Jackpot (Mary Jane Watson) (Patreon)

I can't believe i'm about to get nerdy over such an insignificant thing which i don't really care all that much about, but here's the deal.

One of my long time supporters AranaEscarlata commissioned me to draw the Jackpot's latest design and boy oh boy it definitely feels like not a single editor at Marvel has given a shit about her look. Like, i know it's a common thing to have inconsistencies in characters looks (different books, different artists), and it's not such a huge deal overall, especially if a character has existed for years/decades. But in this case it's like her first appearance and she looks different on almost all of the variant covers of a single issue. That concept sketch by Humberto Ramos looks very rushed and confusing. Does she have white sleeves? Or grey? Or maybe they are purple? Or is that so because of the lighting? Also what's that on her wrist? Is that a bracelet or just a cuff of her shirt? Oh wait, there are two of those actually! Black boots? Not really! Ramos himself abandons that element in the next cover.  

Like, again, it's not the end of the world, but I think it's important to have some consistency for a newly introduced character's look for at least like, several issues. If you want them to stick around, that is.

As for my own opinion on the design itself: not a fan as you might've noticed, because I decided to slightly tweak it in my artwork to make working on it more fun and pleasant for me. :)

I feel like a voluminous stark white sleeves create an overall better silhouette for the character and give off some retro fashion vibes. And it settles the thing with her cuffs. I also decided to slightly emphasize the shape of the black part on her chest so it would look like lapels of a suit jacket, which again plays into the whole suits/casino/evening dress thing. Maybe I would even go as far as giving her some kinda shortened suit jacket/vest, but I'll save it for another time. Golden trim around sunglasses to support that golden device on her forearm, because I refuse to accept ugly yellow squares on her thighs.

To be completely transparent: i haven't read any comic book in a HOT minute and (for better or worse) my opinion on the current spider-man story is formed mostly through other people's tweets. From afar it looks like a complete mess and I kinda feel bad for die hard fans of the series.

p.s. they cared so little that they didn't notice an accidental purple brush stroke at the bottom of that initial sketch for the official announcement lol (last pic)