wildwing64

After another break I'm back with one more. For the most part I haven’t done these concepts in any particular ‘canonical’ order, except for the New York area teams. I’m only planning three for the Big Apple, with the third and final being a Ninja Turtles team. I’m still figuring out what to do with their logo so it might be a while before it's ready to post. With that said; anyone who knows their Turtles will know why this next one has to come first. 15. New Jersey Devils (Daredevil) Name: This team’s owners were already notorious both for their high risk business ventures, and seemingly being blind to any competition, which only became more apparent when they joined the league as New York City’s third franchise. They had no building of their own and moved in with the Spiders, but this was only a temporary arrangement. With the media already branding them a bunch of “daredevils” the owners shared this nickname with their expansion club. Before long the New York Devils would get their own rink, as they moved to nearby Newark, New Jersey, keeping the Devils moniker as it happened to fit with the state’s folklore. Logo: The original Devils logo was a red D, with a yellow dropshadow and a pair of serifs resembling devil horns. Some time after relocating, the crest was modified to include a maroon NJ shape, together forming an interlocking NJD. Alternate Logo: A minimalistic version of the NJ from the primary logo. Colours: Primarily maroon and black, with white and bright red accents. The team originally wore black, yellow and red in New York. Uniforms: The home and road jerseys feature a striping design inspired by the Flag of Essex County, New Jersey, as a way to pay homage to their locale. The home maroon jersey changes the NJ of the primary logo to a bright red. Third Jersey: The Devils haven’t been known to change their look much, and the one time they did was after they relocated. On occasion they’ll break out this throwback to their brief tenure in New York; they even bring back their classic yellow buckets just for this jersey. Blending Daredevil with the New Jersey Devils was too obvious not to do, even if the character has no connection to New Jersey aside from residing a stone’s throw away in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan. The logo was easy enough to come up with, as I changed Daredevil’s interlocking DD to an NJD. The logo was based more on the 2003 film version instead of the classic Times New Roman-esque logo as seen in the comics, as it felt more appropriate for hockey. Aside from the logo, his traditional costume gave me nothing to work with as it is literally just red. Since this team is based in Newark like the real world Devils, I took cues from the flag of Essex County (no not that one) for the striping design. The live action versions of the suit often pair a darker red with black, so I used that as the basis for the colour scheme with the brighter red as an accent. While working on this concept I learned of Daredevil’s original costume, which to my surprise was yellow. The suit also featured dark red, which sometimes appeared black with red being used as a highlight. This of course inspired the third jersey, though I opted for black as maroon seems like something they would add later to modernise their look. Interestingly the yellow suit also uses one D instead of the interlocking DD which Daredevil has become known for. For this jersey's crest I added a dropshadow inspired by the North Stars to give it a 70's or 80's feel.

Choice of photo aside - yeah, those colours still look good. But they won't return to plum eggplant and jade full time as long as the Samuelis are committed to their Orange County orange shtick. I'm still debating on flying out there to see these in person.

Next up is a DC team, which is also this league's D.C. team. 14. Washington Wings (Wonder Woman) Name: Being in the nation’s capital, Washington’s NHSL franchise didn’t need to look much further than the USA’s national symbol; the spread wings of a bald eagle - representing freedom and the American way - inspired the club’s nickname. Logo: The team’s current logo is a pair of stacked Ws with a pair of wings, resembling an eagle in flight. Nicknamed the “Weagle” by fans, it’s a simple, clever design and hailed as one of the best in the league, if not all sports. Alternate Logo: This modern redesign of the beloved Weagle is more angular and slightly more detailed, now featuring a protrusion vaguely resembling an eagle’s head - apparently calling back to an earlier incarnation of the Wings logo - and a pair of hockey sticks which have awkwardly been placed in front. Colours: American red, white and navy blue, paired with metallic gold. The latter was introduced into their colourway during the 90’s and soon became the focal point of their jersey crests. Uniforms: Inspired by both the US Flag and the Flag of Washington, D.C.; the red, white and blue home and road uniforms are decorated with 3 stars on each sleeve, on the front and back of the hem stripes, as well as on the pants. The jersey stripes also feature thin strips of metallic gold. Third Jersey: The modernised Weagle crest with the hockey sticks is featured on the Wings’ alternate uniform. The stars decorating the home and road sweaters have been relegated to the hanger effect; more emphasis is instead placed on metallic gold, with a striping design inspired by their logo. Wonder Woman’s logo is nothing short of excellent and is pretty much ready made for hockey, arguably comparable to the likes of the Flyers and Whalers; the only change I’ve made is shortening the wingspan a bit to give the jersey crest slightly more verticality and more presence on the jerseys. The Washington Wings name was inspired by the logo itself; the two Ws and the wings that they form together, as well as the alliteration made it the obvious choice. Notably Wonder Woman herself flies without any wings, however her logo was based on a bald eagle and all the American symbolism associated with it, so it made sense to go that route. Something like the Wanderers might also work as a pun on her name, but the Wings felt more appropriate both to the locale and her logo’s design history. As a Mirror Universe version of the Capitals, the primary jerseys are a mashup of them and Wonder Woman’s costume. I mostly referenced the Caps 80’s as well as their 90’s uniforms, but with the navy blue from their modern look. The third jersey and its crest are more directly based on Wonder Woman’s DCEU appearance; the film version of her logo kind of looks like it has a pair of hockey sticks on it, so I ran with this and made them more prominent as that seems like something a hockey team might do.

