Category: 2011
#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
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.
Day 13- Circuit
#13- Circuit
Alignment: Good
Energy Affinity: Electricity
Ignited feline
    Circuit’s human was the head of a successful electronics research and development company. When her human passed away, she secretly took over operations of the company- doing everything through text messaging and email. She invented the Hyper Armor Lazer Cat suit of high-tech armor which her mate, Spot, wears. She and Spot work closely with a group of vivified animals called S.H.E.L.L. (Secret Herd of Extrordinary Lower Lifeforms).
17# Drunken Dangle
Snoopy and Droopy are my favorite cartoon dogs by far. Drunken Dangle is an alcoholic mutt who don’t care about nothing but his liquor and getting into crazy adventures. Enjoy everybody. One….
16# Herman Claw
Heathcliff cartoon was cool, he was one tough Mofo. This character is based off Heathcliff and his name is Herman Claw. Herman fight dogs , he kill them and skin them as well. Herman Claw from time to time eat other cats. Enjoy everybody. One…
Day 12- Specter
#12- Specter
Alignment: Good
Energy Affinity: Psionic
Ignited feline
    Spectre has appeared to help CosmiCat several times. He materializes out of nowhere, and vanishes completely once satisfied that CosmiCat is safe. He has been seen walking through solid objects and floating midair. He has demonstrated psychic powers.
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 He can cloud an opponant’s mind, making them confused and unfocused. He can preform a pschic attack that directly affects his victim’s mind- either through a beam emitted from his forehead, or a stronger melee attack through his claws. He communicates by sending his thoughts directly into other creatures’ minds. This transmits emotions and thoughts and does not require a common language.
#24 Chili, Pepper, and Spice
These three separate personalities make up one heck of a jerk. Chili, the lion head, is quiet, but has a very nasty temper. Pepper, the goat head, is very sneaky and manipulative. Spice, the snake, is very relaxed and rarely voices his own opinion in the matter. While the three rarely can agree on anything, Pepper tends to take the leading role via her smooth talkin’.
15# Go Go Always Changing Ultra Sheriffs
Yes, I watch the Powers Rangers. When they first came out it was cool but they kept it going and and going and it made me sick, yuck but I still watch if I’m a little bored . These character are based off the Power Rangers they are call Go Go Always Changing Ultra Sheriffs. They’ll do the same thing like the power rangers but the show would be bloody, that’s all. Enjoy everybody. One…
14# Major Earth
Captain Planet cartoon was ahead of  it time. This character is based off captain planet he’s call Major Earth. Captain Planet was a nice hero but not Major. Major Earth is an militant Eco green freak he’ll hurt you if drop one gum paper wrapper on the ground. If you spit on the ground we’ll make you lick it off the ground. Major Earth is no joke , “The power is not yours” . Enjoy everybody. One…
Day 11- Shades
#11- Shades
Alignment: Typically Neutral, sometimes evil
Energy Affinity: Darkness
    Shades are the most common denizen of the Realm of Shadow. They are not able to cross through the dimensional barrier on their own, but are quite good at finding holes and cracks to slip through. They have no actual physical form and are incapable of doing much harm. They do sometimes attempt to posess other creatures. This almost ALMOST always ends in failure. In fact, it often benefits the victim, as they gain certain darkness-related powers. The Shades willpower is usually not strong enough to influence it’s victim in any way.
13# Fearless Bold
Bravestar was a cool cartoon show at the time, I love the intro for the show. This character is base off the show and he’s call Fearless Bold. the powers he would have would be like (speed of an thief) (eyes of an Peeping Tom) lol . If you watch the show you know where i’m going with his powers, 🙂 . Enjoy everybody. One….
Day 10- Power Platypus
#10- Power Platypus
Alignment: Good
Energy Affinity: Air
Enhanced Platypus
    Tenny Platt was a fairly unremarkable young man. He was an average student who lucked into an amazing job as an assistant to a world renouned archaeologist. While exploring a ruined temple, Tenny found an ancient gemstone. The gem was absorbed into Tenny’s body, releasing the energies inside into his every cell, giving him the might to become Power Platypus!
