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Welcome! 03/05/2016
Welcome, everyone, to the new 910CMX Community Forums. I'm still working on getting them running, so things may change. If you're a 910 Comic creator and need your forum recreated, let me know and I'll get on it right away. I'll do my best to make this new place as fun as the last one!
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heroesofcrash
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Everything posted by heroesofcrash
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TheHeroesOfCRASH.com It's that time of year again...! Halloween is here, and my heroes are in costume. For the first time in a while, I'm just drawing my main three. Getting back to basics. Making it a two-parter was partly out of necessity; I've been busy with job stuff and trying to crank out quality Inktober drawings (I've gotten a bit behind; I'll try to catch up during the weekend!), so I've had less time to devote to my comic than usual this week. So, I decided to begin the Halloween filler a bit early, and split it up between my 10/21 and 10/28 updates. As usual, my characters tend to follow certain themes while deciding their costumes. Belt Boy always dresses as a superhero, but has yet to wear a single DC or Marvel costume. Cannon always wears a costume that allows him to modify his helmet (He has spares). And Titanium Maiden always dresses up as a redhead. With the new anime My Hero Academia gaining popularity, I took notice. One character, named All Might, appears to be a perfect costume for Belt Boy. They're both blonde, often shown grinning heroically (and both often do so to hide their weaknesses), and wear an all-American red, white, and blue color scheme as a nod to many famous American superheroes (such as Superman, Captain America, and Wonder Woman, among others). Only thing All Might is missing is an awesome cape. Belt Boy always pulls off superhero poses, and I thought that showing off his specialized entertainment center remote deserved such a pose, especially in his super costume. Cannon is dressed as Shovel Knight from the video game of the same name (A game I own, but have yet to beat. I highly recommend it, though). As a major consumer of nerdy media, it's no surprise Cannon would dress as a video game hero, nor is it a surprise that he's amassed such a huge Halloween video collection and organized it. For the record, the two musical movies he's referring to are Rocky Horror Picture Show and Little Shop of Horrors (Unless I missed any good Halloween-appropriate musicals?*). While I watch a lot of Halloweeny movies this time of year, Cannon can probably stand much scarier movies than I can. Most of what I watch this time of year is animated (Like Nightmare Before Christmas... which I guess counts as a musical too. Maybe he categorizes the animated musicals seperately...?) or a spooky comedy (Like Ghostbusters). You won't catch me watching something like Nightmare on Elm Street; that movie scared the crap out of me when I was a young and impressionable.** Titanium Maiden's costume is a bit esoteric. While looking up redheaded characters to dress her as, I found a picture of a bunch of redheaded Disney characters, and in there was Pepper Ann. That seemed like a good, nostalgic fit for her costume, so I did a google image search, and found an image of Pepper Ann's superhero alter-ego from the dream sequence in her opening theme montage. This version of Pepper Ann seemed like an even better fit for Titanium Maiden, mainly due to her physique being a darn good match for my comic's heroine. So here's Titanium Maiden as "Super" Pepper Ann. By the way, a good number of those pizzas are for TM; while she tends to eat normal-sized lunches, her Amazonia physique burns a lot of calories, so she eats some sizeable breakfasts and dinners. Anyway, expect part two next week, readers! See you then! All Might and My Hero Academia are the copyrighted property of Kohei Horikoshi/SHUEISHA Inc. Shovel Knight is the copyrighted property of Yacht Club games. Pepper Ann is the copyrighted property of Disney. I only did the art, and I own Belt Boy, Cannon, and Titanium Maiden, as well as The Heroes of C.R.A.S.H. Please don't sue me. *A side note: Cannon's not a big fan of opera, so don't bother mentioning The Phantom of the Opera or Repo! the Genetic Opera. ** I was around 20 at the time.
