winner.
I thought of something that Stan Lee once said when introducing a showing of Sam Raimi’s first Spider Man movie to a crowd of eager comic book geeks somewhere in Texas. He talked about how the expectant audience shouldn’t worry too much about the ‘authenticity’ of Raimi’s movie, and that it was simply one person’s view of an character that belonged to everyone. Whether the movie was good or bad, the character would always exist differently for each of us, depending upon how we perceive them. I like that. That a reader is entitled to their own personal version of their hero.
As much as the X-Men movies are entertaining, I always felt that Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine wasn’t quite as angry and hard as the comic version I remember. The guy I used to read about was always spoiling for a fight, and certainly wouldn’t have been voted as one of the sexiest men in the world. He was a hairy, arrogant wise guy, who loved a good scrap.
I thought of the first time I took notice of Wolverine in the comic world. In this particular issue, he had woken in a snowy landscape, not knowing who he was or why he was there. There was a real mystery as to who he was, and how he had gained his powers. The image I recall most clearly is the first time his claws appear from his hands. He had been taken in by some helpful soul, and given a place by a fire. He is surprised by something, and his claws shoot out from his skin. He looks terrified, almost like a cornered animal. I thought, what if he actually reacted like an animal would, and took flight to the safety and anonymity of the wilderness outside? Where would he find his name, and his costume?
I thought it would be nice for him to simply think of himself as a Wolverine, surviving on what the wilderness provides, clothed in the roughly-sliced pelt of his animal namesake. It’s certainly not the yellow spandex that Stan Lee originally envisioned, but it sits well with my own personal Wolverine.
