Samurai Jack creator Genndy Tartakovsky has revealed concept art from a canceled Superman project, featuring the classic costume design. The iconic DC character has been through many iterations, both in comics and on-screen, with several different costume designs, from the traditional blue and red, with the yellow ‘S’ background, to more organic versions, as well as the infamous black resurrection Superman suit seen in the 1990s comics and teased by Zack Snyder for his upcoming cut of Justice League.
One of the more vintage designs is from the 1940s Fleischer Studios-produced Superman cartoons, which replaces the yellow background in the ‘S’ with a black background, allowing the ‘S’ to stand out more starkly. This design is clearly a favorite of animator and cartoon TV show creator Genndy Tartakovsky. The Russian-born artist is best known for creating the classic Cartoon Network show Dexter’s Laboratory and the original Star Wars: Clones Wars series. Most recently, he made the acclaimed Adult Swim show Primal. He is also known for his legendary animated show Samurai Jack, a unique animated take on samurai legends, which took American animated shows in a new direction. Now, he’s revealed he was almost in charge of a Superman project.
Posting on Instagram, Tartakovsky revealed the concept art of his vision for Superman, drawn when he was approached to create some short cartoons featuring the classic superhero. Illustrated in Tartakovsky’s trademark style, Superman is rendered with sketchy outlines and a tiny head in proportion to his body. The striking art features Superman wearing the classic blue and red suit, with the black background behind the “S.” You can see the art below:
Tartakovsky doesn’t mention the context for the project, and when he was approached about it, but there’s no doubt, if commissioned, it would have been a unique take on the character. Tartakovsky’s visual style is most usually combined with a fresh, original take on storytelling whether he’s tackling original subject matter, like his upcoming show Unicorn: Warriors Eternal, or adapting already established characters, as he did with Star Wars: Clone Wars, the artist always brings his unique visual style to the table.
Hopefully, this isn’t the only information the animator releases about the project, as it sounds and looks fascinating. For Superman fans, it would have likely taken the iconic character to new places or, at the very least, provided a stylistic-makeover. Given the vintage suit, it may even have been set in the 1940s, which would have been even more fascinating. It sounds like this project won’t ever happen. Still, there’s no shortage of projects in the pipeline featuring the iconic superhero, most notably Zack Snyder’s Justice League and the upcoming CW series Superman & Lois.
Source: Genndy Tartakovsky/Instagram
Originally from https://screenrant.com/superman-cartoon-canceled-genndy-tartakovsky-costume-design-image/