Jamie Gambell – 30 Characters in 30 Days
Thank you all for the kind words about the characters created and posted for this challenge.
Thank you to all the artists who helped me out – you were all amazing!
Thank you all the challengers for making this such a great event!
Thank you, Tyler, for making it all happen.
Here’s the 30 – http://www.30characters.com/author/jamiegambell/ – see you all next year!
For those wanting to see what’s next for the characters created, and the Hero Code, be sure to check out the website – http://www.herocode.net – thanks!
#31 – The Folded Eye
The Folded Eye – number 31. I wanted to add about 3 or 4 more of these, but a new job started which has kicked into my time, so I’m going to have to bail out at 31.
I’ve been very lucky to have worked with some amazing artists on this challenge, and have had a really great time, thank you all for the kind comments everyone!
I’ll get around to add the other characters some day soon… so keep ’em peeled.
#29 – White Shade
Two versions on this design – above is version one, below, version two. Which do you prefer?
Interesting that the two artists both went for white hair… I think it works, so will have to update the character sheet at some point… or maybe her hair turns white when she is using her powers?
#25 – The Benefactor
Who is this mysterious man in the shadows?
Well, this character sheet offers some answers… but not all!
#23 and #24 – Mister Neat and Mister Tidy
I grew up on spooky English shows where budget’s were pretty non-existent and the props people had to be inventive. For some reason this made the ordinary always seem more unusual for me.
I was channel a combination of Roger Hargreaves Mr Men books and the television show Sapphire and Steel on this one – and Jonathan got the vibe instantly!
The art is from an unused page in issue one of The Hero Code – something which was re-worked and dropped, but might make it’s way into a future issue.
#20 – The Occultist
This is a character which I jotted down in 2009 – started to work on creating way back then. I had ideas of stories – pulp fantastical stories, told as newspaper strips or in hyper-compressed Golden Age style books.
Here’s one of the earliest designs I did for the character:
As the idea for the character grew, I had this plan to have him break through the fourth wall, and to find himself lost in other comic book realities – to have him appear in other stories, to have other indie creators put out their own books with him in. The idea was to have him fight his way back, breaking free of the last constraint – copyright – and become a creative commons character.
Sadly – he got ahead of me, and about 7 or 8 months after I’d added a sketch like this to my deviant art page -Â http://jamiegambell.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2glsde – Dark Horse Comics announced their own series, called The Occultist.
I don’t think anything was shady about this – the characters are very different. It is frustrating, though.
NB – I spoke with Dark Horse a while ago, and they said that I was okay to use the character, name and all, as long as I didn’t put out a book with that title and have his name appear on the cover.
Not sure where I stand with having the character appear in published work – does a DA posting count?
Anyway – here he is – The Occultist.
Art by Andrew Ross MacLean – this is a splash for a book I was planning, seeing different creators’ offer their take on the character… maybe one day…
#19 – Mutter Deutschland
I’m adding this tonight in case I don’t get the chance tomorrow.
You see, it’s the Elves Faire tomorrow. And then in the evening it’s Coma Con – where my friend Javier Hernandez is premiering his new book, The Coma – a fantastic, Ditko-esque adventure through the mind.
Just in case I don’t get the chance…
But I’ll let you into a little secret – I’ve done more than 30 characters (I’m such a swot!) so I may post another tomorrow.
G’night all!
#16 – Front Line
That’s right, kids, get in gear!
Nazi super villains need super patriots to punch them in the face, right?
#15 – Herr Stuka
The second arc of Hero Code sees us flash back to an earlier team of Active Code carriers – WWII to be precise.
War comics were a big part of me growing up, and I really thought it would be great fun to set a story back then. I know everyone and his dog has done it, but that doesn’t stop one from trying and hoping to get something new come out!
#14 – Sensess
I love this image, by Drew Moss (http://www.drewmossart.com/) – really nice vibe for the character. The bottom image is the original turnarounds for the character, by Dan Smith.