I don't care for the Addy Dass stripes but on a crazy design like this they're somehow the most unremarkable aspect.

Much like the old third jersey I like that this is evocative of the retro barberpole look without going full barberpole. This version of the Sen head is their best one and it's a shame they never used it. I was going to comment on the reversed orientation of the chest stripes before noticing that you also took cues from the NHL 100 design, and now that I've seen that I can appreciate how you've subtley mashed the two designs together.

I like it more than either of their previous black alternates and the sleeve stripes are a neat nod to the victory stripes. It's very okay.

This next team was not originally planned for this project and might be better suited to a different concept series - but inspiration struck when a classic game franchise was revived after almost 20 years. 13. Florida Falcons (Captain Falcon / F-Zero) Name: The coastal resort city of Big Blue, Florida, is home to world famous race tracks of both the formula and stock car variety. Naturally, this expansion franchise elected to pay homage to the city’s motorsports culture and history; but alas, the obvious choice of Racers was taken. The team instead chose the peregrine falcon as their mascot, citing it as the fastest animal in the world with airspeeds rivalling that of the racing machines seen on Big Blue’s circuits. Logo: A blue falcon in flight, with its wing forming an F. Alternate Logo: A gold falcon spreading its wings. Colours: Primarily blue - a nod to their home city of Big Blue, which itself got its name from the Atlantic Ocean. The Falcons also use red, gold, white and silver accents. Jerseys: The Falcons sport a modern look inspired by the racing culture of Big Blue. A yoke bordered by metallic silver extends down the sleeves, and features red and white striping - a possible reference to the curbs of a race track. On the hem is a pair of gold "racing stripes" which are recoloured to blue on the road white sweater. The jerseys also feature laces forming an X shape, resembling the Flag of Florida - however, some other teams have picked up on this quirk and are using it on their own uniforms. But what is unique for this primarily blue team is their red helmets; this may have originally been the result of a manufacturing mix up, but either way the red buckets have endured as they’ve seen the Falcons to numerous Presidents' Trophies. Third Jersey: Florida’s secondary falcon mark is front and centre on their alternate uniform, another blue jersey which puts more emphasis on red as a secondary colour - perhaps meant to compliment their iconic red helmets. As I said above: this wasn't a team I originally planned, but inspiration struck when Nintendo surprised us all with the resurrection of the F-Zero IP after nearly two decades of dormancy. Series mascot Captain Falcon - and the general aesthetic of the games - was heavily influenced by American comics, and for his more infamous appearances in Super Smash Bros. he behaves very much like a hammy, campy superhero. Despite normally hailing from a completely different genre, he seemed like an appropriate inclusion - and even in the games as well as in the anime, he very much fits that superheroic archetype. Why Florida, specifically? And where the heck is this “Big Blue” place? Basically; I learned that the producer behind F-Zero GX was also the developer of the Daytona USA arcade games, and of course, Daytona being home to a world famous race track made it the perfect place for this team. Speaking of race tracks; Big Blue is a recurring F-Zero venue which usually has an aquatic theme (be it racing over or under water, or sliding on a large patch of ice); so with Daytona Beach being a resort city, I made Big Blue a fictionalised version of it. Similarly to what I did with the Rangers, I based the home and road uniforms on the machine he drives in his home series - the Blue Falcon - as that’s where he’s most often seen. It usually has red and white stripes on its wings and yellow stripes elsewhere. The original SNES game had two yellow stripes on the wings, while later games from the N64 onwards used a single yellow stripe near the cockpit. Originally I had standard stripes on the sleeves, but it wasn’t sitting right with me so I instead went with a modern design inspired by those from the Reebok Edge era like the Blue Jackets, Capitals, and also the Kings in particular with more use of piping. Normally not a style that I like but I think it fits this team, especially considering the futuristic setting of the F-Zero series. Originally I wasn’t going to use laces as I feel they don’t suit a modern uniform like this, but I went with the Florida Panthers’ crossed type as a nod to F-Zero X. Also, the design of the captain’s patch was inspired by the podium from that game. The third jersey is loosely based on Captain Falcon himself, or more specifically the version of him as depicted in the F-Zero anime, where he has red cuffs instead of the orange usually seen both in the F-Zero games and in Smash Bros. As a side note: the striping on this one was not intentionally based on the Ducks but I could see why that comparison might be made. The alternate logo is Captain Falcon’s helmet emblem (which is also his series symbol in Super Smash Bros.) but the primary crest is an original design with a flying blue falcon inspired in part by, well, the Blue Falcon, with a little influence from formula and stock car racing, as F-Zero is like a futuristic blend of the two. I aimed to give it a sense of speed and also work in a subtle “F” shape. This one went through several changes before I landed on something I was satisfied with - but of course I’m open to suggestions for improvements. Also curious to see if there’s any particular preference between either of the falcon logos.

