Superhero of the Month - Craig Payne's Avengers!

Okay, after a bit of an extended judging period, we can finally, officially congratulate Craig Payne on winning the April/May Avengers contest! Craig's submitted to us many times before, and with this month's contest, the judges pretty unanimously felt he knocked it out of the park. Here's what we all thought:

Craig Payne - 169/200

Alex: The simplicity here is excellent. Nothing is overdone, and the simplicity of these designs gives the impression that they would translate easily into different styles and mediums. My favorites here are Hawkeye and Vision, but the others look phenomenal, as well. The only one I'd need a clue regarding identity is Moon Knight. I think it's a fine design, but the giveaway isn't immediate.

Mitch: This is all about the little things such as US Agent's red eyepieces, or Hawkeye's pointy eyepieces and glove. The Moon Knight is also pretty interesting and wouldn't mind seeing someone in that suit. Won't lie though: I'm a fan of Hawkeye's dorky head points as they give him an instantly recognizable profile.

Taylor: I really enjoyed the sleekness of this design and how it was so simple and worked so well. The stand out for me here was the Hawkeye design, I really like the almost-trench coat look of it, as well as how it connected to the mask. I also enjoyed the hood on Vision helping to definitely make this look like a well trained Black-Ops team. Well done!

Sebastian: Craig's was easily my favorite of the bunch. The designs are simple and elegant and they work well together and form a cohesive look. Hawkeye is easily my favorite and the top scoring among these. It's just so slick and I love the overcoat look, though I don't quite understand why Craig chose to use different designs for each arm sleeve. I think Vision and US Agent are really solid as well, and instantly recognizable which is always a plus. The weaker characters in this batch are Moon Knight, who I don't think I would've recognized him if I hadn't been told it was him (though I love the inverted logo), and Mockingbird who is a little too busy in areas, especially in the lower half of the design. A well deserved win.

Judging for this contest was done by the Superhero of the Month staff and Sebastian von Buchwald, winner of our Birds of Prey contest. As is customary, Craig now has the option of joining us this month for our Doctor Octopus contest.

Please check out the runners-up in our full article.

Ross Radke - 153/200

Sebastian: These are a bit of a mixed bag. I love, love, love that Ant Man (the Wasp a slightly less so) but the others don’t quite click with me. I appreciate the effort to cover up Tigra a bit but I don't see the point of the goggles and her cat feet would be more useful if they were bare so I'm not sold on that part either. The upper half of Speed looks great but, and this is admittedly a personal issue, I'm just not digging the shorts. Machine Man is solid but the outfit doesn't do much to distinguish itself. Still, if I had to take a guess, I'd say Ross' made it to second based on the strengths of those Ant Man and Wasp designs alone. It's hard to design interesting tech suits and those are really, really great.

Taylor: Another great line up here. I found that Antman here really stood out. The traditional colour scheme as well as the sleek and compact look of the suit really worked for me, and its always good to see an antman rock antennae. I appreciated the fact that Tigra isn't just a pin-up girl and looks like she could do some serious damage. Wasp looks like a tiny knight which I thought was cool and I enjoyed seeing Machineman in the mix. However i thought the let down of these piece was speed, the design seemed a bit lacking.

Mitch: Practical. All of these outfits are super practical. Maybea bit too practical for Quicksilver and Tigra, but still very nice. Love the stylized ant shapes on Antman's forearms as well as the patterns that echo through his and Wasps costumes. Cleats on Quicksilver though? I get the idea behind it but I'm not sure how useful they'd be for the urban environments I usually see him running around in. Maybe Hank built him some retractable cleats, eh?

Alex: Like everyone else, I love those Ant Man and Wasp redesigns. They're probably two of the best out of the entire contest. While the others are certainly good, I feel like, cohesively, And Man and Wasp look like they're on a team, Tigra and Speed look like they're on a team, and Machine Man fits somewhere in the middle. I felt like Craig's use of black and angles tied his team, who had very different uniforms, together, but the differences here were too striking. Nonetheless, the designs are all exceptional, and deserving of their rank in the contest.

Comickergirl - 152/200

Taylor: This was one of my favourite re-designs in this competition. I enjoyed the concept of adding a little more of a 'team look' into the mix, whilst still maintaining everyone's personal look. I liked what i named 'Hipster Thor' because it still looked somewhat godly yet modern. I would have liked black widows costume to maybe show a little more colour, but other than that a great design.


Sebastian: Even with the looseness of the drawings, there are some strong design choices here. I think the changes to Iron Man's palette are solid in that they don't invoke other "Iron" characters and I have a love/hate relationship with Cap's design because, though simplified, it doesn't say "American flag" as much and the torso is kinda bare. Thor and Black Widow are solid but perhaps too similar to the current designs and I've been disappointed at how little effort people have put into redesigning the Hulk. Most people seem to have gone for a simple color change to the pants and called it a day. A solid set overall.

Alex: I feel a bit differently than Sebastian. I love the super-simplified Captain America, although I do see where, without the stars, he could be misidentified as France Man. But thankyouthankyouthankyou for ditching the ridiculous head wings. The other designs are well enough, but I do wish someone other than the Hulk had been chosen, simply because, in my thought process, I have no idea what I'd do to redesign him. His schtick is that he's green, angry, and has some semblance of pants. I can understand why he's been chosen, but I think a character that lends themselves more to a redesign would have elevated this to a clear second place, and maybe would have vied for that top spot.

