SUPERHERO OF THE MONTH - Blair J. Campbell's Starfire

Congratulations Blair J. Campbell, winner of the Superhero of the Month & Girls Gone Geek Starfire redesign contest! Blair is automatically entered in December's Superhero of the Year contest, and has the option of joining us in March to guest-judge our Birds of Prey contest!

Blair J. Campbell - 10+9+8+7+10 = 44/50

Alex: I get submissions like this, and I'd like to smile, if only I could pick my jaw up from off the floor. Everything here works. The only thing I'd want to know is how those sleeves stay up, but this redesign is so amazing I don't even care. I think what works best of all is that this version of Starfire could adapt just as easily to the Teen Titans cartoon as she could to the printed page. This design deserves a standing ovation.

Vanessa: This design is simple, functional, and still a bit cheeky. The hair isn’t over done, but still represents the signature flame. The costume works for the character. I can see Koriand’r zipping around in this. Whether fighting a villain in space or poolside; Campbell’s design strikes a happy medium.

Erika: I love the streamlined simplicity of Blair J. Campbell’s design. It’s clean, fresh and youthful, and it would work for Starfire as a kid (think Teen Titans cartoon) or an adult. While it’s certainly eye-catching, it doesn’t completely overshadow the character. With Starfire, there seems to be a great temptation to gild the lily, so to speak. This costume goes in a completely different and refreshing direction.

Robert: I love the simple yet effective design that Campbell went for. This Starfire definitely has a more modern feel to her design and the artist's style only compliments it even more. It would be interesting to see how this costume translates into the New 52 comic style.

Check out the full post for the full Top 5 results!

Thank You All!

The Starfire winner has been decided, and the announcement will come tomorrow. However, I wanted to take the opportunity to thank some of the many people who made this month's contest a smashing success, and highlight a couple of pieces that came just short of the Top 5 this time around.

Tom Crielly's Starfire

First , a huge thanks to Girls Gone Geek for co-hosting this month's contest with us! Vanessa and Erika have been fantastic to work with, and really helped diversify the running of this contest. 

If you're looking for a great site with great opinions and analysis of comics, Girls Gone Geek is a great place to go. You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.

A big thank you also goes out to Robert Schilling, the winner of last month's Gorilla Grodd contest. It's always a pleasure to see his art, but it's also a joy to have him on our judge's panel.

This month's contest was immensely successful -- with 49 posted submissions, it was easily the biggest contest we've hosted in terms of turnout. So thank you to everyone who submitted to the contest. From the get-go, you cracked out high-quality, inventive redesigns that really raised the bar.

Daniel Schneider's Starfire

  It was also the second-biggest month we've ever had in terms of site traffic. A couple of huge thank yous go out to DC Women Kicking @$%, who mentioned us on their site, and our friends over at Project: Rooftop, who linked to us while highlighting Blair J. Campbell's fantastic version of Starfire.

Coupled with those of you who linked to us through your sites, Facebook, deviantArt, Twitter, Tumblr, and every other way imaginable, loads of people have taken part in this month's contest, so I can't thank you all enough. From Day 1, Superhero of the Month has been about exposing people to your art, and this month really upped the ante. 

Thank you all for your continued support of our site, and for your contributions. I'm looking forward to another fantastic contest as we take on the Birds of Prey. I hope you'll consider joining us again!

OFFICIAL CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT - BIRDS OF PREY

We're very excited to partner once again with Girls Read Comics, Too in presenting March's redesign contest: the Birds of Prey!

Art by Stanley "Artgerm" Lau

Year 2 of Superhero of the Month has been all about user suggestions and reader's choice. Some of these characters have been suggested before, and some are brought about simply because of their BoP association. We feel that this will give readers plenty of choice.

Special to this challenge is that you are being asked to redesign two (2) Birds of Prey in your submission!

While the BoP roster is fairly sizable, there is one caveat: you must choose one (1) of what we feel are the "core" characters of the Birds of Prey, and one from the overall BoP roster. Therefore, you must choose one of the following: Barbara Gordon, Black Canary, Huntress, or Lady Blackhawk.

