Archive for November 14th, 2011
#14 alphaBETS: Commander Alpha
Inspired by the cartoons that fired my imagination as a child, I will be posting a series of characters over the next seven days (or more?) that describe the alphaBETS, a super-team that protects the Earth from alien forces.
Commander Alpha is the leader of the alphaBETS. Â He uses the alpha blasters on his gauntlets to create powerful beams that can be used to push or pull an enemy in whichever way he needs to protect his team and save the day.
# 14 – Kit
Kit is a friend of Merrill who accompanies him on adventures from time to time. She is very down-to-earth and practical, although at times she can become somewhat impatient.
[In 1974, at the age of 12, I drew a series of “comic books” detailing the adventures of Merrill, a 15-year-old human boy, in the Other Land, an invisible dimension which co-exists with our own. The characters I am submitting throughout the 30 Days are the inhabitants of the Other Land.]
#14 – Mighty Minerva (GWP)
I think women’s wrestling gets a bad rap. There’ve been tons of great women wrestlers…Fabulous Moolah, Beth Phoenix, too many to name from Japan. Mighty Minerva’s name calls to mind Magnificent Mimi and Medusa Micelli, to me. As far as her ring attire, I didn’t want it to be so…obvious. The cape would come off pre-match, but I didn’t intend for her to be wearing what amounts to a bra and sleeves. They are meant to be attached.
NOTE: I’m using Hero-O-Matic (aka Fabrica De Herois) to create my characters. If you’re a writer who can’t draw (like me!), you might want to try it!
#14 – Thawg
This is another Doodze character, this time another bag guy, a thug… Thawg!
And with this one, I’m caught up! Yeah. More experimenting with the brush pen and Copic markers, with better results this time. The yellow skin color was actually done with a highlighter, though, which was not such a good idea. Â It was hard to avoid smudging the black inks, and it didn’t scan very nicely… although this less bright yellow is actually better in the end, I suppose. Â Doodzes are not radioactive.
Welsh Dragon
Red dragon, once native to the British isles, long since extinct. Represented on the flag of Wales.
#13 – Sh’awb
Another creature for future pages of Doodze. I inked on paper (mostly with a brush pen) for this one, something I haven’t done in a long time and I think it shows. Also experimented with Copic markers, which I haven’t really figured out how to use. Â Anyway… a blobby monster for our heroes to fight. Or befriend. Â Who knows?
#15- Boris, the henchman
Ah, the good old days… Back when his master would send him on interesting errands like stealing corpses and burning houses, Boris was a happy henchman. And he did it for science, no less!
But the no-good townsfolk didn’t seem to appreciate their research, and killed Master. Now Boris is unemployed and lonely, and doesn’t know how to spend his time productively.
#14 – Sis
Sis wants to be everyone’s sister. She’s a bit androgynous, for sure, but doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to be loved. It’s another Threshold Guardian, one of familial influence and approval needs.
#6 Johan Ghilstow
Johan Ghilstow:
Founder of Ghilstow Enterprises, strong believer of Rational Self-Interest and the Ubermensch, and a notorious businessman, whose overbearing tactics have driven other corporations to be either assimilated to his own, or to bankruptcy.
Asides from his achievements in the fields of business, Johan has also engaged in several other activities throughout the galaxy in his quest to indulge his superiority among the other species, beating them in their own games. Recently, he has decided to engage in MetaSoccer and assembling a team fit to his standards, not for the sake of winning a measly cup, but for the sake of proving that Ghilstow Enterprises reign supreme.
11_Wyatt, 12_Sadie, and 13_Eleanor
So I hit some major artist block last night trying to do some A Jagged Road characters so I decided to pull a 180 tonight. Details are sparse on these kids since I just kind of started with shapes and then expanded from there. I’m gonna be kind of stream-of-consciousness writing this so bear with me.
Eleanor
Ellie (I might look for a more creative nickname further divorced from her given name – ‘Eleanor’ is pretty white-bread and it may be cliche for her not to like it, but it’s cliche for a reason) is a big bear of a girl. She’s ‘overweight’ but the cause isn’t particularly clear, be it glandular or genetic or just plain old overeating. It’s not really important to the character so much as it is that she’s bullied a bit for it. In fact, all three characters are bullied for different things, and is one of the factors that’s brought them together to become friends. All three are students at the same junior high school.
Ellie also doesn’t clearly identify as a ‘girl’ although she is completely ignorant about gender identity and the like, just another way that she feels alienated from other students. She has a plethora of body image issues, although in that regard she’s consciously aware of them (although being aware of the way society judges her doesn’t help her self-esteem). She’s also an artist, although she’s too self-conscious to show most people her art or writing and so keeps it secret.