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TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Still trying to regain access to my site. Between work, my comic, and Inktober, I haven't had much time to fix the problem, but I'm working on it. At least I can still post on social media, and I have some time freed up this weekend *Knock on wood*. *UPDATE* My site is updateable again! I spoke with my webhosting call center and got things taken care of. This week's comic and last week's comic are on the site right now. :-) Anyway, in today's comic, Belt Boy's friends continue their search, unaware that he's a good distance away from the school, with Necros gloating over him. Will they find him? Stay tuned, readers! You might look at the next-to-last panel and think that Necros' Necrobots are behind him. You might look and think that the shadow is Belt Boy imagining the Nightmare Necros he saw in his bad dream from the previous night. Well, it's honestly kinda both. Those are, indeed, Necros' Necrobots (the shape lacks Necros' eye scar, and the neck and head don't look all skeletal), but it is supposed to remind you of Nightmare Necros. Quite the spooky coincidence for Belt Boy!
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Winning Contest Entry 5/21/17 - HoC/SailorSun Crossover by CD Rudd!
heroesofcrash posted a topic in Heroes Of Crash
theheroesofcrash.com I'm back from a fun birthday weekend, and so instead of my usual Saturday Morning update, we have a bit of a "Sunday Night Special"! I proudly present the winning entry - or rather, entries - to my Fan Art Contest's Traditional Fan Art category! CD Rudd, creator of the webcomic SailorSun.Org, has done a bit of a crossover (and not the first one!) between my cast and his! What would happen if Belt Boy, Cannon, and Titanium Maiden were to hang out with Honey, Bay, and Auction Guy (respectively)? By the way, Bay has nothing to worry about; Belt Boy is, indeed, only pointing a camera at her. He is in full control of any weapons on his belt, and he's too innocent to even consider anything else she might be suggesting (This IS a PG-rated comic, after all!). You can see his individual drawings on my website, and you can see a link to his webcomic (with a brief discription) over at my Links page! For winning the contest, CD Rudd has won the right to choose the subject of the next HoC Desktop, and I'll be sending him a little sketch in the very near future. Also receiving a sketch soon will be devoted HoC fan TheSlugCar, for his creative "BonnieBot" entry (Which answers the question "What would happen if B.O.N.N.I.E. downloaded her brain into a MON-type Necrobot?"). Thanks for the awesome fan art, guys! This was a great birthday! :-D One last thing: Due to a lack of entries, the Generated Fan Art Contest has been extended! If you submit a video game avatar that resembles one of my characters by 11:59 PM (EST) on Friday, May 26th, your entry will still be considered for the contest! You could win a sketch, or I could create a cool drawing based on your entry to be publicly displayed on the site! Whether it's a Mii or a Sim or whatever, you have almost a week to make it! -
TheHeroesOfCRASH.com A head's up; at the time of this initial posting (Early Saturday morning, after midnight), I am unable to connect to the website, so I'm just posting this week's comic to social media for now. I'm going to try again tomorrow; perhaps my site is being finicky (I'm hoping that's the case, *Knock on wood*). In this week's strip, Belt Boy seems to have underestimated Necros. Either he's not thinking straight after lots of stress and repeated blows to the head, or he's activated his own gadgets' self-destruct mechanisms by mistake in the past. Or both. Either seems pretty likely. Like me, Belt Boy's not good at lying. Still, he totally has his own mix of superhero theme music, so he could turn it on right away and make it so he's not lying. Might also be good for him to listen to my "Playlist of C.R.A.S.H." that I created on Spotify (And that a fan re-created on YouTube) last summer. If you're new to my comic and haven't listened to my playlist, I highly recommend looking it up on either site!
