Beating out Zaphod Beeblebrox since 1940

[odditycollector]

So! Who has seen the pic of Alan Scott's upcoming new costume? You?



I know, by all objective reasoning, that I should hate it. Indeed, when that image first graced my field of vision, my expression probably wasn't far from Jay Garrick's look of horror. Or that of any of the other characters in that picture, who I assume are seeing that getup for the first time. (Or possibly have been aware of it for a while, and still *cannot adjust*.)

But after considering for a moment, I realized that actually I LOVE it, because it is 100% in character! Something like this happens EVERY TIME he makes fashion decisions.

caiusmajor: Oh ALAN, why do they let you dress yourself?

Somewhere in the DCU, Molly is facepalming, and she's not going to know why until the news comes on.

(Disclaimer: I am aware of the context in which this ensemble came to be. It is still the ugliest of all options.)

Comments

[petra]

Is it supposed to look like a Tony Stark Original?

[odditycollector]

I think he's supposed to look like he dressed up as a railway lantern for Halloween.

[rydra_wong]

Because I do not know the character or context, and I have to ask:

Is there a disc or orb of light on his chest, or is the light shining from behind him through a circular hole cut in his chest?

From this picture, I cannot tell.

0.o

[willow]

Is he an Alpha Lantern now or something?

[odditycollector]

Hahaha! I didn't even notice until you said that. That's hilarious.

I assume the back is solid, but whether the front's meant to be a glowing chest plate or a window to show he's glowing internally, I don't have enough info to say definitely.

And, as I'm sad that you have nothing to compare the above disaster to, this is his usual outfit:

[odditycollector]

I like to think he grabbed the living room curtain to be his cape.

[brownbetty]

Success!

[brownbetty]

I thin the best part is everyone else's looks of horror, like they've just caught a glimpse of Shoggoth.

[rydra_wong]

I think it's the lighting; I mean, once you start looking at the way it's illuminating people behind him at least as brightly as the people in front of him, you realize that logically the light source can't be located on the front of his chest. He must be -- Hole Punch Man!

I must have a costume that is so bizarre that, once I am seen, I will never be forgotten!

... at least it's on purpose?

Re: 0.o

[odditycollector]

Are you sure you want context? I glanced through the last couple JSA comics to see if there was an explanation, and. Uh. Okay.

I gathered that Alan was recently injured quite badly (did not go further back to see how) and the robo-lantern outfit will be his idea of a mobility aid in the near future. It appears to be something he conjured with his ring.

But wait, you may be saying if you are familiar with the character, didn't his body get slowly consumed by magic ring energy over the decades, and at this point he only ages and bleeds because he likes to believe he has a regular human body? Indeed, even his doctor was asking if he couldn't just will himself to get better. If he wanted to.

But: "THIS IS HOW MUCH I BELIEVE I HAVE A REGULAR HUMAN BODY.*" And no one is about to challenge Alan Scott to a being stubborn contest.

*(Not actually the explanation given, but it is what I suspect is actually going on here.) I assume he'll magically get better in a couple storylines, so I have appx. zero patience for this side plot.

idk, maybe this would have struck me as better done if I read it through properly, instead of quickly scanning every third page or so.

[odditycollector]

It took everyone 70 years to get used to his original outfit!

Re: 0.o

[willow]

...

This is DC's ideas of an assistive device and dealing with disability - oh, it was all psychosomatic, but at least he had a power ring?

...

...

DisContinue reading.

Re: 0.o

[odditycollector]

Pretty much.

I'd abandoned the JSA title years ago; this did not make me regret that decision whatsoever.

[odditycollector]

... at least it's on purpose?

I'm not convinced that makes it *better*. That teeny pic doesn't even do justice to the nonsense of his colour scheme. Maybe here, although you're still missing the lime green cape lining.

In fairness, he pulls it off with more dignity than most anyone else would. Unless it's just that by now my colour sense sees him coming and runs for safety, also a possibility.

[thefourthvine]

...Are there joints in that thing I just can't see? Because as far as I can tell, he cannot rotate or bend his spine above the waist. At all. No neck movement! No thoracic spine movement! This is not going to make fighting easy.

Although maybe I'm being too picky. I mean, he seems to have borrowed that reactor thingy from Iron Man, maybe because he had a giant hole punched through him and was like, "Dude, what do I PUT in there? Wait, I know - Stark has that shiny thing!" If I had to choose between having a giant hole punched through my torso and not being able to move my spine above the waist, I'd go with the latter, since you can live through that. Whereas obvious this dude has managed to survive having both problems and he's still found a way to make an anti-gravity device just for his cape. That's heroic, all right.

[odditycollector]

How did I not see the hole punch thing until people pointed it out to me. It makes the whole thing even more ridiculous! Would not have guessed that is possible!

Dude in question is a sort of Green Lantern (Brief intro I wrote, largely mocking his other fashion choices). It looks like that thing is made up of magic green energy, so it's as flexible as he imagines it to be.

I bet his friends and loved ones are wishing otherwise, though. I always assume Molly, his wife, has forbidden him from buying clothes for himself. But while she can sneak the plaid ties and tapered neon trousers into the goodwill bin, it's harder to get at an ensemble stored in his imagination.

[count-fenring.livejournal.com]

Logic chain of creating that costume:

Alan: Hmmm.... My name is Green Lantern, yet the RING is still the focus. What can I do to de-emphasize the RING, and emphasize the LANTERN...

I know! I'll dress up like a Lantern! It'll be like last halloween, when I made Molly dress up as a lantern, and we had a good laugh when I recited the oath while poking her tummy! And then the separation. But that's all over now, and a lantern IS I!

[odditycollector.livejournal.com]

*shakes head in his direction* This is like the plaid ties all over again, except since he's creating it out of green energy, Molly can't sneak it from the laundry and throw it away.

[poisonivory.livejournal.com]

WHAT.

[lovelyzelda.livejournal.com]

Poor Alan. At least Dick Grayson had the rest of the Bat Family to stage an intervention after they saw the first few Nightwing costumes. In fact, I have decided that most of Dick's Bat-Hate phase was because Batman disapproved of his popped collar.

[droolfangrrl.livejournal.com]

looks like he has a light filled hole in his chest. Makes me think of Absence http://comicbookjesus.com/2010/11/30/una-nemo-in-batman-and-robin/

[odditycollector.livejournal.com]

There is no "Poor Alan" when it comes to fashion choices. He does it to himself.

Jay and Molly have probably tried to stage many an intervention over the years, but Alan is not renown for his LACK of stubbornness.

PS. Is the bit about the Bat Family disapproving of Dick's Nightwing costume collar canon? Because <3

[odditycollector.livejournal.com]

I think the stares of utter horror by everyone else in the pic basically sum up everything.

[odditycollector.livejournal.com]

Lol'ing. I am too familiar with the character, I guess, as I didn't notice the hole-punch effect on my own.

[lovelyzelda.livejournal.com]

PS. Is the bit about the Bat Family disapproving of Dick's Nightwing costume collar canon? Because <3

I wish. As far as I can tell, Batman and Nightwing's angry phase was due to the early stages of Bat-Jerk and Nightwing's characterization as "Diet Batman". But given how every other Dick Grayson costume is a technicolor nightmare, I refuse to accept that he created the current Nightwing look on his own.