Superhero of the Month - Robert Schilling's Archangel

Congratulations Robert Schilling, who pulled a come-from-behind win to become December's Superhero of the Month!

Archangel by Robert Schilling

As winner of the Angel contest, Robert has the option of guest-judging January's Black Cat contest. Additionally, his submission will go on to be part of our first-year anniversary extravaganza.

I'd like to thank and congratulate everyone for their artwork and participation. I expected this contest to be a bit slower with the holidays. Instead, we consistently were fed amazing artwork. This contest was a joy to hold.

I'd like like everyone to give a special round of applause to Lee Chen Fang. This contest had 127 votes cast -- there was a seven vote difference between Robert and Fang's entries, with Robert scoring 54 votes (42%) to Fang's 47 (37%). The race between the two was tight almost the whole way. It was exciting to watch, so congratulations to you both for a job well done. And an enormous congratulations to Robert for his win!

Good luck in the Black Cat contest to you all. Have a safe and happy New Year!

Angel Finalists

Here are your finalists for Superhero of the Month's Angel contest! Joining me in judging the entries this month is our Robin winner, Daniel Heard. Daniel has also won Project: Rooftop's Captain America contest, and snagged the first place prize in their Batman 2.0 contest. Having illustrated books and comics, he definitely knows a thing or two about redesigns. We're happy to have him here judging this contest. Be sure to check out his website!

Superhero of the Month is proud to present the Angel contest finalists!

Archangel by Lee Chen Fang

Alex - I really like the bone-themed armor on the arms. It's probably my favorite thing about this piece. It's so simple, but so effective. I also like how much of the original Archangel color scheme is retained, yet used in a completely different way."

Angel by Hector Barros

Alex - Simple, yet effective. The open-back design solves the problem of how he gets his uniform on, but also adequately covers him. I also love the effective use of the white and blue -- they balance each other perfectly.

Archangel by Robert Schilling

Alex - Haunting. What always bothered me about the original Archangel costume was the use of pink, which I hardly found intimidating for the Horseman of Death. It works really well here, though. The much thinner lines and patters give me the idea circuitry, giving Archangel a sort of cyborg feel. It helps me with the idea of his humanity being drained. And those wings! I could go on forever about those!"

Archangel by Craig Payne

Alex - Simple and effective. The use of the white reflects an Archangel freed and redeemed from Apocalypse's service, but tied to that dark chapter of his life. But he definitely looks heroic and angelic in the white suit."

Angel by Kevin Prieto

Alex - Another design that seems to make use of the open back for Warren's wings. The armor on the wings is a cool concept, especially considering his past as Archangel and utilizing the concept of armor into his normal state. For some reason, I also really love the boots. They seem heavy and ready to deal out a kicking or two.

So there you have it! Thanks to everyone who submitted. This contest has set the bar high for the Black Cat contest. Vote for your favorite (Arch)Angel in the poll on the right of the page. Voting closes December 30 at 11:59 PM.

Good luck to all our finalists. I hope to see you all back soon!

Sponsor Spotlight - Dan's Comic Shop

A year and a half ago, Dan's Comic Shop opened it's site with one purpose: to bring comics and games to as many people as possible.  


In the past year, they have bought and sold a large number of comics and cards to people all over the world. Their number one focus is on their customers, trying to find whatever they are looking for, and doing it for the best price possible.

In addition selling new and old comics, cards, and special orders, Dan's Comics have many programs in place.  The Comic Collector's Club allows members to subscribe to their favorite comics for 25% off of retail.

Cover art to Spider-Man vs. Black Cat

 Subscribers are simply invoiced when a new issue comes out, and their comics are shipped it right to their door -- no watching calendars or tracking new releases necessary. Dan's Comics also offers the opportunity to subscribe to an entire event, meaning customers will automatically be invoiced for the comics that are part of it, such as the recent Blackest Night. Best of all? Free shipping for customers that spend over $40.  


In addition to comics, Dan's also has an extensive collection of Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh! singles. They are always buying new collections and adding to their stock of comics and cards.


For the Black Cat contest, Dan's Comics is providing two Spider-Man collections featuring Felicia Hardy's alter ego for the winner: Spider-Man vs. Black Cat and Spider-Man/Black Cat - The Evil That Men Do.

Cover art to The Evil That Men Do

In addition to their shop website at http://www.danscomics.com, Dan's comics can be reached on Twitter, Facebook, and additional deals can be found on their eBay store.



