I mentioned once before how I had gotten in & out of comics as a kid, and into my mid-teens. The X-Men were a part of that, with their cartoon in the 90s on Fox. I remember how, at school, everybody was talking about this freakin’ show, and they let me know it was based on a comic book. That was my first introduction to Jim Lee, though, at the time, I didn’t know it. Anyways, everyone would talk about how awesome Wolverine was, and how he was everyone’s favorite character. One day, I got into a conversation about the comics with someone, and they asked me who my favorite character was. I told them Wolverine, and he was like, “Really? So your favorite character is everyone else’s favorite?” Then, he started asking me questions about Wolverine, just to see how much I actually knew about the character. Basically, he made me realize that I was just going along with what everyone else was doing, as I had no reason of my own to like the character, just parroting what everyone else was saying.
At this point, I went back, and really started watching those episodes, with a different perspective now. From here, the character that stood out was Cyclops, for the same reason I had become a fan of Captain America years before. Cyclops was very no nonsense, and straight forward. If a task needed to be done, he got to it, period. He was also tasked with making hard decisions, and was willing to carry the weight of those decisions alone. Basically, he was the grown up of the group, as far as my teenage mind understood it.
Although I don’t partake in the big two like I used to, I’ve still kept up with what’s going on with my favorite characters. I really like the direction they took with Cyclops. It’s like they pulled a heel turn, similar to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, after he beat the Rock with the help of Vince McMahon to regain the WWF (now WWE) Championship. No one can say his personality changed, he’s basically the same guy he always was. But, his motivation changed, helped by his own personal tragedies. On a side note, this is also why I liked Zod from the recent “Man of Steel” film. Both of their methods could be seen negatively, depending on one’s perspective. But, I could totally see where they’re coming from.
Now, the design. With his uniform, I used a lot of different elements from already existing versions of Cyclops’ outfit. The visors are inspired by his 90s Jim Lee era costume, as well as the live action version, played by James Marsden. The gloves & boots are from Lee’s era as well. At first, I kept the suit as is, with just blue & gold as the colors. But, I wanted to add more red to match his ruby quarts lenses, which is why it appears under the primary layer. The design of the outfit was done, but I really felt he needed some cranial protection, to make him look more tactical. And then I remembered the helmet he was incased in after his arrest. This huge thing they put on his face to keep him from using his optic blasts. From there, I added a helmet to his visors, similar to Robocop. I prefer the helmeted version of the costume, but, before I finished writing this, I PM’d my older brother, and he told me he preferred the version with just the visor.
I was going to post this and send it to Project: Rooftop, but decided against it, seeing as I’d have to post it to multiple sites once it was up anyways. I didn’t want to do all of that because I needed to get to sleep, and I knew it would just add more time for me to be awake. And so, throughout the day, I thought of a compromise, something to add to his face, sans the bulkiness of the helmet. I thought of his mask, with the open maw, and just drew the helmet designs over it, and that’s the pick you see here, and the one I’ll be sending to PR.
For the picture itself, I wanted something that had Cyclops having defeated a Sentinel single handedly in battle, in the midst of an urban fight. From there, he’d be leading the charge, as he orders his teammates forward.
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