Technically it wasn't an alternate anymore as they'd already retired the original dark uniform, but in their one and only playoff appearance in 2007 the Atlanta Thrashers wore their powder blue jerseys against the Rangers.

I don't follow baseball or Marvel, or even the MCU all that closely, but it's been fun to see how you're interpreting these characters as teams - especially as someone working on a similar project. When names like the Admirals, Generals and even Commanders exist, the Captains makes sense and is a good fit for a Captain America team. The star containing the numbers is a nice touch.

That's a good look for the Wild. For some reason the tweaks to the crest make this feel more "Christmassy" than anything they've actually worn - not that it's a bad thing (and it's not even an issue I have with their brand) I was about to point out the upside down shoulder patch before realising that was probably intentional. Makes you wonder why they haven't done that yet.

12. Toronto Guardians (Alpha Flight) Name: Wanting a name representing all of Canada, ownership sought inspiration from the Canadian Shield, a physiographic region that spans much of the north. At some point - and perhaps taking cues from the national anthem - “Shields” instead became “Guardians”. Logo: A red maple leaf contained within a shield. The leaf is split into three segments, with the negative space forming a “T”. Part of the border inside the shield is cut off, forming a “G”. Alternate Logo: The maple leaf and the T, sans shield. This is featured on the pants and as a helmet decal. Colours: Red and white, of course. Jerseys: A pair of classic red and white sweaters with traditional stripes. The road white jersey features a red shoulder yoke, and swaps the colours of the crest. Third Jersey: In case their regular uniforms weren’t Canadian enough, the Guardians almost literally wrap themselves with the Maple Leaf Flag. The jersey is notable not only for being one of the wildest ever conceived, but also because the team was forced to make the back numbers black after numerous complaints about them being illegible. In terms of his visual identity - much like his Alpha Flight teammate Northstar - Guardian didn’t give me much to work with aside from the blatant Maple Leaf Flag inspired design of his suit; in other words, a concept based on this particular superhero (or Captain Canada, or Captain Canuck, or even Major Mapleleaf) is inevitably going to look like a Team Canada. And as a Mirror Universe version of the Toronto Maple Leafs it only seems appropriate to have a uniform that’s similar to them, even if it’s simply a red and white version - or, if you will, the Maple Wings. But with a name like the Guardians, at least I can do something a little different for the logo. Speaking of names; John Byrne originally intended Guardian to be “the Canadian Shield” (like the physiographic region, as I cited in the background text above) but Marvel wouldn’t allow it because it’s too similar to S.H.I.E.L.D. Guardian was also initially rejected because of other characters with that name (On that note, I have a different name in mind for a Guardians of the Galaxy team). For his first appearance in the X-Men comics he would instead be known as Weapon Alpha, and then Vindicator, before Byrne finally changed the character’s alias to Guardian when the Alpha Flight team got their own comic. An interesting parallel to the Maple Leafs, who were known as the Arenas and then the St. Pats before Conn Smythe bought the franchise and gave them their current name. Be it the Shields or the Guardians, given the source of the name a shield logo makes the most sense. Elements of the shield, such as the overall shape and the T, were borrowed from the coat of arms of Toronto - though it’s fair to point out that the shield is a standard shape. Admittedly it was starting to look a bit generic, but I had an “a-ha” moment when thinking about how to form a G from that shape. The third is directly based on Guardian’s suit, which - again - is obviously inspired by Canada’s flag. Something like this probably fits in not only with the 90’s trend of sublimated designs but also the more recent off-the-wall stuff we’ve seen for the Stadium Series.