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TheHeroesOfCRASH.com So close, and yet so far... Belt Boy had a good plan, but it seems Necros realized exactly what he was up to. The question remains - how is Belt Boy going to get that disk away from his arch-nemesis? Belt Boy and Necros are both competant fighters with an array of gadgets at their disposal. Belt Boy has worked hard to not use his gadgets as a crutch in battle, so he'd be tough to beat if he were ever disarmed - or rather, dis-belted (assuming his pants didn't fall down around his ankles without his belt to hold them up). Still, Necros seems very much like a ninja, relying on stealth and - as one can see from his first encounter with Belt Boy - precise strikes. While Necros has less variety in his arsenal than Belt Boy, his devices are made for very specific purposes, while Belt Boy seems to have a gadget ready for any situation. And while that fact might seem to tip the odds in Belt Boy's favor, it's important to keep in mind that Necros' BUG-type Necrobots are used to spy, infiltrate, and sabotage (which means that Necros knows more about Belt Boy than Belt Boy knows about him), while his NRM- and MON-type Necrobots comprise a large, powerful army. In other words, Necros can out-fight, out-strategize, and outnumber Belt Boy. If Belt Boy wants to save his hide - let alone beat Necros - he's gonna need something to tip the scales back in his favor. Anyway, if you like this week's comic, be sure to leave a comment and let me know! Or better yet, share it around! I always like getting new readers!
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TheHeroesOfCRASH.com At last! Belt Boy seems to be forming a plan. It may hurt, but not as badly as he'll get hurt if those Necrobots keep swarming around him! Can Belt Boy retrieve the portal generator disk, or will Necros finally triumph against our hero? Stay tuned, readers! After some delays and computer slowdowns, earlier in the week, I wound up spending most of my Thursday drawing this week's comic. I got pretty ambitious with that upper corner; I had to come up with four unique poses for Belt Boy to fit into four skinny little panels, and make it clear what was happening in each one, so it took me a few attempts to get the poses right. Also, as much as I love the character design I came up with for the Necrobots, they take a while to draw, because of all the details in their skeletally-inspired anatomy. If you're enjoying my comic, please share it around! I want more readers, and sharing is the way to make it happen!
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TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Just when Belt Boy thinks he's got the upper hand, it seems that his foes have the upper claw! How can he stop an army of Necrobots on his own? Stay tuned, readers! The title of this comic was intended as a reference to a song from my favorite movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit* - not a song by the same name from the cartoon series Batman: The Brave and the Bold. However, one of Belt Boy's lines in the first panel IS a reference to Brave and the Bold**. While I've never been a big fan of Batman himself (I'm not a big fan of overly-brooding superheroes), I find his villains entertaining, as well as the other heroes that the dork knight teams up in every episode of Brave and the Bold. I also appreciate the fact that the series is a love letter to a bygone era of comics, the occasional fourth wall break, and the fact that one episode had Weird Al Yankovic and the Scooby Doo crew. While I'm very proud of my designs for the Necrobots, they are one of the hardest things in my comic that I have to draw, especially when I have to draw an army of them! Between that and panel size, you're not likely to see a whole bunch of them in one panel. One think I find fun is that BB's hair seems to smooth and re-frazzle with his mood. As a cartoon, his hair isn't just hair: it's plumage! By the way, am I the only one who imagines hearing the word "plumage" in Michael Palin's voice whenever they read it? If you enjoyed my comic for this week, please like it and share it! I also wouldn't mind some comments, even if it's something as simple as "Nice comic!" or "lol". I takes whatever praise I gets! *Oddly enough, Who Framed Roger Rabbit doesn't have a "?" at the end, because that's supposed to be bad luck for a film title in the movie biz. Fun trivia! ** It's also a good excuse to use alliteration, which I love to use.
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TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Looks like the heroes are ready to search for Belt Boy and end their squabbling... mostly. Will Enticia and Dino-Mo ever see eye-to-eye? Can they find their missing friend? Will anyone ever answer Jackknife's question from a few storylines back as to why we drive on parkways and park on driveways? The answers to at least two of these questions are coming, so stay tuned! Titanium Maiden has kept MOST of the group from arguing with each other, but it looks like she's still going to have to play referee. To be fair, Dino-Mo is pretty much mad at most of the people here, almost everyone has a beef with Enticia, and Gelatin Boy is nervous around both his friends AND Enticia's team. There's only so much she can do to stop potential conflicts. I'm still fiddling with my characters' proportions a bit. I kinda like how they look if I make their heads a bit larger, which makes them a bit more toony and makes their expressions easier to show. I often find myself resizing Dino-Mo and Enticia's heads while sketching out these comics - it's easy for me to draw Enticia's head too big and Dino-Mo's head too small.
