Power User Profile: Mark

This week's "Power User Profile" features long-time Friend of HeroMachine, Mark, who is responsible for a big chunk of artwork in HeroMachine 2, and a number of fantastic items already in HeroMachine 3. Mark's been a key supporter of the program almost since the beginning, and has continued to produce not only great ideas and artwork for everyone, but also ideas that have substantially improved the program as a whole.
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The Phantom Groper strikes (out) again

(From "Mr. Muscles" number 23, 1956.)

Sharing Day Toonstalgia

I need a break from Open Critique Days, though they'll return next week, but in the meantime I thought it would be fun to have another Sharing Day!

Here’s the deal:

You can ask me any question you like about whatever you like, which I will answer either completely truthfully or not at all (in which case you can ask something else). I say that because, come on, there are some things no one should have to know.

But you can only do so if you answer the following question about yourself (note that you don't have to ask me anything, if you'd rather not, but I'd still be interested in your answer):

What is your favorite cartoon from your childhood?

Here's my answer for that one:

When I was a kid, not only did we have to walk to school uphill in the snow both ways (quite the feat considering I lived in Louisiana), but we also only had three channels from which to choose, and cartoons were only on Saturday mornings. It's a miracle any of us survived to adulthood. So you didn't have a lot of options, but fortunately we did have Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Loony Tunes gang.

Even as a kid, though, I could tell that there were good Bugs Bunny cartoons and lame Bugs Bunny cartoons. Only later did I realize that one guy was largely responsible for the good ones -- Chuck Jones. His timing, direction, and art were all so striking that even an ignorant eight year old could tell how superior they were to the Bugs-by-committee that took over the franchise before I was born. All the best ones were Jones joints, from "Duck! Rabbit! Duck!" to "The Rabbit of Seville" and "Bully for Bugs" and so many more. It got to the point where I'd drag my Underoos-clad butt out of bed at the crack of dawn to catch Loony Tunes, and if it wasn't a Chuck Jones one, I'd just turn around and crawl back under the covers.

Don't get me wrong, I loved my "Herculoids" and "Space Ghost" and "Transformers" cartoons, but for me, Chuck Jones' Bugs Bunny will always be the best cartoon of my childhood.

Now it’s your turn! What was your favorite childhood cartoon? And if you have a question for me, just know that I will most definitely not be posting pictures of myself in Underoos.

Nothing! Absolutely freaking NOTHING. Sigh.

(From "Mr. Muscles" number 22, 1956.)

Size matters

Many thanks to Hammerknight for putting together the following handy guide to the physical size your character image translates to when using the Export option.

Click on any one to see at a larger size.

To Follow or Flee?

My apologies for skipping our "Return to the Cave of Time" episode last week. I plead "Coding Fog" as my excuse. Luckily, even though I was asleep at the wheel, our intrepid time traveller (and you, his controlling public) were not sitting around idle -- we decided we should send him scampering up the cliff wall after our Neolithic compatriot in an attempt to avoid the clutches of the savage cave bear:

You leap high against the cave wall, grab a handhold, dig the toe of your right foot into a tiny niche, and begin to climb. Looking over your shoulder, you see the bear lumbering toward you, grunting and snorting.

You're able to climb a few feet higher, but the wall becomes even steeper above you. Your feet are still within the bear's reach, and you can't find a higher handhold! Suddenly your wrist is seized in a tight grip, and you feel yourself rising, then being hauled onto a ledge. Only then does the grip release you. Aching and sore, you look into the smiling eyes of Iaark, then back at the claws of the bear raking the lip of the ledge, trying to reach you.

"Aug," says Iaark. He starts crawling ahead into a dark tunnel.

You wonder whether to follow him. He saved your life, so you're pretty sure you can trust him, but you don't know anything about him except that he's tremendously strong.

This is the choice page from the eBook; I'm assuming that's Iaark there at the bottom, looking up like some kind of prehistoric fountainhead. I just thought you might want a look at who we're supposed to be following:

I think the narrator did a pretty good job of summing up our options on this one. So what'll it be, intrepid explorers, do we follow our muscular but likely pre-human Mr. Muscle into the deep, dark recesses of the cave, or do we lam out on our own?

[polldaddy poll="4822925"]

Either way, avoid the showers.

(From "Mr. Muscles" number 22, 1956.)

Hippie chic rarely helps

When last we saw Angel, he was flitting about in one of the worst costumes to sport suspenders since Mork from Ork graced our national airwaves. Sadly for Warren Worthington III, his lifetime sentence of doom was not suspended, as he later was seen in this outfit:

Nothing says "Powerful Hero" like a low-cut shirt that reveals your navel while hiding your nipples.

At least his color sense is a bit less offensive, which in a different world would help absolve him for that ludicrous Eighties-vintage headband. Since this is not a different world, however, I have no choice but to mock it. Mock mock mock.

Which, oddly enough, sounds a lot like what appears to be coming from his mouth in this pose. It's bad enough they make him go out in public dressed like this, but then to draw him standing with that "I got the bad weed at Woodstock" expression and cockeyed stance, still dressed in yellow, that's just begging for more chicken jokes. To wit:

  1. He's plucky, I'll give him that.
  2. This costume is not exactly a feather in his cap.
  3. He really looks like a pecker.
  4. I'd scratch his eyes out if I saw him in public dressed that way.
  5. The Fashion Police will not be pinioning a medal on him any time soon.
  6. I bet his tailor was just winging it on this one.

I better stop now before I get arrested for Egregious Punning in a Public Forum. It's just good to know that no matter how lame my jokes are, they're still not as lame as Warren Worthington III's costumes.

(Image © Marvel Comics.)

Apparently real men wear granny-panties

(From "Mr. Muscles" number 22, 1956.)

Poll Position: Leggo’a My Logo!

Most great super-hero costumes (our stock and trade here at HeroMachine.com) rely on a distinctive chest insignia or logo. Which brings us to this week's question:

{democracy:176}

For me, a great logo must do three things:

  1. It must be instantly recognizable.
  2. It must instantly and clearly identify the character who wears it.
  3. It must look awesome.

I've put together a list of logos that I think accomplish all three of these criteria, along with a brief discussion of each.
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