Friday Funnies

We're getting more snow here in New England...hooray. As a consequence, you get a not very well planned out post today with some random comic panels from the 50s and 60s.

Egads! A flying poisoned quill! It's probably possessed or something but I prefer to think there's an assassin that specializes in ironically killing off authors.

It's ok, Red, don't hurry. Roger is obviously not in any serious danger of being choked because he's able to yell for help.

I got a lot of hits from a previous Friday Funnies post with a panel titled "The Big Snake." I wonder how "The Thing That Grew!" will do? Also, this guy needs to get out more as he's obviously never seen Jurassic Park.

It's been awhile since I pulled this panel so I don't remember how the story went.
He looks like a less cheery intergalactic version of Mary Poppins.

Friday Funnies - Dexverse #6: Farewell to Heroes

Since the last issue of Dexverse came out in May, let me give new visitors the scoop: It's just me talking about and showing off characters I created for MMOs. I found out last week that the sun had set for its last time over Paragon City in City of Heroes at the end of November.

While I haven't played it in a long time, I did play for the first couple years it was around. I played with real life friends. I adventured with a supergroup/guild that was mainly European based (the only time I've ever used voice chat in online gaming). I met lots of other people from around the world . It was a good time.

I wanted to give my own send off to the original superhero MMO, so here's some quick shots of a few more of the characters I created to inhabit that world.

That's Nova Force. Go figure, the name Nova was already taken! She's kinda 90s' in her design. Her powers included gravity manipulation which is why her costume has all those funky lines on it. Her origin (finding part of a meteor that gives her powers) was inspired/stolen from the Zombina and the Skeletones song, Meteorite.

Meet Jacko Lantern, the living pumpkin born from a chemical accident in a pumpkin patch! His body is supposed to be made up from dirt and plants and his head is a pumpkin. He's a Bruiser/tank that wields a giant stone hammer and can light himself on fire.

Now on to a couple of bad guys created for City of Villains.

Necrobella is a bit like Poison Ivy.
She can control plants but can also raise the dead to fight for her.

Finally, we have Psychotron. I created him as the archenemy to Captain Blaze. His is a classic comic origin. He used to be one of the good guys working with Blaze but something went wrong on a mission destroying most of his body. His brain was put into a Terminator-like skeleton and now he's out for vengeance! He's got a multi-function laser rifle and an army of robots to back him up.

Here's Psychotron in the DC Universe game...

This will probably be the last issue of Dexverse unless I get roped into another MMO or decide to post more embarrassing superhero art from grade school.

Friday Funnies - Shark Week

What's a blogger to do when he doesn't have anything specific planned for a Friday post? Pander to what's hot in pop culture and let Google do the work!

Without further ado, here are some random images to supplement your Shark Week. Also, you can check out last year's Shark Week post: The Adventures of Sgt. Shark.

Classic!



Friday Funnies - Vampire Intros

Nothing too exciting today...just vamping it up.

Ha!

Friday Funnies - Dexverse Issue #5

...and now back to our regularly scheduled Friday Funnies.

A quick return to the Dexverse today before I head out the door. Today's hero is Chillowatt!

Chillowatt was put together by some brainy kids. They wanted to help the heroes but being young and not having any super powers of their own they had to rely on their collective genius. They raided a local junkyard for material, including parts from destroyed evil Clockwork robots and refrigerators.

 

And thus was created: Chillowatt! They used the scavenged parts to give him electrical and ice powers. His powers aren't meant for direct combat but for containing and immobilizing enemies. And thanks to overclocking, he can run at super speeds.

Doin the robot!

Although he's sentient, the geeky kids were somewhat lacking in social skills and this results in some odd conversations with Chillowatt. He tends to take things literally. After a particularly successful challenging mission, his group was celebrating and one of the other heroes started chanting. "The roof is on fire!" Chillowatt sped up to the rooftop and yelled down, "I do not see any combustion occurring up here! All is well!"