While you are free to choose two from the core characters, you may also select one of the following: Katana, Starling, Poison Ivy, Big Barda, Black Alice, Lady Shiva, Gypsy, Hawkgirl (Kendra Saunders), Judomaster (Sonia  Sato), Power Girl, Hawk, Dove, Misfit, Manhunter, Infinity and Vixen.

A few special notes:

1) Please send your chosen characters to us in one (1) image. Supplemental images may be sent, but not are guaranteed to go up on the site (but will likely surface on our Facebook and Tumblr pages). Separate images of your characters will be manually spliced together into one for ease of posting. You've been warned.

2) With the New 52 revamp and Barbara being back in the cape and cowl as a part-time BoP member, you are free to send us your Barbara in either her Oracle or Batgirl persona..

3) If you're ambitious, you may send in more than one pair of redesigns. However, you cannot duplicate characters, with the exception of Barbara as either Oracle or Batgirl. You must stick to the format of at least one (1) "core" character paired with another from the BoP roster.

4) The BoP roster is 95% female, some of whom have a tendency to show a lot bit more skin than others. Apply the same logic to this contest as we did with Starfire last month.

 There's a lot of freedom and a lot of territory to explore, so have fun! Submissions are due Saturday, March 24 by 10:00 PM MST. Any questions, comments, concerns or jokes should be sent to us via email.

Starfire Results - Part 6 [Updated 2x]

This is it -- the final batch of submissions for the Girls Gone Geek and Superhero of the Month Starfire redesign contest! Check them out:

Ganknott

"My take on Kory, borrowing elements from the cartoons and the comics. It is Starfire so there's skin showing, but I wanted her to look like a warrior first, alien babe second. A touch of decorative elements here and there to signify her royalty but most importantly, her hair. I drew her some killer hair. I'm surprised I didn't make it poofier."

Lee Chen Fang

"The concept of Starfire's redesign is to bridge the comic version and the cartoon version with the spirit of a space adventuring Red Sonja. Some chain of thoughts for giving her the bracelet, leg bracelet and neck bracelet: Before she got enslaved they were her jewellery. When she was enslaved, it became cuffs to restaint her from exerting her power. After she broke free from slavery, it acts as a memorial token of her heritage and days of enslavement. It is also used as vessel to restain her from exerting extreme amounts of energy that will cause great harm to her opponent and people around her."

Alex Wiley

"I liked her original color scheme and so I kept that, along with her big hair and decided to go with a more concealing, darker with a bit of alien-rock-crystal-thrown-in type armor."

Dimitrios Kasdaglis

"A sexually liberated, golden-skinned, humanoid alien princess who descends from a feline-like race, has the power to convert ultraviolet radiation into energy for flight, and the ability to fire beams of energy... in need of a hairdo?  Challenge accepted!"

Johansi

"I wanted to make her have an ultra-modern vibe, with a dash of sweet charm and allure."

Jamie Rimmer

"Starfire, to me, is a strong, feisty character who is in complete control who, at the same time, has a certain innocence and purity about her. Bottom line, you do not want to mess with her. I played it safe with colour scheme here, and referenced design elements that have been seen in previous colour schemes, as I wanted this to be familiar as the Starfire we know and love. I decided to give her a strong build, as this is how I have always seen her -- a strong and graceful supermodel. The tiara is to tie into her royal heritage, and I wanted to make the focal point of the costume be the star, tying back to her name, and playing a little with her physicality, as she is not afraid to show some skin, but at the same time, this should not define the character."

Sal

"I have trouble with Starfire in the comics because I just don't know what keeps her clothes together. However, I like the attitude and wanna see where it is going. I designed Starfire to have a sexy, smart, and powerful look. Her hair would be better at an average length; instead of a contrail, her hair would wavy and flowing and when she moves, flies, or wind picks up, it would make it seem her hair is on fire."

VoxVulpina

"I'm extremely fond of Perez's design, so I wanted to keep Kori's hair poofy and enormous, and her armor revealing. Tamaraneans need sunlight to recharge themselves, so it makes sense for Starfire to expose as much skin as possible without her costume being utterly impractical and sleazy. I chose not to emphasize the regal aspect of her character because I think it would have aged her; I'd much rather keep Starfire looking young and carefree."

