In just a few short years, Warner Bros.’ DC Super Hero Girls franchise – which reimagines some of the comics giant’s most famous female heroes as teenaged high schoolers – has become one of the company’s most successful endeavours. It already consists of comic books, toys, and a web series, but now it’s becoming a fully-fledged animated TV series premiering on Cartoon Network.
This week, DC and Warner Bros. Animation revealed a series of new character designs illustrated by executive producer Lauren Faust, and they’re a refreshing change of pace.
From left to right: Zatanna, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Jessica Cruz, Bumblebee, and Batgirl.Image: Warner Bros. Animation
DC Super Hero Girls‘ new style appears to be a blend of the aesthetics from the current web series and the Super Best Friends Forever animated shorts that Faust also produced for Cartoon Network a few years ago.
Fans of the older style might baulk at first, but pivots like this are often a part of how production studios communicate to audiences that what we’re seeing is the growth and evolution of a brand.
Honestly, though, the designs are cool as hell if only for the fact that they give many of the characters some much-needed personality that sets them apart from their more traditional appearances in other media. Zatanna’s cape and purple/pink ombre is a welcome change of pace from usual getup we see her in (as well as a nod to her older comic book look), Supergirl’s been given some honest-to-god muscles to flex, and it’s always great to see a Wonder Woman who reads as decidedly more Mediterranean.
What’ll be interesting to see next is how Faust and the rest of the DC Super Hero Girls team decide to interpret characters like Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn when the show debuts in the coming months.
Comments
6 responses to “DC’s Super Hero Girls Are Getting Some Kickass New Designs For Their Upcoming TV Series”
If you say so Charles, if you say so.
I gotta question why supergirl looks closer to powergirl here. it’s like they wanted Powergirl but, realised little girls probably wouldn’t know who it was so they just switched costumes.
EDIT: and decided against certain ‘features’ as it were though that could just be the art style too.
I’m 32 years old. I am an illustrator/animator. I grew up on the 80s turtles, Ren and Stimpy, original Ducktales, Biker Mice, and all those shows on Cheez TV and Agro’s Cartoon Connection. I feel like I’ll be in the minority though when I say I really like this style and I think these designs are great…
Don’t think you’re in a minority, just a silent majority. Anybody who cares and understands: 1) about character design and art in general; and/or 2) that these series are aimed to the kids of today, not the adults that were kids yesteryear, will find these great or at least have no reason to complain.
I looooved, hell, I still love my 80’s and 90’s cartoons, but I’m not going to hold the present hostage to the nostalgia of my past.
I like the designs of their outfits and some of the general ideas, e.g. giving Supergirl muscles, but at the same time, I don’t like the style of cartooning, if that makes sense. To me, drawings like this make me think the worst, e.g. easier to animate/produce, and thus the overall, potential reason for this show to possibly exist is to pump out episodes, kids watch it, they want to buy toys.
Looks a million times better than ThunderCats Roar