Archive for November 24th, 2011
#10 – Pleading Pia
Pleading Pia is a good soul. (Not much story here, just a nice lady from my imagination. I was mostly trying out a pose I never tried before, and wanted to try a drawing an unusual hand position).
#9 – Rubber Chicken Druid
A recent excavation in Europe unearthed an unexpected find: the very well preserved mummified remains of what seems to be a druid priest. Scientists are still baffled by the fact that there appears to be a rubber chicken buried with this corpse. Unofficially, a strange sect has come forward from years of silence, claiming this to be one of their own high priests, according to their lore. Members of the “Church of the Rubber Chicken” explain that this, and their other “sacred” artifacts, such as the false arrow through the head, and the commonly known “Groucho Marx” glasses w/ bushy eyebrows, big nose and mustache are symbols that should be revered without question. Boggled by chants of “Excuuuuuuuse me!” from the “believers”, investigators are scratching their heads, and are frantically seeking the one person that may have some explanation to offer: Steve Martin, a famous comedian believed to be the only link to this almost forgotten past.
#8 – Traveling Travis
Traveling Travis gets his name from the fact that you rarely find him staying put in one place. Stuck like a sardine in a can, he is at his happiest when sleeping his life away in transit. Frequent flyer and member of numerous travel clubs, he subsists on bad airline food, and free continental breakfasts. We find him here sleeping like a baby in yet another flight. I dedicate this one to all those folks that have to travel for a living, walking in the limbo of an airport, plugging their cell phone to the nearest outlet for a recharge, standing in line to board, and making small talk with airport and airline staff. It makes you really value your time at home.
This was done on an iPod Touch, using Sketchbook Mobile, with a Pogo Sketch stylus, standing in line for the lavatory during a long flight.
#7 – El Gallego
Based on a stereotypical man from Spain. This could be an artist, from a small town in the Iberian peninsula. It could also be your typical local that hangs out by the town square, enjoying talk, drink, and music, at a small family pub, or deli-like establishment. He does look “old-country” representing any of various ethnic prototypes, to be sure.
#5 – Claude
Strange bird indeed. Claude was brought up in a traveling circus. After the circus had to go out of business, he found himself out of sorts, living in a small town. He missed his previous life so much that his predilection for that life started showing on his appearance. Obviously, he prefers the company of clowns. Hard to blend into an average lifestyle if you look like this, don’t you think?
#24 – Matthew Henson – Geomancer
In general, history isn’t always fair. God only knows how many significant figures in human history have been forgotten, or worse, glossed over in favor of more socially acceptable figures. Matthew Henson is a good example of this; even though Mr. Henson was indisputably the first human to reach the North Pole, for years he was ignored in favor of the more socially acceptable Robert Peary, who was credited with being the first person to set foot on the North Pole despite being unable to actually walk at the time. It’s all a bit ironic, given that Henson was first hired for his skill in seamanship and navigation, and was considered to be little more than a servant by Peary. Frankly, I’d give anything to see what Peary’s face looked like when he found that Mr. Henson was to be honored by the US Congress with a duplicate of the silver medal awarded to Peary for being the first man to the Pole, let alone the speaking tour that followed.
Geomancers hold the unique and dubious honor of being both an extremely useful class and an extremely limited class. Geomancers rely on their surroundings for their attacks; a Geomancer standing on stone, for example, would be able to use an Earth-elemental attack, or an Ice-elemental attack while standing on snow or ice. Though limited in flexibility, Geomancers usually compensate for this by being well above average in attack strength, or even causing status effects with their abilities. Unfortunately, there’s a rather dangerous downside to this, in that monsters that appear in a specific area usually follow its elemental theme. Monsters found in a snow field, for example, will usually resist or absorb Ice-elemental attacks, and the Geomancer’s lack of flexibility means there isn’t normally much that can be done about it.
G. Brett Williams #24 – Miranda Gray
Miranda Gray is a community organizer in the town of Gateway City. Â Before she became an activist and advocate for the poor and disenfranchised in her community, Miranda was a nurse in the smaller town that bordered the Amish community in which Sarah was born. Â She was actually present at Sarah’s birth as she was one of the nurses assigned to the ER that night. Â Miranda is friends with Sarah’s brother Zach and is aware of the fact that Zach is helping his sister escape the Amish community. Â She pledges to help in any way that she can, but she doesn’t know that this girl is the same girl who she helped deliver seventeen years before.
