HeroMachine Character Portrait Creator

Pop Quiz: Mascots

Posted on November 10, 2012 by AFDStudios | Comments Off

Saturdays in the US during the fall and winter tend to center around college football, along with each team's ridiculous mascot. So your one-day challenge this week is:

Make a college sports mascot in HeroMachine 3!

It can be for a real school or for one you make up (Hogwarts, anyone?!).

You only get one entry -- that's right, just one! So make it your best. Most of the other rules are the same as for a regular challenge, but instead of a whole week I'll announce my favorites some time tomorrow. Here's how to make an entry:

(Click to embiggen.)

I'll pick one entry as my personal favorite, which will get to be featured in the side bar to the right for ultimate glory! As a bonus you're allowed to say you won the Internet for a few days.

Good luck!

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Posted in Challenges, Pop Quiz

Great moments in bad character names

Posted on November 10, 2012 by AFDStudios | Comments Off

(From "Spotlight Comics" number 1, 1944.)

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Posted in Daily Random Panel

30 Characters Challenge #9: Coquemancer

Posted on November 9, 2012 by AFDStudios | Comments Off

Elena the Coquemancer creates her magics through cooking. When you hear she has a bewitching dessert to serve you, she's not kidding!

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Posted in 30 Characters Challenge, Sketch of the Day

You're missing the real opportunity here, Archie

Posted on November 9, 2012 by AFDStudios | Comments Off

(via "The Vault of Buncheness".)

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Posted in Daily Random Panel

Enter the Multitude / Death of Krypton

Posted on November 9, 2012 by mcknight57 | Comments Off

Enter the Multitude / Death of Krypton

By: Andrew Hines

There's not much DC hasn't done in it's nearly 75-year history, except maybe for what you'll see in this issue. With two parts of equal importance in this issue, with the first being these Weeping Angel-like beings, collectively called the Multitude. The second is a cameo by a renowned astronomer and astrophysicist. We may not all be fans of the Last Son of Krypton, but there's been no denying that the new direction has been...interesting. Not inherently good or bad, but definitely different. This is one of the few New 52 titles I've been interested in from square one.

Grant Morrison may not have been at his best in the last year but this is a nice turn around on that. The dialogue is good and the pacing is better than it has been for several issues. The same can be said of Superman as a character. Morrison has been going out of his way to explain exactly what's going on with the abrupt power shift that occurred between issues 7, 8 and 10. Now that he seems to finally be beyond that, he actually written a good story that stands on its own.

The pencils by Rags Morales are pretty damned good. I'm not always a fan, but these pages have made me one. Then there's Mark Probst's inks, which are pretty good. This page at right (sorry for the Maxim label at the top) should be a great example of that and Brad Anderson's colors. Really, this is the best example of the artwork in this issue. It all comes together quite well. Those colors are astounding, to say the least. Given that the main story takes place on Mars, I'm pretty sure that the reds in the background are fitting.

Sholly Fisch is the writer for the backup story in this issue. The story is actually really cool and gives us a look at the hero's perspective on his home(s). The dialogue and exposition are good, as is the sciencey stuff in here. It's an awesome backup story and maybe should have been it's own issue.

The pencils from Chris Sprouse and inks from Karl Story are good. It seems like a mix of the old Superman cartoons from the 90s and an astronomy-themed episode of Bill Nye. The colors from Jordie Bellaire are pretty good too. They are part of what helps give it the cartoon feel, that I love.

The issue is actually great, both parts of it. I give it an "A". There's something awesome in both parts of the issue. There's great art and good writing. What else do you need?

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Posted in Cool Characters, Fantasy & Sci-fi, Super-Hero Stuff

Attack of the Dead Presidents

Posted on November 8, 2012 by mcknight57 | Comments Off

Attack of the Dead Presidents

By: Andrew Hines

Who doesn't love Deadpool? I mean, aside from Wolverine, Thor, the X-Men and basically anyone who's ever met him? This is a pretty cool dude we're dealing with here. And no, I'm not just saying that because he's got a gun to my head. (Help me. He's got a gun to my head!) The baddest Merc With a Mouth just got a restart to his own series. Basically, he's about to be more popular than ever and there's not much we can do about it. From the looks of the cover, there may not even be much monsterzilla can do about it. (We can't say the "G" word for legal reasons...probably). Is it just me, or does this version look more like Reptar from Rugrats?

