Birds of Prey contest is loaded with pairings of Barbara Gordon and her allies. Check them out!
This piece was a challenge to redesign one of the several characters featured in
. I chose Power Girl and Batgirl. I've always wanted to draw Power Girl and not make her ridiculously chest-heavy. Then again, I didn't want to reinvent the wheel. Both of these characters are iconic and have very distinct looks. I decided to remove the cape from Power Girl and give her something different, some sort of sash-belt thing. Other than that I wanted to retain her essentially normal look while also making her appear like a power-house. Batgirl I wanted to change up. I wanted to give her a new color scheme and really emphasize that she was (is still?) the Oracle. Though this tech-savvy aspect of her is done through wrist-mounted computers and 3D displays where she can send and receive information on the fly.
"Batgirl: Personally, I prefer her as Oracle, so I thought about a way of having the best of both. It always seemed like a no-brainer that WayneTech would have remote controlled automatons that could 'go missing' and that Bruce, Babs and Alfred could kit it out for Babs to use, much like Bruce uses in
. I used Batgirl's colour scheme from the 60s Batman show, as it sets her apart from other Bat-characters.
"I've always found Black Canary's name underrepresented in her costume, so there's a fair amount of yellow in here. Her cape could be stiff and made of a thick polymer, designed to protect her from surprise attacks from the back. Huntress is a biker chick with a bad attitude, and here's a slightly more realistic take on her costume. I've always preferred her using bludgeoning weapons -- they seem to suit her character more than the crossbow."
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| Jamie Rimmer's Power Girl & Oracle |
"Power Girl: I wanted to retool Karens most familiar look and make it a bit sleeker, and give her her own identifying symbol. The power symbol is something that has appeared intermittently on Peej's costume, but is often forgotten in favour of the more familiar -- and apparently iconic -- boob window. The window is a bit of a tricky thing for me, as its not something that has made sense in tailoring terms. I decided to create the illusion here of the familiar window by having a cropped coat teamed with a bodice/one piece bathing suit-style uniform that shows the breasts, without being so in your face. The baggy material on the sleeves, coupled with big gloves and boots, act as a balance and help tone down the window. I've often thought Karen's costume has some military style aspects to it, so I attempted to incorporate this here, making the cape a more practical coat.
"Oracle: One of the greatest disservices of the rebooted DCU for me is the retooling of Barbara. The character has somewhat devolved from premiere information broker for the entire superhero community to a former sidekick who was shot, but got better. By wiping out this part of the character, I feel DC has taken a major misstep. I thought, why can't she be both Batgirl and Oracle? Not just a mere sidekick, but a strong woman who, despite everything she has been through, is a respected and important member of the superhero community?
"The exoskeleton serves as a reminder of where Barbara came from and helps to boost muscle capacity, and take some of the strain away from newly cured legs. It also ties into the Oracle identity, with the tech heavy aspects. I thought the costume would be creepy and unique, somewhat faceless and shrouded in mystery. Technology is a massive part of the character, and should not be ignored. The VR screens act as both an intimidation/distraction for enemies, and also are very useful for hacking/projecting on-the-go. This is a Batgirl for a modern age, Oracle for a new DC -- embracing change, but becoming more than she was, rather than less."
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| Aamina's Oracle & Misfit |
"For Oracle, I went with Grant Morrison's concept from
Batman: Leviathan Strikes, where he presented Oracle as an online avatar, and mixed it other concepts. The idea behind revamping her as an avatar is to give Barbara a form of mobility and watch her perform 'in the field', while maintaining her Oracle persona. I kept the sleek black look, but instead of using yellow I went with green because the yellow and black theme gave a Batgirl vibe. I took the idea of adding green circuitry to her costume from when she was infected with Brainiac's virus in order to play up on the idea that Oracle is a computer program. I also replaced the cape with thruster boots, like the ones in Terry's Batsuit, for a more futuristic feel. I kept the helmet from the original design, but I tweaked it just a bit, and removed the flame-like hair. I opted out of using the Bat symbol, instead going with the bat-themed helmet, because Oracle is Barbara's own creation.
"For Misfit, I felt that she had been underplayed by the writers. In my mind Barbara would never let Charlotte patrol without protective gear, so I gave her a full body suit and boots rather than her normal outfit. Misfit strikes me as more of traditionalist when it comes to costumes, so I kept the cape and placed her "M" crest of her chest while keeping it simple. I kept her mask design relatively the same, but I added lenses to in order to hide her identity. I also added elbow and knee pads for protection and as a echo of her future Huntress suit. I stayed with a lighter color palette because Misfit is a happy, optimistic girl, in spite of the obstacles she has faced."
What do you think? As always, there's some great stuff in there, so let us know what you think in the comments below!
Birds of Prey submissions are due this
Saturday by 10:00 PM MDT, so please get them in to us as soon as possible. Check out the
Official Contest Announcement for details! You can also check out all of the submissions we've received so far by
clicking here.
