"Watchmen" now a Saturday Morning cartoon!

With many thanks to Runt82, I can't clap loudly enough for this amazing take on "Watchmen", coming soon to the small screen from DC Animation. Click on the big "Play Movie" link to launch it, but be sure to have your drool bucket handy because it is pure awesomeness. I hope "Bubastis Bites", the super-cool replacement for "Scooby Snacks", make it to my store soon.

I do plan on taking in the actual film tomorrow as soon as I can slip away, but in the meantime this scratches the itch nicely. Hope you enjoy it!

HM3: Widescreen

I am happy to announce that I've gotten the "widescreen" or "character preview" mode working in HeroMachine 3! Here's a screen capture of a character in progress in the regular viewing mode:

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And here is the same character with "widescreen" mode activated:

widescreen

Thanks to everyone who kept reminding me about this feature, it's actually pretty neat now that I see it in action.

Random Panel: On awkward rejoinders and stereotypes

boy-comics-3-1942-monkey

(From "Boy Comics" number 3, 1942.)

HM3: I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMill

I wanted to quickly highlight the "portrait view" feature of HM3. I thought it might be handy to be able to get a closer-up view of the head and shoulders of the character, like you'd see on most RPG sheets. So here's a quickie I threw together just to illustrate what that looks like:

At another suggestion from Kaldath, I have separate arm items turned so you can see the inside of the arm instead of the outside. This is to resolve the problem where some of the new hand positions just wouldn't be anatomically possible with the arm in the default pose.

Anyway, there you have it. I'll also still work on a "fullscreen" type of mode where all the controls get removed and you just have the character filling the whole area, so you can see those bits that might be chopped off by the edge of the screen.

HM3 Journal: An early character

I only have about a third of the slots filled with any sort of items at all, and the functionality is a bit hit-or-miss with lots of bugs and undesired behaviors, but ... already this thing is pretty cool. I love the part in developing one of these applications where I've got enough features implemented and enough items ready that I can actually build something. So here he is, the very first character image generated by the early HeroMachine 3 software:

Continue reading

He's back to bother you

The future, my friends, is more horrifying than you can imagine, because not only has Disco survived, it's thrived and has its own super-hero champion:

Continue reading

Random Panel: THAT's the sound of destruction?! Wow.

forbidden-tales-1-1951-soundofdestruction

(From "Forbidden Tales" number 1, 1951.)

Caption Contest 51: The family jewels

Come up with the best replacement dialog for this blank comic book panel and you'll win a free custom black and white illustration of whatever you like (within reason)!

all-romance-2-jewels

After the skull-punching and flame-throwing of the last two weeks, I thought you might appreciate a change of pace. The rules, however, are the same as always: no more than three entries per person, left in the comments to this post, which are appropriate for a PG-13 rating. I'll announce the winner next Tuesday, so good luck everyone!

Good luck everyone!

Caption Contest 50 Winner

In a tough week filled with very strong entries, the winner of Caption Contest 50 (and his own custom black and white illustration of whatever he likes) is ... Tal!

contest50-winner

We had a lot of really good entries this week again, you guys are on fire! Or maybe that's Brigade's gun from the panel, I'm not sure. Regardless, I felt the following entries should be singled out as Honorable Mentions:

  • Skiriki: “I feel inadequate!”
  • Niall Mor: I hate commuting.
  • Frankie: “Damn! Of all the times to get earthquake in the pants.”
  • Blue Blazer: Jesus Christ! I thought this was a flashlight!
  • Dom: Ha! nobody expects the spanish inquisition!
  • Rob Rogers: Bwoom goes the dwynomite!
  • Socrates: Give me back my neck!!!!!
  • von Bek: Outta the way, I’m gonna be sat on!
  • HalLoweEn JacK: Who doesn’t have superpowers NOW?!

Look for Caption Contest 51 (can you believe it's been almost a YEAR of doing this?!) coming up soon for YOUR chance to win your very own custom black and white illustration of whatever you like (within reason)!

Random Panel: Great moments in awkward banter

green-lama-1945-familiar-fist

(From "The Green Lama", 1945.)