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TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Titanium Maiden seems to be sorting out the best way to keep everyone under control as they search for Belt Boy. Cannon seems to be abnormally concise in his speech. And Jackknife appears to be the obnoxious pain in the butt that he usually is. Will these groupings work out? Will they find Belt Boy before he flips out or gets clobbered by Necrobots (or both)? Stay tuned! In today's strip, Titanium Maiden is showing off one of her best qualities: she can be level-headed when everyone is freaking out. Of course, when it comes to personal problems, her anxiety comes out to party. Both of these aspects of her personality come from me... it always seems easier to calmly deal with other people's problems than with your own. Cannon's usually shooting off his mouth even more often than his weapon, but surprisingly, he's only got one word to say in today's comic. Between this and his revealing his missing hand, Cannon's acting awful uncharacteristic of his usual self. This is because Cannon has two traits that occasionally conflict with each other: his self-centeredness and his loyalty to his best friend, Belt Boy. Right now, his concern for his friend has overridden his need to make snarky one-liners, and most of his sensitivity regarding his hand. Until he knows BB is safe or until he feels a need to defend himself, Cannon's probably going to be stuck in this mode. I think that Unk and Jackknife make an unusual pair. Jackknife has all of Cannon's obnoxiousness, but none of his charm or moments of selflessness. It makes you wonder why a nice guy like Unk hangs around him at all. While it's not evident whether Jackknife sees Unk as a friend, a sidekick, or a lackey (or some combination of the three), Unk is generally the easygoing type who will put up with a lot. I think to some extent, he listens to Jackknife just because no one else will, and Unk knows how it feels to never be listened to.
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TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Cannon and Titanium Maiden rarely see eye-to-eye, let alone get the same idea without having to say anything, so this is an unusual situation indeed. I was going to show the flow chart with the words "mad" and "afraid" on each arrow, but it didn't look right. I was also considering making the "afraid" icons purple, like Fear in the movie Inside-Out, but yellow seemed better for this picture. I really love how Titanium Maiden's poses look in this comic. I think I got her physique looking better than usual; sometimes arms are tricky, especially around the elbows. I also love the facial expressions she's making, particularly in the last panel. Although if she closed her eyes, you'd think she was mimicking an Emperor's New Groove meme.
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TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Seems that Belt Boy's grade is more serious than his friends thought. And you can tell that Cannon's being serious because of what he's drawing attention to. Can Cannon - with the help of the other heroes - save his best friend from having a meltdown and/or getting his butt kicked by Necrobots? What is the mysterious accident that befell Cannon? Will Jackknife manage to not be a total pain in the butt? Stay tuned for the answers to these questions and many more, readers! Belt Boy's situation is based on a personal issue I had back in school. When I was in elementary school, I always got good grades pretty easily (Outside of "timed tests" in math, where you had to do as many simple math problems as you could in one minute. That took some practice.). But when I went to junior high school, I found myself being really challenged for the first time. There was a lot more information to read, especially in science and social studies, and it didn't always stick in my head so effortlessly. This was the first time school REALLY started to stress me out. Being the genius type, Belt Boy absorbs knowledge as easily as I did back in elementary school, so if his grades slip, you can tell his head's not totally in the game. We haven't seen much of Cannon's right arm stump throughout the series - pretty much just a brief scene in the storyline The Dating Scheme. Between that and a brief mention in The Obligatory Origin Story Flashback, it's apparent that Cannon doesn't like to talk much about his missing hand, so if he's drawing attention to it - especially in front of his hated rival, Jackknife - he must be MAJORLY worried about Belt Boy. Still, he's sensitive enough about it to make sure everyone knows not to bring it up. I tried to make sure that the other characters' reactions in the final panel showed off what kind of characters they are. Jackknife is a superficial jerk, so he's weirded out by Cannon's arm