Category Archives: Challenges

I am happy to announce that the winner of Caption Contest 41 is ... John D!

Congratulations to John, who wins a custom black and white illustration of whatever he likes (within reason). I had to truncate the lyrics a bit to fit the balloon, but I loved the idea of Thanos appearing in a musical. Maybe if he did that more often he wouldn't be so grumpy and bent on universal destruction, you know?

The other Honorable Mentions this week were:

• Kaldath: Five … Five Dollar Foot Longs!!
• jude: “Spirit fingers!!!!!”
• epochfox: join the dark side…. we have cookies and these lovely costumes
• Bael: “Well aren’t you just the cutest little homicidal xenomorph in the whole wide universe! Yes you are! Yes you are! Yes you are!”
• Ballin' Boy: You’re an angry elf!
• Rick: Ribbed… for your pleasure.

I apparently love commercial references, obscure movie quotes, cookies, baby talk, and lewd allusions. Me in a nutshell, pretty much!

Thanks to everyone who entered, and keep an eye out in a bit for Caption Contest 42 and YOUR chance to win a professional illustration!

The winner of the hotly contested and very difficult to judge Caption Contest 40 and a custom black and white illustration by yours truly of whatever he or she likes is ... Fishpants!

After a lot of mental wrangling I chose this one because a) just what the hell IS he a doctor of, anyway?, b) thinking it's in podiatry made me laugh, and c) the casual tone of the reply fit with the way the figure is standing and the gentle tapering of its fingers. Its fingers of DOOM!!

Ahem.

The other notable Honorable Mentions as I saw them were:

• Ed: FOOL! HOW DARE YOU DEFY — oh, yeah, I can hold….
• Jester: Hello, Mr. Yakatori? My name is Victor von Doom, and I’d like to talk to you about joining my new world order…
• Loki: No I don’t want to vote for him! leave me alone!
• Dave: 1) NO! Doom does NOT want to switch his long distance! 2) Doom WILL have two large pies with extra cheese! 3) Doom demands your supervisor! Doom did not spend $700 on text messaging!
• Frankie: “What do you mean he can’t come to the phone right now? Do you have any idea what I’M doing right now?”
• Meg: Alright, I’ve opened Control Panel, what do I do if it’s still flashing?
• Zincspider: Stop calling Tony… Yes, your movie was better, I don’t care… are you drinking again?
• Timespike: Hello and welcome to the supervillain hotline. This call may be recorded for quality purposes. For account information, press 1. If your doomsday device is malfunctioning, press 2. If the heroes are knocking on your door, press 3. If your costume is out of date, press 4. If you need to rent more minions, press 5. If you need to punish the fools, press 6. If you need help deciphering ancient tomes, press 7. If your second in command is in league with the heroes, press 8. If your army of mind-controlled giant robot ant-sharks with laser beams on their antennae has stopped working, press 9. For all other calls, press 0, and a representative will be with shortly. Your call is important to us.

I think Dave best nailed the way Doom would actually talk on the phone. I liked Meg's line because it made me imagine myself getting Doom on the phone back when I worked tech support for Dell and ... ouch. But they were all good in their way, and I thank everyone who submitted an entry. Nice job everyone!

Check back in the next little while for Caption Contest 41 and your chance to win your own custom black and white illustration of whatever you like (within reason)!

With many thanks to our honored Guest Judge Jeff Rients (whose blog you really should make a regular read if you like gaming, creativity, or coolness), the winner of Caption Contest 39 is ... Skulan!

Jeff wanted to be sure to mention the following entries as also being "laugh-out-loud funny":

• Skulan: "Damn. I should have picked surrender"
• Settembrini: I should quit while I´m still ahead"
• Whit: "Just call me Shishka Bob."

I see Jeff shares my love of good puns which, contrary to popular opinion, is not an oxymoron. It was great working with him; I've admired his blog for a long time and clearly he can bring it on caption contests too. Thanks again, Jeff!

There were a record number of entries for this one, and almost all of them were of a very high quality, so Skulan's win is most impressive. He'll get a free custom black and white illustration from yours truly of whatever he likes (within reason). If you didn't win, don't fret, Caption Contest 40 is going on right now, so put on the Funny Hat (not the one you got arrested in, the other one) and head on over for your chance at your own custom drawing!

The winner of Caption Contest 38 is our first three-time winner ... xStacy!

This week was really tough to judge, I have to say. For the first time I generated two versions of the panel to help me decide, the other super-close runner-up was Gregg's:

Ultimately I felt like xStacy's made a little more sense in the panel, and its multiple possible meanings also intrigued me more. Plus, the final arbiter in these is always "Do I laugh even after having read it multiple times?" and xStacy's definitely qualified. So, congratulations to her, she'll win another custom black and white illustration from yours truly. She's probably sick of them by now!

The other honorable mentions (all very good) were:

• Gregg: Avengers pull my finger!
• HalLoweEn JacK: Ok team, 3…2…1… GRIMACE!
• Frankie: “We’re gonna party like it’s 1985.”
• Fishpants: How do the assless pants look from back there, Steve?
• marx: OK! OK! Your telekinetic atomic wedgie counts as a super power!
• Cory: Run! Its the one-eyed, one-horned, flying, purple, rip-off eater!

I really loved Fishpants' "How do the assless pants look from back there, Steve?", which makes me laugh every time I read it, especially looking at that horrible grimace on "Steve"s face. But, it ultimately was just too long to fit nicely in the balloon. HalLoweEn JacK's was also very funny given the expressions on the other people in the panel. Frankie's reference to the dated headband, hair, and outfits was great, marx's comment really fit the whole look of what is going on in the scene, and Cory's was the cleverest, I think. Great entries all the way around, thanks everyone!