#13 – The Mannequin
The Mannequin started out as a kind of puppeteer character, sending strange creations after the heroes from the safety of his base of operations, or setting death traps – part Puppet Master part Arcade.
He kind of built up though to something more interesting, I think.
I love how Marco makes him look like Buster Keaton almost, blank faced and tragic.
#12 – Myth
Character 12, Myth. Now this is a complete redesign from the very earliest sketches of Myth, done by Drew Johnson. The original design was a little more operatic and a touch cheesecakey – something I’m not that into.
Drew took the idea of the combined mythologies and ran with it, designing someone who looks like a Norse goddess raised by Greek gods before being banished to Earth!
#11 – Agent Calzone
I love James Bond! I love Steranko’s Nick Fury! I love over the top stories of suave super spies saving the world against armies and armies of crazed would-be conquerors!
Calzone is the man that stands between us and the Soldiers of the Army of Fallen Titans. We’re in good hands!
#10 – The Living No-One
Anyone who know me, knows how big a fan of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World characters I am. In particular the design of Darkseid – if I get sketches from artists, it tends to be of this character.
When we started working on the Hero Code, I really wanted a big, malevolent character in the background, up to no good, out to destroy the universe – this is my Darkseid, and Jonathan nailed it!
When I saw this design my first though was “wow!” followed quickly by “this would make a great action figure!”
One day…. one day…
#9 – Soldiers of the Army of the Fallen Titans
Bad guy would-be world conquerors should be backed up by as many faceless techno-soliders as possible – fact!
#8 – Mister 23
Ah, mustaches – aren’t they great? Not sure what it is about this design I like, but I do, and I’m sure the mustache isn’t hurting any.
Speaking of mustaches, Jonathan created a fantastic mini-comic called Jesop King – The Hunger. It’s beautiful done, great fun, and just filled with wonderful moments. You can read it on his blog here.
I recommend you do. It’s fantastic.
#7 – The Three
Hive minded villains are always creepy, right? Especially when they all talk using the same voice, or their eyes glow when they get angry, right? Taking over small towns and putting entire populations into stasis while they go about their grim work, building techno-organic gateways to the worlds between hell and damnation.
That’s these guys.
#6 – Binary
We really wanted some younger characters in the series, but really liked the idea of having one of the youngest and smallest being a very powerful character.
Plus children who transform in to super-strong monsters are always cool!
#5 – Scissor
And here is the last of the femme fatale threesome, Scissor! Quite the formidable trio!
#4 – Paper
Number 4 – Paper! I had a really hard time picturing this character, and a harder time describing her to Jonathan! I was this close to scrapping the idea all together, worried that I was forcing it because of the names of her team mates.
I had a vague notion about what I wanted her to be able to do, but ended up describing a mummy, a whip-handed woman and a two dimensional paper cut out at different points!
Luckily Jonathan saved the day!
#3 – Rock
One of the things I loved about the Bronze-age Marvel books which I read as a child, was the seemingly endless supply of villains which at the end of every issue would appear, normally yelling out some threat, or smashing something to get the heroes tired attention.
We wanted to create a team of bad guys (or gals) who embodied just that sense – a kind of absurd “you cannot be serious!” moment, tempered with a realization that these people are bad and want to hurt the good guys. That they may actually be a threat!
Tomorrow and Saturday will see Rock joined by her team mates…
#2 – Black Wraith
The idea behind the Black Wraith was simply “what if The Avenger’s John Steed had become Batman”
His tagline is “Looking good just became a super power”.
#1 – Optiman
And we’re off!
With Optiman we really wanted to get a sense of childlike wonder – as though you were not only entering a nostalgic world of comic heroes that you vaguely remember from when you were growing up, but also a sense that this character was feeling the same.
You just know, deep down, that this is a good guy – no hidden agenda, no borderline psychosis – just out and out one of the good guys!
#30Characters Chatter…