As I've mentioned recently, I never "bought" Triumph as a Silver Age hero lost in time, because despite a stripped down costume, he simply didn't look the part. If anything, the unusual color scheme and the "Me" Generation melodrama was much more Bronze Age. I've been curious to see how a more bona fide take would have played out. Triumph's electromagnetic powers would have been simplified to magnetism, and therefore his icon would naturally be the sort of horseshoe magnet familiar more from cartoons than real life. This reminded me of the Green Lantern villain Doctor Polaris, and more specifically his entry in an '80s issue of Who's Who where he was drawn in a rarely seen early costume as a surprint. It occurred to me that the image could easily be adapted into a Silver Age Triumph with a few modifications and an approximation of Triumph's color scheme dropped in. I did keep the red magnet, but with yellow tips instead of white, which fit in the scheme and mildly nods at the "electro" part. I thought about putting a stylized "T" on his belt buckle, but it kept looking like he was wearing a representation of his own frank n' beans.
The end result was surprisingly similar to Iron Fist, a Bronze Age character Kane had association with, as well as the Guardian and Agent Liberty. Were I inclined to put in more effort, I could alleviate that by giving "Triumph" the domino mask I'd expect from him, since he surely couldn't bear to have his hair matted by a skullcap. Try to picture Ozymandias' face instead, and we're good.
Long-time reader, but this costume's inspired me to make my first comment. This would've actually been a good compromise outfit, i.e. authentically Silver Age that would weather well over time. I wish it wouldn't be too much to hope that DC would reintroduce Triumph this way.
ReplyDeleteGood costume, although I agree that Triumph would want to show most of his face if not all of it.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy what I figured for a goofy post brought such a swell response.
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