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PhantomCaliber requested a Vecna-like lich Sketch of the Day for winning Caption Contest 92 and this is what I came up with:
Hope he likes it!
Comments Off on SOD: Lich!
Posted in Caption Challenges, Challenge Prizes, Challenges
I've just uploaded more new items for you to enjoy in HeroMachine 3:
From the top left, credit goes to:
Thanks guys!
Comments Off on HM3: Toothy, chesty, fluttery, and explosive
Posted in HeroMachine 3, News & Updates
With a tip-of-the-cap to Mark Engblom's "Comic Coverage" for many of the graphics and the general idea, I present to you our weekly geeky conundrum:
Discussion to follow!
Continue reading
Comments Off on Poll Position: Super Cribs
Posted in Versus
The rule on the "Daily Random Panel" is that I post only one panel with no explanation other than the title. I like the challenge of the headline interacting with the panel to make humor; it doesn't always work and like any rule can be overly restrictive, but I like it.
I'm making an exception today because, first, both panels here are necessary for maximum humor value. I find it funny because you see the curse being leveled and then immediately in the next you have the diagnosis by the doctor, who clearly has one of the least communicative patients in history. "Oh really, a curse by an evil one you say, how interesting. Nope, no clue how that could've happened!" Check the preceding panel, pal!
I dithered over whether or not to post it, though, because clearly part of the horrible curse is that the family would forevermore be forced to have Little People children, though back in the Forties they used the term of the day, "Midgets". That seemed offensive to me, because a person's physical stature shouldn't be equated to the status of their soul (here, they're little because they're greedy). And something about the term "midget" sounded an alarm bell.
So it being 2011 and all, I used The Google and came across this interesting email exchange between Roger Ebert and Daniel Woodburn, better known as Kramer's buddy on "Seinfeld". As I suspected, "Midget" is considered an offensive term by a significant chunk of the Little People population.
Which put me in an awkward position.
Should I go ahead and re-publish the panels, even though they are pretty offensive by modern standards, taking into account that in 1944 there really wasn't any other term? However, that doesn't really get around the issue that language aside, the panels are making the explicit point that being small (at least, if you've been cursed by an evil wizard) means you have a shriveled soul.
On the other hand, what makes the panels funny doesn't have anything to do with the language, it's the obliviousness of the doctor that made me laugh.
So after thinking about it for a while, obviously I decided to go ahead and re-publish it. I thought that it might be a good opportunity to highlight some of the history of the struggle of Little People, and to highlight the fact that "midget" is an offensive term (which I suspected vaguely but didn't really know).
Hopefully the good done here outweighs the harm. If any Little People are reading this and want to chime in, I'd sure love to hear from you.
(From "Heroic Comics" number 28, 1945.)
Comments Off on Well played, Dr. Obvious
Posted in Daily Random Panel
A number of new items are now available for your use in HeroMachine 3:
The eyes are courtesy of Me, Myself, and I. They feature the two "hollow eyes" at the bottom and the two eyeballs at the top, one human and one cat-eye. The idea here is that you can turn on "Multiples", add the hollow eyes, add the eyeball of your choice appropriately colored, then by masking the ball to the eye and moving it about, you can create a face that's looking in different directions. A nifty idea!
The missile launcher is courtesy of dblade, and can be found in ShoulderRight/Left-Tech. Those tech items are a bear to draw, and he did a great job on it.
The boot is from me and is for Doomed Pixel's Caption Contest 87 prize, "Biker boots". It's in FootRight-MaleStandard, eventually to be ported to the left side.
Many thanks to MMI and dblade for taking the time to draw these items! I've also got a couple from Scorpidius that I need to get into the app; hopefully those and more will be coming up in the next day or two.
As usual, you may have to clear your browser's cache for these items to show.
Comments Off on HM3: More items
Posted in HeroMachine 3, News & Updates
Your character design challenge for this week is to come up with an image with HeroMachine based on the idea of the Zodiac sign "Taurus". To help you out, here's a bit on the history of the name from Wikipedia:
In Greek mythology, Taurus was identified with Zeus, who assumed the form of a magnificent white bull in order to seduce Europa, a legendary Phoenician princess. In illustrations, only the front portion of this constellation are depicted; in Greek mythology this was sometimes explained as Taurus being partly submerged as he carried Europa out to sea. Greek mythographer Acusilaus marks the bull Taurus as the same that formed the myth of the Cretan Bull, one of The Twelve Labors of Hercules.
Obviously Taurus is ripe for minotaur images, so feel free to go for that. Or you could do something related to bulls like a Cowboy type of hero, or a big mechanized suit, or (like Watson Bradshaw did in the Aries contest) you could design a ship named Taurus bound for a rendezvous with the moon Europa.
The point is, you should use the concept of Taurus as a springboard for character creation, rather than feeling unduly bound by the restrictions it imposes. Let that imagination run wild, child!
The contest rules are the same as usual:
No limit on entries this week, so knock yourselves out. Good luck everyone!
Comments Off on Character Contest 63: Taurus
Posted in Challenges, Character Design Challenges
Caption Contest 97 was probably the toughest one yet in terms of how hard it was to come up with an appropriate caption. The addition of the pre-set dialog ups the sphincter factor by at least two. Still, a number of folks came up with some high-quality entries:
Proving I'm an idiot, I never even thought about the TV show, yet in retrospect that was obviously the way to go. Which is why, despite still not having claimed a prize for his Caption Contest 94 win (ahem!), the prize this time goes once again to ... Patrick!
Well done, Patrick! Let me know in comments or via email what you'd like as a prize for this contest and your other outstanding prize and I'll get 'em on the list.
Comments Off on Caption Contest 97 Winner!
Posted in Caption Challenges, Challenge Favorites, Challenges
(Hat tip to Comically Vintage.)
Comments Off on Finally, a simile as bad as his hot-pants
Posted in Daily Random Panel
(From "Heroic Comics" number 26, 1944.)
Comments Off on The advantages of ending DADT
Posted in Daily Random Panel
Three middle-aged nerds (including yours truly!) review all of the MCU movies in chronological order. Short, funny, and full of good vibes, check it out and let us know what you think!
Nerdmudgeon.com
