SABRINA AZMAN
Superman.
“If I could be a superhero I would be… Awesome Man I’d fly around the world fighting crime according to my awesome plan and if I saw criminals trying to lie hurting other people and making them cry I’d haul them off to jail in my awesome van ‘Cause I would be Awesome Man” — Stephen Lynch, “Superhero”.
What is a superhero ? Some says its just a fictional character that is born from such imagination with special abilities that make them special from other people. But, to the chosen ones it is an imagination that is so powerful it may lead the character to become a real person in the real world itself.
Cleveland, was where one of the legendary superhero called Superman was born. In the 1930s, two geeky yet amazing teenagers Jerry Siegel as the writer and Joe Shuster as the artist paired up idea to make their dream character come true. The creation begin by both mastermind dreamed up the powerful hero as a way to attract girls at their Ohio High School. But, things went on pretty serious as Superman represented The American Dream for some years after the Great Depression that people had gone through at the age when he was born. The idea of someone capable of incredible things would inspire to be the greatest escape to people to look forward living for tomorrow. He was known as the icon to the symbol of freedom and hope.
“I’m only a man in a silly red sheet; Digging for kryptonite on this one way street; Only a man in a funny red sheet; Looking for special things inside of me; It’s not easy to be me.” — Kirti Dhingra
Superman. They called him the hero among men on Earth. The man of steel. Born as the last son of Krypton, the planet of doom. Given the name Kal-El, he was just an infant that had to be sent away from home by a spacecraft designed by his father, Jor-El as Krypton was destroyed in a splendid explosion. Little Kal-El then safely reached to Earth just outside of the town of Smallville, Kansas, U.S.A. Raised with full of humanity by Jonathan and Martha Clark, Kal-El lived a normal ordinary human life as Clark Kent. Sooner and later, he discovered that he is not just a human but more by having the abilities and superpowers that one can think of.
“There is a superhero in all of us, we just need the courage to put on the cape.” — Superman
Every superheroes has their own attire to show their identity to the world. Based on the research that I have done, there are a lot of reasons and answers to all the questions regarding Superman’s outfit. Begin with the question why does superman wears a suit with only blue, red and yellow? According to the huffingtonpost.com, in the early 1930s printing technology was very costly. So, they came out with two types of forms, black and white or four colours, for comic printing to be as cheap as it can be. Hence, the four coloured hero begun.
“When we had thought to stand alone, we will be with all the world.” — CAMPBELL, J., COUSINEAU, P., & BROWN, S. L. (1990). The hero's journey: the world of Joseph Campbell : Joseph Campbell on his life and work. San Francisco, Harper & Row.
The transformation of Superman’s suit had such an interesting meaning behind the story. It started with a concept of a police badge-shaped crest Superman’s chest as the ’S’ symbol begun to be famous in Superman’s first appearance on “Action Comics” #1 . Technically, people had misunderstood the ’S’ symbol as it is actually not to symbolise the word Superman. On the other hand, the letter ’S’ on the chest is actually a symbol of the word hope in Kryptonion language. The legendary symbol had been improvised for the first time by quote, “a bold red ’S’ placed within a yellow triangle.” on the cover issue “Action Comics” #7 stated by screenrant.com. Sooner, in 1940 Paul Cassidy one of the artists who was hired by the committee developed an idea with a new set of logo on the cover of “Action Comics” #26 as quote, “with a bigger, more graceful ’S’ inside of a diamond-shaped triangle.” stated by screenrant.com. The symbol in this cover stated was a step ahead to the one that we know today. The logo yet again had changed by placing the ’S’ onto a black background due to a share with the Paramount Pictures. But in the end, the logo did not last any longer as it was hard to recognise the original symbol of Superman. By 1945, the reborn of a new and last logo design was successfully made by the original writer and artist itself, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster as the bottom of the ’S’ badge would pointed and not squared. According to screenrant.com, quote “the muscle that pushed the fabric to its breaking points would fluctuate with the times (as would Superman’s hair), but the basic design would not.” is the reason behind the new logo that had been created.
From comic series to motion pictures, the first costume was made in 1948 as Kirk Alyn became the first actor to be in the legendary superman’s suit. Instead of making the suit in blue, red and yellow, better photographed back then was in back and white (monochrome). The costume had to be made in light grey and brown. Sadly, the grey suit had fully featured for the entire first two season back to back. Till the year 1953, a blue and red suit was made. But it was still broadcast as black and white as colour television had not yet been widely known. In the year 1965, it was the first time Superman played by George Reeves appeared on the television with the very own Superman’s trademark colours blue, red and yellow. In 1979 Superman: The Movie directed by Richard Donner, inspired still by the comic books he explain that the Superman’s suit was made by from a Kryptonian blanket making its not just any suit but a shield or an armour to Superman. This statement was made to add on more story even to the logo ’S’ itself. But, in 1986 they had made a fresh comeback for Superman as they improved the suit by designing a much bulky and muscular body figure. Going through 1990s, this was such an impressive year for Superman as it was an epic comeback for him from death in “The Return of Superman”. The suit had changed the colour to a darker blue and a bigger emblem on the chest. As the year move on so as well as the storyline. In “Kingdom Come” written by Mark Waid and Alex Ross, Superman was taken to a much darker place in the comic series. The logo was change once again to a black darker logo as he was no longer the symbol of hope. In year 2000, the storyline became a little too weird and ‘wrong’ as in Superman’s comic series “Elseworld”, they had introduced ‘Electric Blue Superman’ to the world with a new look, blue suit and white eyes even with no cape but still had failed to make movie screen out of it. Sooner, a blockbuster team, J.J. Abrams introduced with the idea of Superman: Flyby.
Jumping to conclusion, it was when the Man of Steel had developed as Henry Cavill for the epic role. Directed by Zack Snyder he was a fan of Joseph Campbell, he was inspired with the concept of the mono-myth and the hero’s journey. By being too inspired, Zack Snyder created an extraordinary suit one could ever imagine with a hidden quote on the Superman’s shield and cuffs.
“Written digitally into the shield, the biceps and the belt is a Campbell quote “Where we had thought to stand alone, we will be with all the world.” Costume designer Michael Wilkinson said “it was a quote that has to do with the idea of alienation, of coming together and feel[ing] part of society. That’s something that Superman is sort of battling all the time — feelings of alienation and connection. The quote deals with those issues.” — There’s a Kryptonion Joseph Campbell quote, cbr.com
Related to what I have observed, the research of the transformation of the Superman’s suit represent the feel of modernism. As the style of the suit had a strong development in concept and meaning behind it. How at first it was just a sketch of suit in a comic books to a normal fabric suit with no meaning to look at and today with Zack Snyder’s precious creation of an armour as a shield to Superman with a deep Kryptonion quotes wrapped around the legendary suit. Which at the same time, also can be related to science fiction genre. As Zack Snyder’s futuristic imagination had linked a lot to science and technology concept to his design of the Superman’s suit. Since nowadays, future has been developed to a new level of era in reality followed by our own imagination.
