Character Design Challenge #342 – Board Are We?

Snakes and Ladders.

Well since we have given chess a try, perhaps it is time to up our game…so to speak.

Your challenge this week is to design a boardgame. Your entry should include the board itself. the game logo, and at least one of the game pieces.

Rules for posts, contests, and challenges: Original characters only, no copyrighted characters, no characters based on copyrighted characters, no characters based on RPG’s or other games. The characters must be your own design and not based on any character that might be copyrighted in any way. Please keep all submissions PG13: full or partial nudity is prohibited. I have the right to delete any post that I believe crosses this line without warning. Only post characters that have been created solely using Hero Machine, and that you know for certain have never been entered in a contest before. If you aren’t certain, don’t enter it, because I’m not going to go back through all of the contests and check.

All entries must be in JPG or PNG form (BMPs are too big), posted to a publicly accessible website (like the HeroMachine :,ImageShackDeviantArt, or whatever - Please do not use Photobucket);

  • Entries must be made as a comment or comments to this post, containing a link directly to the image and the character name;
  • Please name your filesas [your name]-[character name].[file extension] before you upload it. So DiCicatriz, for instance, would save his “Bayou Belle” character image as DiCicatriz-BayouBelle.png.

Please make the link go directly to the image (like this) and not to a hosting jump page (like this). *

This contest will close on Sunday, October 22nd at 9:00am Eastern.

 

 

Character Design Challenge #341 – Checkmate! – Results

Great entries this week, but there us one entry that stood wig and shoulder pads above the rest.

The win this week goes out to Cliff for his glorious  White Drag Queen

Well done all! And to quote RuPaul Cliff..."You betta werk"

What Were They Thinking?: Going At It A-Clone

When comics started out, and pretty much throughout the entire golden and silver ages of comics, each individual issue of a comic would contain self-contained stories. These storylines would always begin and conclude within the same issue, mostly because of the audience's reading habits of the time. Comics were seen as disposable, and would often be either thrown out after reading or traded between friends. You didn't need to keep hold of previous issues to understand what was happening in the latest. However, that changed in the mid 60's, with the publication of what would become known as the Galactus Triology. Whilst it wasn't the first comic to end an issue on a cliffhanger, by introducing the main villain on the last page of the first issue of the story, Marvel changed the way comics would be structured. Storytelling would expand, taking multiple issues to resolve desputes and leading to the rise of mini-series, graphic novels and, of course, crossovers. Now, there is a debate to be had over the merits of short-form vs. long-form storytelling in comics. a very good one as both have their merits and disadvantages, but today we are not here to do that. No, we are here because this is What Were They Thinking?, the place where we look at all of the stupidest and most ill-advised things in the history of comic books and our subject today is probably the best example of taking long-form storytelling in comics too far. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you The Clone Saga

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Fear and Film: A Horror Retrospective- 1900’s

And we’re back! Sorry for the delay, but now we’re back to talk horror again! Today we are jumping to 1909 and looking at D.W Griffith’s The Sealed Room in our second installment of Fear and Film.

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Caption Contest #104 Results

Last week I asked you guys to come up with the best possible replacement for the dialogue in this here panel:

And our Top 5 are...

William A. Peterson: Soon, this warehouse will be impregnable!

The Atomic Punk: Make breakfast for the Hulk... "It'll be fun"

Rekulhs Nathe: Behold, Mount Flapjack!

RobM: Scrooge McDuck will be so pissed

KJR1998: Hey writer, insert pancake joke here. And it better not fall flat...

It was very difficult to pick a top 5 this week, let alone find a winner, but we must have one, so I have chosen.... (dramitic pause for emphasis)....

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Character Design Challenge #341 – Checkmate!

A few years ago a contest was run in the forums where entrants designed their take on classic chess pieces. I could not remember who initiated it,but JR assures me that Hammerknight originated the contest  so kudos and thanks to you sir! Here are two of my entries for the original contest; the white and black pawn.

So your challenge this week is to design your version of a chess piece.

Rules for posts, contests, and challenges: Original characters only, no copyrighted characters, no characters based on copyrighted characters, no characters based on RPG’s or other games. The characters must be your own design and not based on any character that might be copyrighted in any way. Please keep all submissions PG13: full or partial nudity is prohibited. I have the right to delete any post that I believe crosses this line without warning. Only post characters that have been created solely using Hero Machine, and that you know for certain have never been entered in a contest before. If you aren’t certain, don’t enter it, because I’m not going to go back through all of the contests and check.

All entries must be in JPG or PNG form (BMPs are too big), posted to a publicly accessible website (like the HeroMachine :,ImageShackDeviantArt, or whatever - Please do not use Photobucket);

  • Entries must be made as a comment or comments to this post, containing a link directly to the image and the character name;
  • Please name your filesas [your name]-[character name].[file extension] before you upload it. So DiCicatriz, for instance, would save his “Bayou Belle” character image as DiCicatriz-BayouBelle.png.

Please make the link go directly to the image (like this) and not to a hosting jump page (like this). *

This contest will close on Sunday, October 15th at 9:00am Eastern

Character Design Challenge #340: Brains!! – Results!

Some great entries this week!

The win this week goes to PurpleTax.

It actually kinda looks like me, albeit a younger, thinner, more ripped me.

Well done all!

What Were They Thinking?: How not to do Anti-Racism

Bit of a short WWTT today, I'm a bit tight on time. But anyway, racial tension is a big thing at the moment and has been basically since Europeans started to colonise Africa. Many comics have dealt with the subject in many different ways, some good, some bad. But then you have this response from Kitty Pryde in the 80's:

FYI, I had to censor out this page myself. Marvel actually decided it was alright to use the N word in a comic. Hard R and all. Hand-claps for Marvel guys. Now, they make a decent enough point by saying that even if you don't intend to be racist you still can be, and that you shouldn't hold yourself to a double standard, getting offended by racism when you are acting racist yourself, but look at what they're actually saying here. You've got a made up insult against a made up section of society (in this case "mutie" for mutants) put on the same level as a word that has very rightfully been completely removed from polite conversation because of how racist it is. X-Men is a great platform to fight against prejudice (which is why I think it's so strange that the movies are made by the same company that makes Fox News), but come on guys, really? You chose to equate actual racism with prejudice that only exists in your fictional world. And you used a Jewish character to do it as well, that's the amazing thing. You could have made the point actually mean something, because both racism and anti-Semitism were and still are disturbingly prevelant. Those are two things that are equatable. But racism against anti-mutantism? And, let's not forget, you actually published a full on racial slur in a comic. It doesn't really even matter what the context is for the story, that's the sort of stupid thing that shouldn't even get past the planning stage without a firing taking place.

Idiots.

Caption Contest #104

Ok guys, time for another caption contest, where you have to come with the funniest replacement dialogue for a random comic panel of my choosing. This week you have to come up with the best replacement dialogue you possibly can for this panel:

Everyone can have a maximum of 3 entries, entries must be in by next Wednesday (Oct 11th) and All Entries Must Be PG-13.

Fear and Film: A Horror Retrospective- 1890’s

Hey, everybody! Happy October! Since its Halloween month I wanted to do something special. And so I’d like to introduce: Fear and Film, where we look at one horror movie per decade from the past one hundred and twenty or so years until now. I’m really excited to go on this trip through time and look at these films and how they change and evolve as we progress. So let’s start back at the beginning by looking at Georges MélièsLe Manoir du Diable (The Haunted Castle), released in 1896.

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