Marta Seara

"Following the general ideas from her past outfits,  I've tried to create one that shows her skin but

it's not that much revealing. This outfit is a mix between a girl's boxing outfit and the characteristic parts of what I think a Tamaran outfit should look like. I had shorten her hair also for practical reasons and put her a see-through clothes because it creates the illusion that she is more covered."

Jason Meador

"I think Starfire works best as a cheerful, wide-eyed and upbeat character who puts any grimdark past behind her and is happy and nice because she chooses to be. I picture her with a foundation of a tanktop, bike shorts, fingerless gloves, and toesy socks, all made from some kind of indestructible Tamaranean superfabric -- so she can fight without having to worry about embarrassing herself -- and then wearing a different Royal Purple outfit every day on top of that."

Calamity Jon Morris

"The goal was to merge her original metal bikini costume with her more modest animated series costume.
I started by writing down some keywords for the character, to focus the redesign: alien warrior princess, sun worshipper, paradise world, and then a couple notes about her backstory. The gauntlets and leggings have some doodly-oodly patterns on them, but are meant to be fancy alien plated armor, so expect this Starfire to get in close with knees and elbows during a fight as often as she’d used her (ahem) 'starbolts' (In the comic, she had been trained in close combat as a warrior, the laser beams were a later addition, yet she rarely gets in close to fight. I’d like to see that change). Part of the ‘sun-worshipper’ and ‘paradise planet’ things come out in her bare feet and luxurious locks. I thought she’d probably have slightly more ornate hair, braided and pinned back from the face. Usually, her ‘special effects’ are focused on her hair - it creates a sort of luminous ‘chemtrail’ when she flies, so I expanded it in such a way that her hair glows warmly AND I expanded that to her skin, too, so rather than just being an orangey color, it’s actually glowing much like the hair."

Peter Dora

"I wanted to keep her sexy, but a tad more covered. Her costume needs to be able to realistically hold itself together, and still be very free. I always thought that long hair would be incredibly annoying for any female character that could fly, so I gave her a short hair cut."

Kellie MacDonald

"My Starfire is younger than her current New 52 characterization, more influenced by her time in the Teen Titans. For me, Starfire's redesign was heavily inspired by my friends who are gymnasts, dancers, and martial artists. Her sweater is zippered, with two buttons at the side, and two zippered pockets. It's loose enough to fit comfortably over paintball pads or other body armour. Her hair is short, so it won't get grabbed, and she doesn't have to tie it back. Her shorts are to maximize movement over protection. I didn't draw her feet, but I imagine her wearing some sturdy running shoes and sweat socks."

Sandra Gutierrez

"I wanted it to be simple and aerodynamic. I tried it not make it look like a painted on costume, or something that you would find in a strip club. I mean, she is a princess but she also kicks butts. What I liked about Perez's (and  the Teen Titans cartoon) design is that she looked friendly, and I wanted to keep that, but with a look that will make you think twice before getting in a fight with her. Key words, simple, friendly and powerful."

Michelle Sciuto

Editor's Note: Michelle didn't have any particular thoughts on her redesign.

Kanthara

"I've been thinking about comfort and practicality in Starfire's outfit design, something she could freely move in, wouldn't pop out of place or cause any wardrobe malfunctions, and would still look cute and sexy. I have a tendency to draw my women wider in the hips (draw what you know, they say), and I like slow-slung belts to emphasize her curves. Her short boots are flat, which is all around better for running. She's still showing a lot of leg, which is not a bad thing at all. I didn't touch the rest of her: huge eyes, super long hair that turns to a fire trail, tall, beautiful -- but I did give her pointed ears because the feline heritage intrigued me."

Lee Mynatt

"I've had issue with Starfire's latest design in particular, so I wanted to focus more on the 'tank' aspect of Kori's powerset, rather than the bodacious bombshell part. I didn't want to stray too far from the original design, so I incorporated a lot of the lines in mine, and some cues from some later tweaks."

D'Addio's

Editor's Note: D'Addio's didn't leave any thoughts on their submission.

Jorell Rivera

"I decided to emphasize the fighter side of Starfire by re-imagining her as an MMA-style brawler. I gave her a really simple wardrobe, while still retaining a couple of elements from her classic look."

