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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-
Recent Blog Posts
- HeroMachine 2 is back! December 12, 2023
- The Death of the CDCs February 18, 2023
- Character Design Challenge #– 540 – Home Sweet Home February 13, 2023
- CDC #539 – Alter Egos ( Hosted by Cody Merrill) February 5, 2023
- CDC #538 – Fantastic creatures..! (hosted by Scott Weyers) January 29, 2023
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The Secret Lair
Mickey, the college years
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Posted in Daily Random Panel
The Drawing Contest For People Who Can't Draw
Hi everyone. My name is Ian Thomas Healy and I drop in here from time to time to enter contests. I'm a writer of superhero fiction, and I have a new novel coming out on September 1 of this year, called THE ARCHMAGE. It's a sequel to my novel JUST CAUSE, which you may have heard of or possibly even read. Anyway, to celebrate the upcoming release, I'm hosting a character contest here on HeroMachine.
What I want is for you to make me a character from any of the Just Cause Universe stories or the novel JUST CAUSE itself. Right now, there are three ebook short stories online, and two of them (GRACEFUL BLUR and THE SCENT OF ROSE PETALS) are free, so you don't even have to spend any of your hard-earned money to enter. The third short story (THE STEEL SOLDIER'S GAMBIT) is only 0.99 USD, and the ebook version of JUST CAUSE is $2.99, so if you decide to pick characters from either of those tales, you aren't risking much money, and I promise you're getting a lot of bang for your buck. The normal HeroMachine character contest rules apply:
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Posted in Challenges, Character Design Challenges
Worf vs. Chewbacca
Our Versus this week features two prominent back-up characters from two of the starriest of science fiction franchises:
On one hand, this is about the race of Klingons vs. the race of Wookies. Both cultures revere strong warriors, but Klingons have (I think) been more overtly warlike. Wookies are stronger and bigger, but Klingons aren't exactly slouches.
On the other hand, this is about this specific Klingon and this specific Wookie. And let's be honest, Worf hasn't exactly covered himself in glory when push comes to shove. We haven't seen Chewbacca do much in combat (at least in the movies) besides fire his crossbow and yell a lot, so it's hard to say what his real track record is. Still, I tend to side with whoever is fighting Worf, since his main role appears to be "He Who Gets Crushed By The Villain Du Jour". At least Chewie's resume is relatively clear of getting his hat handed to him.
You also have to factor in the relative tech levels of their universes. I'd say on the level of the individual, the two seem roughly equivalent. So that's sort of a wash.
I'm going to go with Chewie on this one, but I'm curious as to who you'd pick and why. Sound off in the comments!
[polldaddy poll="6429804"]
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Posted in Versus
Character Design Challenge 96 Results
We had some great entries for Character Design Challenge 96, which tasked you with designing a "big bad" type of villain, something that could take on an entire team of super heroes. I want to take a moment right at the top to welcome the many new folks who chimed in for the first time this week, it's great to have you sharing your creativity with us!
And on a more unpleasant bookkeeping note, among others who submitted entries that were invalid for not being named properly were excellent ones by Alphaalpharomeo, Joel, Blaq Aries, the creator, and DC Lover. Please name your files properly next time so your great work has a chance to be considered.
I encourage you to go check out the entire submissions thread because while I'll choose my personal favorites in a moment, there are many more that are stellar that you might like better.
However, since all I have is my opinion, here are the ones that I personally enjoyed the most.
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Posted in Challenge Favorites
Pop Quiz 20 Results
Many thanks to everyone who entered Saturday's Pop Quiz, and my apologies for the extra day taken to go through them. Without yet more delay, therefore, I am happy to present everyone who tackled the challenge of putting together an image using one hand item and no other body parts!
Although I'd love to hear which ones you liked the most, my personal favorites were by Atomic Punk, djuby, Prowler Knight, Jack, NHA247, Skybandit, and Thundersong. Out of those, I'm going with the entry by djuby as my top choice to be our Featured Creator:
The colors, the figure design the font choice, and the clever use of the hand all contribute to an effective and cool image.
Congratulations to djuby and to everyone who entered!
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Posted in Challenge Favorites
The Batman Starts Back At (Earth) One
The Batman Starts Back At (Earth) One
By: Andrew Hines
We all know the story of Bruce Wayne/Batman. If you don't know the origin, then you really need to read this book. Geoff Johns scripts the Bat for the first time as a solo hero. Set in the same universe as Superman: Earth One from last year, it first reads like a re-imagining of Frank Miller's iconic Batman: Year One. This version finds the newly anointed Dark Knight taking a more vengeful path than Miller imagined 25 years ago. It also finds our beloved Alfred Pennyworth as a much more grizzled war veteran of Her Majesty's Royal Marines. Even Bruce and Gordon are somewhat different, as they are both quite embittered at this point. Even a well-known villain seems more ruthless and far more politically minded in Johns' version.
This is a perfect jumping-off point for anyone who needs a refresher course on the Caped Crusader. It covers both his parents' murder, giving a new culprit, and his first year as the Batman. We even get a look at a fresh-faced and fully sober Detective Harvey Bullock. Not yet the fat and cynical Bullock that many of us grew up with in the Batman animated series, he is much more optimistic and full of untapped potential. Oswald Cobblepot happens to be the mayor of Gotham City and we see Barbara Gordon before she dons her own cape and cowl as the original Batgirl. Aside form the faces we see, there are many differences between Earth One and the dwellers of Gotham we've come to know and love. It begins at a brisk pace and ends with a bang.
I know the last two have been written by Geoff Johns, but that's only because they were the best example I could give form the past week. This, however is the best example of a graphic novel I can give for the whole year. The pacing begins briskly, but it maintains a steady stride the whole way through. He writes established characters with a wonderful ease and introduces delightful new elements into their being. It's easy to forget that the traits weren't there all along because it fits Frank Quietly Gary Frank's pencils so well.
There's another man who has done well on this, Mr. Frank Quietly Gary Frank. Better known for his work with Grant Morrison on various Superman graphic novels, he lives up to expectations here, at times surpassing them. Jonathan Sibal's inks and Brad Anderson's colors fit the noir landscape of Gotham like a black velvet glove.
I honestly cannot find anything I would add or subtract from this book. It's full of the grit that Gotham is know for and with plenty of color in the right places. Full of realism and functionality, I have to give it an A. No other grade will do it justice, which what the Goddamn Batman (...I had to...) is all about.
Editor's Note: Thanks to Marquis Samedi for reminding me that I screwed up. It has been edited to show what happened. My bad, I'll do better in the future.
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Posted in Super-Hero Stuff