    Powers: Flight, Super strength, Super endurance, and electro-blast eyes.
Note: Power Platypus lives in a world of cartoony anthropomorphic animals, totally seperate from CosmiCat’s Earth.
#16 – 21 Z-Girl And The 4 TIGERS
Taking a Que from Daisy Chan/dazdays most recent post ( which if you haven’t seen it, go see it because it is killer awesome! As are all of her posts! ) I am putting multiple characters in a single piece to get back on track.
This holiday themed winter battle scene showcases the main characters in the independent comic book Z-Girl and the 4 Tigers which is created by Jeff Marsick and myself. The following is a brief description of each character. The creature they are fighting is not from the book but a character I created for this image:
Starting from the top left corner and going clock wise the characters in this piece are:
CODE NAME: BLACK TIGER:
The Black Tiger spirit is the oldest of the Four Celestial Guardians and is master over winter and water. Michael Wallace is the current host of the BlackTiger spirit and the team’s operations commander, a position he has held for several centuries. Like Zombie Girl, Wallace’s origin is unknown and the explanations of his longevity and innate healing ability are shrouded in mystery.
CODE NAME: Z-Girl:
Legend holds that the father of Taoism, Lao Tzu, followed the stars to a barren field in Mongolia where, in an unmarked grave, he unearthed a mystic woman who had been buried alive. Nameless and without memory of her past, Lao Tzu trained this highly-functioning zombie to be the leader of a group of Chinese warrior spirits, or Tigers, for the purpose of combating monsters and demons that threaten to wipe out humanity. Along the way, the highly-functioning zombie seeks answers to the mystery of her origin and is in perpetual struggle to keep her innate flesh-eating urges under control.
CODE NAME: RED TIGER:
The Red Tiger spirit is master over summer and fire. On the team, Red Tiger functions as weapons specialist and sniper. Secretly, the Red Tiger is also responsible for dispatching Z-Girl should she ever revert to baser instincts and become a threat to her team or humanity. How this secondary responsibility came about is unknown. Valerie Tardiff is the current host of the Red Tiger spirit and the team’s relative rookie, having recently assumed the spirit after the death of the prior host while quelling a zombie uprising in Mumbai.
CODE NAME: WHITE TIGER
The White Tiger spirit is master over autumn and metals. The original White Tiger was the disfigured son of Yin Xi, the Prefect of the Western Pass who had asked Lao Tzu to record his teachings of Tao. Killian O’Bannon is the current human host of the White Tiger spirit and as an innovator of battlefield technology, he is the team’s engineer and mechanopath.
CODE NAME: BLUE TIGER
The Blue Tiger spirit is master over spring and earth. Over the centuries and through dozens of reincarnations, the Blue Tiger has fought his eternal enemy, the Hindu bird-man, Garuda. Eric Taylor is the current human host of the Blue Tiger spirit and serves as the team’s medic and combat mage.
CREATURE DESIGNATION: SNOWZOMBIE
SNOWZOMBIE are ancient creatures that are conjured by a mystical race of transient demons known as the GORE. GORE can only exist in our plane of reality in frozen and extreme cold conditions. They lack any physical bodies, and because of that they create SNOWZOMBIES to do their bidding. GORE were very rare and encounters with their SNOWZOMBIE creations even more rare. However, with global temperatures dropping due to climate change, their appearance in our plane of reality has been on a dramatic increase.
The Z-Girl web site has a lot more if your interested:
#22 Richard Morse – Promoter
The most important thing about managing a restaurant is not the chef. It’s not the ingredients or the kitchen or the staff. In fact, I’ve found that when owners focus too much on their food, the restaurants tend to suffer for it.