Friday Funnies - Dexverse Issue #4

Thanks for picking up issue #4 of the Dexverse where I tell you about various characters I've created for supers themed MMOs. I know the premise sounds lame but hopefully it's entertaining!

This week we'll be talking about a young girl that's not quite right in the head. She talks to stuffed animals, hears voices and carries a huge sword. Her name is Alison Wonder...at least that's what she calls herself.

Ali escaping the mental ward

Doctors aren't quite sure what happened to Ali to cause her psychotic break or how long she has been in this state. The real truth is she's totally sane but from another dimension. She's sort of trapped between worlds. She is present here but still can communicate with her home plane, only no one else can see/hear what she does which is why she was locked up originally.

Ali poses with "Chesh"

One of the content updates for City of Heroes included lots of anime/manga influenced costume items. Originally she was just going to be a generic butt kicking schoolgirl but after putting the costume together, the full character idea made itself apparent to me. She does have a small stuffed Cheshire cat sitting on her shoulder that she regularly talks to, of course no one else can hear it talk back to her because they're not attuned to the same dimensional energies.

Ali is what's called a Tank, a character that engages and holds the enemy's attention. Because of this, she's highly resistant to damage. She also carries her "Vorpal blade" that she swings with reckless abandon while yelling "Snicker Snack!"

Friday Funnies - Dexverse Issue #3

Since things have been warming up a bit in these parts lately, I thought we'd chill out with today's hero from the Dexverse: Iciclea.

Usually when I'm designing these MMO characters I have a general idea of the power sets I want to use and come up with a name. Getting the right name is paramount importance, it lets the audience (or other players) know what you're about right away. There is another character I created who was to be an ice based bruiser. I wanted to call him The Polar Bowler but it was taken so I had to settle on The Arctic Hammer. Not quite as catchy, is it?

Anyway, Doctor Strange is one of my all time favorite comic characters and I borrowed the name of his one time apprentice/lover, Clea, for Iciclea. In City of Heroes she was a controller which is a support type character that controls enemies making it easier for them to be taken out by the heavy hitters.

Iciclea in CoH

With her ice powers she could slow down, and even freeze, enemies. She could also create an ice slick that would cause them to fall down, essentially creating fish in a barrel for her teammates to shoot. She never got much of a back story like other characters I had. Giving her ice powers, blond hair and height above average, I stereotyped her as being of Swedish descent and when possible, "spoke" with the stereotypical accent (Ya!). But she was no Swedish Chef!

As much as I enjoyed playing her in CoH, she really came together when I created her in the DC Universe game. In this system, every character has a weapon or focus. I found it to be an odd thing when recreating previous characters who just had powers and no signature weapon.

Iciclea the archer in DCUO. Love the lighting!

Having always liked archer heroes (Hawkeye > Green Arrow, just sayin') I went with a bow which  worked great with the ice powers. Even cooler (ugh did I really just do that?) was when she got the ice armor ability.

Extra icy Iciclea

Thanks for picking up Dexverse issue #3!

Friday(ish) Funnies - Dexverse Issue #2

Just like some comic companies, the new issue of the Dexverse had a slight publishing delay. But we're back now to have a look at the supernatural heroine, Halloween Eve. Unfortunately, a lot of the images I had of her were lost so I'm making due with what little I have.

First things first: her name. While playing this character a lot of people would ask something like "Why Halloween Eve when the word Halloween is a contraction of Hallow and Eve? It's like saying Eve twice." Halloween is both an adjective describing her and it has something to do with her birth. She was also inspired by Dan Brereton's Halloween Girl from The Nocturnals. Which, if you love Halloween, noir and gorgeous art, you should really check it out!

First appearance

The rough version of her origin goes like this: Eve's father was a member of a cult of evil magicians (magic-using magicians, not the kind that pull rabbits out of hats) and got her mom pregnant in an attempt to fulfill an ancient prophecy. The prophecy spoke about how a child born in the first moments of Halloween would become a great force of Evil, yadda yadda, enslave the Earth and so on.