stump. Titanium Maiden stands rigidly, trying to not make any movements or facial expressions Cannon might find offensive when he's being this personal. And Gelatin Boy may be one flavor of gelatin, but he's 31 flavors of awkward, so he's not as good at playing it cool. Originally, Sugar Rush was going to be the the third hero instead of Gelatin Boy, and she was just going to say, "Nope!". But because of how everyone was standing in the last strip, I decided to use the next person in "line": Gelatin Boy. I wound up changing GB's line from "Nope!" to "What missing hand?" at the last minute before saving this comic; I felt it fit his personality better and let us go out on a small joke that doesn't undermine the feeling of awkwardness and tension that permeates the final panel. Also, Cannon's head pose in this panel was totally inspired by the Peanuts characters, whose movie I was watching while working on this. I'm feeling pretty tired, as I pulled an all-nighter following a busy week in order to finish today's comic on time, so I'm gonna hit the hay. Or at least fall asleep with my finger on the Z key of my keyboard. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
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Comic 8/12/17 - Too Annoyed for a Proper Question Mark
heroesofcrash posted a topic in Heroes Of Crash
TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Seems Belt Boy's definition of "doing poorly" on a quiz is not the same as everyone else's. But Cannon seems genuinely worried - why is that...? Stay tuned, readers! I could have had them all say, "WHAT?!?", but I felt that just using a period conveyed their annoyed tone of voice better. Much as I love making exaggerated, toony characters, I also love understatement. While I posted about these guys on some of my social media accounts already, I once again would like to acknowledge all the people I met at Lehigh Valley Comic Con, and hope that you'll check out their websites and social media pages. So here they are again: - John from Frugal Mule Games, from whom I got a fun caveman-themed card/dice game called "Stoned". I also understand they have pirate- and space-themed variants coming out, so keep your eyes peeled! - Super Comic (Official), whose superhero comic I totally want to get next time (Or maybe even online); for now, I got one of their neat figurines of their main character, Blitz. She's on a team of young, inexperienced superheroes trying to make a name for themselves. Gee, I wonder why I find THAT so interesting...? *Knowing wink!* - Artist Joseph Wigfield of WhatWouldWigDraw.com, who - to answer the question his URL poses - draws a lot of things, but is particularly known for drawing superheroes as pugs. Because pugs are awesome, adorable little furry meatballs, and putting them in comic art instantly makes them better. - Artist D Forrest Fox, who has made a lot of cool art prints. My personal favorites include ones based on the Rankin-Bass holiday specials: I've got my eye on the Miser Brothers; that would be a great picture to hang up around the holidays (And everyone knows I'm a festive fanatic every December 1st!) - Artist Darren Auck, who's worked on many a comic book for big name companies. I particularly like his work on Nickelodeon properties - specifically Rocko's Modern Life and Ren & Stimpy! - Artist David Bancroft of DMBillustrations.com, who does some rather pretty prints, sketches, and portraits! He's also self-published the zombie coloring book, "The Coloring Dead", for my friends who like zombies. -
TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Despite the fact that I've still been having a few computer issues and more than a few thunderstorms keeping me from working on my computer for long periods of time, I haven't been slacking off with my comic. In fact, I'm working on promoting it so that I can reach a wider audience! First of all, in addition to the Facebook group, I have now given The Heroes Of C.R.A.S.H. a proper Facebook page (Admittedly, when I was starting out, I wasn't really sure of the difference between the two), which you can visit by clicking the Social Media button on my site's home page. Second, if you've been following my Facebook group, I'm going to be attending the Lehigh Valley Comic Con today! It's been a while since I've been to a small convention, and while the big ones like Wizard World are a lot of fun, I love how small cons are more relaxed and less crowded, so I'm looking forward to it. Third, while I'm there, I'm going to be handing out some sweet new business cards that look like what I've posted today, with some additional info on the back. If you are reading this AFTER Saturday, August 5th because you saw my Facebook page or got one of my cards at the convention, WELCOME! I hope you enjoy my comic, and that you'll visit my Social Media links to spread the word about how much you enjoy it!