No, the most important aspect of a restaurant’s success is advertising and publicity. A good restaurant will survive pretty much anything, but it will never be the toast of the town by itself. However even the worst greasy spoon can have a three week waiting list to get in, if they have the right talk about them.
And that’s my job. I take the restaurants that no one has ever heard of and make the rich, famous, and powerful fight to get through their doors. Usually it’s a pretty simple task. Drum up some publicity, get tongues wagging, and eventually the masses start beating a path to the door. Most times it’s as easy as getting the right reviewer to show up and have a meal. Other places take a lot more work.
I remember one little restaurant that was like that. It was a cockroach-infested rat trap that health department was one inspection from shutting down. The owners didn’t want to spend any money. They just wanted to squeeze as much out of the place as they could before it was closed. I was working on shoestring budget with no resources. Luckily a major studio was filming a movie in town. I hired two out of work actors, a cheap and readily available commodity, made them up to look like the movie’s leads, and had them eat a romantic meal at the diner. I took some pictures, leaked them to the tabloids and the fervor tripled the place’s business. Every time the stars denied the relationship, twenty more people tried to get reservations at a restaurant they wouldn’t have used the john in the week before.
Now some people call me an opportunistic filch. But I’m not. The market is ruled by the law of supply and demand. The food’s the same as before, I just dress it up nice and increase the demand.
#20 – The Antlered Macaw
Ah, the extremely rare antlered macaw…
First described by Sir Archibalderdash Higgs in 1836.
Often frequents Japanese bath-houses, which are hard to find in the Amazon. Its cry sounds like a microwave’s buzz, and it smells vaguely of sweat and figs. It lays two eggs per clutch, one of which is always blue. The blue one is inevitably devoured by predators, owing to its conspicuous color, so no one knows if the blue egg is fertile. No antlered macaws have ever been successfully raised in captivity.
Day 09: Popoki-Lau
#9- Popoki-Lau
Alignment: Good
Energy Affinity: Poison
Vivified, Enhanced feline
    When Hawaiian housecat Keilana happened across an enchanted mask, it transformed her into Popoki-Lau. Ages ago, Lau was a druid who poured her desire to protect plant life and her magic powers into a tribal mask. Now, whomever wears the mask finds it difficult to resist the mask’s influence to defend life. The mask also grants powerful, plant-based magical abilities.
Vine whips, thorny growths, enhanced strength, naturally toughened skin and grass and bark armor, regeneration as the wearer’s body is transformed into 100% vegetable matter. They can temoprarily add mass to their body through nearby plants, and burrow rapidly through any terrain that could support plant life.
#24: Vanael
Coming out of a Dragon Age binge… or at least attempting to. Anyway, here’s Vanael, a rather cheeky elf who knows exactly how his appearance effects others and exploits it with great pleasure.
#24 Ghede Masaka
“He is an androgynous or transgendered male gravedigger and spirit of the dead, recognized by his black shirt, white jacket, and white headscarf.”
His companion comes next!
#20,21 May & Boss
May and Boss are great pals and they look out for eachother. Ironically, May acts more like the boss sometimes…but Boss is happy to obey.
*A bit lack of creativity in my recent posts cus they’re more like little caricatures I’m doing of friends in my life….regardless…this was a fun one to do!*
#23 Flora Blackwell
I really don’t know how to explain how I got here, standing in my best friend’s apartment while washing blood from my clothes.
(It’s not mine or hers.)
I guess it started a few years ago when I was ten. The Puberty fairy came to me early, which wasn’t a very happy event. Imagine waking up one morning and not only does your chest hurt but it is apparently alive and growing and something is bound to burst out of your chest and you’re going to die a horrible death. I didn’t take it well, needless to say. That’s not the point, or the whole point. My point is, puberty is already hard to begin without adding freakish powers into the mix. That started when I was just about to enter high school. I suppose that it wouldn’t have been as bad as it was at first without those powers, so I do suppose I am grateful for them. Without those powers, I wouldn’t have been doing so poorly, letting my grades slip while I figured out what the hell was wrong with me. Without my grades slipping, my parents wouldn’t have noticed how badly I was suffering (not that they were completely inattentive, but some things did slip out of focus for them). Without my parents noticing, I wouldn’t have met Riley.
