Super Styles

So, while waiting for editorial feedback on my non-fiction anthology strip for SAW, I decided to work on a concept/notion/idea that I have been kicking around and playing with in various ways for some time, and that is a variant version of the Justice League of America - specifically, the "Satellite Era" team from the seventies (my JLA). I have been messing with character designs and names and whatnot, not necessarily for any specific outcome, but just to feed my inner comics-nerd. So, in a confluence of my decades-long fan status and my burgeoning cartooning practice, here's the dealio.

I started with this image, from JLA  #200 - this is the team I think of whenever someone says Justice League.

I did a bit of swiping as I replaced the superheroes with my own characters, and simplified the background (since I am not nearly as detail-obsessed as George Perez):

 To jazz it up, I tried coloring with pencils:

And again with markers ill-suited to the task:

Then, just for fun, I tried that bold, super-simple style I have been playing with:

Thoughts: 

• using Perez as a style guide is maybe not the best idea for someone with a style like mine, but who knows how it will develop

• I actually like that first inked version in a lot of ways

• color is complicated - I can see why so many folks who work in color are going digital

• I can see a use for the really over-simplified style, even

And finally, for anyone who really wants to geek out, here's the correspondence of original characters and my analogs:

Superman  ➜  Hella Man
Batman  ➜  Black Buzzard
Wonder Woman   ➜  Sister Splendid
Aquaman ➜   Aquaphibian
Flash ➜   Fleetfoot
Green Lantern ➜   Runestone
Martian Manhunter ➜   Mercurian Messenger
Green Arrow ➜   Silver Sling
Atom ➜   Nanonaut
Hawkman  ➜  Pteroman
Black Canary  ➜  Blue Flamingo
Elongated Man ➜   Putty-Man
Red Tornado  ➜  White Squall
Zatanna  ➜  Pythagora