DC has started running a series of ads for Converse shoes featuring different versions of their characters from the Golden Age through the upcoming September relaunch, under the slogan, “Classic Heroes. Classic Shoes.” The Flash ad, seen in pictures at Bleeding Cool, gives us another look at the new Flash costume, and our first view of his boots. [UPDATE: Here’s a better scan that I made from Flashpoint: Legion of Doom]
Personally, I think the new boot design (like all the seams on the costume) is a bit busy, but I’ve seen far worse.
The poses are so similar that I’m pretty sure they’re all new art, but whoever did these drawings did a great job mimicking the styles of particular artists over the decades.
Update: We have an explanation for the boots! (Sort of.)
Clearly boots like that will make Flash more “easily accesible” to a new “generation of readers.”
…Seriously, could have been worse. But I think it’s pretty bad when the best I, and others, can say for the new costume is “could’ve been worse.”
So with my revelation that DC Comics has pulled/is going to pull a Star Trek, for those iof you not in the know please refer to the Star Trek reboot from J. J. Abrahms(sp?) From a couple years ago. Those boots and the entire costume for hat matter do not suck. With that in mind, as long as the stories do not overly suck, I’ll give the new series a shot. Wally or no Wally. And they better make Barry less of a square. Because geek these days does not mean you are a “nerd”!
Too busy, too desperate for attention. It won’t last. DC will eventually revert like when Superman’s costume disappointed back in the mid-late 90’s. Poor desperate DC 🙁
BTW: Yes, I will get a pair of those JOURNEYS sneakers! 🙂
They took a classic costume and made it too ‘busy’. Maybe I’m not young enough to appreciate it.
Why do older readers keep thinking that all younger readers (say, 18 or below) are into this “hip and trendy” style of…whatever it is DC’s trying to pull?
That generalisation is getting very annoying.
Flash has been my favorite since the 60s. But waxing mournful about his costume updates? Really?? Either way, we don’t have DC Comics to thank or blame. DC is not driving these changes. It’s Warner Brothers! I’ll bet WB is designing the costumes. And YOU can bet our “comic book comfort zone” would never make it on the big screen. That’s what all this is building up to. And Really? Pining about the boots? Get beyond that teenage ostentation.
Speaking of Superman, in the mid 90s when the all-black costume with white shield was introduced, they should have kept it. From then on that should have remained as the operational costume, & the traditional one should have become the ceremonial costume.
I’m a big fan of the black suit & silver S shield costume. I loved that it didn’t have a cape!!
Exactly. No capes.
And as for the boots, does anyone expect the artists to do this every panel?
It’ll be gone in 6 months.
These remind me of when they updated the boots on Bart Allen’s Kid Flash uniform. I loved those boots but a lot of fans hated them like no other and were very happy when E.V.S. reverted them back to their basic boring appearance. To be truthful the boots were a little busy but they had a flare to them that was just interesting. I wonder what those fans think of the new Kid Flash design?
As far as these boots, basically it could be a million times worse but it could also be a million times better. Yes, complaining about boots seems infantile but at the same time if I have to read about this character all the time I’d rather it be in a uniform that doesn’t make me physically ill (not that this one does, but the possibilities for terrible uniforms are endless).
Doesn’t make it any better that the Chucks blow the new boots out of the water in comparison.
Devin, I also liked Bart’s Kid Flash boots and gloves during that period. Well, maybe hey could have been toned down some, but overall I did like them.
I don’t know about the converse shoes. Those are just…as busy as the new Barry Boots. Too much going on…no place for the eyes to catch a breather beyond the rubberized sections.
Oh I agree about the converse. They definitely are incredibly busy as well, but they still look better than Barry’s new boots.
I wish they would play with the Mercury/Wing motif a bit more. I saw Kid Flash’s old boots as kind of an exaggeration on that. Barry’s old boot wings taken to the next level more or less. Sad that they seem to be getting away from that almost completely.
Ergh… The foot section is fine…the side is almost okay….the front is just too much. However, I agree with Married Guy in that the extra lines will mostly be disregarded in the rush to get a page out. (Thank God.)
Am still infuriated that half the costume is basically lifted from Wally’s. Keep dreading what else they might graft from West onto Allen because that really would be the death knell to seeing Wally in the future.
Harping on boots? Why shouldn’t we be harping on what DC does with these characters? I don’t understand the mentality that people should just shut up and be mum when they have an opinion on something. As long as the view expressed is half-way tactful there is nothing juvenile about expressing an opinion. In fact, retailers and manufacturers prefer that you give your honest opinion over just walking away from the store or product. They’d rather contemplate changes than lose business.
Now, DC is doing changes in an attempt to aid their business….I just think their product research was not thought out terribly well before they went whole-hog on it: they are assuming that ‘young’ implies an aversion to all things old. I doubt that this generation of teens are THAT shallow.
I repeat: DC is not making these changes. No, I’m not a Hollywood insider. But when “Man of Steel” premiers the new Superman costume Thanxgiving 2012, it will not be because DC comics made the change. It will mean that Warner Brothers dictated ALL these changes to DC early in 2011.