Monthly Archives: October 2012

Pop Quiz: Halloween Masks

With Halloween in the U.S. fast approaching, I wanted to share this awesome article from Lifehacker about making your own custom vacuum molded masks. It sounds like so much fun! But since I can't code that into HeroMachine, instead I'll challenge you to create your own Halloween mask in the program. To be clear, I just want the mask, nothing else -- no bodies or backgrounds, no elaborate full costume. All I want is an image of a mask you might find in a store that someone would wear to a Halloween party.

You only get one entry -- that's right, just one! So make it your best. Most of the other rules are the same as for a regular challenge, but instead of a whole week I'll announce my favorites some time tomorrow. Here's how to make an entry:


(Click to embiggen.)

I'll pick one entry as my personal favorite, which will get to be featured in the side bar to the right for ultimate glory! As a bonus you're allowed to say you won the Internet for a few days.

Good luck!

It's never lucky to have a guy dressed like that come on you.

(From "Cat-Man Comics" number 2, 1942.)

A Force to be Reckoned With

A Force To Be Reckoned With

By: Andrew Hines

I've been an Image/Top Cow fan for a long while. I'm talking since the beginning of The Darkness, back in '96 and WildC.A.T.s before that in '92. The former is also the length of time I've been a Marc Silvestri fan. They'vd always managed to have really dark sic-fi type characters. Cyber Force is no different, save for the fact that it's one of the very few teams in the Top Cow universe. I'm especially a fan of characters like Aphrodite V, Cyblade and Ripclaw. The fact that this first issue is free certainly doesn't hurt anything. Yeah, that's right. FREE. Rethinking whether to pick it up now, huh?

The writing by Silvestri and Matt Hawkins is a good start for anyone who's not all that familiar with the team. The pacing is good and it introduces most of the characters in one fell swoop. I like that it keeps a more suspenseful tone in the beginning, but gives way to more of an action-adventure/fantasy tale. For including nearly everyone in the first issue, it does a good job of not straying too far from the core elements of the story. The dialogue isn't the greatest I've ever seen, but it does the trick. There's slightly more expository dialogue than necessary, but at least it's not George Perez' Superman scripts. Thankfully the narrators do a great job of setting up what we'll be seeing in the future.

The art by Khoi Pham is pretty damned good. Not Silvestri good, but close enough. He gets the different looks of the characters down, with the necessary updates as required. Sal Regla's inks aren't nearly as heavy as what you might see in darker titles, such as Darkness and Witchblade, but it's actually pretty balanced. Sunny Gho's colors are really good, as he keeps the effects specific to each character. Where Heatwave and Impact seem much more battle damaged, Cyblade and Ares prime appear fairly polished. I mean, just look at the dome on that dude. It's somewhat similar to Silvestri's work without really looking as though he's copying it. I really like the character designs the backgrounds too.  I haven't really said much about those, because this is the first time I can't see the characters any other way.

This is a good start to a promising series. I give it an "A-", based solely on the fact that I know something better is just around the corner. It's a great jumping-on point for anyone who was ever curious about Cyber Force.

Open Critique Day #48

My full-time (non-HeroMachine) job might keep me from actually getting to these before this evening, but it's time for another Open Critique Day!

If you have a HeroMachine illustration or another piece of artwork you've done that you'd like some help with, post a link to it in comments along with your thoughts on it -- what you think is working, what you're struggling with, etc. I will post my critique of the piece, hopefully giving some tips on how to improve it.

Of course everyone is welcome to post their critiques as well, keeping in mind the following guidelines:

  • Make sure your criticism is constructive. Just saying "This sucks" is both rude and unhelpful without giving specific reasons why you think it sucks and, ideally, some advice on how to make it better.
  • Each person should only post one illustration for critique to make sure everyone who wants feedback has a chance.
  • I will not critique characters entered in any currently running contest, as that doesn't seem fair to the other entrants. You can still post it if you like for the other visitors to critique, but I will not do so.

That's it! Hopefully we can get some good interaction going here and help everyone (me included!) learn a little bit today.

Attention Batman, this is how REAL detective work is done!

(From "Lightning Comics" volume 2, number 4, 1941.)

Sweet Car, Bro

Sweet Car, Bro

By: Andrew Hines

He's actually doing better than ever in this issue, which is awesome. We see Kate Bishop again, which always makes for an interesting comic. Clint seems to still be acting as Kate's "superhero big brother", despite no such program existing. This issue seems to revolve around a 1970 Dodge Challenger, a redhead and the, I'm quoting Clint here, "Tracksuit Draculas" from the first issue, bro. See what I did there? Probably the best part of this issue, okay, there are 2: the car and the trick arrows. If you can find anything better than that, let me know.

 

Matt Fraction is still writing this awesome piece of comic literature. It feels like an action movie in almost every way. Not just an action movie but the classic Steve McQueen Bullitt-type action movie. The narration is really good and seems to fit Clint's personality really well. Bringing Kate back on this one seemed to help the story quote a bit. The dialogue was good and rather fitting for each character. The pacing works, as does the Sunset Boulevard flashback-style intro. It's also cool to see the bad guys from the first issue too.

David Aja and Matt Hollingsworth are still bringing their signature styles. Aja's artwork is still great and fitting of the story being told. This is just great artwork and coloring. Period. There was no panel out of place or anything of the sort. It was as close as anyone could get to perfect interior artwork. Even the cover was phenomenal. It feels like the stylized intro to a James Bond movie, which works for the sort of stories we've had in the last two issues.

