This'll be long...

Now this isn't to say I hate trunks or that I'm trying to just troll one way or the other, but this post is meant to shed light on character designs and is a response to the oft inane presumption that characters should never change or that if they do, they're worse off for it. For some reason I still see posts and comments etc. fighting one way or the other about trunks on supers.

As many of us are acutely aware, trunks were a way to convey strength and power by designing the costumes around circus strongmen. In the 1930s and 40s, circuses were extremely popular and circus strongmen were widely relevant so it was an easy way to convey power in a comic book character that everyone would understand. Today in 2020, circuses are closing left and right and strongmen aren't particularly in the public conscience. So the argument that trunks are to convey power hasn't really been a relevant point in nearly 50 years.

One issue that is wholly apparent with current characters using the "trunks" look unironically is that they truly outdate themselves and look extremely out of place. This is not to say "I hate the trunks" but it is saying that the inconsistencies between characters takes the reader out of the story. I will be using Superman and Batman as examples of this because they are the most egregious offenders. Both have had trunks for about 72 or 73 years with minor lapses in the 1990s. Until 2011 with the birth of the New 52 almost every single character in DC's pantheon had retained the exact same look since their inceptions in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s with minor tweaks here and there. Batman went from black and grey with a solid bat emblem to blue and grey to black and grey with an oval to blue and grey with an oval, and so on. Superman had a small S shield, then a large one, then one on the cape, then none on the cape, the length of the cape varied, etc. Flash had a solid lighting belt then a tapered one then the red was brighter or darker, etc. Wonder Woman had a bird emblem then a "W" then hot pants then a long skirt, then bikini bottoms, etc. For the most part everyone pretty much looked the same and this was exemplified in artwork but José Luis García López. Now in the 1990s everyone kinda went wild and Batman had the AzBat suit, then a Michael Keaton inspired costume, then No Man's Land trunkless suit, and Robin finally got pants with a black and gold cape, Superman had a black careless suit and the Red/Blue nonsense, Wonder Woman got biker shorts and jean jacket. But what sets this apart from everything else, aside from looking awful(mostly), it just did not make any sense design wise.

So in 2011 to "modernize" the characters, DC's New 52 and Jim Lee redesigned all the characters in the Pantheon to be sleek, armored or semi-armored, add lots of seam lines, and make everything look more functional/practical. Why these costumes generally worked was that it was a consistent design. Everyone from Batman, to Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Robin, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Black Canary, Katana, Shazam/Captain Marvel, Supergirl, etc all had a similar and consistent look of seam lines, armor, and practicality. Just as Pre-Flashpoint had a consistent look of circus performers and spandex, the New 52 designs worked well.

Now Rebirth rolls around and the designs are updated further, yet remain consistent. Feeling the need to blend the old with the new, DC ditched the most of the armored look and went for a more cloth style, but kept the functionality/practicality, sleek-ness, and seam lines. They also added more color to make the pages "pop" whereas the New 52 was more drab. Batman now had a touch of purple in his cape, Superman was a deeper blue, and the rest of the characters had more vibrancy in their color pallets. Again, all characters remain consistent.

But as of 2018ish, characters like Superman and Batman both have their Pre-Flashpoint trunks in a world of sleek seam lines, battle skirts, and varying degrees of armor. Visually this is akin to having Adam West's Batman and Chris O'Donnell's Robin (Forever suit) together. Or Chris Reeve's Superman with Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman and Jason Mamoa's Aquaman. It's visually inconsistent and jarring to the reader. Whereas Reeve Superman, Lynda Carter Wonder Woman, and Keaton Batman would be visually consistent, as is Cavill Superman, Affleck's (or even Bale and Pattison) Batman, and Gadot's Wonder Woman. They would make sense in the framework of designs of that time and context. If Darwyn Cooke crafted his New Frontier story with everything the same except the costumes were all from the New 52, it would be a hellish read to get through because of how clearly jarring it is.

Some might bring up Spider-man as an example to counter this, but Spider-Man's design is not based on anything in the real world (from what I can find) other than a skintight body suit and is essentially evergreen because of this. There is no distinct visual cues that one can point to that says "The costume looks like this because of X in the real world" like you could with Superman or Batman. Coupled with that is Marvel's ability to remain consistent design-wise and that their characters generally aren't the American Icon that someone like Superman or Batman is. So their costumes readily change with little fanfare, while the more recent MCU has been able to make classic looks modern by creating inspired suits such as Captain America and Iron Man's Endgame designs or Spider-Man's Homecoming suit. But for the most part, Marvel Comics has been able to keep characters looking consistent in their books, where as DC's books are all over the place with designs. Batman has a similar look to Frank Miller's Year One from 1987 with a shirt, trunks, and cloth belt, while Robin has armored gauntlets, boots, an armored chest piece, and a metallic belt. That makes no sense visually. Superman has a shirt, trunks, and pants while Aquaman has scaled armor, Wonder Woman has battle skirts and armor, Green Lantern has an alien construct, and Flash has plates unfolding from his ring with lighting bolts emanating from it. Like again this makes visually zero sense. Just look at recent books like Doomsday Clock and Three Jokers. Stuff that was supposed to happen like 4 years ago but has differing designs within two issues of each other, making it hard for someone to understand where it would be in continuity. Even if its "non-canon" stories like that are still lynchpins of DC Rebirth and the New 52 so it almost needs to be canon to tie up those loose ends.

Overall, the trunks work but not now with the current iterations of the characters. If everyone went back to the trunks and seamless, spandex look, you won't find me complaining. But picking and choosing who regresses and who doesn't is a terrible design choice and one that causes more problems than its worth. Consistency, like continuity is important for telling stories and keeping readers engaged and helping new readers to hop on. Trunks can work if every character is on board but if not, then the whole thing falls apart.

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TL;DR -- Essentially if one hero gets the trunks back, EVERY hero should get the trunks back. Consistency in design is important for visual storytelling.