Monthly Archives: June 2010

HM3: Minor color update

At PsyckoSama's request, I have updated the HeroMachine 3 Alpha to show the hex value for a color swatch when moused over. I also made the box selectable, so after you click the color, you can highlight and copy the hex value in the name box, then paste it into the Custom Color hex box as a base for starting your new color. I'm not sure how helpful this is to most people, but it was easy enough to do and might help alleviate the pain for those who find the color swatch box hard to use for whatever reason.

RP: BZZZT! Survey says "RINGO!"

(From "Spidey Super Stories" number 54, ©1981, Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc.)

SOD.165

Poll Position: Top Dogs

Cross-universe publishing house fights have been a staple of the dedicated fanboy for decades (and, not incidentally, also a source of profits from the blockbuster team-up issues). Our intellectually demanding question for this week tries to figure out what would happen if you took the most powerful "every day" super-hero from four of the biggest historical publishers and pitted them against each other:

{democracy:138}

Discussion after the jump.

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RP: Ken, the later years

(From "Police Comics" number 10, 1942.)

SOD.164 – Forest Elemental

Character Contest 36 Winners!

Many thanks to everyone who entered "Character Contest 36 - Superman Villain", I enjoyed looking at your illustrations and reading your stories. As always, your creativity and willingness to share it astounds me.

I have chosen the entries that I thought were particularly outstanding and am presenting them below as the Finalists. At the end I'll announce the overall winner, who receives any item they like, or a portrait of themselves, to be included in HeroMachine 3.

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Caption Contest 77 Winner

Congratulations to Black Griffin for winning Caption Contest 77 with this very funny entry:

Black Griffin wins his (or her) choice of any item, or a portrait, either to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 version!

Thanks to everyone who entered, and to all the finalists. We'll have a new caption contest next week.

Character Contest 37: Femme Fatale

I'm happy to have a special Guest Judge for this week's contest, a man who knows a lot about the Golden Age we're using as a theme, "Boox909"!:

"GoldenAgeComics.co.uk is a popular site that offers over 2000+ public domain Golden Age Comics Books for free downloading. Founded in 2006, the site now serves nearly 10,000 registered members. Boox909, a member since November 2006, volunteers as a junior moderator for the site where he harnesses mad customer service skills. In the real world, he can generally be found coming up with ways to avoid completing his History disseration. He is currently engrossed in the FIFA World Cup, but wisely could not resist the opportunity to participate with HeroMachine."

Golden Age Comics is where I get all my Daily Random Panel fodder, and where I first heard of the great Bulletman, Bullegirl, and Bulletdog. For that, I am eternally grateful.

Boox909's expertise in that era is particularly important this week, as your character design challenge is to create a Golden Age Heroine! One of the great things about the Forties in comics history is the presence of some wonderful female adventurers, notably the aforementioned Bulletgirl, the Lady in Red, the Phantom Lady, and more. These women were strong, independent, tough-minded, brave crusaders for justice. In one of the ironies of history, out of them all the only one to survive to the modern era was the bondage-themed Wonder Woman. Take from that what you will.

The person who comes up with the best Golden Age Heroine character as judged by expert Boox909 will win his or her own custom item, or a portrait, to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 program! The contest will run for one week, with the winner and other Finalists to be announced on Monday. The rules are, as always:

  • No more than three (3) entries per person;
  • All entries to be submitted as comments (or all three in one comment) to this post;
  • Each entry must have a link to the character image on a publicly accessible web site (PhotoBucket, ImageShack, the UGO Forums, even Facebook if it's a publicly accessible photo);
  • Contest runs for one week.

Good luck everyone!

RP: Also, I wet the bed. Is this TMI?

(From "Police Comics" number 10, 1942.)