Sharks in 2011 with their black alternates The Penguins with their throwbacks in 2016, before switching to them full time

Even before that they'd pretty much swapped it with the home jersey around midseason, relegating that to alternate status. In the 2011 playoffs the Ducks wore their then-third jersey which they introduced earlier in the season, and then once more in 2014 before switching to it full time.

To those of you guessing at a Mighty Ducks team - yup, you got me! That is one I plan to do down the line, given that the hockey playing space ducks were the very source of my interest in this game. However, the Ducks aren't the only NHL team with a pre-Guardian Project superhero connection. 11. Vancouver Canucks (Johnny Canuck / Captain Canuck) Name: Originally a minor league team, the Canucks organisation joined the NHSL as an expansion franchise and retained their moniker. While ‘Canuck’ is popularly known as a nickname for Canadians, it was selected as a tribute to famed wartime hero Johnny “Captain Canuck” Evans. Known to many simply as “Johnny Canuck”, he was said to be a lumberjack residing in British Columbia, who took to the skies as an ace pilot and captain of the Royal Canadian Air Force in WW2. Logo: In their early NHSL years, the team’s logo was a circular C containing a stylised maple leaf, vaguely resembling a RCAF roundel. The Canucks later repurposed it for their current shoulder patch, but their modern primary crest is a side profile of Captain Evans himself, donning an aviator hat; the artstyle is somewhat reminiscent of the logo of their minor league predecessors. Colours: Originally blue and red, the Canucks would swap out red for green, citing inspiration from the forests of British Columbia for their altered colour scheme. Jersey: Taking cues from the Flag of Vancouver which - coincidentally or not - uses the same colours, their current uniforms feature bold green stripes and a pair of smaller white stripes on each side, although the design is somewhat mismatched between the two jerseys. The home sweater also features a white shoulder yoke as a reference to the snow-capped mountains in the area. Third Jersey: A throwback to their original dark uniform. This royal blue sweater features a pair of bold red chest stripes with a white “V”, in lieu of their then-primary logo which served as a shoulder patch. A bit of Johnny Canuck (the 40’s comic character), a bit of Captain Canuck (the 70’s comic character which has nothing to do with the former) and a bit of a what-if / alternate history of the real world Vancouver Canucks basing their visual identity around Johnny from the get go. I originally considered a Captain Canuck themed team, but since the Johnny Canuck comics predate him by several years I decided to go that route instead - however, I didn’t leave the Captain out completely. (From this point on, Johnny Canuck will be abbreviated as “JC” and Captain Canuck as “CC”) Historically the NHL Canucks brand has very little to do with JC despite allegedly being named after the character; although he’s started popping up on new logos and a Reverse Retro in the last couple decades, it’s not exactly what they’re committing to (then again, what is?) but since this fictional NHSL Canucks team is named after him as a historical figure, I think the identity would be somewhat more tied in with this individual. “Canuck” as far as I know isn’t a real surname and it doesn’t make sense that anyone would be called that unless it was an alias or a nickname. So for the backstory stuff I fused JC with CC (Tom Evans) to get Johnny “Captain Canuck'' Evans. The throwback logo (the red C with a maple leaf) was the first logo I designed for this team, as it’s a common element shared by both JC and CC; the former features a design like this, as seen on whatever this is (a cover or some kind of tribute, I’m not sure), and the latter on part of CC’s comic logo. I took the C from the Johnny image and the stylised maple leaf from Captain’s comic. Overall it feels like something a team formed in the 70’s might have started out with - even if the real world Canucks went in a very different direction, using blue white and green from the start of their NHL tenure. Continuing with the fusion theme, the main logo is a mix of Vancouver’s JC logo and the version of him seen in the 40’s comics, so he’s wearing an aviator hat instead of his usual beanie. The jersey stripes are kind of a mix of the current Canucks uniform as well as the Flag of Vancouver, but the main inspiration was the banner at the top of this JC superhero postage stamp from 1995, which I believe was also used for the first comic’s title. The design didn’t translate too well to the white version and I didn’t like any of the other colour variants I attempted, so I took one stripe off the sleeves and added one to the hem. Finally, with this being a Mirror Universe version of the Canucks I made the third jersey a kind of Reverse Retro of their original 1970 sweater, with the V-striping moved from the sleeves to the front, and the blue and red colour scheme of their PCHL predecessors.

