Votes are tallied and totaled. 12 winners went head-to-head and, clawing her way to the top of the pile, Ross Radke's X-23 has claimed the title of
Superhero of the Year. Check out the winner and our comments below. Before the jump, we've got info on your judges and our judging criteria, and after the jump are our scores for all twelve entries!
![]() |
| Ross Radke's X-23 - 88/100 |
Alex (9) - I love this design. Typically, when I see X-23, I think of her as being around 15 (which may be highly erroneous), but here I see her as 19-22 -- a little bit older, with some smart changes made. The style of the top and ripped tights still tie her to youth, but the brown skit/jacket/boots visually tie her to her genetic template in Wolverine, and seem like a smart, forward-thinking decision.
Chantaal (9) - I'm in love with this. I love the extra rough and tumble look to her, especially the cowboy boot sand jacket. Keeping the X-Men symbol in her belt is a nice touch for a character who doesn't necessarily have a constant look to her, but this really ties together well for a kick-@$$ civilian look.
Lina (10) - This X-23 looks like SUCH a bad@$$. Very much fitting with the Laura Kinney we know and love. The skirt isn't something that I initially liked but, as a complete look, it works really well.
Angel (8) - There are a few things that I like about this one and a few things that sort of rub me the wrong way. I like how the coloring reminds me of Wolverine, and I like how her necklace looks like one she'd wear in some of her earlier comic appearances. I'm not a big fan of the bulkiness of the outfit as a whole, I think, but I do like this one.
Dee (10) - This is a design I just love. There are a lot of great and familiar elements in it, but it also seems very rugged and like street-wear. There's a roughness to it, like she's found pieces she's made work together. The boots are practical and the heavy leather would be well suited to her foot blades. It's very recognisable as X-23, but not similar to the original.
Dave (9) - The more "rough-and-tumble" look is nice. The claws are a little long, though.
BJ (7) - Maybe X-Men and mutants are easier to redesign because their abilities and mutations are so obvious, generally speaking. I like the more tomboyish and earthy feel to this design. Still clearly X-23, yet still quite different.
Tyson (9) - Really enjoyed this design and the incorporation of the Wolverine-esque elements incorporated into X-23's costume design here. I could easily imagine picking up a comic book and seeing her sporting this look. Nicely done!
Taylor (8) - This is what I would really expect to see from a character re-vamp 10 years down the road. She looks older and more bad@$$, and the short hair really helps with that. The outfit is practical and yet still shows off some skin. I particularly liked the jacket, as well as the wrist guards and gloves. Really good design, and I would defiantly have to pick this up if I saw it.
Mitch (9) - Great design to be sure. It calls so many elements that make up the ideas behind X-23 and bring them together in a stylish outfit. I still love the subtle Wolverine markings on the boots and, now that I look again, I find myself thinking the stripes on the jackets could maybe be a bit more like the boots. But that's a small, tiny thing compared to the fact the rest of this is just so great.
There you have it! Before we jump into the rest of the contest winners, I wanted to share with you the criteria for judging this time around, as well as your judges.
Since all of these entries won in their specific contests, it is inherently unfair to pit them against one another as, on those grounds, they can't compare to one another. So we took a different approach. We assumed we've not picked up a comic for 10 years. After a decade out of comics, we decide to check out our local comic shop, and these characters are the ones that great us. They've all been redesigned so, are they recognizable as the characters we knew last? Is enough of their visual identity retained?
The only exception was Aquaman, since his contest was an
Elseworlds/What If? affair. For him, the criteria asked if he was still recognizable as some form of Aquaman in his alternate universe state.
Your judges include your
Superhero of the Month staff,
Alex and
Mitch; the always fantastic
Girls Read Comics crew,
Dee,
Lina,
Angel and
Chantaal (who, might I add, will be joining us again in March!); two of our sponsors,
Dave of
Dr. Volt's Comics, and
Tyson of
Big Shiny Robot! Unfortunately,
Scott of
Scott's Comics had to drop out of judging for personal reasons, and we still needed one other judge. Turning to Twitter, we got a couple of fans to help and provide a fans perspective through
Taylor and
BJ.
Now, there are prizes for this contest. Obviously, Ross wins, but we need to figure out how many tiers we go down after that. We'll let you know what the winner(s) obtained as soon as possible. Trying to stay on top of a whirlwind semester and run the site hasn't enabled me to run every aspect smoothly, but we'll keep you posted!
Check out the rest of the entries, their scores and comments after the jump!Read more »