Mitch: I've got to say, I really like this Cap. Thor is greatand the Iron Man is pretty interesting but the Cap stole the show for me. Not too sure how I fele about all the glowy bits on Iron Man, though. Knees are fine, the piping is alright but the bicept and shoe lights just feel a bit... cluttery to me. And is the subtle A in the red on Iron Man's design intentional? Because that is really clever and the extra bits stuffed on definitely detract from that.

Edgar Binuya - 145/200

Mitch: Everyone is nice and solid. Nothing much else to say.Very solid and dependable costumes. Antman's lights are interesting definitely reek of a guy trying to show that he's the leader and Pulsar's coat bit and new logo are definite improvements. I really like that coat bit.

Sebastian: Herc is my favorite of the bunch here. The shoulder piece works wonders and strengthens that "warrior" feel the character should have. Other than that, I think that design-wise there aren't a lot of strong elements in these, aside from maybe Ant Man. I like the idea of incorporating the Wakandan flag for Black Panther but I don't see the point in any of the yellow elements around his thighs, biceps and chest. All it seems to do is break up the character's otherwise elegant silhouette. Similarly, all the diagonal lines in Wasp's design don't seem cohesive enough and the way the two colors swap in and out of Pulsar's costume could be tightened and simplified. Some great idea here in general but I think there could be further polish.

Alex: Kudos for choosing some characters I'm entirely unfamiliar with. Like Ross's, the Ant Man and Wasp redesigns are the real stand-outs here. Black Panther looks good but, to me, it looks like some stuff was just added to his regular suit. That's okay, but it doesn't really elevate it for me. The others look great, and make me want to learn more about them. And personally, I love that grin on Herc's face.

Christian Scheuer - 145/200

Mitch: Fairly standard costumes here. Spider-Woman really stands out here, though. Curious about the logo. I'm not sure I get it. I'm not even sure if it's something I'm supposed to get or it's just a design. The double red is a nice touch on the head and boots, though. But since she's all red I just keep getting drawn back to the yellow bits.. And since she stands out the most and that stands out the most on her...

Alex: This was actually one of my favorite pieces in the contest, and I was a bit disappointed it didn't rank higher, though I'm content that it made it to the Top 5 -- well, Top 6, since we have a 4th place tie. I love Mockingbird and Valkyrie. Spider-Woman is fantastic, but I have to agree with Mitch. Tone down the yellow on the abdomen and she soars. Jewel is fairly standard, but I think her color really makes her stand out. X-23 looks like X-23, and while she's not popping out, she looks well enough. The only comment I have about the team uniformity is that in some cases the "A" armband logo works really well. It's phenomenal on Mockingbird, and it just works on X-23. The armband doesn't sell itself as well with Valkyrie, and looks out of place on Spider-Woman. I think a little more in terms of integration, and the "A" inclusion takes it to another level.

Sebastian: I'll admit that I quickly dismissed these at first glance but, upon further inspection, I noticed that there's some true greatness here. Mockingbird's design is just really, really fantastic and, though Jewel and X-23 look a little too bland for my tastes, they're solid in what they set out to accomplish. Spider-Woman is rightfully spooky though I'm curious to see what she would've looked like with the Spider-Man eyes. Valkyrie looks rightfully Norse though I don't think the skirt is very convenient for the kind of battle she wages. This somewhat of another mixed bag but it ultimately grew on me over time. The "A" armbands are pretty unnecessary though.

Isaac Bartsch - 142/200

Taylor: I liked this team look, especially Doctor Strange,but I felt a little let down by the fact the too much face could be seen. I can understand maybe or two of the members without a secret identity, but with the three here, as well as the minimal masks on Cap and Hawkeye, it felt like too much. I really loved the modern Doc Strange look, and I enjoyed Cap's armour, butIi personally found that Hawkeye and Wasp seemed a bit too casually dressed.

Sebastian: The one design that I really love out of these is Doc Strange. It's slick, it's modern, it's simple, but it still has a very mystical quality to it. It's just great. I also love how Cap screams Bucky and not Steve Rogers so props for that. On the other hand, I don't quite love the "street clothes" look of the Wasp and I think Captain Marvel's design is a bit too close to McKelvie's to set itself apart. But my real problem is Hawkeye. The loose clothing, the rolled up sleeve, the cargo pants, the plain shoes and just the overall grayness of it. There's just isn't a lot that I find appealing in this outfit and it doesn't really work with the rest of the designs. It almost like he was plucked out of another series. Other than that, another strong set.

Alex: It didn't strike me until reading through here that this Cap is Bucky. Somehow I missed that before, but the design works loads better for him than Steve. That didn't affect my score in terms of design, but it does for my enjoyment. Everyone else pretty much touched on everything else rather well.

Thanks again to everyone who participated! Doctor Octopus redesigns are due in 18 days, so we'll see you all back real soon for more redesigns, and the crowning of a new Superhero of the Month!