Wyatt
Wyatt can be summed up as ‘he hates people.’ He’s generally rude, offensive, obnoxious and loud, but mostly this is just his coping mechanism for the shitty hand life dealt him (however much of it is true and however much of it he’s convinced himself it has). It takes a very unique person to be able to tolerate Wyatt’s presence, fortunately he’s found two (and even they have to regulate their exposure to him).
Wyatt isn’t athletic, art oriented, good at math, or really anything. He’s not even very good at video games and has a stack of them at home that lay unfinished despite pouring through internet guides. He has abysmal scores in online competitive games, but he doesn’t play to ‘win’ those anymore so much as find ways to grief and troll other players. In fact, the one thing Wyatt is really good at is trolling people. He’s done it so long and so well that he’s made an art of it.
His swagger as an anonymous internet rabble-rouser doesn’t translate into real-life as he’s bullied not for being a hermetic basement nerd as much as rumors that started circulating long ago that he was gay. The rumors weren’t based on anything real, but as much as he tries to deny, as puberty peaks the rumors are turning out to be true.
Sadie
I have Sadie in mind as this confident, smart, athletic type, mostly track and field, although that makes her difficult to place with the other two. An obvious choice would be to have her be bullied for her race, but I honestly have no clue how common or severe that would be in this day and age, especially since modern schools will be more on the lookout for racial-oriented bullying than homophobic or body image bullying. The other thing is I don’t want her to be the Token black girl at the school, which means that if there are plenty of other colored kids then racial discrimination is going to be even less useful as a narrative device.
Then again a sad reality is how schools are districted, and paid for solely by tax dollars in that district. That means that a low income black neighborhood has an abysmal school system compared to the middle income white neighborhood down the street. Sadie’s parents pulled some strings and jumped through a few hoops to get her into the better, safer junior high. Sadie wouldn’t exactly be appreciative of the uproot, even if they have her best interests at heart. I’m sure the vast majority of the kids at the new school will have no problem with her, but it only takes a couple of persistent assholes to poison the well.
#14 Old Teacher
This design needs a little more work but here is the first go at an elderly Teacher past her retirement.
#13 Doppelgängster
Doppelgängster
DOPPELGÄNGSTER: THE VILLAIN WHO COULD BE YOU!
Your doppelgänger is not unique to you: no, in any given year he may appear as the ghostly double to hundreds of people. Their appearance usually means that something terrible is about to happen to the poor person being doubled. For most such spirits, it’s not malevolent — it is simply their nature, and they don’t think to question it. But the Doppelgängster is different.
From each misfortune he presages, he takes careful note of the name and place of his appearance, and makes sure to send someone back for valuables after the victim is dead or incapacitated. When he is you, for a few moments, he knows all of your secrets. He knows what valuables you have, and where you’ve hidden them. And he knows, roughly, at what time such bad fortune will overtake you.
In this way, the Doppelgängster has amassed a fortune, and an army of thugs and miscreants who will do his bidding for the promise of future treasure. Sometimes, even when misfortune isn’t imminent, he can cause it to happen and reap the benefits. The authorities are at a loss to explain this ghostly presence running the London underworld.
So when you see an image of yourself, performing ghostly actions you have yet to perform, stop. Clear your mind of everything that is dear to you. Otherwise, the Doppelgängster will use all that you hold dear to grow his criminal empire.
Character 13 – Archer
The next few entries will most likely be lineart only, I’ve got a lot of homework to do over the next week or so.
This is Archer, the main character of the same story Captain Helga is from.
14 – Impact by Beausephus
CHARACTER NAME: Â Impact
DATE OF CREATION: Â 1992
CONCEPT: Taking a page from the design of X-O MANOWAR and the “organic” spin on the armored superhero, IMPACT is a military created armored hero who is surgically fused with an an alien life form. Â The armor is not sleek and shiny but knobby and more organic, but is formed by elements of the alien bursting through IMPACT’s skin and encasing him in a techno-organic alien/hi-tech hybrid armor.
__________________________
IMPACT started in the early nineties blatantly ripping off elements of the David Micheline/M.D. Bright run on Iron Man.  Later the design was greatly informed by a young Joe Quesada’s take on the Valiant Comics character, X-O Manowar’s liquid/alien armor.  But when every other character had shiny metal on their bodies, I wanted Impact to rflect the opposite – a more organic, “natural” design.  Instead of sleek I wanted the armor to look like  a barnacle or a crustacean’s exo-skeleton.  Then, I wanted the “armor” to be almost alive, fusing with a human host to create a dynamic new entity.  Like, X-O Manowar, however, the “armor” sheathes itself around the human host but instead of it being a cool liquid metal style CGI special effect, the armor explodes in sheets of liquid and shards out of the host’s body, literally erupting in a spray of blood and science fiction.
