Longtime Avenger, New Warrior, Amazing Friend of Spider-Man, 2022 X-Election winner, and now the secret savior of mutantkind. Our Redesigning team picked Angelica Jones, aka Firestar, for this round, and it couldn’t be at a better time! After the calamitous events of the Hellfire Gala, Firestar was chosen to be a secret agent inside Orchis and work to bring down the organization and save the mutants. Now, in the X-Men’s darkest hour, it’s her time to shine bright.
Firestar has had a long history in the comics but only a few looks to back it up. She’s best known for her classic yellow bodysuit from the cartoon but got some fresh new looks on the 2022 X-Men team and for the 2023 Hellfire Gala.
Our contributors this round dove into Firestar’s history and found different ways to highlight her powers, name and signature visual flair. See what they cooked up (that’s a microwave joke), and make sure to follow them on Twitter and other platforms to see more of their fabulous work!
Angel Solorzano
Look, when I hear Firestar, I think ’80s cartoon, classic/vintage hero suit. So this time I wanted to bet on something pretty similar, incorporating certain details from recent designs, just trying to make a timeless suit based on the OGs!
Lily Haverly
When redesigning Firestar, I wanted to give her something more unique than her classic, skintight costume, while still paying homage to her roots, using the exact same color palette as her original. I wanted to incorporate both “fire” and “star” elements, the star shaped neckline of the undersuit being covered by a jumpsuit taking design inspiration from firefighter uniforms. This redesign was definitely a challenge, but I had such a fun time experimenting with this character!
Giovanni Saroldi
I had so many ideas to begin with, then got lost during the project, so I decided to simply have some fun with it! I started by giving Angelica some autumn-girl vibes, but then realized it wasn’t really her mood, so I went for beachy fashion! Also gave her a quite famous quote I can see her using against Colossus.
Joshua Bruckner
I intentionally steered away from yellow and the fire motif, since there are so many fiery characters and Firestar’s power is based on creating microwave radiation. I went with a pattern that emulated long microwaves and flowy, gauzy sleeves to create an airy and ethereal look. I imagine this version of Firestar relies more on heat and invisible flame than a flame blast!
Jarrod K. Chilton
For my Firestar design, I was inspired by the second New Warriors costume as well as her Avengers and current X-Men look. I stuck with darker colors on the jacket (aside from the yellow) and main suit so that there’s some good contrast when she’s using her powers. The visor is a nod to her New Warriors yellow glasses and original mask, with a little Marvel Girl flair.
Alex Buckland
I really drew on her later New Warriors design but added her classic mask! I also wanted to emphasize stars, thus why she has little stars here and there.
Joshua Bruckner
Joshua Bruckner is a lifelong artist, X-Men fan and scientist, in that order. He lives in Massachusetts and spends his free time reading comics, redesigning X-Men, drawing comics and arguing about X-Men. Follow him at @joshington_bear on most social media.