I think I prefer this over the existing Stars Skyline jersey. The final North Stars / inaugural Dallas Stars black jersey was always a good fit for that theme, and it probably works better here. Normally I'm not keen on sleeve stripes being cut off halfway, but flipping the arm yokes is an interesting take on that original design.

Made some adjustments to the Spiders based on your suggestions. I've added a web-like pattern to the sleeves on the home and away sets, and made the Spider a slightly darker blue on the home sweater. Also, I redid the third jersey - in retrospect it was a bit too simple and I wasn't satisfied with it.

Good stuff so far! For the Coyotes I'd suggest swapping the colours of the shoulder patch so its closer to the existing version (sand moon and purple-red sky) - or is there any particular reason it's coloured this way?

All three of those are planned for this project! A Ninja Turtles team is planned! Hadn't considered the Ghostbusters but that could be interesting.

Now to round off the first ten with our first Canadian team, which is also technically the first X-Men representative for this project. That's a lot of firsts. (And it won't be our only X-Men rep either!) 10. Montreal North Stars (Alpha Flight) Name: Montreal’s NHSL expansion franchise was awarded on a night when both Polaris - the North Star itself - and an aurora borealis were visible above the city. The owners saw this as a sign of good fortune, and named their team the North Stars. Logo: An M for Montreal in front of a four pointed star and a circle. The logo’s design resembles a compass pointing north. Colours: Black, white and light blue. Jerseys: A pair of traditional hockey sweaters, primarily black and white with blue accents and blue numbers. The home black jersey features a white shoulder yoke, and vice versa on the road white sweater. Third Jersey: Amidst a wave of unusual alternate jersey designs came this one from the North Stars, with a pattern inspired by the same star that gave them their name. Blue is gone from the colour scheme and the logo has been adjusted, removing the circle and swapping the M for an N. Compared to the US-based superheroes my options are much more limited with Canada, both in terms of numbers and how many of them could potentially work as team identities. So far I’ve narrowed it down to a few that don’t use the obvious red white and maple leaf imagery - otherwise I’d just end up with a bunch of Team Canadas (there is one exception, but I’ll get to it when I get to it). With that said: Northstar is a character I had no idea existed until I started planning this project, but his black and white colour scheme makes him somewhat unique compared to several other heroes and as we all know, the North Stars is a good name for a hockey team. Visually, Northstar didn’t give me much to work with aside from the star motif of his suit. His colours are black and white, which despite my previous statement is a bit boring. Also he doesn’t have a logo of his own, but then he’s mostly affiliated with Alpha Flight and/or the X-Men. However he did get his own miniseries in 1994; the covers featured an 8 pointed star in the comic’s logo, so I mainly based my design around that. I also included a light blue accent as issue 1 used it as a keyline on the cover logo, but it also pairs well with black and white and seemed like a good fit for the identity. For the logo I took that eight pointed star and - after a few attempts to fit an M for Montreal inside of it - opted to keep it simple, using a four pointed star and then overlaying the M in front of it, using that to (kind of) form the other four points. The angular shape of the M was meant to be evocative of the pattern on Northstar’s suit, but I also think a simple M is a good fit for a traditional hockey market like Montreal - despite them being an expansion team in this alternate universe. At the last minute I changed the M on the front of the third jersey to an N (you can still see the M version on the pants and helmet) as I’m sure someone would want to see what that’d look like. Curious to see if there’s any preference one way or the other. The home and road uniforms are fairly traditional, again befitting of Montreal. The white shoulder yoke was based on Northstar’s suit, but for the stripes I mostly took inspiration from the Montreal Maroons and the last Minnesota North Stars jersey from before they moved for this look, though I admit it may come off as looking a bit generic like those lacer hoodies which all use the same striping design. On the other hand the third jersey is a more direct adaptation of Northstar’s suit, with a little influence from the Dallas Stars. I’d like to think this one stands out as being kind of wacky in spite of only using black and white.

