Just like a drummer can create a wide range of sounds by hitting different varieties of the same instrument with a stick, super-heroes can do the same by pounding on different parts of an enemy’s body with varying limbs. For instance, if you snap a demon’s spine with your hand, you get “Fwak-tchh”, but doing it with your foot gives you “Fruntsh”:

Making beautiful music like this isn’t as simple as it seems from the outside; you’ve got to know the acoustic properties of a whole slew of enemies’ body parts, and how they interact with your own arsenal of weapons. I’m pretty sure the characters in “Battle Tide II” (Deathstrike Headsmasher and Crushnuts Bootiewhooper, or something like that) had to take, like, at least a semester of music appreciation before they were allowed into Battle, much less Battle II.

(Images ©1993, Marvel Comics UK Ltd., “Battle Tide II”)

I like a villain who starts out cold and refreshing, and finishes smooth. A villain who looks great as-is, but even better with a slice of lime. A villain you can kick back on the beach watching the sun go down with while swaying in a hammock. A villain like Dos Equis (”That’s DOCTOR Double X to you, pal!”):

My favorite part of this beer-themed villain is that the actual Double X is an invisible energy being given life when the original Single X went nutso. Invisible friends? Check. Maniacal leer? Check. Insanity? Check. Yeah, this guy is definitely based on beer. Other super powers? Powerful projectile vomiting, devastatingly inappropriate remarks to nubile coeds, and the ability to crash on anyone’s couch at a moment’s notice.

(Character and image ©1985, DC Comics, Inc., from “Who’s Who” volume VI.)

I’ve loved comic books since I first learned to read, and part of what motivates me to keep working on HeroMachine is the hope that in some way I am helping to keep that same love alive in others. I believe comics as an artistic medium is the equal to any of the arts, from traditional paint on canvas to sculpture to written fiction. The combination of images and words juxtaposed in sequential order on the page is a powerful one, uniquely capable of bringing ideas to life. Of course the majority of what we in America enjoy in our version of comics is the boot-to-the-face, giant mutated apes fighting Nazis in zeppelins over the skies of New York variety, and I’m fine with that.

But the medium is capable of much more, capable of not only entertaining us but of serving as a vehicle for powerful events and emotions. I can’t count the number of people I’ve known who hated reading before they picked up their first comic book. I’m not ashamed to admit that comic books have shaped a lot of who I am and how I think; I still cherish an old “Captain America” issue where Cap talks about how the United States isn’t a piece of cloth or a symbol to wave around, it’s an ideal, a set of principles, and the people who are willing to hold to them no matter what.

So I was delighted to read this New York Times article about how a comic book about the Holocaust is helping a new generation of Germans open a dialog about that awful chapter in their (and our) history, enabling people to talk about it in a new, open way that was not possible before. Comics have the power to change hearts and minds, and it frustrates me sometimes that in America, they are still largely regarded as just “kid stuff”. Our regard for the medium has evolved tremendously since I was young — a lot of college courses now incorporate graphic novels — but I’d love to see them used seriously in all age groups, as in this example from Germany.

Not that I’m giving up my face-kicking giant mutant gorilla Nazi-fighting pulp any time soon, mind you, but there’s definitely room for both kinds of comics in our culture!

In the Marvel Universe, major companies sometimes contract with various super-powered individuals to represent them (i.e.Tony Stark and Iron Man). I think I found the guy on Hugh Heffner’s payroll:

I’m gonna go out on a limb here and bet that his name will eventually be revealed as “Richard Cranium”.

(Image and character ©1989, Marvel Comics, “The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, Update ‘89″.)

I hate feet. They’re ugly, they smell bad, and they’re poorly designed. The best you can say about feet is that at least they’re stuck way down at the end of our bodies so we don’t have to think about them very often. But even I don’t hate feet as much as Mister Sinister must, because he is wearing two sets of boots to cover them up:

I’m not a fan of flaring hip-boots on male characters in general, but maybe that’s just because I’m from Texas, where our boots end at mid-calf. But if you’re going to wear them, what in the name of all that’s good and right are you doing with yet another pair of flaring boots that end at your ankle? It’s just weird, and that’s saying something when you’re talking about a white-faced, lipstick-wearing, double-starred on head and chest guy with a cloak straight out of La Cage Aux Folles. Seriously, getting attacked by Mr. Sinister must feel like getting mugged by a half-exploded pinata. And that’s before he kicks your butt with all four boots.

(Image and character ©1989, Marvel Comics, “The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, Update ‘89″.)