Miranda is a strong, kind woman who campaigns on behalf of anyone she believes suffers under the yoke of economic inequality or feigned moral superiority. Â She works a great deal with LGBT organizations throughout Gateway City, which is how she knows Zach. Â She becomes a sort of hybrid of Leslie Thompkins and Commissioner Gordon for Sarah.
#24 – The Gravy Giver
#24 – The Gravy Giver
Typically at a large Thanksgiving gathering there is someone who wants others to increase their caloric intake. This person is usually fit and likely went to the gym before stopping by the big event. Their weapon of choice at the table, the Gravy Boat. For some reason they want to encourage everyone to saturate their foodstuffs with that fattening gravy.
But let’s be honest, we encourage that person because almost every part of the Thanksgiving meal is made better with a large helping of Gravy. Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, and rolls all have no issue being drowned in the brown manna from the heavens.
So for that one day a year, who cares if the Gravy Giver has mental issues regarding their body image so they want everyone else to get fatter. Bring on the gravy and keep it flowing until you can eat no more.
G. Brett Williams #23 – Sarah Smith (Rumspringa)
Sarah Smith is a young Amish girl with a quiet rebellious streak. Â The night of her birth, her pregnant mother, her father, and her older brother Zach (nine years her elder) were traveling by carriage from a grocery shopping trip in a nearby town. Â There was a terrible storm that night full of driving rain and big, cloud to ground lightning. Â The storm created so much stress that the mother went into labor. Â Too far from their village, the father knew the only way to save his wife and child was to return to the town, though he was hesitant to do so. Â He wasn’t trustful of outsiders and their medicine. Â But his wife’s condition was worsening, as were the conditions of the roads, and his young son implored with him to return to the town. Â The father relented and headed toward the town’s hospital, rain beating against the buggy and lightning crackling in the air. Â Despite the conditions, the family reached the hospital as the mother’s condition was worsening. Â They rushed inside and explained their predicament and the orderlies rushed out to help the woman. Â As they were loading her onto the gurnee, a great crack of thunder let out through the town and lightning ripped from the sky, finding the metal on the gurnee and churning through the body of the pregnant mother. Â She died on that hospital bed, but the doctors were able to save and revive the baby, so not all was lost. Â That baby, dubbed by papers as the “Lightning Child” was Sarah Smith.
In Amish culture there is the concept of rumpsringa. Â Rumspringa says that any member of the sect is able to leave for a short time (usually around 16 or 17 years of age) and explore the outside world. Â It is meant to strengthen their faith and help them realize that the world they’ve known is better than the outside world of which they’ve dreamed. Â Many return, but those who do not are shunned from the sect and are never invited to return. Â Sarah’s brother Zach, who knew from an early age that he was attracted to men and that the sect considered this evil, was one of those people. Â At seventeen he escaped the community and made it to Gateway City where he managed to start a new life. Â That life wasn’t easy, but he made it work. Â Over the years, he always found ways to spirit books, magazines, art and other things to his baby sister, helping her to gain a knowledge of the beauty of the world outside her Amish community and a fervent desire to live in it. Â So when it came time for Sarah’s rumspringa, she had a plan for escape, a plan she, her brother and her friend from town, Mary, had conspired on for years. Â But the best laid plans, as they say, often go astray.
During Sarah’s escape to Gateway City, a series of events allows her to uncover her control over electricity. Â Having never been exposed to electricity for prolonged amounts of time, her powers have only ever briefly manifested and usually in ways that would arise no suspicion. Â Things like machines or certain instruments malfunctioning when she walks past them, etc. Â Nothing that would ever clue her into her gift. Â But when she gets to GC, things happen that inexorably change her life and unlock the potential inside of her.
Sarah is really the first superhero in this world. Â Before her, there have been on people with special gifts. Â She’s unique, which means there isn’t really anyone that can help her control her power. Â She has the ability to direct bolts of energy in the form of arc lightning, has the ability to control the flow of electricity to and from things, can control things that run on electricity and could, at the height of her power, even act as something of a battery, a power source. Â These powers make her a target, but luckily Sarah makes friends who help her fight and help her learn to control herself and utilize her new gift to help people.
In case you’re wondering, I describe Rumspringa thusly: Terminator meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Oh yeah. Â Oh yeah.
#24 – Flaming Turkey
Sometimes inbred rednecks will eat a parrot at Thanksgiving instead of a Turkey. Sometimes they’ll deep fry the parrot. And sometimes, just sometimes… that parrot will rise from the ashes and take revenge!
#9 Half Claw
(Continued from #8, White Ape.)
Half Claw: Inspired by a character from Andrew Penn Romine’s “How the Goddess Came to Spring Flowering Valley“.
