Category Archives: Challenges

Our great guest judge Amber Love of "Amber's Fashion Tips for Superheroes" has chosen a winner for Caption Contest 53! The person who will get to choose either a custom black and white illustration of whatever they like (within reason) OR an outfit/object to be included in HeroMachine 3 is ... Steve! Again. Who I already owe TWO illustrations to.

Amber's other placements were:

• James, 2nd Place - 1. This alternate universe where Obama won really sucks…oh wait…thats right…he DID win…shit..
• Collex, 3rd Place - 4. Next time, I’m using the red kryptonite. The blue one really sucks.
• Ian, 4th Place - 1. “I shouldn’t have had that second bean and spinach burrito.”
• Halloween Jack, 5th Place - 10. Well, I suppose this passes the time til Heromachine 3 is finished.

And her Honorable Mentions:

• Danny Beaty, 8. Why is Amber Love’s lipstick on my husband’s shirt collar?
• Cory, 1. I cant wait to see Amber’s new fashion tips…
• Collex, 5. Hmmm. I wonder if he would be more excited if I had a cool Starfire costume.

Congratulations to Steve and to our other "five star" entries. Keep your eye out for the next HeroMachine Caption Contest, coming soon to a blog near you!

And finally, many thanks to Amber Love for being our excellent guest judge this week. Be sure to keep track of her super-hero fashion blog for all the latest and greatest on being super sartorial.

I wanted to mark the occasion of the 52nd week (which according to my Aztec Calendar is one year) of the HeroMachine Caption Contests in some way. So I've gone through and tallied up all of the Honorable Mentions throughout the year (except for week 52), coming up with the following list of Caption Contest All-Stars, with the number of times they made the Honorable Mention list (but not as winners):

1. Frankie (11)
2. Rick (7)
3. Fishpants (6)
4. Danny Beaty (6)
5. Halloween Jack (6)
6. Runt82 (5)
7. Ian (5)
8. Doomed Pixel (5)
9. Whit (5)
10. Jester (5)
11. John d (5)
12. Loki (4)
13. Ballin' Boy (4)
14. Niall Mor (4)

Apparently I find Frankie hysterical, who knew? Seriously, to get on the list four or more times is truly remarkable, speaking not only of a great sense of humor and a lively imagination, but dedication to keep coming back time after time. Thank you all sincerely for helping to spread laughter through the blog, I really appreciate it.

Since Frankie has the most overall Honorable Mentions, he gets his choice of either the first paperback edition of "All-Star Superman", one of the best comics of the last year in my humble opinion, or a "bonus" custom color illustration by yours truly. Congratulations Frankie!

In addition, I wanted to recognize the person on the list with the most Honorable Mentions who hadn't yet gotten an outright win. And that person, with five entries, is Doomed Pixel. Since he hasn't won before, he'll also win a free custom black and white illustration by me. He's made some killer characters in HeroMachine, so I look forward to seeing what he comes up with for his illustration.

Congratulations once again to Frankie and Doomed Pixel, as well as the other distinguished folks on the All-Star List. Well done!

I am happy to announce that the Three-Peat Club has a new member: Steve!

I have to say, the whole idea of activating super-powers through a head-to-butt contact is ... unique. And funny. There were a ton of great entries this week, so forgive me for the long list of Honorable Mentions. Maybe this "no limit on the number of entries" thing is a good idea after all ... Anyway, here are the especially funny entries, well done everyone!

• Damien: “Carry me, I’m scared of the dust!” How do you get me to believe this crap?
• Runt82: Why couldn’t I have been partnered with Julianne Hough?
• Ballin' Boy: Let’s see colon… pancreas… Webster…ah here we go prostate.
• Frankie: “Quiet you. You’re extinct.”
• Frankie: “Mmmmm. Nothing like freshly squeezed dino juice.”
• Fishpants: Hang on, I have another call.
• Fishpants: NOW can we teach evolution, y’all?
• Fishpants Says: Sorry we’re late. Where does Noah want these dinosaurs and unicorns?
• Cory: OOOH, a penny!
• HalLoweEn JacK: …and now my head’s stuck in a dinosaur. Mondays *sigh*.
• HalLoweEn JacK: KITTY!
• HalLoweEn JacK: We’re almost at the hospital, but YOU’RE explaining how it got stuck in there!
• Lyogi: Next time, I’ll ask what the pregnancy craving is for, before I agree to get it.
• StrangezThingez: I feel like I’m losing my head doing this!
• The Imp: It plumps when you cook it!
• Syzyx: You’re going to the vet whether you like it or not!
• Jester: Voted most likely to get my head stuck in the back of a dinosaur… what are the odds?
• CARR10N: OMG!! I cant use that as an eye hole.
• JonnyDemon: Damn, this zit is out of control!
• Blue Blazer: For the last time, I’m NOT Little Johnny Paper!
• Danny Beaty: I’m really “dragon ass” today.

Special bonus credit (not currently redeemable for anything) goes to Runt82 for giving me an excuse to do a Google Image search for Julianne Hough. Hubba hubba. And to Blue Blazer for the difficult-to-achieve "Peter Paul and Mary" shout-out. Well done, sir!

Steve wins another black and white custom illustration of whatever he likes (within reason) to go with the one he's already got and the one I still owe him. That's three times in six weeks for the Stevester, which is darned impressive.

Thanks again to everyone who entered, and I hope you had as much fun reading all the entries as I did!

Congratulations (and a custom black and white illustration of whatever he likes) go to this week's Caption Contest winner, Danny Beaty!

The overall number of entries this week was down a bit, but the quality was actually higher, so many thanks to everyone who entered. I particularly wanted to call out the following Honorable Mentions for Meritorious Service in the Interest of Humour:

1. Blue Blazer: Does that happen EVERY time you sneeze?
2. Danny Beaty: Yep, I’m definitely having his baby!
3. Asmodeus: Bling senses….. tingling!
4. Loki: Now THAT’S a super power!
5. Bael: If those are the jewels, then what did I just stuff down my pants?
6. Jester: What does he mean, “How do they look?” He does know I’m blind, right?
7. Xstacy: If only he knew how many men at this family reunion have already thrust the jewels in my face.

Blue Blazer was actually my initial choice, but when I tried to put it in the panel I realized that in her thoughts she wouldn't be speaking directly to him, she'd think "Does that happen EVERY time he sneezes?", so I felt Danny's fit better with the scene as drawn. Similarly, xStacy was close, but "the jewels" instead of "their jewels" let Danny nudge ahead.

Regardless, Danny's was (IMHO) the funniest entry, but all of the Honorable Mentions were excellent -- a hearty congratulations to them all!