Great moments in lame taunts

(From "Blue Bolt" number 2, 1940.)

META: Open Thread

Today's shaping up to be pretty busy on the Main Job, so I wanted to open this up for you all to talk about whatever you like.

Have you seen the new Avengers and Spider-Man movie trailers? They look pretty awesome!

But hey, whatever you all want to discuss, go for it.

Insert your own fart joke here

(From "Blue Bolt" number 2, 1940.)

The baddest Big Brother yet

Courtesy of "Gone and Forgotten", I've learned that Luke Cage might have the worst-dressed Rogues' Gallery of all time. Take "Big Brother" for instance:

You have to wonder what kind of nefarious criminal enterprise requires sucking all the nipple-power out of both man boobs, channeling it back into the body via an invasive metal tube, and re-outputting through a single massive chest-eye-meganipple orifice. I do know this, however -- I don't want to be there when whatever it is comes shooting out of that thing.

Apparently recapturing his own body's effluvium is what Big Brother is all about (no wonder he's watching you, he wants to know if you're watching him!), as he's also got that nifty Mark V FlatusVac strapped to his abdomen. Again, you do not want to be present at the moment of discharge.

I'm guessing that the FlatusVac doesn't come with a noise dampener, though, requiring the use of huge 1970s headphones. So massive are his discharges that said headgear has to be strapped down with a metal bar to prevent it from flying off his head upon release. Now that's announcing your presence with authority, folks.

I'll overlook the purple and green color scheme, as his eyes are probably watering so badly he can't see straight. But his buddy the Cheshire Cat has no such excuse. It's like he took a look through Prison Fashion Weekly Magazine and thought he could really dress up the black bar look by throwing in some cat-puke orange and a red beret.

I haven't read a lot of Luke Cage comics, but I'm going to guess that most of his super villain troubles are direct karmic blowback for that popped yellow collar and bare-pecs look he's sporting. Can't we all just dress well and get along?!

Using three balls is cheating, Jim

(From "Adventures for Boys", 1954.)

Lobo vs Thor

All right, cross-continuity comics fans, I have a doozy for you this week:

[polldaddy poll="5919135"]

That's right, it's the Ultimate Bastich himself, the motorcycle-riding tough guy Lobo against the God of Thunder himself.

Make your case as to who wins and why!

Evil Billy Big Head's Big Adventure

(From "Adventures for Boys", 1954.)

Character Contest 82: Pride

Next up in our Seven Deadly Sins series of character design contests is Pride!

Your design challenge for this week is to create a character or characters based on something related to the second of the Deadly Sins, "pride". Your character could be named Pride; or you could build a were-lion, a starship named "The Pride of Earth", a mighty warrior who's the pride of her village, or anything else you could think of related to the pride going before the fall.

But really, it's up to you. Just make a great illustration based on the concept of "pride".

The rules are the same as usual:

  • All entries must be in JPG or PNG form (BMPs are too big), posted to a publicly accessible website (like ImageShack, PhotoBucket, the UGO Forums, whatever);
  • Entries must be made as a comment or comments to this post, containing a link directly to the image and the character name;
  • The image cannot have been used in any previous HeroMachine character design contest;
  • Please name your files as [your name]-[character name].[file extension]. So DiCicatriz, for instance, would save his "Bayou Belle" character image as DiCicatriz-BayouBelle.png.
  • Please make the link go directly to the image (like this) and not to a hosting jump page (like this). If you see "preview" or "rotate" somewhere in the link you're probably doing it wrong.
  • All entries must be in by next Monday, when I'll choose a winner.

The person with the winning entry as selected by our expert panel (i.e. me) will win their choice of a) a portrait to go in HeroMachine 3, b) an item to go in HeroMachine 3, or c) a custom black and white "Sketch of the Day" style drawing (also by me).

No limit again this week, knock yourselves out.

Good luck, everyone!

Caption Contest 116 Winners!

Many thanks to everyone who entered Caption Contest 16! I rounded up what I thought were the funniest submissions for this "Archie" comics panel:

And here they are!

  • Albannach: Hold that pose, I’ll get the camera!
  • Kaito94: “And I thought your mother was bad with electronics….”
  • Jason22274: Hmmm, looks like Veronica assigned him more “homework.”
  • Hammerknight: ”Good thing we bolted the TV to the wall.”
  • Vampyrist: Archie, Don’t go into the light
  • Dr. Shrinker: I told that boy a re-match was a bad idea.
  • Syntax: That’s an…Interesting safeword.
  • Myro: “I should remind myself not to throw out that lamp.”
  • Myro: “Archie, when I told you to turn that lamp on, I didn’t mean sexually.”
  • E350: Now, son, when I said you needed to ‘lighten up…’

It's tough to pick out just one, but that's why they pay me the big bucks. Oh, wait, I don't get paid any bucks any more ... oh well, the job still needs to be done. So therefore our winner is ... Myro!

Congratulations to Myro, and thanks again to everyone who brought the funny this week.

Is that an offer or a threat?

(From "Adventures for Boys", 1955.)