Head of Law enforcement for Hanging Cloud City, a hulking White Maned Ape, armed with barbed fishing gaffe. (The nickname Half Paw is derived from his mangled paw, the result of an encounter with a water demon.)
Thank you Andy!
#24 Kulu Tactil
Kulu Tactilone tells him so.
He is the master of the art of Yon Do, the Path of the Whispering Tide. He knows parables to fill books, sees wisdom in the foam of the sea and speaks in fragmented sentences. He’s known the landscape of dozens of planets and still has no equal. He is enigmatic, unpredictable, intractable and untouchable. He smells like fish, but no
#23-Silverback
Evolutionary biologist Professor Martin Stahls was a meek man, quietly focused on lab results and the slow and inexorable progress of scientific discovery. But his quiet demeanor masked an inner life, where he was consumed by contempt and anger at the restrictions placed upon him by society and the depression of the knowledge of his own insignificance. Â When he is caught in a lab accident in the Nuclear Physics department and transformed into a giant atomic-powered gorilla, he decides it’s time that he stopped being afraid…and that everyone else should start.
# 24 – Amoeba
The amoeba was enlarged to a size of 20 feet in diameter through a experiment in Malk’s lab. It can expand itself greatly when absorbing foreign materials.
[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.]
#23 Witch-One
Witch-One
“I breathe through the city lights/ my soul permeates the air over city nights/ I’m a god/ and you a facade sellin’ fake shit to the people…†King Fantastic, Locals Only
Witches — or more accurately, “men and women of knowledgeâ€, are humanity’s only defense against bloodsucking top predators and shapeshifters, beasts that wear human form who hunger for the “shine” that exists in humans. the young woman who goes by the pseudonym Witch-One puts up tags and pieces that are actually spells and wards that she uses to protect the city of Los Angeles. Every tattoo and piercing that she has are enchanted to provide some kind of protection. The pun that is her street name actually helps ward off spells that try to divine her identity. When the caster says “which oneâ€, the universe registers it as a question, and those type of spells backfire.
Not only are there a lot of monsters masquerading as people in the entertainment industry, there are also humans who stumble on to dangerous spells and curses. Also, more celebrities than you’d think turn out to be changeling babies.
So Witch-One runs the streets, keeping humanity from being overrun with a spray can, a gym bag with some haphazardly learned spells secondhand ritual tools, and a glock filled with silver bullets.
#24 the mystic punk
with a zest for life and a big craving for fried foods, this rebel against universal harmony posseses a harmony all his own. and indeed seems to have great wisdom, when you can pry it out of him…
#24: 2099 Buzzer
This is the version of my Day 9 Character, The Buzzer, from the future. He’s got the same powers and everything, but he’s just way far ahead in the future.
Thanks, Xavier
#20 Captain
Captain is the very definition of exile. Her race is currently aligned as an exclusionary, militant, and abusive empire, wiping out worlds and civilizations on its campaign through the galaxy. Captain is originally from a low caste, slave turned refugee, turned infamous resistance leader. She is mysterious and cold, and even many of her friends suspect she never advanced past her species’ perceived evilness. Captain runs a large cruise ship that effectively acts as a refuge for outcasts of various races, hand-picked as worthy by Captain herself. This practice where some of her deeply hidden compassion is evident, though she appears to be creating something beyond just a sanctum.
Day #20 – Bill the Bohemian Candy maker
Bill is a travelling purveyor of exquisitly hand made confectionary delights. He usually doesn’t leave the fine continent of Northern America. But, on occasion he has been offered, and indeed acted upon, the educational and recreational opportunity of travel abroad. He has visited the wonderfully sunny beaches of South America where he learned the fine art of confectionary creation with sweet rice milk. He also was able to experience the orient in all of its wonderful majesty, whereupon he was bestowed with the ancient knowledge of distilling the sweet flavors from the fine flora that we know as Mint, Ginger and Menthol. Bill has never married and has no children, but he does enjoy getting them all wound up on his exquisitly hand made confectionary delights.
#24 Swordspell
When the strength of warriors fail, wizard blood takes up the sword. Darion Wyrdmaster is warned by the other sorcerers not to proceed, but the enemy army, a monstrous wall of force, is overwhelming- There is no other choice. He enchants his weapon with one of the few known Swordspells, and becomes a hero- Dealing out defeat to the invaders and then weeding out monsters and villains throughout the land. But there is a reason not to mix blood and magic, and soon Darion is fighting a battle for his soul.