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TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Seems that Cannon, of all people, has stumbled onto Belt Boy's secret...! What grade or comment is on that test? What will he do with this information? Is "Sweet and sour dipping sauce" a good exclamation? Stay tuned, everyone? While I'm trying to do better with drawing anatomy, I try to balance it out with style. In panel two, I let Gelatin Boy get a little off-model to showcase his rubbery-ness. He is made of gelatin, after all, so I tend to have a bit more fun with "squash and stretch" on him than any other character in the comic. I love the fourth panel. The lighting, Cannon's facial expression, and (as I have often used in the past), those tiny words in a large word balloon to indicate a hushed, yet anxious tone. I wanted to give him some exclamation to say, and I knew it had to start with "Sweet" (Like any exclamation spoken by Hermes from Futurama). The first thing that popped into my mind was "sweet and sour dipping sauce", and so it went from there. I can't help but wonder if my idea was subconsciously inspired by Gravity Falls' Dipper "Lord Dippingsauce" Pines.
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TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Not much to say that I haven't said in today's filler. Keep following me on social media to stay posted with everything that's going on with me and with the comic; if I'm ever unable to post to the site, I'll let you know what's going on through Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook. Speaking of the interwebs, if you haven't done so already, please contact your representatives as well as the FCC and tell them to keep Title II and Net Neutrality. Otherwise, my webcomic, every webcomic, and just about anything that people create on the 'net could be in danger. Do your part to protect freedom of speech!
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TheHeroesOfCRASH.com It seems that B.O.N.N.I.E. has pointed out a flaw in Belt Boy's logic, but whether or not her comment will sink in has yet to be seen. Watch the angst, BB - you don't wanna go all "typical DC movie" on us!* After some computer hardware repairs, lots of predicted lightning storms, and me being exhausted, today's comic almost didn't get uploaded on time. I was tempted to go for another filler - I was thinking of having Belt Boy or TM follow up on Wednesday's Net Neutrality message in a filler featuring a parody song, turning Walk the Moon's "Shut Up and Dance" into a song about Net Neutrality. The phrase "Net Neutrality" fits into the song pretty easily. But I decided against it; I've been doing very few fillers in the past year or so, but I broke my streak a few times in April/May, and I wanted to stay on track. So, I kept Wednesday's message up and put this week's comic beneath it. Still, with all those delays, I did most of this week's comic in one night. It's nearly 5AM as I'm writing this, so I hope you appreciate my dedication to getting my comic updated on time with a proper canonical comic! Fight scenes are still a bit tricky for me, but I'm pretty happy with BB's poses in panels 2 and 4. I really wanted to make him look like he could use his own fighting skills AND his gadgets at the same time, rather than relying too heavily on one or the other, or switching between the two. Back to Belt Boy's angst that I referenced in the first paragraph, but putting jokes aside... I don't think of Belt Boy as a particularly "angsty" character. But I do think of my comic as being like a Saturday morning cartoon, and even funny cartoon heroes can have a breaking point, or moments of seriousness between the laughs. This is particularly true in today's cartoons, where Steven Universe, Gravity Falls, and even Gumball can have dramatic, poignant moments. Similarly, BB's been a bit less of a goofball since Necros appeared. Don't worry, though; he'll be back to joking and being zany soon enough. *Not Wonder Woman, of course. That movie rocked. :-)
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http://TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Seems that there's still plenty of arguing amongst Belt Boy's friends back at C.R.A.S.H., all of them unaware that their friend is in danger. Will they be able to settle their differences? Will they focus their anger on Belt Boy after those promises he made? Will Titanium Maiden get some aspirin for that headache she's clearly getting? The answers to these questions and more will be coming soon, so stay tuned! At one point, I considered having Gelatin Boy interject in Comic #670's argument between his teammates, asking if he had any say in the matter and his friends all shouting "NO!" at him. However, that didn't seem entirely in character for him; he's still the type to avoid confrontation, be it among friends or foes. I keep needing to remind myself to draw Enticia's earrings whenever I draw her. It's a little detail that I don't always think about. I'm sure someone could browse through my archives and play "Spot the Missing Earring", searching for panels where I accidentally drew her without it. I believe I skipped the earring throughout the Gym-Nauseum storyline, but to be fair, I think she would take them off when going to the gym. The title of today's strip refers to both Unk and Titanium Maiden. I enjoy subverting tropes and cliches - neither of my super-muscular characters are stereotypical "muscleheads", nor are they brutes. Unk is fairly quiet and zen, while Titanium Maiden has had (and still has) quite a bit of shyness and awkwardness to overcome.
