As if the fierce-flowing mullet ofSupermanwasn’t iconic enough, an electrifying upgrade almost gave him the ’90s best haircut possible. A tweet recalls a blast from the past that shows several amazing potential takes on the Man of Steel’s most shocking form.
While Clark Kent has had a number of alterations to his costume over the years, his split into two colorful energy-based forms remains one of his most bizarre. Inspired by the Silver Age story “The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue!”, Clark Kent was separated into two distinct versions of himself, after the Toymanand Cyborg-Superman luredthe hero into a trap. In addition to both heroes displaying more energy-oriented powers, each version of Superman had a radically different personality and approach to fighting crime. But before his big change in ’90s was cemented, several ideas were considered, one of which almost gave Clark that best ’90s haircut in the entire comic book medium.
OnTwitter, comic creator Dan Jurgens posted an early conceptual image he had drawn up for the hero’s‘Electric Superman’ costume design. The post kicked off a chain of replies, two of which were from Adam Mallinger and Michael Bailey who recalled Jurgens’ design being featured in the Watch This Space section ofAztek: The Ultimate Man #10. @BittrScrptReadr posted the page onTwitter, which features several possible designs for a new Superman outfit by artists Paul Ryan, Tom Grummett, Jon Bogdanove, and Jurgens. Grummett’s design is particularly notable, because in addition to Clark’s new outfit serving as a containment suit, it gives Superman the added tweak of a mullet with a ‘Kirby Krackle’ effect.
Superman’s 90s Mullet Haircut Gets A ‘Shocking’ Twist
Clark first got his mullet in the"Reign of the Supermen"storyline after he came back to life after being murdered by Doomsday. It was a pretty daring update to his look, with many fans not exactly happy to see the longer-haired Last Son of Krypton. But this potential design from Grummett seems to have seen potential in Clark’s mullet and used it as a part of Clark’s electrifying transformation with a time-honored comic book effect.
The Kirby Krackle is a bold artistic choice that communicates powerful energy is flowing and has been associated with powerful cosmic characters like Galactus or Darkseid. A design that utilizesJack Kirby’s iconic dotswould have been a wonderful way to show just how powerful Superman’s electric form really was. Turning Clark’s mullet into a flow of dots not only would have been an inspired decision, it would have taken a controversial redesign and turned it into a symbol of Clark’s might. Had this design stuck,Supermanwould have had the most powerful mullet in comics the ’90s had ever seen.
