Superhero of the Month - Ross Radke's X-23

Ross Radke - 19/20

Congratulations, Ross Radke -- winner of the Superhero of the Month X-23 contest! Ross has submitted to several previous contests, and this is his first win here at SHotM. And what a win it was! Ross's Laura Kinney scored about as close to perfect as it comes. This contest was not sponsored, but Ross's entry will be included in our one-year anniversary contest, and he has the option of joining us for judging next month's contest.


Judging this month was done by the Superhero of the Month staff, Alex and Mitch.


Alex: Pretty much perfection. Gritty, mysterious, beautiful, dangerous. But here's what sells me most with this redesign, though: how much she looks like Wolverine without looking like Wolverine. The attitude and Logan-esque clothes tie her to her origin, but she's definitely her own character here. There's everything to love about this: the jacket, the "X"-ed gloves, the torn skirt and tights, and those amazing boots. Well done, Ross!


Mitch: It's dirty, it's western, it's punk, it's wonderful. And it seems really thought out too, which is always a good plus. Love the gloves and the stylization on the boots. Heck, the Wolverine stripes on the jacket and boots are just subtle enough. And the biggest question I had was "do the stripes connect into an X", which thanks to his other picture, I know they do. My only problem is I wonder if the hands might be a bit too heavy visually with the jacket's straps, the spikes on the gloves, and the X on the back of the gloves. But that's easily ignored. This is fantastic.


Check out the Runners-Up after the jump!

OFFICIAL CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT - GREEN LANTERN

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

To coincide with the release of the upcoming film, Superhero of the Month is proud to announce Green Lantern as June's contest!

A great number of characters go under the name Green Lantern, so any character from the Corps is open to reinterpretation: Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardner, and the non-fake newsman John Stewart are just a few. The only GL we won't be accepting is Alan Scott; yes, he's an honorary member of the Corps, but he's kind of not part of the GLC. (Don't worry, we might save him for a later redesign!)

It's been a while since we've done this, but due to the plethora of Green Lantern's, you are free to submit more than one redesign if you choose. However, each must be of a different character that holds the Green Lantern title. So, for example, you may submit a Hal Jordan and a Kyle Rayner, but not two Hals.

Also, because of the nearly limitless number of Lanterns, we're going to limit the number you can submit to three maximum. Only one can be considered to win the contest, but your chances are increased with multiple submissions.

Entries are due between June 1 - 24 at 6:00 PM MST. The winner will be announced June 30! Good luck!

Editor's Note: This month's contest has potential to be huge with the amount of interest the Green Lantern film will bring to the character. Please help spread the word about our contest on Facebook and Twitter with #SHotMGreenLanternContest!

X-23 Results - Part VI

Laura Kinney goes out with a bang with the final batch of X-23 redesigns! All I can say is "wow!"

Joy Christian Juyo

"I went straight to the source for inspiration on X-23: Wolverine. I employed the claw motiff all the way through her costume, and added the tight skirt with the hood; it creates more mystery than the traditional face mask or paint.

"My favorite part is the legging design/boots, in which was inspired from the classic wolverine costume, with the horns or claw stuff at the edge."

Ross Radke

"I wanted to get away from the goth hooker look and pay tribute to her old man Logan's classic drifter look."


Editor's Note: Ross sent in a sketch accompanying his X-23 redesign that can be viewed here.

Jesse Kwe

"I'm not too familiar with X-23 but from what I've read she's supposed to be a female clone of Wolverine, so my interpretation was to take those words quite literally. I imagined what Logan would look like if a female version existed, and here's what came out. I wanted to convey her attitude and style more than what her costume would look like, so she's wearing biker-type clothing mixed with some rocker chick stuff. I based her primarily on Mila Kunis."

Edson "Edo" Obando

"My idea was to show X-23 as a secretive, runaway-type. She has natural sex appeal, but after all that has happened to her she is very closed off. She has left the X-Men currently to find her own way, and I felt she should have her own look, but still give a nod to her team. Her cloak is feminine, but hides her features when she feels like hiding herself from her surroundings, or for secretive missions. Her gloves are red and show off her most dangerous assets: her claws."

Ally Cat

“X-23’s been a military experiment, a prostitute, worn a Feral-themed costume, one that Wolverine himself had worn briefly, street clothes, club clothes, but she's never really worn a costume signifying her relationship with the X-Men. She seems to love Lip Service-looking clothes (a brand I am very familiar with), so I kept with some of the shiny latexiness of her street/club clothes but gave it a more X feel. Some fun little accents: military-pointed shoulders, a key hole shirt, and an off-set zipper for her pants. Now she's part of the team. She doesn't need much protection due to her regenerative power, but I did put it where it counts: knees, leg tendons -- places hat would take a bit more to regenerate than a flesh wound. My favorite thing is the X gloves: when she extends her claws, they make the ends of the X's! I gave her a hair cut so no one is grabbing her by it, but still made sure she had a girly flare.”


And that's it! Thanks to everyone who participated! Let us know what you think in the comments below! 


Stay tuned: the winner will be announced shortly, as will the next challenge!


For all of the X-23 goodness, be sure to click here!

X-23 Results - Part V

We've received a bunch of new X-23 redesigns! Check them out!