For all the details on the Superhero of the Month Black Cat contest, please check out our Official Contest Announcement. Be sure to check out the Guidelines before submitting. Any other questions can be directed to superheroofthemonth@gmail.com.

OFFICIAL CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT - BLACK CAT

Art by Terry Dodson. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Since first appearing in 1979, the most significant "costume change" Felicia Hardy's alter-ego, the Black Cat, has had is how far her neckline plunges. In just over thirty years, her costume has relatively stayed the same.

It's time for that to change.

Constant features of Felicia's costume have been the black cat suit, trimmed with white "fur" around her neck, forearms, and calf of the leg. She also typically has worn a necklace "collar," as simple as what is seen in the image to the left, or as radical as a spiked one you'd find on a Doberman.

With so few changes, January's challenge to redesign the Black Cat should have ample opportunity for creative changes in her costume.

The Black Cat contest is sponsored by Dan's Comic Shop. Dan's Comics has been open for a little over 18 months with a singular goal: to bring comics and games to as many people in the world as possible. Customers are their number one priority. Check out Dan's Comics at their official website, and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

For this month's contest, Dan's Comics is putting up a copy of Spider-Man vs. Black Cat and Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do for the winner.

The contest will be judged by myself, Dan of Dan's Comics, and our very special guest judge and Black Cat fan Dan McDaid, artist of Dr. Who! The winner of the Angel contest also has the option of joining us at the (proverbial) judge's table!        

Submissions are due by Saturday, January 22 at 6:00 PM MST. E-mail them to superheroofthemonth@gmail.com. As always, submissions will be accepted between now and the 22, and posted as received. Voting will be held between January 27-30, and the winner will be announced January 31. Be sure to check the submission guidelines for additional details!

Reworked Archangel / Update

After everything wrapped up, Héctor Barros sent me a re-tooled version of his Archangel redesign. While the one that was submitted before the deadline is the one that stands for consideration in the contest, I thought it would be cool to share this as we finish up the judging for the Angel finalists.

The Angel finalists will be up soon. Keep your eyes peeled for that, as well as the official announcement for the next contest!

Angel - End of Submissions

The time for Angel submissions has officially passed! What a contest! I honestly thought that with the Holidays things would have slowed down a bit, but we rivaled the amount for the Robin contest. There were a couple of great entries from people that submitted before, and a bunch of first-time submitters, with submissions coming from as far as Germany and Spain! 

I want to thank everyone for their hard work and their participation in the contest, everyone from submitting to commenting, and everyone that visits the site. Superhero of the Month is getting off to such a great start thanks to each and every one of you!

Stay tuned to the site. Last month's winner, Daniel Heard, will be assisting with the judging duties. The voting round finalists will be up soon!

Angel Results - Part X

Editor's Note: We made it to the end! This will be the last post with Angel contest results. I'll keep updating it today as needed. Be advised, 10:00 PM is the cutoff for all Angel/Archangel entires!

Angel by Ashley Cseterki

"I tried to go with a more simplified design, incorprating elements of his Excalibur and Thunderbolts attire for their more sky-oriented color schemes. I'm not a fan of the darker-and grittier Marvel renditions, so it was nice to make a cloud-themed Angel."

Ashley also sent us a progress sketch, which can be viewed at the right.


With hours left on the clock, we've received another entry that toys with the idea of Warren forming his persona literally on angels, which is the first time that concept was called out in the contest, although it may certainly have been an influence in some of the other submissions.

Angel by Mayon Maxey

"For my Angel Redesign I was going more of a regal concept, with Warren taking on a more religious approach.  I would have to say I was moving more towards how I would envision an archangel."

Update - 12.21.2010, 10:37 PM


Editor's note: I originally posted this as a late entry, but there was confusion regarding the cutoff time. Arlen sent it in thinking he was clear, but because I never specified a time zone, he missed the cutoff from my point of view. Because of this technical error on my part, Arlen's art is being featured in this post as, for all he knew, he was in the clear. Future cutoffs for contests will be clarified. Thanks!

Angel by Arlen Raitt

"My take on the more modernized Angel, rather than the classic spandexy look.  Many designs I've seen tend to make him more stripped down,  even as simple as a pair of pants and no shoes. While this is a more angelic look, his power is that he simply has wings, nothing else which could protect him from the elements. It's cold up there and wind chill is a serious threat. He would need goggles at the very least to keep his eyes open. I gave him a jacket which could be zipped up to cover his face up to the goggles, and sleeves which would seal over his gloves. His pants would function similarly.  I made them zip-able, so as to not be too constricting when he wasn't flying.  The new X-Men designs with the yellow and black uniforms always apealed to me. It provided a sense of unity to the team. I did, however, feel that the team had to much rubber piping/tubing and leather in the outfits, so I tried to keep it from looking to heavy/leatherish."