The writing by comedians Brian Posehn and Gerry Duggan is hilarious and very fitting for Mr. Wilson aka Deadpool. The pacing is good and we'll surely see a few familiar faces from the (American) history books in this series, starting with this issue. It's a good start to a really cool and funny story arc that could last a while. Then there's the team-ups which according to those he's teaming with aren't team-ups at all. The dialogue is fantastic and i know I throw that word around, but it's really just witty, stupid, childish fun. At the end of the day, that's what Deadpool is. He's a kid with a bunch of weapons a smart mouth and a bad case of road rash.

Here's some off the awesome (cartoony) artwork from Tony Moore. Yes, I said "artwork", as in pencils and inks. Pretty cool, if you ask me, which I guess you did since you're reading this. Anywho, the colors from Val Staples (who is apparently a dude, sort of like Val Kilmer was in Top Gun) are just epic. They make everything pop, even Mr. Polio, or is that Former presider Polio? (He died in the 40s. It's not too soon.) Also, sorry for lack of word balloons on the page. It was all I could find at short notice. The art works for a Deadpool story, I think. As does the ghostly FDR in the photo. That's President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to our non-US friends. It's an uncultured thing, you wouldn't want to understand.

This gets an "A" grade from me. I love the humor and teen the cartoony artwork. Given what we see in these pages, I think we'll be in for a treat in the months to come. That's if our comedy writers keep the same pace and quality of laughs. Please, go out and buy this before Wade runs you through with a katana, or Bea Arthur as he calls her.

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Posted in Cool Characters, Super-Hero Stuff

Trial By Fire

Posted on November 8, 2012 by mcknight57 | Comments Off

Trial By Fire

By: Andrew Hines

The Rise of the Third Army marches on in issue 14 of Green Lantern, still written by Geoff Johns. Here we see a few interesting moments dealing with the team dynamic, Baz's preconceived notions of the Justice League (close to those of the other human Corps members) and his demeanor in general. In GL #0 and #13, we saw what Baz had gone through to get to this point and now we see what the Justice League will do to get Hal Jordan back and even a little of what they think of Gardner. You'll be surprised by this issue.

Geoff Johns has given me reason to like Baz. Like most readers being introduced to a new member of a team they've come to love, I was hesitant to say the least. The writing on this one, both in regard to Baz and the League and even the spots with the Guardians is pretty good. I thoroughly enjoyed it. He reacted pretty much the way any normal person would if they were thrown headfirst into a meeting with Superman, Batman and the rest. The jumps back and forth between that group and the Guardians made the book seem, for lack of a better word "complete." It really is a great intro to Baz as the newest GL of Earth.

I haven't always been the biggest fan of Doug Mahnke's pencils, but here I can finally say he did his job well. From start to finish, I think the illustrations are great. That's mostly because they're entirely consistent. The inking team (still have no clue why it's a team effort) of Christian Alamy, Mark Irwin, Keith Champagne and Tom Nguyen are good as well. Then there's the colors from Alex Sinclair and Tony Avina which are wonderful. All the little glowing parts are especially awesome and there's more than a few of those parts in a GL book. The page at right is probably the best rendered of Baz in the entire issue. The art in general is amazing here. The look of Wonder Woman on the cover could be better but then you've got images in the interior like the one at right. The "holy crap" look by itself is just priceless and leads me to believe that me may have just hit a deer (if you know what I mean).

Yeah, this is a great issue and I enjoyed it far more than I ever thought I would. It gets an "A" grade. Go out and buy this is you're a Green Lantern fan, or even for the anti-Guy Gardner jab.

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Posted in Cool Characters, Super-Hero Stuff

Super Pouches!

Posted on November 8, 2012 by AFDStudios | Comments Off

I missed "Bad Costume Wednesday" yesterday, my apologies. So I'll take that up today instead, with an interesting take on Superman's costume:

It's from the mid-Nineties "Hunter/Prey" mini-series. There are a few obvious tells that it's from the Nineties. Can you spot them all? I'll leave that as an exercise for you, the at-home viewer.

My favorite part is the sword, because why the heck does Superman need a sword? You think Doomsday's going to fall to a bit of computer-generated sharpened metal? Please.

I also enjoy the yellow crotch flap. Because if there's one thing a grown-ass man in spandex needs, it's something dangling between his legs that practically screams "Yank me!". I keep wondering what the Mother Box thinks he's going to put in all those pouches. I guess maybe a change of Clark Kent vintage suits and hipster black-rim glasses? Maybe some Yoo-Hoo? I'd guess flying around toting all those extra straps would get pretty tiring, and a fellow needs his chocolatey pick-me-up.

You have to admire this approach, though. If you're tired of a costume, just throw a bunch of random crap on top of it, and done! It's simple, easy, and there's so much more room for activities.

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Posted in Bad Super Costumes