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I was really impressed with all of the entries submitted for our last Pop Quiz, which challenged you to use at least one of the new "Humanoid" companions in a cool image. Here are all of the submissions:
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Posted in Challenge Favorites
By: Andrew Hines
Here we see Dick Grayson's journey to becoming the original Boy Wonder. We see him meet Gotham's Dark Knight as they both learn that what separates the two of them and what makes them so similar. After a year of great issues, it's nice to go back and see what made him into Robin and sent him down this path. As with much of the New 52, I was interested to see how much of his past was changed. There have always been minor changes to the origin, and this one is no different. The usual staples are there, though some extra pieces show his differences with Bruce.
Kyle Higgins is still doing well with the writing. From issue 1, we saw the classic Dick, always trying to help simply because he enjoys doing so. In the last year we got some deeper insight into the kind of guy he is in and out of the costume. In this issue, helped out by Tom DeFalco, Higgins does a great job of showing us the character's, well, character. This issue just helps out that particular cause quite well. They show the transition period between when his parents died and when he took it upon himself to become Robin. That initiative speaks volumes and sets the tone for his life as Nightwing.
After Eddy Barrows stopped working on the interior art on issue 10, we saw Andres Guinaldo for 11 & 12. It's nice to see Barrows back in the game as the penciller for Nightwing. On the first 10 issues he quickly became a favorite of mine, especially since Nightwing is one of my 5 favorite characters of all time. That being said, he really doesn't miss a beat on the artwork here. His work is complemented by the inks of Eber Ferreira. On top of that, Rod Reis' colors both inside and on the cover, are fantastic. There's really nothing wrong with the art here. Now, whether or not you like the suit, is another matter entirely.
The creative team is superb here. Even with the minor tweaks to the origin and the overhaul of the suit, this still gets a solid "A." For the reasons previously mentioned, it's a great issue and one I recommend adding to your list of monthly purchases.
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Posted in Super-Hero Stuff
Happy Saturday, folks! Your one-day quick-fire challenge today is to create an awesome image using one of the new Companion-Humanoids I posted a couple of days ago:
You can use one of them, or all of them, or anything in between. You can use just a piece of it (via clever masking) or the entirety of it, so long as there's at least one of the new ones in there somewhere.
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 either tonight or tomorrow morning. Here's how to make an entry:
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
(From "Captain Courageous" number 6, 1942.)
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Posted in Daily Random Panel
Pets have a long and rich history in super-hero comics, from the massive Superman menagerie to Ace the Bat-Dog to Gropey the Spider-spider*. And in my own life, we have a plethora of critters from horses to miniature donkeys to our great dogs (including one named Monster who really needs his own comic book). So our Sharing Day topic this time out is:
Tell us your favorite true-life pet story.
Preferably it would be about your own pets (or those of someone you know personally) and not, you know, a cut and paste of "Call of the Wild". Here's mine.
We were still living in Texas on hour hundred acre place, and had driven our truck out on the back part of the property for some reason or another. We had Flash, our big male Shiloh Shepherd, with us, and we let him out so he could run a bit while we were working. We thought our four miniature donkeys, vulnerable little cuties that they are, were safe on the other side of the ranch, near the barn. So we were startled when a few minutes later we heard loud, aggressive barking and some frantic braying -- apparently the donks were very close, hiding in the trees, and big ol' Flash had tracked them down!
We started to dash off towards the sound, convinced we'd find nothing but mangled equine parts and a happily-munching dog, when suddenly the barks turned to panicked yelps and we see our ferocious guard beast pelting at breakneck speed back through the cedar trees, Jack the angry miniature donkey hard on his heels, two feet tall of towering fury. Jack chased him around the truck three times, his braying beating out the yellow-bellied yowls of panic, until we finally opened the door and let Flash into the truck, where he remained cowering and safe from the prey turned predator. We dubbed him "Honorary Pussycat" for the day and he never lived it down.
Now it's your turn! What's your favorite pet story? In return for playing along, you can (if you want, no obligation) ask me a question about whatever you like and I'll answer truthfully. Photos of the pets in question are very much encouraged.
*(NOt an actual thing, but dammit, it should be!)
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Posted in Sharing Day
(From "Captain Courageous" number 6, 1941.)
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Posted in Daily Random Panel
That sounds like a really bad Marvel super hero group from the Seventies. But it's not! What it is, is a new Companion-Humanoids set now available for HeroMachine 3. Here are the new entries:
Click the image to embiggen.
The first ten or so are redraws of items that are in the HeroMachine 2 humanoid set that I always meant to include, but forgot about. The remaining items were mostly Sketches of the Day that were easy to cut and paste into the program.
I've gotten a number of questions about why I am doing these when I said I was done adding new items for now. And the short answer is, because they were both easy and fun to do. The hard part is drawing the line art in the first place, and since that was already done for the majority of these, it was no big deal to add them in.
I'm now back in the self-imposed new-item-moratorium. I hope you enjoy these new additions!
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Posted in HeroMachine 3, News & Updates
(From "Captain Courageous" number 6, 1942.)
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Posted in Daily Random Panel
A fundamental part of costume design for super heroes is to reflect the character's origin and story. Just like in the real world, what they wear should tell you something about them. Today I'm going to take a look at one of my all-time favorite outfits, told in two parts -- Green Lantern.
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Posted in Bad Super Costumes
Three middle-aged nerds (including yours truly!) review all of the MCU movies in chronological order. Short, funny, and full of good vibes, check it out and let us know what you think!
Nerdmudgeon.com