Riley is the best thing to have ever happened to me, and I wouldn’t trade anything in the world for that, even to be normal.
(I’ll stop here about her, because otherwise I will go on forever.)
Do you want to know about this freakish power? It’s getting to be a growing news topic. Some people have even figured out the source of it. You might not have heard about it, but there used to be a town called Bramley. Long before I was born, my mother used to live there. She can’t remember too much about the explosion, only that it had been on a hot August night, so humid that your clothes stick to your body and you can’t get comfortable. That’s really the only thing she remembers about that night because the resulting explosion made everything meld together.
Oh, I should actually tell you about my power. I can heal people. I know you think that it’s a little lame, but it’s really not. I thought at first that – aside from it being absolutely strange and horrible – there wasn’t any real use for my power besides in a passive setting. Then I learnt something the hard way.
I can bring the dead back to life. (I just wish I could get the blood out of my shirt.)
It doesn’t work on all dead bodies, I’m sure. I haven’t had a chance to break into a morgue and test on someone embalmed or otherwise preserved, but I do know that it doesn’t work on those who have been cremated (alas, poor Snuffles, I never knew ye). But the freshly dead – they’re game.
Riley thinks I should test my power to the extreme, but I’m not a big fan of that idea. I know how my power works, but I don’t see the point in doing something probably illegal to figure this out. I’d rather take the chances to test my powers as they come. I can raise the dead, and I can heal any injury – including a crossbeam through my spine, but that’s an even longer story.
Riley’s other plan is one that I am surprisingly OK with, despite it basically painting a huge target on my back. I am also not a fan of Spandex, but I managed to talk her out of that one. It hasn’t stopped her from designing a superhero outfit for me, though. I also won’t have a choice when she finally does design one that I like. I can’t say that I am a big fan of these “sexy nurse” ones, or the ones that look like Superman’s threads mated with Sailor Moon’s.
(The Templar Knight one wasn’t bad, but she crumpled that one up a long time ago. Oops.)
Do you want to know more about me? I don’t see why that is of much interest to you. I’m nearly done my undergraduate degree and am terrifyingly aimless, except for Riley’s idea of making me into this town’s superhero (which wouldn’t be bad, considering the number of shootings in certain areas). Don’t ask how I’m supposed to support myself while doing that. Just because I can heal myself doesn’t mean that I can go without sleep. I still have a lot of anxiety issues, but Riley is wonderful in helping me with that (and insists that this “gig”, as she puts it, will help even more, but I don’t see how that will work). I still live at home with my parents, which is why I’m still in my best friend’s bathroom trying to get a once-dead-man’s blood out of my shirt (I think it’s a lost cause now).
My name is Flora Blackwell, and I no longer wish I could be normal like you.
Day 23: Wallbreaker
Michael Spade was once part of the outlaw adventurer group known as The Division. All but Spade and the groups leader Neuron were killed in an incident along with several other heroes involving an alien invasion in 1975. That and the subsequent metahuman prohibition act caused Spade to go underground and assume another identity. He became a logger and even got married and had a daughter. However the government eventually caught up with him in 1999 and Spade was captured. He was approached with an ultimatum by his former team leader and current leader of MEGA, Neuron to either join the group or face a minimum sentence of 30 years. Spade chose the later, and became a begrudging member of the group. Although his ability to alter his molecular density makes him valuable, he is also the groups loose cannon due to both the annimosity he has for the government, and his general distrust he has for Neuron.
Day 23: Goldie
Too tired to do too many details LOL apparently last night I messed up the hand on the chick I drew 😛 This is Goldie…the fate of a lonely goldfish.
#30Characters Chatter…