Let us know what you think in the comments below! While you're doing that, be sure to check out Angel Results - Parts I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX. There have been a ton of amazing entries this go-round that have really set the bar high. Good luck to all of you, and thanks for contributing to Superhero of the Month!

Angel Results - Part IX

Today was a busy day. When I got to my inbox, I had these two phenomenal entries! First up comes an Archangel from Lee Chen Fang:

Archangel by Lee Chen Fang

"Warren, who is currently trapped in a state between Angel and Archangel, is fighting hard to keep the Archangel within him from emerging. He is on the run from the people he loves and cares about, fearing he might hurt them unintentionally, and from the henchmen of Apocalypse who wants him back to bring about the end of days. He's become the Avenging Angel of Death on his journey of solitude."

Lee also provided some of his sketches, showing his process in drafting his Archangel:

Then I had these from Héctor Barros, who prefaced his e-mail stating that these are "just sketches." Well, Héctor, your sketches are amazing! First up is his take on Archangel:

Archangel by Héctor Barros

"Based on vultures and eagles (especially, the Bearded Vulture, quite common in Egypt). The wings are more a weapon than a flight system (I´m pretty sure that he flies somehow... "magically", not flapping metal wings)."

Héctor took advantage of the option to redesign Warren in both his Angel and Archangel personae and provided his take on Angel, too:

Angel by Héctor Barros

"Clean lines, saturated color, based on a dove or a swan. My main concern was the need for an open back on the suit. The big X on the chest reminds of the Halo thingie...kinda."


UPDATE - 11:34 PM


Checked the old inbox again and got another redesign. Check it out!

Angel by David Karrow

"I am really into Victorian redesigns, but held back a ton; I realize steampunk sorta stuff can be a bit much. So I toned it down and kept it pretty streamline. I figure that [Angel] is basically as rich or richer than Batman, so why wouldn't he have the gear one needs to really fight crime, protect his people, or do whatever X-Men do?"

David sent us a really high-res version of his redesign, which shows the detail on his eye/ear piece. It screwed with the site to load it, so here's the detail he sent us, so you can better see it:

Pretty amazing stuff all around. What do you all think? Let us know in the comments below, and check out Angel Results - Parts I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII and VIII!

Angel Results - Part VIII

Manny Aguilera returns with his take on Angel!

Angel by Manuel Aguilera

"When I think about any of the original core X-characters, I go back to the beginning, design-wise. Their costumes should have a uniform feel to them. I could easily see this working with all the originals. At its core it's a superhero suit--none of the extemporaneous seams, zippers, or and bells and whistles being used these days. This is me getting as far away from blue and purple with razor wings as I could get."

Cool stuff! Let us know what you think below, and don't forget to check out Angel Results Parts I, II, III, IV, V, VI and VII for all the past entries!

Also check out Manny's progress and early sketches for his Angel redesign. It's pretty cool to see the work that went into this! (If anyone else has progress sketches/designs, let us know! I'll gladly link to them!)

Angel Results - Part VII

Archangel by Ross Radke

"Originally I was going to do a classic Angel, but I decided to go with Archangel because it gave me freedom not to worry about realism. I always get hung up on the fact that there is no way Angel could get into his costumes with those big wings, but with some sort of alien biotech suit grafted onto his body, along with the wings courtesy of Apocalypse, I could free myself from the constrictions of practicality and just make something I thought looked cool.

"Basically just an updated version of the original Archangel costume, with some tweaks here and there. Wanted him to look fierce and beautiful, like a bird of prey. The pink lines are now more like cracks, revealing some sort of mutant fire burning inside the Horseman Death."

Ross' alternate colors

Another great design! Let us know what you think in the comments, and check out the past Angel Results here: Parts I, II, III, IV, V, and VI.

Update - December 20: Ross sent in some of his preliminary sketches, which can be viewed at the right. Ross said these are "sketches I did when I was originally planning on redesigning the original Angel. I was going for a sort of snobby, rich-kid look. The chest piece would be strapped on over the neck and across the back."

Again, it's cool to see the steps taken in these redesigns. I think it'd be cool to see Ross' original take back-to-back with his Archangel submission. The differences are astounding but appropriate considering what the character goes through. Well done!

