
(From "Showcase" number 10, ©1958 DC Comics.)
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(From "Showcase" number 10, ©1958 DC Comics.)
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Posted in Daily Random Panel
Part of the new company-wide reboot going on at DC right now involves Firestorm. Apparently the editors decided it wasn't enough for him to be hideously dressed just once, opting instead to honor his long history of bad fashion choices by going for the rare trifecta of three bad costumes at the same time:
Like the Red/Blue Superman dichotomy, here we have Honkey Red Firestorm and Yellow Black Dude Firestorm, each with a version of the outfit that retains all the qualities we've come to love in the original design -- puffy sleeves, melting brain, puzzling Kirby stripes, and a wrestling helmet -- while adding exciting new elements like random lines and a monochromatic color scheme. My theory is that some version of the Flash is actually every single character in the DC Universe now, and that is why all their costumes look like his.
Luckily, Firestorm is two separate poorly dressed individuals who can use the fury of the atom to merge into one, even worse-looking, ultra-powerful form!
Proving once again that they are right at the cutting edge of super-hero trends, DC decided nothing sells better than zombies and so transformed Firestorm into the first atomic-powered, matter-rearranging super zombie in history. At some point this nuclear zombie ate the Thundercats, which is about the only way I can explain that logo. Furthermore, it's not really awesome enough to have just his brains on fire, so the editors have decided that all of his exposed flesh should also be in the process of melting down.
That's actually a lucky break, since if he were made of flesh and bones instead of melted nuclear goo, there's no way he'd be able to lower or rotate his arms out of that hard metallic shell's massive shoulder extensions and skin-tight sleeve holes. "I am Firestorm, and for the remainder of this fight I shall take the shape of the letter 'T'!"
You might ask why DC would re-launch a title with such an odd, flaming, nuclear zombie design, but shockingly, this is actually not the worst this character has ever looked. Much like the DC version of Marvel's "Wonder Man", this is a character steeped in sartorial infamy. It's hard to choose just one bad costume from his history to compare the latest travesty to, but I think this probably has to take the cake:
You know, when you're in trouble designing a costume, it's always worth saying to yourself "What would John Byrne do?" And then just steal his design for the iconic "Alpha Flight" relaunch. But -- and this is important -- you shouldn't just make your guy look like Sasquatch:
Unless your guy is a nuclear zombie who takes on costume elements by eating the flaming brains of other characters, in which case, go for it.
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Posted in Bad Super Costumes
(From "Big 3" number 6, 1941.)
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Posted in Daily Random Panel
With many thanks to the incredible dblade for drawing them, I am happy to announce that the following items are now live:
Hockey Mask in Headgear-Masks:
Awesome gas mask thing (both in the complete format seen here and broken up into individual pieces) in Headgear-Military:
Extended Sharp Claw Hand in HandRight-Standard:
In addition to these fantastic items, I've still got at least three other things dblade has created to add in. Be sure to drop by in comments and thank him for his volunteer work expanding and improving the program!
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Posted in HeroMachine 3, News & Updates
We've been fortunate enough to have the Summer of Supers this year, which prompted me to consider the following question:
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Posted in Versus
(From "Big 3" number 4, 1941.)
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Posted in Daily Random Panel
We're going to do something a bit different for this week's Character Design Contest. In the past I've done a few different Sketches of the Day that involved combining two different archetypes into one. For instance, there was Redneck Wizard, Ninja Cowboy, and Cyborg Pirate. I thought it would be fun to throw that same challenge at you to see what you'd come up with.
Thus, your challenge this week is to design one or more characters by combining two words from the following list:
So for example, you could do a "Cyborg Cheerleader" or an "Samurai Alien" or "Dinosaur Doctor".
Otherwise the rules are the same:
No limit on entries this week, so give it your best shot!
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Posted in Challenges, Character Design Challenges
With thanks to everyone who entered Caption Contest 101, I've gone through the submissions and picked out the ones I thought were funniest:
And the winner of either any item they like to be included in HM3 or their own Sketch of the Day style illustration is ... ajw, with his first Caption or Character Design victory!
I like that he noticed a resemblance that had completely escaped me, and I love the idea that Reagan and Gorbachev routinely engaged in telephonic cosplay. That's probably why the Soviet Union collapsed.
Congratulations to AJW and all our Finalists!
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Posted in Caption Challenges, Challenge Favorites, Challenges
(From "Big 3" number 4, 1941.)
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Posted in Daily Random Panel
I took the day off yesterday to see the "Green Lantern" movie. With the massive power of my will, I have generated the following (SPOILER ALERT!) review.
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Posted in Movies and TV