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Comic 7/1/17 - Memory Lane Goes Through a Rough Neighborhood
heroesofcrash posted a topic in Heroes Of Crash
TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Hey everyone! I'm back, and so is the storyline! I hope everyone took Dexter's words to heart about calling your senators during his filler last week. Anyway, on to today's comic! You'll no doubt see a few familiar scenes in today's comic, including TM dodging rubble from the Gym-Nauseum storyline, or Belt Boy feeling defeated from near the end of Van-Ishing Act. But a few scenes seem out of place or unfamiliar, as do a word or two. I'll only give one hint; take a good look at Cannon's hand in this picture; something seems off about it...! I'm rather happy with the thought balloon here. Like Belt Boy's daydreams and memories, this flood of negative emotions and memories has some yellow tint to it, specifically some darkened yellow in the background. -
TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Greetings, devoted readers. As mentioned in the filler for June 24th, Josh has been rather busy this week, so he's delegated some of his duties onto yours truly. For this week's website update, I have opted to make a public service announcement in response to these frustrating political times in which we live. While I hope you take my announcement seriously, I'm sure you will be pleased to know that Josh should once again be on-task this coming week, and the next update should return you to the Heroes Of C.R.A.S.H. storyline in progress. We apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you. Josh usually adds additional commentary on social media, so I shall do the same and go into further detail with each of the 6 items on my list. 1. All bills need to go through both congress and the senate. The current healthcare bill - if it manages to pass through the senate - will once again go to congress, since the bill has been changed since the last time congress voted on it. Congresspersons matter; DO NOT FORGET THEM. Furthermore, it typically takes less than a half hour to call your congressperson and both your senators, even if you speak to all three at their local AND Washington DC offices, so you can make time. 2. Politicians have public relations teams to see what people are saying about them online. Tagging them in posts on Facebook and Twitter will get their attention, especially if many people do the same. 3. Josh has been more than content with the Countable app (a free app, I should add) because it's very simple. It tells you about upcoming bills, tells you why people like it or hate it, then lets you "vote" on it and send a short comment to your representatives. No political jargon, no difficult menus... it makes politics easy for the layperson to understand. 4. Be aware that the Resistbot and the aforementioned Countable app will request some of your personal information - such as your name and zip code - so that they can send your messages to your representatives with your name on it. They are both legitimate means of contacting your representatives, but I feel that this bears mentioning to those of you who are wary about the information you reveal to the internet. 5. Trust me; you won't run out of things to discuss with your representatives. One look on your social media feed, and you'll see that there's always a new story breaking or a new commentary on a particular issue. Feel free to directly quote any articles or comments that personally speak to you if you have trouble coming up with something to say on your own. 6. As Josh's personal assistant, I particularly want to stress that you should be respectful toward politicians' assistants. They're just doing their job (whether the politician they work for does THEIR job, however, remains to be seen). If, for any reason, an assistant is rude to you (an unlikely - but still possible - event), make sure to get their name (which they probably gave you as soon as they answered the phone) and let another staff member know. I hope that this was of additional assistance. Best of luck to you all! Sincerely, Dexter
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TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Necros does, indeed, enjoy monologuing, as we've already established, but he doesn't want to be one of those villains who monologues to the point of giving the heroes adequate time or information to free themselves from a bad situation. He never liked that old cliche. Also, it's the return of the classic Necrobots! While they can be a bit of a pain to draw, I'm rather proud of their design. Part skeleton, part cobra, part velociraptor, part scorpion, part mantis, and all bad! Inspired by the armies that other superheroes had to face - such as the Ninja Turtles' Foot Soldiers or the Power Ranger's Putties - their initial design was more mannequin-like and not terribly threatening. Then, I made some redesigns based on a robot from a drawing book called "Anatomy for the Fantasy Artist", giving it a mask-like head, more segments in its joints and body, sharp claws, and a thin, gaunt body. I felt like I was getting closer, but it needed more tweaks to look even more threatening. I wound up cherry-picking physical traits from other creatures to look more bestial until I came up with its current design. By making them look part-animal, Necrobots appear as though they have the killer insticts of beasts but with none of the emotion. Like many supervillain armies, Necrobots are fairly weak... at least, in terms of defense. However, their lanky bodies are fast, agile, and can strike quickly. Those wiry frames can dish out a lot more damage than they can take, so a lone hero - especially a physically- and mentally-exhausted one like Belt Boy - is in serious trouble dealing with a large group at the same time.