Super Jumpin

The good Magi eventually found out about the plot and interrupted the dark ceremony that was begun late on October 30th. They were not in time to prevent Eve's mom from being sacrificed. There was a huge magical battle, during which Eve's dad was also killed. The Magi managed to save Eve at 11:59pm, which is where she got her name of Halloween Eve. The Magi took it upon themselves to raise her, knowing that she could still be a danger if not trained properly. That, and the fact that she has tiny Devil-like horn nubs on her head.

Eve was brought up in a world of magic and began practicing to defend herself because she's still being hunted by supernatural baddies. Although the Magi have done their best, Eve's powers manifested themselves through darkness. She can cast dark bolts of magic, shroud herself in darkness to escape notice and conjure dark tentacles from the ground to hold foes in place. Despite her possible destiny, she is a fairly normal, wise cracking, Hot Topic shopping, teenage girl.

Possible Future Eve

When her life is in serious danger, Eve is possessed by a future version of herself. Decked out in bone armor and sporting full grown horns, this incarnation of Eve is much more powerful and sure of herself than her modern day teenage self. But is this her destiny or can she change it?

Eve's "gypsy" costume

At one point, I did try to start a super team of monster/Halloween themed heroes but I could never find enough people to recruit. The team's name was The Things That Go Bump.

Champions

This is a version of Eve created in the Champions MMO. I really like the cel shading graphics in this game. Makes it feel more comic book-y.

DCUO

And here she is in the DC Universe Online game. That brings issue #2 to a close. I'm not sure who will be popping up in issue #3 yet. It could be Swedish heroine Iciclea, the robot Chillowatt or maybe even Captain Blaze's nemesis, Psychtron...we'll just have to wait and see!

Friday Funnies - Dexverse Issue #1

Hey there, faithful blog reader! I'm starting a new...uh, segment? Do you only call it a segment on a show? Column? Section? Feature? Whatever the heck it is, I'm starting a new one for a couple weeks!

Unlike some of my fellow geeks, I have zero aptitude when it comes to drawing. I dabble in photography and Photoshop so I do consider myself to be somewhat artistically inclined with a decent eye stylistically. I'm also not very good at writing stories but think I'm okay at coming up with ideas for things. What this new series is going to cover are various characters I've created for MMORPGs. If you don't know what that stands for, you probably missed your exit on the information super-highway. There will be some info and images showing the evolution and/or costume variations of the characters over time.

When I started playing City of Heroes way back in 2004 I struggled for an idea for my first hero. Sure you can just pick a couple of power sets and create your costume, but if you know me when I get into "create mode" you know I am crazy about detail! I didn't just want to make any Superhero #1138, he needed to BE a character. The brain started firing and I remembered one of the comic characters I created in middle school when I was 13. His name is Captain Blaze.

Check out that school-issue math paper!

Real name Douglas Shaw? How lame is that for a hero?

Friday Funnies - Gumfighting (1979)

Ok, so today's post is more an ad you'd find in a comic book but it's one of those ones that I have a distinct memory of seeing. I thought it was a a unique way to advertise something like chewing gum.

Click to enlarge

Friday Funnies - Thundercats / Battle of the Planets

Comic crossovers are nothing new. I remember the 70s when DC and Marvel had crossovers. I mainly remember the oversized comics because they were freakin huge! And then there were oddball things like Superman vs Muhammad Ali. There's a pretty hefty list of inter-company crossover comics on Wikipedia.

Back in July 2003, WildStorm/Top Cow released a one-shot crossover kids may never have considered during each show's heyday. With Battle of the Planets airing in 1978 and Thundercats starting in 1985, chances were these two properties were never mashed up in backyard play adventures.

Check it out here

Unlike the cliche crossovers usually found in superhero comics, the two teams didn't fight each other when they first meet. What they do is kick a lot of Spectra ass! There was another one-shot release in May 2003 titled Battle of the Planets/Thundercats. Catch the difference there? The two titles were independent of each other and had no continuity between them despite the fact that the covers could be connected to make one larger image.

