Contest 51 Winner

Congratulations (and a custom black and white illustration of whatever he likes) go to this week's Caption Contest winner, Danny Beaty!

contest51-winner

The overall number of entries this week was down a bit, but the quality was actually higher, so many thanks to everyone who entered. I particularly wanted to call out the following Honorable Mentions for Meritorious Service in the Interest of Humour:

  1. Blue Blazer: Does that happen EVERY time you sneeze?
  2. Danny Beaty: Yep, I’m definitely having his baby!
  3. Asmodeus: Bling senses….. tingling!
  4. Loki: Now THAT’S a super power!
  5. Bael: If those are the jewels, then what did I just stuff down my pants?
  6. Jester: What does he mean, “How do they look?” He does know I’m blind, right?
  7. Xstacy: If only he knew how many men at this family reunion have already thrust the jewels in my face.

Blue Blazer was actually my initial choice, but when I tried to put it in the panel I realized that in her thoughts she wouldn't be speaking directly to him, she'd think "Does that happen EVERY time he sneezes?", so I felt Danny's fit better with the scene as drawn. Similarly, xStacy was close, but "the jewels" instead of "their jewels" let Danny nudge ahead.

Regardless, Danny's was (IMHO) the funniest entry, but all of the Honorable Mentions were excellent -- a hearty congratulations to them all!

Random Panel: Memo to the retcon department …

jackstaff-1-frozeninice

META: FAQ updated

I've updated the HeroMachine FAQ page with HeroMachine 3-related material. Holler if you think of any I left out.

HM3: Flying legs

Or are they walking legs? Either way, here's a quick screen grab of the legs I just added to the "BodyMaleStandard" set:

flying

HM3: Here's the point

I spent the weekend ironing out a persistent and irritating bug that was preventing me from making item set selection easier. To reward myself for my virtuous persistence, today I am drawing. Specifically, I am following up on Kaldath's suggestion that I draw as many arm positions as possible in the "Body" sets to increase the flexibility of the character's position. To wit:

pointing

The body in the image is made up of seven different items -- torso, left & right upper arms, left & right forearms, and left & right legs. They've been layered, sized, and moved to create the given effect, along with one of the new RightHand items.

As you can see there are a few gaps in the lineart -- the figure's left elbow doesn't quite match up, and the left wrist is a bit choppy, but I don't think that's avoidable given how freely all these items can rotate and the need to account for one being layered on top of another. Luckily the "outline" feature hides a myriad of these sorts of sins.

Next I think I'll be working on more and alternate leg positions as well.

The drawback to all of this, of course, is that not all of the gloves are going to fit on that foreshortened forearm. And if I draw legs in the classic "flying guy" sort of pose (as I plan to), not all the pants or boots will fit either. But given that you can color the various body segments individually, it ought to be possible to make a pretty convincing body suit in any of these configurations regardless.

For further Watch reading

With a tip-o-the-hat to (of all things) Radley Balko's libertarian "The Agitator", here's a great list of other comic series you might like if you enjoyed "Watchmen".

Poll Position: The Golden Age of super-hero films

You can make a pretty good case that the 2000's have been the Golden Age of the super-hero film, culminating with the most recent trio of "Dark Knight", "Iron Man", and now "Watchmen" (which, even if you hate it, is still a top-tier Hollywood production). Super-hero movies have finally caught up to super-hero comics, becoming focused on adult characters in adult situations (in the "grown up" sense of the word, not the "Hi I'm the pizza delivery guy and WOW are you naked!" sense), dealing with serious real-world issues. While being dressed in spandex.

Which brings us to this week's Poll Position:

{democracy:73}

Discussion after the jump.

Continue reading

Random Panel: I'm sure there's a joke about the bailout here somewhere

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(From "X-Men" #317, ©Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc.)

Random Panel: High school flashbacks, vol. 10

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Random Panel: Humiliation about sums it up, all right

aquaman