This is possibly the best comic I've read in along time, partly because each one feels like a standalone issue. I give this a rare "A+" simply because it's fully deserved.

You're Going To Die IX

Our adventure with human-eating roaches and the military encampment around our office continues this week. Our choices were to admit to the examining physician that we ate some Jack's Link Human Jerky or to lie our pants off. The advancement of the plot goes to borntobealoser. Had we chosen to lie, lie, lie to save our lives, this would have happend:

There’s no way you’re going to tell them about the Jack’s Links, they’ll arrest you and throw you back to the roaches, or worse, they’ll think you’re weird. “No sir, no banana, and no meat. I’m actually a vegetarian with a deep phobia of bananas.”

The small balding man looks back at his scanner, then gives you a concerned look, before deciding that it’s not worth the trouble to follow up on whatever his scanner detected. “Very well, move along.”

Phew, that was close! Now to speak to Angeline, maybe an insect apocalypse might be enough to convince her to go out with you. “Hey, Tankerbell! How’s about we ditch this place and go for a dri- Oof!” A sharp jab to the stomach with the butt of her gun is enough to knock the wind out of you and stop your attempt to hit on her in its tracks.

“Shut it, Pencil Pusher, I haven’t got time to deal wit- What’s wrong with your stomach?”

Sheesh, wasn’t she paying attention? You told them you hadn’t eaten the Jacks Links, how long is this going to go on for? “Nothing’s wrong with my stomach, the bald guy agreed, remember?” Judging by the fear in her face, you don’t think she does.

“That doesn’t explain why it’s rippling…” You look down. Your stomach is indeed rippling. Quite vigorously, in fact. Perhaps you should’ve told them about the Jack’s Links, after all. There’s no time to ponder this, though, as hundreds of tiny insects rip through your stomach, and an entire squad of soldiers starts to pump lead into you. It looks like your adventure, and your life, ends here.

Luckily we were smart enough to be honest and truthful, possibly for the first time in our lives. Thus:

You might as well tell them, he’s probably only asking because the scanner says something freaky is going on in your stomach, and you don’t want to die of infection, you’ll miss out on all the action, including a chance to hit on Miss Tankerbell. Besides, they probably wouldn’t believe you anyway.

“Why, yes I have. One suspicious banana, and a whole bag of human jerky. That isn’t a problem, is it?”

The man looks at you in horror. “You bet it’s a problem!” He turns to the other white coats and yells “We’re going to have to pump his stomach, NOW!”.

In a matter of seconds everybody else in the tent has launched themself on top of you, pinning your puny body to the ground. After successfully restraining you with minimal effort, they set you down on a table, and the small balding man pulls out a terrifying piece of apparatus from a drawer. You try to scream out and suggest that this might not be all that necessary, but it just provides the bald guy with an opportunity to shove the pump into your mouth. With a flick of the switch, the contents of your stomach is sucked back up the way it entered. From the corner of your eye you can see it all: the banana with the lump, check. Several pieces of dried human, check. A small army of baby roaches, che- wait, what?! The critters sprint off in every direction, attempting to make a bid for freedom, but Angeline and her squad are easily able to pick off every last one with their machine guns.

After being released from your restraints, you shriek “What the hell just happened? I don’t remember eating any bugs recently!”.

“Relax, Pencil Pusher, you’re not the only one that this has happened to, we’ve wasted half of our supply of ammunition on those things. You’re fine, for now.” says Angeline, matter-of-factly. “Now report to the civilian lodgings, or follow me to Captain Hook. You were the last one to leave that building, we could use any information you may have.”

Awesome! You managed to get away with eating human unpunished, and now Miss “Tankerbell” Angeline has just invited you to stick around. Your charm is rubbing off, after all.

Do you:
A: Head off with Tankerbell to find Captain Hook, OR
B: Report to the civilian lodgings

So have at it, folks! If you have an idea for what ought to happen in either situation, feel free to post even if it's not a fully finished scenario. Maybe someone else will get inspired by your concept!

The main challenge is for you to write up the results of both choices, one leading to death in classic CYOA style, the other to a furthering of the adventure, presenting us with two new choices at the end. As an added bonus, at least one of the write-ups must include the word "weasel", because weasel is a fund word to say.

Good luck!

Looks like we picked a bad day to look fabulous

(From "Lightning Comics" volume 2, number 4, 1941.)

Robocop version 2.0

Courtesy of Atomic Yeti, I bring you leaked pics of the updated Robocop suit from the upcoming reboot side by side with the original:

Is it just me, or does it look like they just took off all the chrome parts of the old design and left him in his undersuit? I swear, lines and black leather are the new trunks and spandex when it comes super-hero designs. This may officially be the moment this modern take jumps the shark. The entire Justice League redesign, the Batman movie costumes, all you see are little armor lines everywhere over monochrome. It's done, people. Look, I'll prove it:

The whole point of the super hero genre is that its characters are iconic. That's why they have giant logos on their chests and dress in primary colors, they're supposed to stand out light bright shining beacons on the hill, inspiring us lesser mortals with their heroism and grandeur. Now they just look like the people the local S.W.A.T. team kicked out for being too weird, interchangeable, generic, faceless urban assault warriors in standard issue Kevlar.

But then, I'm a grumpy old man. What do you all think?

I'm pretty sure "Tito could never resist a rope" is the best line ever in comics.

(From "Lightning Comics" volume 2, number 4, 1941.)