Sylvia Moon

"I'm the outsider looking in. For a really long time, I've been trying to shoe horn myself into reading more North American comics. It's difficult -- really difficult -- if you find almost all of the female superheroes explicit and unfairly treated. I find Starfire interesting and beautiful but terribly under developed. I've been drawing her often, reading about her predicaments and trying to find a better meaning to her character. I always thought the WB did her justice in the Teen Titans cartoon. There, she was a real character, a real person. I wanted to bring back that kind of happiness to her character. I had done a more adult version and scraped it. I think Starfire is always going to be a young girl at heart, I wanted to reflect that in her expression and color. I also wanted to play on the whole 'outer space' thing and went a bit retro/sci-fi and gave her a body suit onesie and organic armor. I like her smiling. There's enough scowling and emo faces in comics, they don't need another one."

[Update]

I set this post to publish at 6:00, and didn't get to check my email from 5:30 until the deadline. A couple more squeaked in, so here they are! -- A

Ross Radke

"I couldn't think of any original changes to Starfire's costume, most looked like variations of everything we've seen before. I decided the only solution was to cover her from head to toe in creepy looking armor --  I originally colored the whole thing purple, but I missed the balance and made the under armor orange."

Allan Linder

"Starfire was one of those characters that was not mainstream for me. George Pérez really did a nice job for the time, but I just wasn’t into flying women with flaming hair. I liked Conan the Barbarian, so this character was a challenge for me. Even though she is an alien with a human form, I decided to give her a little more human touch. I thought that her flaming hair doesn’t need to be on jet power all the time."

[Update 2]


I had an extension request (you can do that, you know!), which I was happy to fill since several people found out about this contest a bit late in the game. Here's the final entry in our Starfire contest!

Aamina Bawany

"I went with more of a warrior interpretation on my take of Starfire. I went with a mix of 80's and modern space girl element for her outfit design. It's light, practical and yet it gives a playful vibe. I gave her shorter hair because I wanted to give her a fresh look, but I kept it poofy because I wanted to pay homage to George Perez's original design."

What do you all think? There's some killer stuff in here, as there has been throughout this contest. Lend your thoughts to the comments below, and check out all of the Starfire redesigns we've received by clicking here.

Stay tuned: a new contest announcement will be made shortly, and we'll reveal the winner of this month's contest on February 29!

Starfire Results - Part 5

It's the penultimate post of redesigns in the Girls Gone Geek and Superhero of the Month Starfire contest!

Daniel Schneider

"I was always a huge fan of the original Perez design, especially the collar which always reminded me of an Egyptian Goddess. I started tailoring my design after ancient Eygptian fashion which to me fit perfectly with the character, and within the DC universe. The Egyptian women were very sexually liberated, often depicted bare chested, so that's kinda what I rolled with. Me and my girlfriend came up with the loose-fitting, see-through cloth so that she wasn't completely bare chested and then we added the straps as seen on some statues of Isis. The original version actually has no straps, but in the end we needed to keep things site-suitable (and at the risk of sounding like a creep I still prefer the original version)."

Hanna Pettersson

"The thought behind my Starfire was to create a grown-up version from the Teen Titans animated series. Some inspiration is taken from her comic form, but the design is simplified for animation. I focused on the happy, energetic alien aspect of her character, rather then the warrior aspect."

Rebecca Cohen

"I wanted to keep her costume sexy and revealing, but make her more cute and fun at the same time. Less Playboy, more playful. Also, I wanted to highlight that a costume can be revealing without being completely impractical."

Chase Bowman

"For my Starfire redesign, I wanted to go with something simple and clean, but with a little bit of sex appeal without showing all the goods. I'm more of a fan of Teen Titans cartoon Starfire, but I also like pre-DCnU Starfire. I wanted to do a take as if the two were combined and a little more modest than Starfire has been. I like to think my Starfire remembers her friends and lovers."

Lemurtree

"There's not much to say about it - she's a super-powered hippy with a fusion reactor for a haircut."

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!

Starfire's are due Wednesday, February 22 by 6:00 PM MST. Check out the Official Contest Announcement for details. All Starfire redesigns submitted between now and the deadline will be posted on February 22. Until then, check out all of the Starfire redesigns we've received so far.

