Thoughts on Spandex
By Izzy
In the most recent issue of The New Yorker, Michael Chabon, the superpowered novelist behind The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, has an excellent, thoughtful essay on superhero attire:
like the being who wears it, the superhero costume is, by definition, an impossible object. It cannot exist.
One may easily find suggestive evidence for this assertion at any large comic-book convention by studying the spectacle of the brave and bold convention attendees, those members of the general comics-fan public who show up in costume and go shpatziring around the ballrooms and exhibition halls dressed as Wolverine, say, or the Joker’s main squeeze, Harley Quinn. Without exception, even the most splendid of these getups is at best a disappointment. Every seam, every cobweb strand of duct-tape gum, every laddered fish-net stocking or visible ridge of underpants elastic—every stray mark, pulled thread, speck of dust—acts to spoil what is instantly revealed to have been, all along, an illusion.
March 7th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
NO One can wear spandex without the aid of padding in places. Most people should avoid it at all cost with or without cosmetic help…