Wondering About Wonder Woman

OK, so apparently I'm the last comics fan in the blogosphere to find out about it, but The Powers That Be at DC Comics have approved a nearly complete revamping of Wonder Woman, including retroactively rewriting her origin story and established continuity (known in the biz as a "retcon") and a major redesign of her costume. The first issue featuring the "new" Wonder Woman went on sale Tuesday, June 29.

In this more or less total overhaul, the Greek gods abruptly alter time and allow Wonder Woman's birthplace, Paradise Island or Themyscira, to be destroyed when Diana is still a child. The infant Diana is smuggled into our everyday world and takes up a new life as a kind of urban vigilante and street fighter. Head writer J. Michael Straczynski, of Babylon 5 fame, is fairly blunt about the reason for the makeover: Sales of Wonder Woman comics are lagging far behind other DC titles, and The Powers That Be hope that WW's new look and story line will perk up interest in the book.

So far, however, the reaction among fans at comics websites I've checked seems to be largely if not overwhelmingly negative. Some like the change in story line, and some like the new costume, but most don't seem to like either one. Chris Sims, host of Chris's Invincible Super Blog, and his pals at ComicsAlliance take readers on a guided tour of Wonder Woman's costume changes through the decades, and most of the panelists give the new look a thumbs down. Here's the Wonder Woman most of us are used to seeing, as drawn by artist Karyn Lewis:

Here, once again, is the "new look" Wonder Woman:

True enough, this redesign addresses some of the complaints fans have had for years about WW's previous costume. The new get-up is certainly more practical for combat and daily wear. For the first time, Wonder Woman has pockets (not to mention pants) for all her superhero gear. However, as other fans have noted, the jacket that's supposed to make her look hip and edgy and boost her street cred just makes her look dated. I had a jacket like that in the early '90s. It was already too small when I bought it, and I quickly outgrew it. I predict Wonder Woman will likewise quickly outgrow this look.

I understand the complaints about WW's old costume. Not to be unpatriotic on Fourth of July weekend or anything, but what's an Amazon princess, a figure from Greek mythology, doing running around in a star-spangled red, white, and blue battle bikini anyway? Yes, her costume could stand to go in a new direction, but I think the look DC chose is precisely the wrong direction.

Therefore, gentle readers, I chose to take Wonder Woman in a completely different direction using the latest version of HeroMachine. I, too, have entered the Wonder Woman makeover derby. Yes, Wonder Woman should be tough, and yes, she should be sexy, but she should also be dignified and regal. She is a princess, after all; a princess from an ancient land of myth, magic, and mystery. I wanted to give her a look that was very clean and simple and neoclassical, something that suggested a toga but still left her ready to fight at a moment's notice. I wanted to portray her on her island home of Themyscira, peaceful by nature but perfectly prepared to kick bad guy trash if the occasion requires. I give you MY version of Wonder Woman:

You'll notice that apart from the red white and blue color scheme, I kept most of her other distinguishing features: jet black hair, silver bracelets, golden belt of Hippolyta, and lasso of truth. I gave her cross-laced sandals because they seemed to fit with the classical, mythological vibe I was going for. I dispensed with the tiara, mainly because HeroMachine 3 doesn't have a tiara at present, and because I always thought the tiara looked a bit silly. (As if the idea of people running around in ridiculous costumes fighting other people in ridiculous costumes isn't silly enough?) A simple circlet might look better. She's a princess but not a beauty pageant winner.

Whaddaya think? Do you (a) love it, (b) like it, (c) hate it, or (d) not really care? Do you think I have a future as a costume designer? Or have I at last snapped and revealed the truly appalling depths of my nerdiness and geekery? Feedback welcome.

Because I've Been Feeling Very Scottish Lately . . .

I created this version of a Highland Dancer with HeroMachine v. 3.0.

Here also is a poem about a Scottish lass by William Wordsworth. (Not a bad poem, even if he was a stuffy English git).

