Category Archives: Challenges

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!

Your character design challenge for this week is to develop an enemy for the mightiest super-hero of all time -- Superman! You'll need to provide the image, of course, but also a brief description of who they are and why they're a match for the Man of Steel. The person who creates the best overall character will win their choice of either any one item they like, or a portrait of themselves, to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 version.

The rules are simple:

• No more than three entries per person;
• Entries must be provided as a comment to this post, including a link to the character image hosted on a free, publicly accessible site like ImageShack, PhotoBucket, the UGO Forums, or even Facebook (make sure you set the album to "Public");
• All entries must be posted by next Monday, at which time I will choose a winner;
• You cannot use any existing copyrighted character design, name, or symbol (like a mockup of the Superman logo, for instance).

Good luck, everyone!

(Superman is a copyrighted character owned by DC Comics, Inc.)

With many and profound thanks to X-Stacy's girlfriend, we are back with another Caption Contest this week even though I already packed up all my comics! Apparently this paragon of womanly awesomeness enjoys taking the dialog out of bizarre comics panels, which in my book would make her perfect were I not married and she not taken. Alas!

Regardless, your challenge once again is to come up with the best replacement dialog for this (very!) random comics panel:

The rules are simple:

• Leave your entry as a comment to this post;
• You have one week, the finalists will be chosen next Monday;
• Keep it clean, appropriate for a broadcast network late-night show.

I'll put up a poll next Monday with all the finalists for one week. The top vote-getter at the end of that time will receive his or her choice of either any one item, or a portrait, which will appear in the final HeroMachine 3 version.

Good luck everyone!

Your mission for the week is to develop the best character who would fit into a "Road Warrior", post-apocalyptic survival world (thanks for the idea, Imp!). Whoever comes up with the best design, as judged by me, Lord Emperor of ... um, this site, I guess ... will win either any item they like, or a portrait of themselves, to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 version!

The rules are simple:

• No more than three entries per person, fitting the concept of "Road Warrior";
• Each entry to be left as a link in the comments (with a brief character bio, preferably) to this post, said link going to a graphic file (JPG or PNG usually) hosted on a public web server somewhere like ImageShack or Facebook or the UGO Forums, what have you;
• All entries due no later than next Monday, at which time I'll pick a winner.

The standard concept here is a gritty, gun-toting warrior type with mismatched armor pieces consisting of current-world castoffs like half shoulder pads, biker pants, etc, usually with scars or mohawks or some other kind of street-thug regalia. But don't feel like you have to limit yourself just to that, post-apocalyptic worlds can be host to some really bizarre creatures, too. Mutants from the likes of "Gamma World", if anyone remembers that RPG, or the kinds of guys you see in the various Fallout games, or escaped robots scrambling for survival like everyone else, there are lots of possibilities. So don't be afraid to be creative and let yourself imagine the kinds of beings (natural or otherwise) that would survive in such a world.

Good luck everyone!