Yearly Archives: 2011

Samson visits the salon

(From "Fantastic Comics" number 10, 1940.)

Time to shop!

When last we left our intrepid Lone Wolf, we were deciding whether to apprehend a young thief, let him go, or ignore the whole sordid affair. Ultimately we chose to report the little rascal:

I imagine later we'll find his severely beaten corpse in a side alley, with black-clad guard bootprints leading back to the store. Civic virtue FTW!

But hey, screw that kid, we get free stuff! We do not currently own a backpack, so if we choose anything but the Dagger, we'll have to also choose the Backpack so we have somewhere to put it. I mean, if you see some guy walking down the street holding a blankie and two bags of Big Macs, I think it's likely you would report that guy to the cops.

Also, we already have a dagger and a mace. If we choose the dagger or the quarterstaff, therefore, we'll have to dump one of those two weapons since you can only have two at one time. It would be nice if we could tie our existing dagger to the end of the quarterstaff with some of the rope, making our own Spear (which we have the Weaponskill for), but alas, this isn't quite that interactive.

For the Meals, keep in mind we can't use our Hunting Discipline since we're in civilized areas. I don't know when (or if) that restriction will be lifted, but for now, we're going hungry.

So the way I see it, we have no real choice except to pick the Backpack and one other item. However, since I know how much we gamers like to be ornery, I've left the poll open to TWO selections per person. Whichever two get the most votes is what we'll pick.

Make your case for what we should select in the comments. I love gearing up! Remember, choose two of the below options.

[polldaddy poll="5234124"]

Samson visits Salzburg

(From "Fantastic Comics" number 10, 1940.)

Captain Norelco!

I've theorized before that comics creators sometimes draw inspiration from objects lying around the room where they're drawing. Apparently whoever created Changeling was inspired one morning while shaving, because I swear that's a massive purple Norelco razor on his head:

Seriously, that may be the single worst piece of headgear I've ever seen. And I've read Jack Kirby comics! What's his tag line, "I warn you, I have THREE floating heads to shave you even closer"? Not to mention, if he ever falls down on his head really hard, that back spike is going to get him pinned to the ground in pretty short order. Maybe that's why he has twin jet nozzles on the side, for that extra bit of oomph needed when arising.

I also like to think that the giant Thor-like discs on his chest are actually big screw heads, likely for the purposes of cleaning out his lint trap. A razor that big, especially with three floating heads, is going to collect a lot of stubble. He probably keeps all his cleaning supplies (lubricating oil, screwdriver, lint brush, etc.) in his purple European man-bag, because you don't want those things getting dirty or rusty. Otherwise, the next time he tries to defeat an enemy by running his helmet over their chin, never actually cutting them thanks to the safety mesh, the gears might jam and then he'd really be in trouble.

(Character and image © Marvel Comics.)

How Samson tours the Eiffel Tower

(From "Fantastic Comics" number 10, 1940.)

Poll position: Hulk vs. Doomsday

While thinking about John Byrne's "Death of Superman" classic (what, doesn't everyone spend their days thinking about decades-old superhero battles?!), I started wondering about the following Epic Question:

{democracy:191}

So even if the Hulk couldn't defeat Superman, and Superman couldn't defeat Doomsday, does that mean the Hulk couldn't beat Doomsday? Wait, that's too much like doing math.

The potential for collateral damage hampered Superman's efforts to fight Doomsday originally. When you care whether or not entire city blocks full of innocent bystanders die, that influences your tactics. Whereas the Hulk ... well, let's be kind and say that the "innocent bystander" factor isn't exactly at the top of his list.

Plus, the madder the Hulk gets, the more powerful he grows. And he'd be pretty mad after a while of Doomsday whaling on his green butt. Since the fully enraged, yet still coldly capable, Hulk was able to annihilate virtually the entire Marvel Universe in World War Hulk, you'd have to think he could, at a minimum, give the Spiked Wonder a run for his money.

On the other hand, Doomsday was designed to be the ultimate weapon, while the Hulk is largely an accident. Can purposeful design beat fortuitous circumstance?

At the end of the day, I'd have to go with the Hulk winning this one, especially if it's the World War Hulk era character.

What about you, what do you think would happen?