Dimitrios Kasdaglis

"X-23 is a character I'm only vaguely aware of. While the 'leather and lace' costume combination suits her well and is a hard one to beat, defining her as 'sexy' alone makes a very poor description of the character. Sexy indeed, but also secretive, silent, serious, severe... these were some of the words that came to mind as the costume re-design was coming along. 'X' marks both the costume and the zippers, indicating her affiliations. In a way, zippers also reflect her attitude: shut firmly, but with intent to open.

"One last detail -- the lack of any special shoes indicating her third claws. If I had adamantium claws popping out of my feet, I'd avoid advertising it, keeping an ace up my sleeve so to speak --a claw up my toes, perhaps?"

Josh Gowdy

"I found this one pretty difficult as, X-23 is still developing as a character. Daken's observations of Laura in the recent Collision storyline have made me think of her more as a dancer in the way she moves. I tried to carry this across in my design. I also wanted to lose the mid-drift top and the long hair. I don't think it'd get in the way so much as be absolutely feral after most missions-- there is generally a lot of blood and guts flying about in an X-23 story!

"Stylistically this one also fits in with a recent redesign of Daken I did."

Craig Payne

"When I hear the name 'X-23', for some reason I get a mental image of the numbers on a sports shirt. Because of that I decided to give her a sort of sporty/streetwear look."

There we go! What do you all think? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to check out all the X-23 redesigns received so far!

There's still time to submit your X-23 redesign! Redesigns are due Wednesday, May 25 by 6:00 PM MST! The final X-23 post will go up some time after that. For all the X-23 contest details, click here.

X-23 Results - Part IV

Lee Harris

Lee didn't have any thoughts to share on his X-23 redesign, so if I may, I would share this: enjoy it's awesomeness! :)

X-23 redesigns are due May 25 -- you have just about five days to get them in!

In the meantime, please check out all the X-23 redesigns we've received so far!

X-23 Results - Part III

After a series of setbacks with Blogger, things are finally up and running again, and we have a few new X-23 submissions for you all!

Boy Akkerman

"I went with a costume that’s very much an homage to her ‘dad’s’ old threads. There are few costumes that say 'hard-core animal' like that of the old Canuck. Besides, I figured that since their on the same team nowadays, she might want to make the old man proud."

Carlton Stevens

"I wanted X-23 to come off more athletic and less sexual, and wanted the concept to reflect some of Wolverine's personality and design at the same. To do that I based her off of more of a track runner or MMA fighter. I also think a simple modified track suit with an afterthought mask is something a young devil may care superhero would wear."

Brian Post

"You would think a trained killer would know long hair in a fight does not mix well. I went with the grunge/punk-ish type haircut. I wanted her costume to be dark, but also have some reds and lots of sharp angles so it screams 'hey, I'm dangerous -- don't mess with me.' I added the mask as a little nod to Wolverine's."

What do you all think? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to check out all the X-23 results we've received so far! 

Also, there is a due date change for X-23 entries. Entries will be due May 25 by 6:00 PM MDT. With winners being determined by SHotM staff and selected guests, it seems more logical to allow contestants more time to work on their redesigns.

Good luck!

X-23 Results - Part II

A couple more submissions have come in for our official 100th post. Check them out!

First up, a SHotM first-timer:

Tiffany Willis

"I wanted to show the softer side of X-23 in my design. She is a tough young woman with the genes of Wolverine running through her, so you know she's got to be hard-core and animalistic. Originally that's how I started to draw her. Then I remembered she's just a teenage girl that is literally made to do horrific things. She was driven to kill her own mother. So yes, she is dangerous, but she is also a very tortured soul. 

"As for the costume, I wanted it to remain youthful and modern but still something she could fight in. Also, she did work as a prostitute for a while, so I don't think that she would exactly be shy with her assets."


Next up, a piece from a past contest entrant:

Rofe

"I think if anyone ever makes a film of X-23, the actress should be Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), whom I based this redesign on. The character's personality is enough to not need a great costume; a top, shorts, and boots are enough."

What do you all think? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to check out all the X-23 entries by clicking here! There's still plenty of time to submit, so be sure to check out the Official Contest Announcement for all the details!

X-23 Results - Part I

As with many of our contests, Warren Newsom has submitted his piece first!

"I don’t know that much about X-23.  I haven’t followed X-Men or Wolverine in a long time, but I did read them back in the day.  I figure if she’s anything like her “source material” she will be an equal mixture of animal savagery and animal magnetism.  I tried to capture both in my drawing."

Let us know what you all think in the comments!

X-23 submissions are open until May 20, so you have about two weeks to get us your submission! All the details are here. Good luck!

Meet Mitch

While we're waiting for a couple more X-23 redesigns to roll in, I thought I'd take this opportunity to make a little site announcement: We have a new contributor to Superhero of the Month!

Mitch Albright is a graphic art student who has been interested in superheroes his whole life. Unfortunately, one design for 50 years can get stale, so in his free time, he tends to doodle new costumes or reimaginings of the heroes he reads about constantly.

I'm excited to have Mitch on board. Mitch will be a regular contributor to the site and, in addition to me, will post the new redesigns, offer his thoughts, and help judge the monthly contests.

Drop Mitch a "hello" in the comments and stay tuned for X-23 redesigns, coming your way soon!