Starfire Results - Part 4

Starfire redesigns keep rolling in for this month's contest, presented by Superhero of the Month and Girls Gone Geek. Check out the latest batch!

Mark Hartman

"I wanted to make Starfire elegant rather than well...sleazy, without taking away from the revealing nature of her outfit."

Blair J. Campbell

"Rather than go the ultra-sleazy route that seems to be popular these days, I decided to go retro-chic. I designed the costume to be an homage to the '50s style "space girl" look -- still being sexy,  without giving it all away for free. As for her skin, I tried to give her an almost translucent, glowing quality. Her power is actually radiating from within her body, much like an actual star. I imagined that the hair would be so much of an actual flame, but something along the lines of plasma and solar flares. It's constantly shifting and morphing."

Dane Cypel

"My take on Starfire heavily channels the 1960's and 1970's sci-fi girl, namely Barbarella. Starfire, to me, is supposed to convey someone extremely sexy, but also tough. She's a princess, so she should be classy too. I also wanted to open her image back up to the Teen Titans cartoon generation, where Starfire was more shy and cute. I also felt the large hair was out of date. I wanted to give her something more modern but also allow her a somewhat classic look."

What do you all think? Let us know in the comments! Starfires are due in 10 days, so send us yours soon! Details can be found in the Official Contest Announcement. Loads of great submissions have already come in, so be sure to check out all the Starfire redesigns we've received so far.

Starfire Results - Part 3

Submissions keep rolling in for the Superhero of the Month & Girls Gone Geek Starfire contest! Check out the newest batch of entries below:

Phillip Rice

"I thought I'd go a little 'Disney Princess' with it. I tried to mix aspects of the George Perez design and the animated series version."

David Willis

"I wanted to draw a Starfire."

EmmJ

"I like the idea of a skirt with handkerchief corners mirroring the symbol in her chest. I don't think she'd be worried about the whole 'people seeing up my skirt' issue, in the same way gymnasts and dancers aren't worried about that."

Caroline Gallagher

"I was going for regal and feline with a bit of 1950's femme. The headdress goes under instead of over and so 'shushes' the hair up. It is a soft-cloth type of costume, a onesie with a snoody kind of halterneck, with a peek of cleavage and a strap to keep things steady. If I could fly I would'nt wear shoes very often, so the feet have a pop-sock stlye cover on them. If you're a hard bad@$$, you don't need hard-wear! Just some alien, indestructible cloth!"

Sarah Meissner

"My Starfire redesign is more of a simple look, since her outfits are always so complex."

Arielle Sorkinator

"So I always hear people justifying Kory's scanty costumes by saying 'she likes being naked!' But I figured the most comfortable way to be naked is to be barefoot! Starfire can fly, so why should her feet ever touch the ground? For the rest of the costume, I figured she should have good airflow, but a top to keep her boobs snug and in place. Also she has big 80's hair because I love her big 80's hair."

What do you all think? Let us know in the comments! The variation in styles and interpretations we're seeing is great! To send us your Starfire, check out the Official Contest Announcement for details, and be sure to check out all the Starfire redesigns we've received so far.

Starfire Results - Part 2

More submissions have come in for the Superhero of the Month & Girls Gone Geek Starfire redesign contest! Check them out:

Sebastian von Buchwald

“I tried to elevate the 'princess' aspect of the character, making her a bit more regal looking and I braided her hair because I thought it looked ridiculous otherwise. Hopefully, this version of the character can convey a sense of strength, presence and confidence in spite of the skin that's showing which, in my eyes, keeps the Tamaranean true to the character that George Perez and Marv Wolfman created.”

Mario Silva

"I redesigned starfire as an elegant Tamaran (cat like energy being), who goes around in an exploration suit that gets mistaken by onlookers as a oversexualized body."

Amanda Fryk

"Starfire has a bit of a reputation for being uninhibited, especially with clothing. So I decided the first thing I wanted to do was cover more skin. I took elements from the variations of her costume from the comics and merged them with the skirt she wears in the teen titans cartoon."

T.Branch

"This one is a revisit of my first try at a redesign of Starfire. There was a lot of changes to her costume and I think I sex’ed her down a few pegs. This version is better I think, there are more ‘regal’ things about her now with the headdress and some of the angles of her costume. All in all a great step in the right direction."

