Yesterday, Project: Rooftop announced the first place winner in its “Spider-Man: Webhead 2.0” contest, a competition to redesign Spider-Man’s costume. Project: Rooftop is, of course, a take on “Project: Runway,” but instead it focuses on superhero fashions, often featuring various artists’ redesigns of existing costumes, and occasionally holding contests such as this one.

I previously entered one other, a Captain America redesign challenge, and that submission didn’t even rate an honorable mention. Guess what? Neither did my Spider-Man one. That’s OK — lots of people entered and didn’t make it into the final selections. A lot of people also post their entries on their blog, Tumblr or DeviantArt gallery before the competition is over, but I always wait until after the winners are announced. I dunno why, it’s just the way I do things. However, I noticed a lot of people clicking through from P:R to check out my entry, and it wasn’t here, so let me fix that now:

Here’s the description I sent along with the submission:

While the classic Ditko version is one of the most iconic superhero costumes ever, and one of my favorites, it never made much sense how this nerdy science kid could create such a complex, well-tailored costume. It also bothers me that his oft-referred to or used utility belt and web shooters never seem to cause a bulge in his skintight outfit. So my re-design here addresses all of those issues. The wrestling pants and boots, as well as the red ski mask, are holdovers from his short-lived wrestling career, to which he added the easily customized blue-and-red zip-up jacket over a simple black t-shirt. The goggles give him that slightly eerie look, while also disguising his eyes AND providing wind protection from all that web swinging. You can see his utility belt and web shooters easily accessible under his jacket. Basically, all materials readily available to a lower-middle-class kid from Queens.

Some of the honorable mentions and finalists were similar to this, except they were better drawn/flashier/etc. I’m a simple guy, and my take on superhero costumes is very streamlined, and probably too realistic and not fun enough. Ah well …