Battle of the Planets/Thundercats

Thundercats/Battle of the Planets

Battle of the Planets is one of my favorite childhood cartoons. Only within the past decade or so did I discover the original series, Gatchaman. It's amazing how much the series was edited/changed for the American audience. 7-Zark-7 does not exist in the original and it's a little more violent. If you're a fan of Battle of the Planets and have never seen Gatchaman, do yourself a favor and check it out.

Friday Funnies - The Devil's Clock & Big Snake

From Tales of Horror #3, Nov. 1952

It's a great use of coloring, don't you think?
You can read the whole story here if you like.

And the intro panel to the other cover story from that issue, "The Big Snake"

I love me some giant animal on the rampage!

Friday Funnies - Satanic Staff

From DC Comic's Ghost #25, 1974

Nothing really snarky or funny to contribute to this comic excerpt. I just love that last panel. It's the kind of thing that will haunt your nightmares.

You're welcome!

Actually, the guy in the second panel reminds me of Han Solo from the early Marvel comics.
He may not look like Harrison Ford, but he does look like the comic version of Han.

Friday Funnies - Liō

I first met Liō a couple years ago and instantly became good friends with him. He was originally created in 2006 by Mark Tatulli, who also does the strip Heart of the City. Liō combines the magic of Calvin and Hobbes with Addams Family values. However, unlike Calvin, Liō is never imagining his adventures, which makes them all the more interesting!

The most amazing, and clever, thing about Liō is that it's a pantomime strip. There is never any intelligible dialog and the only words that appear are either being written or read by a character.

Over the years, Liō has been dropped by some newspapers due to them having issue with its content. These papers apparently have an object lodged up their hind sides. I think it's safe to say, if you're reading this blog you'll enjoy Liō's adventures as much as I do.

This link will take you to the daily Liō page and you can also go back through the archives.

Friday Funnies - Science Fiction Headgear

Today's Funnies come courtesy of Space Adventures from Charlton Comics and we're checking out some funky sci-fi headgear! I don't recall if both images are from the same comic but I do know the first one is from 1952.

I thought this was pretty cool because it reminds me of the original Tron helmets.

This next one...I'm starting to wonder if this is the reason behind why every plastic bag says on it "this is not a toy." Seriously? I'm no comic artist but wouldn't it have been easier to draw the usual 50s style bubble space helmet than something that looks like it came from the local cleaners? You're either going to black out from wearing a plastic bag on your head or not have a sufficient enough vac-seal to keep the bad air out.

DISCLAIMER: Do NOT use plastic bags as space helmets.

Friday Funnies - Wacky Aliens

Today you get not one, but three panels of wacky alien antics.
Enjoy!

Did people still believe there was a permanent dark side of the moon in the 50's?
Ahhh, the 50's...

If you've ever seen Japanese anime (hentai), you know where this is going...
If you haven't, you have only yourself to blame if you Google it.

Make your own caption. It's probably funnier than anything I've got.

Friday Funnies - Jet Dream

Take Pussy Galore's all female Flying Circus from Bond's Goldfinger and add a bit of Charlie's Angels (the original) and you've got Jet Dream and Her Stunt Girl Counterspies. Whew, what a mouthful! I guess people hadn't gone acronym crazy in the late 60s yet.

Jet and her gals first appeared as a backup story in an issue of The Man from U.N.C.L.E (Hey Jet, that's how you make a creative team name that rolls off the tongue!) and were then spun off into their one and only comic.

Jet's international team consisted of

• Jet, (the good ol US of A) "the leader"
• Petite, (France) "quick as a whippet"
• Marlene (Germany) "powerful as a wrestler"
• Ting-a-Ling (Fiji) "instincts of a panther... but naive and innocent as a lamb" 
• Cookie Jarr (possibly Norway or Sweden) "when the action is over, she's an alluring charmer"

Jet Dream's HQ: No-Man's Land

Any one of these girls would likely give Bond a run for his money. Each one is an expert pilot/driver, well trained in martial arts and uses an array of girlish spy gadgets.

It's a really fun read but unfortunately for Jet, the book was not a success and this was her only full length story.