The Solitary Reaper

BEHOLD her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.

No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.

Will no one tell me what she sings?—
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?

Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
And o'er the sickle bending;—
I listen'd, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.

Hat tip for the text of "The Solitary Reaper" to Bartleby.com

"Beware My Power . . ."

In brightest day
Or darkest night
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might
Beware my power . . . GREEN LANTERN'S LIGHT!

Hey everybody! Happy Mardi Gras! Because nothing says "Mardi Gras" and "Last chance to blow it out before Lent begins" like costumed superheroes, I give you my latest super team: Green Lantern Corps, The New Recruits. Except for John Stewart, I made them up on the spur of the moment last night (Please don't sue me, DC!) As usual, click on the image to see a larger version. Also as usual, I used HeroMachine v. 2.5, HeroMachine v. 3.0, and Paint.NET 3.5.3 to create the images. I like the idea of a band of costumed interplanetary do-gooders, and I like the way the GLC uses just three colors (green, black, and white) to produce nearly endless variations in the Green Lantern costume. Anyway, enjoy, and leave feedback.

Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps, ©DC Comics.

The All-American Family

Once upon a time, in an alternate reality, the superheroine Lady Liberty, the leader of the Liberty Legion, married Freedom Fighter, commander of the Freedom Force. They produced a plethora of patriotic, powered progeny, a sensational series of super siblings. Here's a candid shot of the happy family at home: Mom, Dad, and the kids! Click on the image to see a larger version of it. Please enjoy and feel free to submit feedback.

Images created with HeroMachine v. 3.0, Shakti Warriors, and Paint.NET v. 3.5.3.

More Superheroes

Click here to see a larger version of the image.

I had thousands of requests (well, OK, one) from loyal readers to post more of my superhero creations. I actually created the Celtic League of Superheroes nearly two years ago using Heromachine v. 2.5. (Also available for download here). Version 3 of Heromachine is now in development, but after a weekend's worth of experimentation and fiddling, I decided I didn't like the Version 3 remakes as well as the originals. Don't get me wrong. I think HM 3 will be 31 flavors of awesome when it gets finished, but for these characters and this portrait, I thought the original versions would be better. I used Paint.NET v. 3.5.2 to create the group shot.

As for the characters themselves, they are avatars or champions of the Celtic countries, charged with defending these lands, and indeed the whole world, from the machinations of a sinister, evil wizard, druid, mage type guy and his band of assorted nasties. The concept crosses the standard superhero motifs with bits freely filched and adapted from Celtic mythology, in much the same way that Thor or Wonder Woman comics borrow from Norse or classical Greek myths. My ultimate goal is to create a series of stories about these characters which could be published alone, included as part of a novel, or converted into comic book scripts. A silly pipe dream? Perhaps, but I thought it would be fun to try. Right now, I'd settle for one complete, coherent story instead of the jumble of vague ideas in my head.

Superheroes

Just a little something to show you what I've been up to these days. Here's a quartet of patriotic superheroes, The Liberty Legion: Red Rocket, Whitewater, Blue Eagle, and Lady Liberty (Red, White, and Blue, get it?) I'm also working on writing their origin stories. At any rate, enjoy!

Click on the image to see a larger version. Images created with HeroMachine v. 3.0 and Paint.NET v. 3.5.2.

I Won Again!

Yes, Dear Readers, it has happened again.

More than a year after my first victory in the HeroMachine Caption Contest, I have won again!

Jeff Hebert, creator of the fantabulous HeroMachine software, website, and blog has recently revived his much beloved caption contest. Every couple of weeks, Jeff searches through his vast library of comics, finds a single panel rich with comedic possibilities, removes the dialogue, and invites readers to submit their own. The reader with the funniest dialogue (in this case, that would be me) wins a prize drawn by Jeff. Since he is currently hard at work on the next major upgrade of the software, the prize will be an item of my choice to be included in the next version of HeroMachine or (shudder) a caricature of my face, an item too horrible to be contemplated.