Swordspell is © and TM Mike Dubisch
Visit me on the web at WWW.MIKEDUBISCH.COM and on FaceBook!!!
24 – Kinsmen by Beausephus
CHARACTER NAME: Â Kinsmen
DATE OF CREATION: Â (Original) 1991
CONCEPT: Â In this re-imagining of a character whose only powers is to mimic other people’s powers, the character is two robotic entities, each sharing the same “brain” (so-to-speak) but also having individual sentience. The male version of KINSMEN, is the energy conductor, his proximity to another being with super human abilities allows him/it to absorb a small fraction of that “power”. Â The male KINSMEN is also constantly recording movements and images and can process movements, voices, characteristics as well as powers. Â The male conductor, however, cannot really “do” anything with this energy/information and so transmits it to the female host for execution. Â The female robot is the being that actually uses the borrowed abilities and skills, but can only process and use the information, not absorb it herself/itself. Â I’m sure there’s a freudian or psychological aspect to all of this but there’s no deeper psycho-emotional overtones to the dynamic of these two characters since they are, essentially, one brain with two bodies….again probably some deeper psychological overtones there as well…
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The first version of KINSMAN was a second string character created to fill a gap in a super team full of extremes. Â His power was simply to “borrow” the basic energies of another character’s abilities and use them at a significantly lesser degree. Â He looked like a Gambit clone with silver hair… he was not really ever given much more in terms of purpose or backstory.
When digging through the old sketchbooks, this character and the basic notes on his abilities struck a new chord. Â Sure, “borrowing” powers is a cool gimmick, but it is a huge deus ex machina with no real limitation or definition. Â So what are the rules? 1. proximity. Â He has to be near the primary target he intends to “borrow” from. Â 2. Â Since the abilities are not his, he really is just channeling another person’s “energy” so the results he would get with someone’s lazer beam eyes would be foreign to him and thus he would not have practiced skill with the power. Â 3. Â The power is significantly lessened. Â If he borrowed Superman’s ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound, Kinsman would probably only make it halfway up the skyscraper.
Now in the quick thumbnail of the abilities it became clear that the whole proximity restriction really limited the effectiveness of the character strategically but also developmentally. Â Kinsman would just be another second string character like all of the C-class heroes who came to populate the Perez/Wolfman run on New Teen Titans. Â Annoying, secondary characters.
So, how could this character work? Â I thought about two characters with a similar power set then thought of Tomax and Xamont from G.I. JOE and that was it. Â One character absorbs the powers, the other character sues them. Â I also decided to throw in som Taskmaster-like mimicry of physical movements and some Mission: Impossible style vocal and physical impressions. Â Also, make them robots with the same basic personality which would lead to some interesting character development and interactions.
Visually the male Kinsmen robot has anime-inspired tech for capturing energy/data, and the female is the more physical entity in a design that I hope, communicates skill as well as brawn. Â I wanted to make them both seem alien and not exactly human. Â I wanted them to have longer, more slender limbs and necks, and I think that is best depicted in the line and shape of the female’s neck and shoulder. Â But I’m knit picking…
Thanks for checking out my stuff.
-Beausephus
Days 14-16 Nook, Tunk, S’more
#14, 15, and 16
Alignment: Neutral, Good, and Neutral
Energy Affinity: Sonic, Force, and Fire
Ignited felines
    Nook, Tunk, and S’more make up three of ‘The Five’, a group of five cats who control CosmiCat’s subdivision known as the Seven Streets. These three cats get along well, and aren’t interested in the power struggles that the other two of the five seem to be locked in.
    Nook runs a secret dance club for cats, and he has the power to manipulate sound. He can produce any sound he can thnk of, amplify or dampen sound, and launch a painful sonic attack.
    Tunk is super strong, but somewhat less than super smart.
    S’more is super fast and has super sharp and strong claws.
#24 La Loca (Team member of DR809)
Another member of DR809. La Loca is “the crazy one” in Spanish.
La loca is Rebecca Pons. A woman that has lived on the edge her whole life. The youngest on the team, she tends to not open up and express herself too much, but on the field she’s ready to kick butt. The Dominican government has chosen her because of her attitude and her quickness with her fists which can create and generate into powerful winds that only she can control.
Height 5’5 Weight:181 lbs. Age:17
Powers:
When she clenches her fists together, they can create and generate into power winds that she can only control. Hand to hand combat skills due to her exposure on the streets.
Personality:
She tends to isolate and be alone. Displays confidence on the field. Not a fan of authority. Michelle Rodriquez with a bit of Milla Jovovich.
#30Characters Chatter…