Signing Sentai

I did a bunch of brainstorming yesterday for an idea that's been kicking around in the back of my head for a while. Some time ago I was reading some articles about Anthony "Blue Ear" Smith, and I got to thinking about a character. I've always had a passive interest in japanese superheroes like Kamen Rider, Kikaider, or any of the Super Sentai genre, I love the colorful costumes and elaborate poses and such. When thinking about a hearing-impaired character/hero, I immediately turned to these heroes as sources for inspiration:

I though it could be really fun and interesting for a character to use ASL with the elaborate/pose-like gestures of these heroes. When thinking of powers for a hero like this, I started thinking it would be cool if ASL could be directly incorporated. I decided that the fingers on the hero's gloves would have a glow to them, and that when signing, the hero could create constructs (similar to Green Lantern), or summon tools, depending on what sign was used.

I don't have any titles or names or anything yet, but here's where I ended up, as of yesterday, design wise. I'm still playing around with the idea, but I've had a lot of fun thinking it through this far:

I also did a quick animation test with my idea. Here she is using a sign for "switch" or "alter", which is what she uses to change into costume:

And lastly, some tertiary character sketches, trying to find a "look" that I liked, as well as brainstorming an initial villain, "Mandrake", who has a sonic-boom voice power.