Here is this week's panel with the original dialogue removed:



Here's the same panel with my dialogue inserted, which I hope, Dear Readers, you will find appropriately hilarious:



I have an idea of what I would like for my prize, but I haven't made a final decision. I'll keep you posted.

The Next Generation of Heroes . . .

is coming.

Jeff Hebert, the creator of HeroMachine v. 2.5, one of the coolest websites and software packages ever, has been hard at work on the next major upgrade to HeroMachine since early in January. HeroMachine v. 3.0 will have a huge number of new features, including a larger color palette, greatly expanded layering capabilities, new accessories for characters, and the ability to mark characters and equipment with patterns, including camouflage, tartan, and metallic. But that's not all. With version 3.0, aspiring artists and creators of superheroes will have the opportunity to select individual body parts for the characters, and have the ability to move, scale, and rotate those body parts and accessories, in effect, customizing the look of each character.

Jeff has set up an "alpha" test version of HM 3 (even earlier in the development process than a beta version) and is actively seeking comments, suggestions for improvement, feedback, and bug reports from users. He's been gradually adding and enabling features and components and hopes to have the site completed by some time this summer. Here's a sample character that I created on the new site, Red Hawk:



This looks like it will be really cool when it gets all done. If you like comic books or superheroes or have dreamed of creating your own characters, head on over. In the immortal words of Mark Shea, "Check thou it out."

Ain't She Sweet?

I've been so preoccupied with preparing for my training with the University of Phoenix that I've had to put my superhero fiction writing activities on hold temporarily. But I thought I would post the picture that Jeff Hebert, creator of the HeroMachine software, website, and blog, drew for me as a prize for winning his weekly caption contest recently.

This is Celtica, an Irish-American super-heroine, and her faithful hawk companion Branwen.



In the fictional universe I'm trying to create for them, Celtica and Branwen have been chosen to defend Ireland and the rest of the world against the dastardly doings of Malak the Fell, an evil druid/wizard/mage type guy:



I told Jeff I'd like to see Celtica in action as if she were going into battle against Malak. Here's what he came up with:



Pretty cool, I think. Jeff obligingly made three different versions, varying the length of Celtica's staff slightly in each, trying to get the right sense of proportion. This is the one I liked best. Hope you enjoy it!

Still More Heroic Happenings (Or, I won with a fart joke!)

I won! I won! I won! OK . . . Must . . . stop . . . hyperventilating. Breathe . . . Breathe . . . That's it!

Every Tuesday, Jeff Hebert, creator of the HeroMachine software, website, and blog, about which I have written at great length here lately, hosts a caption contest. Jeff searches through his vast library of comics, finds a single panel rich with humorous possibilities, removes the dialogue, and invites readers to substitute their own. The author of the funniest faux dialogue wins a custom black and white illustration of whatever they like (within reason, the artist always hastens to add), drawn by Jeff himself.

This week, after many noble but fruitless attempts, your humble blog host has finally won, albeit with a joke that might seem a tad out of place on a more-or-less Catholic blog like this one. Here's the panel with the original dialogue removed:



Here's the panel with my dialogue inserted:



I've already informed Jeff about what I'd like for my illustration. It will be a drawing of my flagship character, the Irish-American super-heroine Celtica, in a combat stance, as if she's going into battle against her arch-enemy, Malak, an evil wizard. I let Jeff choose whether to put Malak in the picture or not. Jeff says that while the drawing shouldn't be a problem artistically, it may be a week or two before he can get it done because he's on a tight deadline for another important project. I can't wait to see what he comes up with. I've created a link to Jeff's HeroMachine blog and links to some other comics-related sites in a special section of the blogroll on the bottom right.

More Heroic Happenings

Well, it seems my recent post comparing three popular online superhero generators has generated the most discussion of any post in the history of this blog!