After three red teams in a row it's now time for our first green team to make for a visual change of pace... mostly. 9. Coast City Lanterns (Green Lantern) Name: Northern California's first NHSL franchise was named in tribute to a former minor league team, which in turn was named after the Coast City Lantern; a green lighthouse that overlooks the city and is a popular local landmark. Logo: A simple graphic representation of a lantern formed by two mirrored C’s, with two trapezoids above and below. Curiously it resembles a railroad lamp rather than the lighthouse the club shares its name with, though it’s said that the lighthouse keeper uses a lantern of this type, and it often gives off a distinct green glow from afar. The logo is a modified version of the old Lanterns crest, which was contained within a yellow circle and featured the team’s name and a pair of crossed hockey sticks. Colours: Green, black and white. Jerseys: The home jersey is green with black and white sleeves, and a single white stripe on the hem. Paired with a road white uniform with green and black sleeves, it’s a very understated look - perhaps appropriately so for the league’s first green team. Third Jersey: A direct throwback to their minor league predecessors, who wore a primarily red sweater with green and gold accents. Admittedly, Green Lantern is a series I’m not that familiar with. I always thought the logo was a bit abstract and too simple, but working on this team led me to learn how it came about and what exactly it’s meant to resemble, and as such I’ve come to appreciate it more; it’s abstract, but it works! Even so it’s just a couple of tweaks away from being suitable for hockey, so I took it in two directions; one more like a traditional crest, and the other a retro inspired old timey look. The only significant change I’ve made is splitting the ring into two mirrored C’s for Coast City. For the most part I’ve deliberately avoided super literal hockey versions of the heroes’ suits, but the design of Hal Jordan’s suit happened to fit the mould in a similar way to the Philadelphia Flyers; a somewhat simple look putting emphasis on the primary colour. The third is a nod to the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott; ironically I chose this team to do next to make a change after three red teams in row, and yet here we are with another one. Still, interesting that his suit was mostly red (maybe it was those limited printing palettes again?)

Hey everyone. It's been a while but I'm finally back into the swing of things and the next team is done. 8. New York Spiders (Spider-man) Name: Per team sources, the official story is that the owner was bitten by a spider when coming up with a name for New York's second NHSL franchise. But many are not convinced, believing it came from a notorious crime-fighting vigilante who was active in New York during the 1930s; the Spider - as he was known - was said to be ruthless, leaving a mark resembling an arachnid on his victims’ foreheads. The man behind the mask still has yet to be identified (I guess no one could get pictures of him?) but given the city’s history with this individual the name was initially met with controversy. Despite this, the Spiders were an instant hit particularly with the younger demographic, and their popularity would soon eclipse that of the Americans who they once shared their building with. Logo: The silhouette of a spider, with its eight legs designed to resemble hockey sticks. Notably the logo drew ire from the Gotham Knights, but their protest was met to no avail as nobody was going to mistake a spider for a bat. Despite the controversy surrounding its origin the Spiders brand has endured as one of the most beloved in the league. Colours: Primarily red and navy with white accents. It seems that management couldn’t agree on either black or blue and settled on a dark blue instead. Jerseys: The home red sweater features navy sleeves; this paired with the navy pants and red helmet gives the Spiders a unique look despite using similar colours to other clubs. The road uniform swaps the red and blue on the sleeves, and the crest is also recoloured to red. Third Jersey: Breaking from tradition but building on their ever-popular brand, the Spiders jumped onto the stealthy trend with their alternate uniform, which features a black base with bold red stripes forming a V shape. How could one start a superhero themed project like this and not include Spider-man? Funnily enough, I almost didn’t! At first I wasn’t convinced that the Spiders would work as a pro hockey team name especially for New York City - that is, until I did some research on Spider-man’s origins and how the character was conceived; turns out he was inspired by and named after a pulp fiction hero from the 30’s and 40’s. From what I could gather when compared to Spidey, the Spider wasn’t exactly your friendly neighbourhood superhero. Basically it seemed plausible that a team might choose to name itself after a controversial historical figure like this, only to attempt to cover it up with a false alternate story (the London Rippers, for example) and so like Stan Lee & Co. did for Spider-man, I used that character as the basis for this team’s name origin. Spider-man is usually depicted as red paired with a brighter blue like other heroes such as Superman and Captain America (and it turns out there were technical reasons behind these colours; back then comics had a limited palette for printing) but some say that he was meant to be red and black, with blue being used to highlight his muscles and give him more visual depth. Evidently the red and blue colour scheme is what stuck and has become his signature look, but for this concept I opted for navy blue, partly as a compromise between the two colours but also to set them apart from their blue and red neighbours in Brooklyn. Much like Batman, Spider-man’s logo has seen many variations through the years, and again I did my own take but with the spider’s legs being hockey sticks. Admittedly the uniforms aren’t the most revolutionary designs ever but the main gimmick of the home jersey is the dark blue sleeves contrasting the red body, much like Spidey’s suit. For the road jersey I took cues from a version of the 2099 suit which puts more emphasis on white and red on the upper body. The third is based on one of Miles Morale’s suits with a V design on it; the simple black and red scheme fits with more recent trends of ‘stealthy’ looks in the NHL like the Oilers, Sharks and Leafs third jerseys and it feels like something a team like this might do.

