Random Panel: Must’ve been a bullet-train

bulletman-train

Poll Position: A new beginning

"Retconning" is a popular past-time in modern comics, wherein something about an established character's history is changed on purpose for some reason or another. In extreme cases, retcons can turn into full-fledged reboots, as John Byrne famously did in the Eighties with "Superman".

Which is what brings us all here today.

{democracy:114}

Discussion after the jump.

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Random Panel: On reasons, excellent

bulletman-sissy

Caption Contest 51 Prize: Black Ant

After many many months, I have finally finished Danny Beaty's prize for winning Caption Contest 51, a custom black and white illustration of his character "Black Ant":

Here's the original HeroMachine version, just for a point of reference:

new-the-black-ant

As you can see, I changed up his armor and blasters quite a bit, and his helmet a lot, so we could get exactly what he was supposed to look like.

I also want to thank Danny publicly for being so patient while work on HM3 delayed the completion of his prize. Thanks Danny!

I am going to try my best to finish all of the outstanding contest prizes before New Year's. I doubt I can actually do it, but I'm going to try, darn it!

Random Panel: Great moments in bullet-romance

bulletman-chloroform

(From the "Bulletman" mini-comic, 1940-something.)

Random Panel: Unsavory moments in Fantastic Four history …

agc-8-1943-ff

(From "America's Greatest Comics" number 8, 1943. Even back then, they knew something was amiss in the Storm family.)

Goofing off time!

Hammerknight was kind enough to put together a nifty crossword puzzle to help you pass the time this holiday when family time crosses over from warm and endearing to homicide-inducing and you need to just get away for a few minutes. Print it for handy use later while pretending to gaze admiringly at the "Twisted Sister" sweat shirt your grandmother just gave you because she's so hip!

Here's your answer key, in unreadable small size so we don't spoil the challenge (click it for the viewable size):

who-am-i-marvel-key

Merry Christmas to all of you celebrating it today! And special holiday thanks to Hammerknight for taking the time to put this together for our collective amusement.

Random Panel: Batman always gives SOCKs for Christmas …

batman_christmas

(And a very Merry Christmas to all my Christmas-celebrating readers!)

Bringing it to a head

Many thanks to Hammerknight for another excellent recipe for building your own custom helmets in HeroMachine 3. Great work as always, HK! Click on an image to see it in a larger, more legible size.

Random Panel: Great moments in unfortunate names

agc-5-1942-squatso

(From "America's Greatest Comics" number 5, 1942.)