Jeff Hebert, creator of the HeroMachine 2.5 software and website, mentioned my review on his HeroMachine developer's blog. Eduardo Reis, creator of Fábrica de Heróis (aka Hero-O-Matic) left a comment in the commbox for the original post. He even offered to show me a version of my Blue Eagle character that he had created. Thanks, guys. It's nice to be noticed. Reader James said he agreed completely with my assessment, which is also flattering.

Most impressive of all, however, was a comment from reader Laurent who supplied Hero-O-Matic versions of two of my characters, The Blue Eagle and Celtica.

Here's Laurent's interpretation of The Blue Eagle:



Laurent also supplied three possible Hero-O-Matic versions of Celtica, who is more or less my "flagship" character and who holds a special place in my imagination. Laurent created what he called the "Amazon" version:



The "Golden Age" version (i.e., how Celtica might have looked if she had been drawn in the heyday of comic books, the late 1930s to the early 1950s):



and the "Silver Age" version (i.e., how Celtica might have looked if she had been drawn sometime between the mid-1950s and the mid-1970s):




Thanks, Laurent! That's really great work. I hope you enjoyed creating those interpretations. I certainly enjoyed looking at them, and I'm pleased my characters fired your imagination. Now I'm getting excited about these characters all over again, and I hope to create some stories about them.

Heroes, Heroes, Everywhere!

in my imagination, anyway.

Back in March I waxed poetic about HeroMachine 2.5, the web browser-based software that makes it possible even for an artistically challenged dweeb such as myself to draw my own superheroes. Since then I've gone bananas with the silly thing and created whole battalions full of heroes, villains, and supporting players. I'm trying to create a fictional universe for some of them to live in.The HeroMachine software is now available for download, so users don't have to be online to create their own heroes. Since it relies on the Flash plug-in available for most web browsers, the software should work equally well on both Windows-based machines and Macs.

"But wait! There's more!" as the TV pitchmen say. Since finding HeroMachine, I've discovered two other online superhero generators: Create Your Own Superhero, part of the Marvel Comics website, and Fábrica de Heróis, which I'm guessing is Portuguese for "Hero Maker" or something similar. The entire application and the accompanying blog are in Portuguese since the creator, Eduardo Reis, is Brazilian, but a little experimentation should help users overcome the language barrier. I hope he'll consider releasing an English language version in the future. I gather that a previous version was called Hero-O-Matic, and that's how many people on the Web still refer to it.

All three superhero generators offer distinctly different drawing styles and unique features, which give the aspiring artist and storyteller many options to chose from. Here for example, is one of the first characters I created with Heromachine, the warrior maiden Celtica, an Irish-American super-heroine, and her hawk companion Branwen:



Compare that to, say, Lady Liberty, another super-heroine I designed using the Marvel Create Your Own Superhero site:



Now compare that to a character I created with Fábrica de Heróis (aka Hero-O-Matic), Cinco de Mayo, a Latina heroine:




Lest you think that I spend all my time drawing pictures of buxom, scantily clad young women, I also draw pictures of guy heroes too. It's interesting to draw different versions of the same character using the different sites and compare the results. Here, for example, is a hero I first drew on the Marvel site, The Blue Eagle:



Compare that with his HeroMachine version:



Notice that with the HeroMachine version, I ditched the helmet because I couldn't find a helmet I really liked. I haven't done comparison versions using Hero-o-Matic yet, because I've only just discovered it, but you can compare The Blue Eagle, versions 1 and 2, with another patriotic hero, The Defender:



Overall, I still think HeroMachine is the best of the three generators, Hero-O-Matic runs a close second with many impressive features, and the Marvel Create Your Own Superhero site is a distant third. HeroMachine is significantly ahead of the other two in ease of use and range of features. The ability to download the software and have it run on your own computer is a huge bonus the other two can't match. HeroMachine is also unique because it allows users to save the parameters of their characters as lines of code and reload them into the application for later character editing. The Marvel site allows users to save their characters on Marvel's servers for later reloading and editing, but users must register with Marvel.com and can save only five characters at a time. Surprisingly, Hero-O-Matic has no way at all for character images to be saved and reloaded later for editing. When users of Hero-O-Matic want to edit a previously saved character, they must rebuild the character from scratch every time. That's annoying, to put it mildly. The final images in HeroMachine are the largest of the three, allowing the artist to easily see the individual item being worked on. Items in Hero-O-Matic are the smallest and most cartoon-like.