Still have mixed feelings on the logo choice but I like the overall look a lot. Might have to start planning that trip now...

The sky also isn't red. But we see various shades of red, orange and yellow in sunsets so making that part yellow makes just as much sense.

Next team is done - I'd meant to get this up earlier today but I'm having trouble with my Imgur account, so I'm settling for elsewhere for now. 7. Missouri Racers (Flash) (AH-AH!) Name: Apparently the result of a fan poll, the name was inspired by Central City’s ubiquitous nickname “The City That’s Always On The Run”. The team also draws fans from nearby Keystone City, Kansas, but opted to use Missouri as the geographical identifier as a nod to the Missouri River that separates these twin cities. True to their name, the Racers roster is built around speed and finesse. Logo: A winged ‘R’ for Racers. A subtle lightning bolt can be seen between the wings. Alternate Logo: A circle containing a lightning bolt. This striking design was introduced on their third jersey, and now adorns the shoulders of their regular uniforms. Colours: Red, gold and white, the official colours of both Central and Keystone Cities. Jerseys: A pair of traditional sweaters featuring red, white and gold stripes. Nothing too flashy, however there is a lightning bolt on the pants which was brought over from their alternate uniform. Third Jersey: The team’s secondary lightning bolt emblem originated from and takes centre stage on this bold, brazen and bizarre reinvention of their classic look, which is subject to much controversy; on one hand, it was popular enough to influence the aforementioned tweaks to their regular uniforms. On the other hand, some fans have loudly expressed their distaste for this aspect of the brand, with comparisons often made to a Guardian Comics superhero: the Lightning. Like the Steelers and Knights before, the obvious logo choice for a team based on the Flash would be that iconic lightning bolt in a circle, right? Eh, maybe for a team formed in the 90’s. But for an old timey franchise, something like that seems more plausible as an alternate mark introduced in that decade, when lightning bolts and wacky third jersey designs were all the rage. For the primary logo I instead took inspiration from the helmet wings of the original Flash, Jay Garrick, and made an R for ‘Racers’ from that. The bolt is still a secondary mark, but I made a bolt shape in the wings as a way to retain that imagery in the main logo. As for the jerseys: have you ever wondered what the St Louis Blues would look like if they were a red team instead? No? Well, that was the basic idea here. Or maybe it’s more of a hockey version of the Kansas City Chiefs, given Central City’s approximate location in the DC Universe (and depending on which version of the DCverse). The third is pretty much the Flash costume in hockey form; even with the lightning bolt stripes around his arms and waist, Barry Allen's suit already has a similar layout to a typical hockey sweater. But like the lightning bolt logo itself I felt it better suited to an alternate uniform, or maybe the team experimenting with a rebrand.

Fun thread. I especially like the Sonic Team designs! As a Brit I'd be very surprised if James Bond or Thomas had jerseys for any of these four sports