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TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Necros is a level of evil that deserves a lot of symbolic, artsy backgrounds whenever he speaks, if the last few strips are any indication. While Necros does love evil monologues, he's very careful about what he gives away to Belt Boy - moreso than most villains. He's given him just enough information to make our hero doubt himself or become paranoid, but he doesn't know how Necros is able to spy on him and his friends. Of course, we all know from the Gym-Nauseum storyline that Necros is able to use the cameras mounted on tiny BUG-type Necrobots (First seen 5/8/12, and first named 5/10/12), but he hasn't revealed this to Belt Boy. That's what seperates Necros from other archvillains; his speeches are more than simple brags and gloats where he reveals his plan to the hero. He knows just what information to withold so it's not used against him, and what to reveal in order to use his knowledge against the hero. His speeches are psychological warfare.
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TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Uh-oh! If Belt Boy's confidence was shaken before, Necros has REALLY struck a nerve now! If you recall the last storyline, you probably have a good idea as to how Necros knows about Belt Boy's quiz, but our hero is shocked that his foe has learned his secret. While little is known about Necros, I will say this: he generally looks down on a lot of superhero genre cliches, but even he can't resist a good villain monologue... as long as he's the one making it. A lot of heroes and even more villains enjoy hearing themselves talk, after all. But when Necros is able to turn his words into weapons against his foe, that's the kind of villain speech Necros savors most of all.
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True, but Necros could also have busted out the rest of her team, just as he did Miss Sunflower, after their last arrest. Belt Boy doubts that Necros needed to give Sunflower the added incentive of freeing her teammates (as he mentions in the second panel), when vengeance (or possibly just mayhem) would have been enough of a reason for her - or anyone else in her squad - to go after him. In Belt Boy's mind, he believes that Necros could have sent the whole team after him, five-against-one. But Necros wanted to tempt Belt Boy with a smaller threat - one that he might not think he needs his teammates for - in order to get him by himself.
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TheHeroesOfCRASH.com We now return to our regularly scheduled program! When we last left our hero, Belt Boy was nervously staring down his arch-nemesis, Necros. But stress and a recent battle have left our plucky protagonist a bit shaken, and Necros can smell his fear. Will Belt Boy be able to face his fears and his foe? Will his friends be able to hash out their differences? And for how long will Miss Sunflower be nursing that headache? The answers to these questions and more will be revealed in the upcoming installments of... The Heroes of C.R.A.S.H.! By the way, due to a lack of entries, the Generated Fan Art Contest has been cancelled. Thank you to everyone who participated in the Traditional Fan Art category. :-) Feel free to send me some fan art during next year's contest, folks (Although I appreciate fan art year-round!).
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TheHeroesOfCRASH.com As the title suggests, Belt Boy may not be near the proverbial frying pan, but he's definitely in the fire. An awkward argument between friends is nowhere near as tense as a battle for your life! I'm pretty happy with how the last panel turned out. The only thing I wonder if I should have done differently is skip the red/green coloring. You'll notice that Necros, once again, has the evil shade of lime green by his face, while BB counters it with red. There's but ONE WEEK LEFT to enter my birthday fan art contest! I'll be posting the winning entry a day late, since I'll be engaging in some birthday festivities that will have me away from my computer. If you want to enter, do it by 11:59 PM on May 19th! Check out the Rules page for more info!