Items in both HeroMachine and Hero-O-Matic can be drawn with wide array of primary and secondary colors, but Hero-O-Matic's color menu can be tricky to navigate. The Marvel site offers only one color for each item, with lots of duplicate colors. HeroMachine also offers the widest assortment of possible backgrounds for characters, ranging from one and two color combinations to real settings, including cityscapes, deserts, jungle, a castle, and a futuristic science lab. Backgrounds in Hero-O-Matic and Marvel's site are limited to one color or combinations of two colors.

HeroMachine and the Marvel site allow the user to select thumbnails of items before they're added to the character, but Marvel has a paltry few choices compared to HeroMachine, and users of Hero-O-Matic have to click through all the options for an item in order by clicking arrow buttons. Both HeroMachine and Hero-O-Matic allow for layering of characters clothes and weapons, which creates some interesting effects, but Marvel's use of layering is very limited. Apparently, only Hero-O-Matic allows for variance in the texture and transparency of items, but I have yet to make full use of these features. Marvel does allow users to save their creations to their hard drives as JPEG files, but this feature runs slowly and is liable to balk, especially if there are other applications running in the background. Users can save their creations simply by taking screenshots in all three applications.

In short, the budding superhero creator who can't draw has some choices available, but in my opinion HeroMachine 2.5 is the best.

Amended June 29, 2008.

America's Newest Super-Heroine

Ladies and Gentlemen, feast your eyes on:




The mystical warrior maiden Celtica and her faithful avian companion Branwen.

Click on the image for a slightly larger version. As you can plainly see, I discovered that there is a way to capture screen shots on a Mac and convert them to GIF or JPEG files.

Image created with HeroMachine 2.5.

I Have Just Discovered . . .

the coolest website ever! If you like comic books and superheroes, that is. HeroMachine 2.5 is a website which allows you to design your own superheroes from the ground up, even if you can't draw to save your life (I can't). You choose the body type, gender, and other characteristics of your superhero from a menu of preset options and watch your creation take shape on the screen before your very eyes. You design the costume, choose the weapons, select a backdrop, and name your newest super with a just a few mouse clicks and keystrokes. Think of it as a Mr. Potato Head for the electronic age, only cooler. Want your super-heroine to be a tall willowy redhead? No problem. Or maybe you're a gentleman who prefers blondes. We can do that, too. And what's a superhero without super-villains to fight? Any super worth his salt needs a good rogues gallery. In just a few hours (too many) I created a superhero (The Gryphon), and a super-heroine (Celtica), inspired by my love of all things Irish and by seeing one too many episodes of "Wonder Woman" and "Xena, Warrior Princess." Somebody help me, I'm such a geek! I also created Draxon, an armor clad, ray gun-wielding baddie, Big Tony, a musclebound machine gun-toting thug, and Dr. Frost, a nerdy scientist type who can go either way. Story ideas are already percolating.

My one regret (and it's a big one) is that as a Mac user I cannot save my brilliant creations as JPEG or GIF files. Windows users, however, can save their heroes and villains (It's discrimination, I tell ya!) The best I can do is save the parameters for my characters as lines of code, go back to the website, paste them in, reload the characters into the HeroMachine, and print out hard copies. (Sigh). I've posted a comment on the creator's blog calling attention to this grievous error. I suspect I'm not the only Mac user to complain.

Until next time, superfriends!