(Image via dnno.)

Superheroes make lousy party guests

(From "Fantastic Comics" number 10, 1940.)

Character Contest 67 68: Cancer

Your character design challenge for this week is to come up with an image with HeroMachine based on the idea of the Zodiac sign "Cancer". Note that this is not the disease of the same name, but rather the astrological sign of the crab. You could do a giant crab mech, or a super hero named "The Crab", or some tasteful but vaguely disgusting use of "crabs". Or you could use it as an acronym for something else, or show the battle between Hercules and the crab, and so on.

The point is, you should use the concept of Cancer as a springboard for character creation, rather than feeling unduly bound by the restrictions it imposes. Let that imagination run wild, child!

To help you out, here's a bit on the history of the name from Wikipedia:

According to an ancient Greek legend, the figure of a crab was placed in the nighttime sky by the goddess Hera to form the constellation Cancer. Hera swore to kill Heracles, the most famous Greek hero. Hera attempted to kill Heracles in many different ways, but each time his incredible physical strength allowed him to survive. Hera cast a spell of madness on Heracles, causing him to commit a great crime. In order to be forgiven, he had to perform twelve difficult tasks. One of these tasks was destroying the terrible nine-headed water-serpent, Hydra.

During the battle between Heracles and Hydra, the goddess Hera sent a crab to aid the serpent. But Heracles, being so strong, killed the crab by smashing its shell with his foot. As a reward for its service, Hera placed the crab's image in the night sky.

Wow. Crushed by a foot, and for that you get to live for eternity in the sky as a mighty constellation? I'm shocked we don't have a Cockroach constellation.

Anyway.

The contest rules are the same as usual:

  1. Use only a HeroMachine applet (no PhotoShopping except for basic cropping) to create a PNG or JPG of your entry, named as [your name]-[character name].[file extension]. So DiCicatriz, for instance, would save his "Bayou Belle" character image as DiCicatriz-BayouBelle.png.
  2. Post the image to a publicly accessible website (ImageShack, PhotoBucket, the UGO Forums, etc.).
  3. Enter the name of your entry and a link directly to the image in a comment to this post. The image cannot have been used in any previous HeroMachine character design contest.
  4. The link to your image should go directly to the image (like this) and not to a hosting jump page (like this). If you see "preview" or "rotate" somewhere in the link you're probably doing it wrong.
  5. I'll choose a winner next Monday, who will receive his or her choice of any item or a portrait to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 program, or a "Sketch of the Week" style black and white illustration (you pick the subject and I draw it up however I like).

No limit on entries this week, so knock yourselves out. Good luck everyone!

Caption Contest 102 Winner!

With thanks to everyone who entered Caption Contest 102, I've gone through the submissions and picked out the ones I thought were funniest:

  • Frevoli : Honey, when I said you could drop in anytime – this wasn’t what I had in mind...
  • TopHat: Worst. Stripper. Ever.
  • Rick: I guess Ol’Archie chose Betty!
  • Nick Hentschel: Wow, ya really DO have women throwin’ themselves at ya!
  • skybandit: It works! Now, for my other two wishes!
  • punkjay: What is wrong with your wife Joe?! Every time we play poker she wants to practice her break-dancing!
  • P.F. Bruns: I toldja gold was a chick magnet.
  • Scorpidius: Harold, go get the puncture repair kit and the foot pump . . . . Blow up Betty has sprung a leak again!
  • Dudemeister: Oh Jeez! Seriously Joe, that hat just don’t hide her no more. You gotta get that Siamese twin sister REMOVED!
  • Bael: I fold. Too rich for my blood.!

And the winner of either any item they like to be included in HM3 or their own Sketch of the Day style illustration is ... Frevoli, with his first Caption or Character Design victory! Which is pretty surprising, because he (or she!) does some fantastic work.

Congratulations to Frevoli and all our Finalists!

META: Holdups

New posts (including the contest results and new contest announcement) will be delayed. Hopefully we can get the outstanding issue resolved quickly and normal posting will resume sooner rather than later.

I don't have any answers and I can't explain things any further, so I've disabled comments on this post. When I know something definitive, I'll update you.

ETA: Obviously, the problem was resolved and normal posting has resumed. Huzzah!