What do you all think? Let us know in the comments below! Be sure to check out the Starfire submissions we've received so far, and check out the Official Contest Announcement for details on how to send yours in soon!

Starfire Results - Part 1

And here we...go! Superhero of the Month and Girls Gone Geek are proud to present the first batch of Starfire submissions!

Albert Hulm sent us some killer Hawkman and Wonder Woman redesigns back in November, and his Starfire submission nicely falls in line with those fantastic pieces:

Albert Hulm

"I wanted to make her suit sexy but a bit more covered, more practical for fights 'in a retro spacegirl' way of course. Her most 'iconic-superhero-thing' in my opinion is how when she's using the power to fly, she has a burning jetstream behind her, arising out of her hair. I had the idea to bring a kind of star nebular feeling after a supernova -- starfire -- into her hair, like the Horsehead Nebula, for example."

Up next, Thomas Fummo's completely different, but just as fun, take on Starfire:

Thomas Fummo

"I did a little research on Starfire's background in the comics - having only really been familiar with her portrayal on the Teen Titans TV series - and found out some interesting stuff: namely, that Tamaranians are descended from felines! I factored that in her facial features and body build. Her choice of clothing is based on the fact that if Tamaran revolves around a star that is, say, around about where Arcturus is, then right now they'd be receiving tv broadcasts from Earth dating back to about the late 1960s. Hence, Kori might have caught a broadcast of Woodstock be inclined to think humanity still wears hippie attire. Plus I just thought her personality would fit well with that 'free love' and 'make love not war' pacifist mentality (judging by her character on the tv show anyway). Bit of a mix, then, but I hope it works!"

Warren Newsom is one of our most frequent contributors, striking early this month with a knock-out Starfire:

Warren Newsom

"I wanted to try to make a redesign that totally revamped the character without making her unrecognizable.  I shortened her hair because I think she needs a new hairdo – she’s had the same one since the 80’s – and I put some clothes on her because I’m tired of her costume shrinking to almost nothing.  Also – I refuse to believe her hair serves as propulsion for flight.  It’s easier for me to think it only looks that way because the energy to propel her through the sky originates from her mind, so my design reflects that."

Next up are several pieces from contributors new to Superhero of the Month:

Dustin Cantos

"Some people were upset at DC's recent rendition of Starfire. I decided to do my own redesign, and made her more fierce and womanly, rather than a sex-doll. Less cleavage is a good thing sometimes."

Tom Crielly

"I decided to go back to the characters roots and concentrate more on the alien warrior princess, rather than the space-bimbo-sexual-aspect currently being overplayed. I tried to create a costume that would be practical in a battle environment but still have enough elements to hint at her heritage as a royal princess."

Alex Melchor

"Sex appeal has always been part of Starfire's character; even in her kid-friendly cartoon incarnation her clothes are revealing and slightly fetish-y (mini-skirt and high boots?). I wanted her to retain that sense of her being utterly comfortable with her body while still conforming with Earth's standards of appropriateness, so I took the cartoon costume as a template to build upon and adjusted it to reveal more skin, but with the firm idea that the costume should obey the laws of physics and look like it won't fall off in battle, or that nothing will slip out during a high-G flying turn. Also, a slight nod that she comes from a warrior culture, so her fighting uniform should at least give a passing nod to armor."

Matthew Ray

"I wanted to shorten here iconic hair but still leave it with a sexy edge. The purple armor is a nod to her warrior training, but is kept minimal as her powers are based on solar energy absorption. I wanted her in jeans as a connection to her life on earth, and the pattern on the hip references her code name. I like the granola/crunch feel of her being barefooted."

Spidophile

"I decided to reflect Koriand'r's younger side (as she was originally a member of the Teen Titans). The cape I added to clarify her as a superhero, instead of the bikini model her original costume seemed to suggest. Her long hair is braided for more ease in battle and her tiara signifies her rank as a princess, while the scar on her cheek serves as a reminder of her horrific past."


What do you all think? There's some mighty impressive stuff so far, and this is just the beginning! Share your thoughts in the comments below. Submissions are due Wednesday, February 22, so be sure to check out the Official Contest Announcement and send us your Starfire redesign soon!