Author Archives: AFDStudios

Poll Position: Medium well

Our Poll Position question this week has to do with the difficulties of translating material from one medium — in this case, comic books — to the movie screen:

{democracy:92}

Discussion after the jump.

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Random Panel: Great moments in bad dates

amazingman-6-1939-catkiller

(From “Amazing Man” number 6, 1939.)

Random Panel: Alternate Universe TV, “Lois and Lex” edition

loislane65d

(From “Lois Lane” 65, copyright DC Comics, Inc. Hat tip to Chris’ Invincible Super-Blog. And yes, that’s Lois Lane and Lex Luthor.)

Random Panel: Time to get a new doctor

amazingman-6-1939-doctoracid

(From “Amazing Man” number 6, 1939.)

HM3: Hit the floor

I’ve just released the “BackgroundFloors” set for the HeroMachine 3 Alpha. Here’s a quick sample of some of the 2.x items — plus some — that have been redrawn for 3.0:

floors

The idea behind these setting pieces that I’ll be including in the “Background” slot are that you’ll mix and match them to make up the environment you want. There are only a couple of full-environment items here, like the forest path, which I’m frankly not sure work all that well. The rest, though, are just pieces that you can use to build up the right effect.

I’m sure you’ll come up with creative ways to use the new stuff, but let me know if you find any mistakes, see anything you don’t like, don’t see something you were really hoping for in a “Floor” set, or anything else that’s on your mind.

I think the next thing to do will be a set called “BackgroundSky” or something like that, with the intent that they’d be placed essentially behind the Floors to make a complete environment. So give me any requests you have for those things that might not be included in that last request post.

After that I’ll probably do some sort of middle-ground stuff like tree lines, mountains, etc. (kind of like the building roof retaining wall in this current release). Finally, at some point I’ll just do a whole big set of “general environmental items” that you can stick where ever you want — candles, books, single boulders, benches, that kind of thing so you can really dress the room just like you dress your character.

I don’t know for sure if this is the right approach, so by all means feel free to opine about that too.

Random Panel: Great moments in not-so-super super midgets

amazingman-6-1939-supermidget-rattrap

(From “Amazing Man” number 6, 1939.)

Hammerknight Recipe 4: Gun that hog!

(I’m happy to present the latest in Hammerknight’s “Recipe” series, giving you step by step instructions on how to duplicate some of his remarkable items with HeroMachine 3. Thanks Hammerknight! Click on any of the images to biggify them.)

samples

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Open help thread

Coming out of the discussion earlier in the week were several requests for a “help” post. So here it is! If you want to know how to do something in HeroMachine, or how to draw something specific by hand (or computer), or you wonder how an effect you’ve seen in comics somewhere was achieved, leave a comment describing what you want help with and I and the other commenters here will try to give you a hand.

You can also use this space to ask someone about a character they posted. For instance, if you can’t figure out how Imp gets those spiffy circle gradients behind his characters, you can ask him in the comments. No guarantees that anyone you ask will either see or respond to your question, of course, but hopefully someone will get you squared away.

I’m honestly not sure how this will work, or if it’s even what you were asking for, so by all means feel free to correct me if you were hoping for something else.

I’ll also be posting another “Hammerknight Recipe” later in the day, as I figure that fits under the concept of “Helpful Thursdays” too.

See you in comments!

Random Panel: Nope, he’s just happy to see you

amazingman-6-1939-sandwich

(From “Amazing Man” number 6, 1939.)

The wrong kind of laughter

Note to any aspiring super-villains out there: Don’t let your costume be designed by someone with the express intent of appearing as a character in a radio-only drama, because the Promotions Department might just pull a gag on you like they did on poor Molly Maynne, aka “The Harlequin”:

harlequin

You might ask why you need a costume for a radio-only drama, but maybe that’s just how they rolled in the Forties. And granted, a Harlequin is supposed to be an entertainer, but ye gods! Seeing some poor deranged woman staggering drunkenly up to me sporting a dunce cap, striped leggings, curled-toe shoes, and Queen Elizabeth’s neck ruffle around her waist would probably inspire more pity than fear.

But then again, since her power is in her super-hypnotizing glasses, maybe the whole point of the outfit is to be so horrifically bad that onlookers are momentarily stunned, giving her a chance to slap the ol’ googly-eyes on ’em. If so, it was brilliant, because I frankly can’t look away. Just keep telling yourself that the feeling bubbling up inside is joyful laughter and not incipient nausea, and no one gets hurt except your keyboard.

(Image and character © DC Comics, Inc.)