So, Impact is a military weapon created by the fusing of prototype technology and an alien life form that is implanted into various soldiers. Â Because the transformation process is so strenuous on the human body a host can only survive a limited number of these painful metamorphoses into the Impact weapon. Â However, the host cannot function normally when encased in the armor for long periods of time. Â So every host has a limited time as the impact weapon leaving gateways to numerous story-lines and character arcs.
The Impact Weapon System, as it is referred to by official shadowed military/government types, is essentially a tool of force and agression. Â The “armor” can morph based on need at every transformation process, allowing multiple variations of appearance and tactical need. Â In all of its forms the armor is exceptionally durable and and resilient to physical damage and gravitational effects. Â The Impact armor is not capable of flight or super strength, but it’s resistance to gravity and the surgical improvements necessary for the host to move and survive inside the armor allow for a degree of enhanced strength and enhanced speed and agility. Â The armor is alos capable of absorbing physical impacts by means of a insulating fluid that literally expands with each physical attack. Â Every so often the fluid must be ejected from the armor. Â The host can harness this expulsion process as a high velocity plasma stream, directing it as an offensive weapon at specific targets. Â This method, however, literally bursts forth from the armor leaving the host vulnerable for a few moments until the armors seals the gaping holes in its “husk”. Â The liquid plasma stream is, of course, highly explosive.
Impact went through many variations of the armored hero until I had the idea to take the concept in a different direction. Â Impact is not the name of the character but the armor and the person inside the armor is a constant variable in the possible story lines. Â I like the fact that different hosts, used for various missions, result in a constant series of stories all beneath the overall arc of the manipulations and machinations of the people actually responsibile for the armor.
Thanks for checking out my stuff.
-Beausephus
#14 Betilda The Mighty
Betilda Fi-Tahna is the last of a race of female warrior gods that exists in the other side of our solar system. Most of her comrades have been killed on a vicious assault on her kingdom. She goes to earth to find those responsible, and right away disguises herself as college student Glorida Fabian, in order to not cause a scene to the general public at large.
Powers:
Super Strength, Speed, able to jump at vest distances, etc.
Height: 5’11 Weight:254 Lbs. Age: 2700(21 in earth years)
Personlity
Tough, open minded, courageous, and have a sense of humor, etc.
#14 adianda the witch
sold her familiar for the power to smite endorathia, will be showing up later in grin-n-spirit
#6 The Uxim, Guardians of the Lost White City
#14: The Pencil
He’s the sidekick for my guy from yesterday, Stretchy Man. He’s a pencil that uses nunchucks. He also tells a lot of jokes.
Thanks, Xavier
#13 – Barbarian Woman
This Barbarian Woman is from a northern tribe that has Snow most of the year.  She Is traveling south on a quest and doesn’t want to be bothered by the locals. She gets very angry when disturbed and is ready for a fight at any time. She can outdrink most southerns and will gladly join any drinking contest.
#13: Duo
The Martial Arts Alchemist, Duo.
Jason Kim was an agent of the John Dee Society in Alchemy and partner to Nick Dyer. These Alchemy Agents were responsible with upholding the Rules of Alchemy and the protectors of the Philosopher’s Stone Mound, located off of Lake Michigan, but it was not always so. Before Jason Kim, he was Huan Hsaing, and Alchemist during the height of Chinese Alchemy research and he was the first to tap into the Elixir of Immortality in prolonging his life. Throughout the centuries, Huan saw and experienced many great and terrible things until he was approached by John Dee in the 1550’s and was inducted into the secret Dee Society, along with Edward Dyer, an English poet/alchemist, who Huan became fast friends with. The Dee Society went through many ups and downs; from Dee’s research into the paranormal, the rebirth of Hermes Trismegistus and the Books of Thoth, to the civil war within the society between Dee, Edward Kelly/Talbot, and a resurrected Nicholas Flamel. These battles all centered around safeguarding and procuring the Philosopher Stone Mounds, along with Huan’s Elixir of Immortality. Though Dyer never took it, Huan has consumed the Elixir as a means to protect his friend’s family, for contrary to the other prominent Alchemists, Edward a successful Alchemist, able to circumvent certain rules of Transmutation and his gift passed on to his offspring, along with Edwards Philosopher’s Stone as a Dyer has always been a member with the John Dee Society.
It wasn’t until Nick Dyer’s death that Huan, now Jason Kim, suspected any wrongdoing within the Society, but after conducting his own investigation around Nick’s car accident, Jason suspects another coup is in the works within the society and he must prepare Nick’s son, Alan in the ways of Alchemy, before the group that took Alan’s father, come for him next.
As Duo, Jason trains Alan in both harnessing his father’s Philosopher Stone, but also in defending himself in combat. He also acts as Alan’s source of intel in dealing with threats beneath the Society’s notice, but not for the Front Line.
