Category Archives: Challenges

I've selected what I think are the funniest replacement dialog entries for Caption Contest 76, and now the rest is up to you! Vote for as many as you like, click on the image to see the panel in a larger size, and whoever gets the most votes overall, wins. Good luck everyone!

We're going to try something a little different this week, and instead of having a very general theme for the character design contest, we're going to get very specific.

For this contest, imagine that you are the chief illustrator for a comic book company, and the creative director has come to you with a new character they want to launch by the name of "Cavalier". Here's the background information you are given:

Cavalier hails from another dimension, whose denizens have achieved a kind of material utopia. Energy, food, and shelter are free and abundant. Death by disease is a thing of the past thanks to advanced medical tech. With freedom from want has come freedom from war, violence, and aggression, as everyone lives in harmony with their fellow humans.

Naturally, some people find this state of affairs to be unutterably boring.

One of those disaffected people is an inventor (very much a rarity!) who has developed a machine that opens very small portals into another world. Our world, to be exact. Unfortunately, the location of the portal in the new dimension is immobile, and by happenstance is directly above the "Action Movie" rack at the local Blockbuster store, and after figuring out how to play the primitive discs these films become the biggest cultural hit in generations to sweep the world.

Ultimately they decide that one of their citizens should be able to travel to this exciting new world full of adventure, explosions, rippling muscles, and scantily clad women, where good always wins and evil always dies to the accompanying soundtrack of a hail of bullets and a witty one-liner.

A global contest is held, and the winner is properly outfitted with a costume, weapons, and (most importantly) an auto-record brain implant so he can send back his adventures to a breathless population in his home dimension.

Your job, Chief Illustrator, is to design the look of this new character. The editorial board has decided they want the book and character to be called "Cavalier", but what does the costume look like, what weapons will be wielded, will the comic take on a dark or humorous turn? All of these decisions rest on your shoulders. So get out there and be creative!

The usual contest rules apply: Post your entry in the comments, with a link to an image hosted on a publicly accessible web site, by next Monday when I will choose a winner. The winner will receive the choice of either any item, or a caricature of themselves, to appear in the final HeroMachine 3 product. No limit on entries, just make 'em good.

Come up with the best replacement dialog for this classic "Uncanny X-Men" panel and you'll win your choice of either your own portrait, or any item you choose, to be included in HeroMachine 3's final release!

We're going to open it up this week, removing the entry limit -- as many good lines as you can come up with, throw 'em out there. Just leave yours in the comments to this post before next Monday and you're good to go.

Good luck everyone!