Yearly Archives: 2011

Worst. Super villain plan. Ever.

(From "Fantastic Comics" number 12, 1940.)

Poll Position: Batman vs … Batman?

Since Batman wins every poll, I thought I would turn the tables on you and make you choose one Batman over another! Ha!

{democracy:194}

Note that for now I am leaving on the option to enter your own answers, as I'm sure there are some iconic versions I have missed. I'll close that if the answers get stupid enough, though.

And now, to the Batdebate!

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Crack detective work, Texas Ranger style

(From "Fantastic Comics" number 12, 1940.)

Caption Contest 104

With hearty thanks once again to Glenn3's "Say What? Pictures", your challenge this week is to come up with the best replacement dialog for this comics panel:

The best entry (as judged by yours truly) wins the author's choice of either any item they like or any portrait to be included in HeroMachine 3′s final release, or a custom black and white “Sketch of the Day” style illustration (you pick the subject, I draw it however I like).

All entries must be left as a comment (or comments) to this post. Keep ‘em clean (appropriate for a late-night broadcast TV show), but most importantly, keep ‘em funny!

This week we have a cap of no more than five (5) entries per person, so make 'em your best!

Character Contest 69 Winners!

We had an overwhelming response to Character Contest 69. I sincerely appreciate your willingness to share your creations with everyone. Even if you're not one of the Finalists below, I hope you don't let that discourage you -- the entries were uniformly great, so you should take pride in what you've accomplished. Really, thank you very, very much!

As usual, I'll now post all the submissions I thought were especially noteworthy for one reason or another, and then announce the overall winner at the end. I tried to pick ones that looked like actual individuals to me, faces that seemed as if I could run into them on the street. Well, if that street were in a super-heroic, demon-infested, magical sci-fi universe, that is.

Almost all of these are clickable to see at a larger size.

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Don’t think you’re safe, floors …

(From "Fantastic Comics" number 12, 1940.)

Super-heroes should not play World of Warcraft

(From "Fantastic Comics" number 15, 1941.)

Power User Profile: Frevoli

Winner of Caption Contest 102 and all-around impressive creator Frevoli is the subject of this week's Power User Profile. And can I just say, Frevoli, you fill out a Black Cat costume better than I ever could hope. Enjoy!
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Two-fisted super-hero philosophy

(From "Fantastic Comics" number 12, 1940.)

Open Critique Day #23

We've got a friend in from Texas today who's thinking of moving up this direction, so while Open Critique Day is still a "go", I'm going to be quite late posting my replies. As in, you might not hear from me until the afternoon. But, I promise I'll get to them before the day is over, so by all means, post away! Also, I am sure some of the "regulars" like Panner will be here making their usual insightful commentary on your creations to hold the fort as I play tour guide.

If you have a HeroMachine illustration or another piece of artwork you've done that you'd like some help with, post a link to it in comments along with your thoughts on it -- what you think is working, what you're struggling with, etc. I will post my critique of the piece, hopefully giving some tips on how to improve it.

Of course everyone is welcome to post their critiques as well, keeping in mind the following rules:

  • Make sure your criticism is constructive. Just saying "This sucks" is both rude and unhelpful without giving specific reasons why you think it sucks and, ideally, some advice on how to make it better.
  • Each person should only post one illustration for critique to make sure everyone who wants feedback has a chance.
  • I will not critique characters entered in any currently running contest, as that doesn't seem fair to the other entrants. You can still post it if you like for the other visitors to critique, but I will not do so.

That's it! Hopefully we can get some good interaction going here and help everyone (me included!) learn a little bit today.