Costume Retrospective: 2011
The year I finished things.
A lot of dangling costumes were tided up this year. Aquaman, for example, a three-year journey finally achieved with the perfect fabric for the top. I’m really happy with this outfit, and have no desire to change it. Which is a weird feeling for me. Maybe glue some aquashoes (HA!) onto the tights, so I could wear it on land AND on sea.
The Barbarian, the return of the Troll King and the Sky Guard (featuring the Dollar jacket!) were all made for JR Blackwell projects. You can see the book Mortal Coil covers over here, and the Empire State photos at Worldbuilder. Yes, I am JR’s go-to guy for a big hulking dude. Which I am okay with.
2011 was the first time we had a Halloween party in February, and as such, I felt a light-up demon mask was apropos. So, here we are. I’m not entirely pleased with it, but it did its job.
Comrade Cockroach! Webcomics Superstar! This was a costume made for NYCC, and my first attempt at modifying a zentai suit. Despite a color issue with the first costume they sent me, the deep-purple second attempt is fantastic. I like it so much, I’ve altered the chest symbol of the comic character to look more like the costume.
Anyone who’s seen the progress of Captain Chubbs knows how much I love Bulldogs!. And anyone who’s seen my previous costumes knows how much I love lights. The combination was obvious.
The bat-hoody was made because we passed a fleece sale. Really, that’s all the excuse I need.
I never know what to wear to Halloween parties. You want some comfortable, that you don’t mind wearing all night, that you can dance and drink in. Luckily, the now ultra-bright Tony Stark v2 is there for my needs. And ever since I saw Robert Downey JR. wear a shirt I already own in Avengers, this outfit is only going to get more use.
The Steampunk Abolitionist was a costume I’ve been working on since I wrote Rayguns In The Time Of Cholera. It’s an odd outfit, and one of my most-detailed; each of the station patches sewn on the vest correspond to stops on the Underground Railroad. It’s a loaded costume, and a bit of a buzz-killer. But I’ve had many people come up to me and say they were glad I was wearing it. Steampunk is a difficult fandom to embrace, in a lot of ways. But hiding the difficulty of the Industrial Era does us all a disservice.
I wore it while on a steampunk panel at NYCC, and at one point stood up to show the back. A small, but clearly enthusiastic portion of the audience cheered to see it. I wear it at every steampunk event now.
