The Nerdmudgeon Podcast
Three middle-aged nerds (including yours truly!) review all of the MCU movies in chronological order. Short, funny, and full of good vibes, check it out and let us know what you think!
Nerdmudgeon.com
Monthly Archives: December 2008
Random Panel: Signs you've been alone too long — Rosie speaks
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Posted in Daily Random Panel
Contest 36 Prize: Chain Jane
Nate and I have finished his prize for winning Caption Contest 36, and are happy to share Chain Jane with you:
You've still got one day left to try your luck at winning your own custom black and white illustration of whatever you like with Caption Contest 38, going on right now!
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Posted in Challenge Prizes, Challenges
Random Panel: Corporate spokesmen gone bad, Red Lobster edition
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Posted in Daily Random Panel
Poll Position: Evil Batman
Concluding our month-long "What If?" tribute, I bring you a scenario so unsettling, I may not be able to sleep tonight:
{democracy:60}
Rampaging muscle-bound Hulks and sinister Kryptonians are a walk in the park next to this one, folks, so let's take it below the fold and not scare the kids.
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Posted in Uncategorized
What I'm reading
For no particular reason, here are the comics I currently am reading:
- Fables: The story arc dealing with the war between Fabletown and the Empire just concluded, and damn was it satisfying. Great, distinctive art, wonderful storytelling (both visually and in the script), and a truly diverse, interesting, deep cast of characters.
- Thor: Not actually a favorite any more, I just keep forgetting to tell my comics shop to stop setting it aside for me. It's gotten awfully dull, Thor just sort of broods all the time. Granted, in the last issue they dropped Asgard on the gods of the Skrulls, which is pretty nifty, but there was sure a lot of exposition getting there.
- Ex Machina: This title started off really strong, but has gotten weaker in the last year. The photo-referenced art is starting to feel stiff and lifeless to me, and the stories aren't quite as interesting as they used to be. I'll probably stop collecting this one soon, too.
- Invincible: My favorite super-hero title of the last twenty years. I love, love, love everything about this series, from the fantastic art to the fun stories, it all just works, exactly the way the best super-hero comics of the past did. Great storytelling and engaging characters paired with massive slugfests and crazy villains just rocks my world.
- Dynamo 5: I like the premise (Superman-like character fathers many children by many women, five of them eventually band together to form a team, and each one has just one of their father's powers), and the first few issues were fun, but it's starting to lag as well.
- Jack Staff: Consistently great, consistently fun, consistently wonderful. A great, great comic. You will believe comics can be in black and white and not suck.
That's pretty much it for me. I'll pick up one or two singles or small runs if I read something good about them online (usually via Chris' Invincible Super-Blog), but really it's Jack Staff, Fables, and Invincible that keep me going to the comics store nowadays.
I'd love to hear what you're reading in the comments, maybe I'll trip on something new and great.
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Posted in Randomosity
Random Panel: Conversations you'll only hear in super-hero comic books
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Posted in Daily Random Panel
Random Panel: Great moments in bad customer service
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Posted in Daily Random Panel
Cities ain't sounds
I don't know what in the heck Jim Starlin was thinking with this sound effect:
I believe I'm on record as being opposed to onomontoPOWia that are nothing more than common English words used as sounds, but this is easily the most egregious and least effective example I've seen to date. Come on, The Bronx isn't even a city, it's just a borough, you know? If you're going to hack your way out of coming up with an actual effect, at least go for something incorporated.
Plus, it's a crappy sound effect. When a guy with metal fists hits a giant hairy gay ape-man/galactic vampire from outer space wearing a sporty blue cloth tunic, the sound you'd get would be nothing like "BRONXX". Off-hand, I can't think of anything that would make that noise, to be honest. If you're going to lame out with a city-based word, right here in Texas we could offer him "meXIa!" or "BANGs!" or "FROGNOT!"
I have to be honest with you, I'd love to see a comic book use "FROGNOT" in some way. Villain name, onomontoPOWia, the call sign for Wonder Woman's invisible jet, I don't care, just give me some Frognot!
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Posted in OnomontoPOWia
Random Panel: Odds are Joey'll want the videotape and some alone time …
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Posted in Daily Random Panel
Create the next great video game star
The previously beta-tested Warrior Mini has now been officially released, and is available for use right now on UGO.com. But even better, the applet is the center of a new contest that is so cool I almost wish I weren't working for UGO so I could enter:
If your design wins, your character will be featured in a UGO-built online video game!
How cool is that?! Read the contest rules for more information, but basically you have from now until the end of January to work on your creation. You can enter up to five different characters. From the rules, here's how they'll be judged:
Winner Selection: All entries will be judged by a panel of three (3) judges comprised of members of the UGO editorial staff who will select five finalists based on the following criteria: Visual Design Aesthetic Appeal (30%); Visual Design Originality (30%); Character History (20%); and Character Name (20%). Judging for the five finalists will take place on February 2, 2009.
And once again, the winning character will be featured in an online game built by and featured on UGO.com. Yes, that's right, you could be the next great action hero. Or at least, someone you make up could be, which is darn close.
Anyone who wants to pose questions about design techniques or to get feedback on what you've built, feel free to post it here or hit up the UGO HeroMachine forums. The guys there have a ton of experience building cool characters using the HeroMachine tools and can probably give you some good pointers.
So get out there and start creating, and good luck to everyone!
Update: Just to be clear, you must create the character with the tool linked above (no other HM version) and it must be submitted via the "Submit to Contest" button in the applet. No other submission method will qualify.
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Posted in Challenges, News & Updates
