Clarice “Blink” Ferguson has led a lot of lives — and died a couple as well.
Created by Scott Lobdell and Joe Madureira for 1994’s “Phalanx Covenant” event, Earth-616 Blink was a sacrificial lamb who appeared to die so the rest of what would become Generation X could live.
Then, in the Age of Apocalypse, we met a version of Blink who was effectively Earth-295’s answer to Jubilee, the butt-kicking teenage sidekick of a more heroic Sabretooth, playing the Wolverine role for what would not be the last time.
That version of Blink was so popular she would eventually go on to lead the Exiles, a team of reality-hopping (mostly) mutants whose cross-time capers would run through the 2000s.
Meanwhile, the original Blink was brought back as a thrall of Selene during the 2009-10 “Necrosha” event, and would go on to be a supporting character in that era’s volume of New Mutants and part of the teleport team in S.W.O.R.D. during the Krakoa era.
Whether you prefer the 616 version or the AoA one, Blink’s magenta skin, pink teleport arrows and face tattoos give her a unique look that helps her stand out from some of the other young, female mutants of her generation.
With that in mind, our Redesigning team came up with some new looks to help teleport Clarice from the mid-’90s to the mid-2020s. So check them out, and give the artists a follow on the socials of your choice.
Haydn
For this design, I didn’t know if I wanted to follow a more fantasy route or a futuristic route, so I decided to combine both by adding tech elements to a Shakespearian-esque silhouette while still keeping her traditional colors of vibrant greens and pinks.
Hector Barros
@snibbits.bsky.social on Bluesky
Blink has had some very iconic looks, so I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. I’ve adapted and combined elements from her past costumes to give her something a dimension-hopping adventurer would wear when saving the space-time continuum.
Mysticanze
I started with a clear idea: I wanted ’90s-inspired impossible body proportions. I then built on that and decided to go for a sleek, essential animation look, with a “modern elf” aesthetic. I wanted to have elements of a Dungeons & Dragons character, without the risk of her being out of place in a superhero book. Poison Ivy’s hot pink leggings in Babs Tarr’s Sirens: Love Hurts book then gave me the idea that helped me close the look.
Rake
Original-flavor Blink is overshadowed by her more famous, alternate-universe counterpart, so I wanted to give her something decidedly different design-wise. First and foremost, it felt important to firmly establish her (historically forgotten) Bahamian ethnicity. Secondly, as a character introduced under the team name Generation X, I felt she would have a ’90s fashion sensibility. Clarice wears a lightweight, breathable, billowing sleeved blouse in analogous colors to her distinct magenta skin tone, complemented by a leather punk vest and plunging, low-rise leggings heralding the approaching Y2K. Finally, green — her AU counterpart’s signature color — serves here as an accent.
Trae Middlebrooks
I redesigned the two most famous versions of Blink. I’ve nicknamed them Rece (Earth-616) and Cece (Age of Apocalypse). For AoA Blink, I wanted something more high fantasy, so I tried a color combination that didn’t involve her usual bright green. For 616 Blink, I pulled references from the Fly Girls/early ’90s hip-hop fashion. I used the curved triangles in Blink’s tattoos as design inspiration in both characters.
Dan Grote is the editor and publisher of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Paul Winston Wisdom. Follow him @danielpgrote.bsky.social.