Abilities: With a Philosopher’s Stone embedded in his left eye, Jason is capable of creating organic and inorganic transmutations with his hands and feet via touch. His eye also accelerates his mental calculations so as to be able to make create objects quickly, as well as see the chemical composition of various objects and see various spectrums of light invisible to the naked eye. Jason is also a skilled martial artist, having mastered over 70 different fighting styles, from weapon to open-handed combat, throughout his long lifetime. Jason is also a skilled chemist and is one of the founders of the Elixir of Immortality. Jason is also an Agent of the John Dee Society and has access to their vast library of alchemy knowledge as well as their resources in determining threats that the Dee society won’t handle, but can get them to Alan and the Front Line to handle.
Creation: I wanted to make a mentor type character to go with the Alchemist, as well as being a fan of stark contrast costumes, with the ying yang motif being the basis for his wardrobe. It also aids in the Taoist philosophies inherent in Chinese Alchemy, which is a happy accident on my part.
Day 13: Metal dragon
This dragon is not man-made. Instead it is purely organic. It has formed a hard metallic exoskeleton as defense.
Day 13: Catherine Fortunate
Character #13, Catherine Fortunate. I like this character because I just got the idea for her this morning.
At first glance, she seems just like any regular old woman. When you know her, she’s an oddjob. Her life choices depend on the fortunes from fortune cookies. Her life’s been going good so far, so she truly believes the fortunes help her. If a fortune tells her to try new things, she’ll go out and do something she hasn’t done before.
#13 “insomniac” Tyler Farillo
Universe/Storyline: The Band
Universe details: In the isolated city of Crescent where these characters live, superpowers spring from close encounters with death. Only people born in the city can gain these powers, and since this is a relatively new settlement, the first generation of people born there are just starting to show signs of super-fication. This means mostly kids and teens. Of the teens, Camille, Max, Amelia, Walter, and Rin decide to team up and form a band. They take it upon themselves to help other kids who are just getting powers/dealing with death. Eventually, when The Band realizes that everyone deserves to be informed about the city’s unique predicament, they try to reach every kid in the city at once by putting on a live concert.
Height: 5’ 4â€
Body Type: Looks frail and tired. Permanently hunched over in sleepiness.
Hair: Shaved head. Not completely bald like Greenbeard, but shaved pretty close. His head is covered is short black fuzz like a new Chia pet. Also he has some stubble growing in on his face.
Eyes: Gray-brown. Bloodshot from being open too often.
Race: Black
Age: 17
Attire: When Tyler stopped being able to sleep he also stopped caring about what he was wearing. Now it’s mostly sweatpants and hoodies all day and all night.
Superpowers: Consciousness (primary)- It is impossible for Tyler to be unconscious. He hasn’t slept since the concert, and even Camille can’t knock him out with her infallible knockout punch. Miraculously he is not on his way to losing his mind from exhaustion—as a matter of fact his powers make everything very clear to him. He is very aware. Sometimes he knows things he shouldn’t be able to know. Amelia observes there is something very weird going on with his subconscious. Her illusions don’t work on him.
Personality: Tyler is not looking for a fight. He can still feel pain and he doesn’t want to hurt anyone. He’s had a lot of time to think lately and he knows that Crescent isn’t going to last the way it’s going now. So, he joins with the New Powers, but he sort of double-agents for The Band. He thinks Carlos is a little overenthusiastic and prefers the generally relaxed company of The Band.
Power source/backstory:
- Tyler was at The Band’s first concert, where overenthusiastic heroes killed a person disguised as a usually robotic police officer.
Theme Song: I Need Some Sleep- Eels
#14 Canis the Mighty
700 years ago, the kingdom of Kryzania knew nothing but war. Peace was an illusion, and those who wouldn’t serve under the merciless king Kryzan would quickly know death. An ancient talisman transformed a young male into a mighty warrior whose sole purpose was to destroy the evil and bring peace in his world once again.
His name was Canis.
He eventually defeated Kryzan and took over the kingdom, now known as Arziana and brought in a new era of change.
A generation has passed and King Canis, weathered by the sands of time, still reigns supreme. A group of soldiers, lead by the ancestors of Kryzan, is preparing to take back the kingdom and kill the king. They have no idea the old Dog King still has a lot of bite behind his bark and is more than prepared to unleash hell on his opponents.
Canis: (c) & TM Jeff Harris dba Studio Lightcount.
#13: The Unfortunate Peasant
How sad it must be to never live long enough in order to finally have what you worked so hard for. How sad.
Day 11 – Poopy Pants Paul
Poopy Pants Paul has a hand me down wardrobe. Most of his clothes are a little too big and all of his jeans have a saggy bottom.
#30Characters Chatter…