In Drawing Crazy Patterns, I spotlight at least five scenes/moments from within comic book stories that fit under a specific theme (basically, stuff that happens frequently in comics). Note that these lists are inherently not exhaustive. They are a list of five examples (occasionally I'll be nice and toss in a sixth). So no instance is "missing" if it is not listed. It's just not one of the five examples that I chose.

Today, we look at a bunch of famous superheroes who debuted with costumes that weren't quite there just yet, design-wise.

Now, I will warn you up front. One of these superheroes on this list doesn't really belong with the other four, but he's the reason I thought of this list, so he has to stay, even though...yeah, he really stands out like a sore thumb compared to the other four.

SUPERMAN

Probably the most famous example of a superhero costume evolving in front of our eyes is Superman's costume, which was barely a strongman's costume when Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster debuted him in Action Comics #1...

By Action Comics #10, Shuster had him in the costume that we would be most familiar with him wearing, just with a smaller S...

And once other artists started drawing the character instead of Shuster, the S got bigger and bigger and I think by Superman #9 (with a Fred Ray cover), we were close enough to "the" standard Superman look for me to stop looking for other examples...

BATMAN

This one is a coloring issue, where Batman's gloves were bizarrely purple to start...

Then the next issue, he had no gloves...

Then by the third issue, he was mostly in the costume he's famous for...

Although Bob Kane slightly loosened things up a bit, giving Batman more of a traditional superhero look and came to the classic Batman outfit by Detective Comics #36...

WONDER WOMAN

When Wonder Woman debuted in All-Star Comics #8, H.G. Peter practically had her in a long flowing skirt (it's not technically a skirt, but it effectively looks like one)...

But Sensation Comics #5, Peter has toned it down and while there's still a little flow, it is basically tight shorts...

And by Wonder Woman #1, they're the relatively tight shorts she'd wear for the next few decades...

CAPTAIN AMERICA

This one might be a coloring mistake, as well, as Cap's mask did not initially cover his neck...

It did by the second issue...

The shield changed colors constantly until Cap returned in the Silver Age, where the color pattern locked in.

BOOSTER GOLD

Here's the one who doesn't quite fit in with the others, but consarnit, when I was doing the "Buster Gold" feature, I noticed that Booster's costume initially had a gold square in the middle of his blue star on his chest...

It was all blue by #12, but I'm just showing the final issue because it's such a classic image...

If anyone else has an idea for a future Drawing Crazy Patterns, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!