Angel Results - Part VI

Archangel by Robert Schilling

"I have to be honest, I didn't really know much about Angel other then the fact that he was a side character in the third X-Men movie. So I wiki searched and found his story of working under Apocalypse as 'Archangel' really fascinating.

"I wanted to go for a darker look since he's supposedly Apocalypse's 'Horseman of Death' and gave him a design that was technologically more advanced considering, Apocalypse made Archangel the suit and pair of wings. I also tried to stay true to the original color scheme."

I think this is really cool. I always found the original costume with that color scheme a bit goofy, but this redesign takes it and makes it work. What do you all think? Sound off in the comments, and check out Angel Results - Parts I, II, III, IV and V!

Angel Results - Part V

Kevin Prieto returns with a killer traditional take on Angel!

Angel by Kevin Prieto (aka Nameless Enemy)

"I hate to admit, I didn't really get very far into the X-men universe. It's not because I hate Marvel or anything, it's just DC was a little more my thing. So, to not feel like a jerk for even touching this character, I had to wiki the crap out of him, make sure I wasn't doing anything illegal by him (I'm sure I still did but eh, thems the breaks). Whenever I play these redesign games, I like to think of it like someone came up to me and said 'okay,this is what this character does and this is his basic appearance description. Draw'. So, just like with my Robin submission, this is more based on the concept of Angel than on any actual incarnation of the character."


Like all of the entries so far, this is astonishing. Let us know what you think in the comments below, and check out Angel Results - Parts I, II, III and IV!

Angel Results - Part IV

Archangel returns, creepier than ever!

Archangel by Paul Limgenco

"I concentrated on the time when Archangel was still under Apocalypse's influence, and by influence, I mean physical and mental torture, and altering his appearance a little beyond making his skin blue.  I always thought that Apocalypse saw himself as a(n) (Egyptian) god, so I decided to redesign Archangel "In [his] image."  Since Archangel's original metal wings covered his feathered ones, I made an exoskeleton concept that is similar to the idea of bionic legs, which strengthen Archangel's wings, but designed to look like a bat or dragon's wings are built, reflecting a bit of his demonic side, the opposite of angelic. Since he has no bladed feathers to shoot, I gave him a spear, because they're cool.

"As for the ridiculous helmet, I wanted to make an interesting silhouette that looks creepy, war-like and un-ordinary so that when he flies in at night to kill the X-Men, he looks a little more intimidating than somebody wearing a tight, blue hood."



What do you think of Paul's take on Warren Worthington III? Let us know what you think in the comments below, then check out Angel Results - Parts I, II and III for past entries!

Angel Results - Part III

Today's entry comes all the way from Germany! Check it out!

Angel by Oliver Röppnack 

"I had a hard time coming up with a suitable design until I was browsing through my collection and grabbed hold of an old New Gods issue. That´s when I got the idea for a 'Kirby-esque' Angel. Long story short, this ones dedicated to the great Jack Kirby. Hail to the king, baby!"


Nette Arbeit!* Let us know what you think of Oliver's work in the comments, and check out the most recent Angel redesigns in Parts I and II below!


*I really don't speak German. I just typed in "good work" on freetranslation.com and this is what it gave me. I really hope it doesn't mean anything offensive. :)

Angel Results - Part II

Warren Newsom returns with a new take on Angel!

Angel by Warren Newsom

"I’m an old-school X-Men fan. My favorite team is the original team. When the first X-Factor series came out and reunited them, I was ecstatic, but then they turned Angel into Archangel and that kinda left me cold. I prefer Warren with the feathery wings. I like him to look superheroey AND angelic, so I gave him armor. If he’s going to have a weapon, it should be straightforward and not something shooting out of him or his wings, so I gave him a short sword strapped to his wrist for handiness, and to keep with the angelic theme. I always liked his red costumes best, so I stuck with that, but I thought gold would look better than white, and – again—would be more angelic."


Let us know what you think of Warren's scarlet-and-gold Angel in the comments below! And while you're at it, don't forget to check out Angel Results - Part I!

Angel Results - Part I

The first (Arch)Angel has arrived! Check it out!

Archangel by Craig Payne

"I clothed him in mainly white to give him a heavenly/angelic look. I tried to make the piping on the costume echo the pink pattern on his original Archangel costume."
 
I have to say, I really like the black/white color scheme. Definitely feeling this.


What do you all think? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to get your Angel redesign to us by December 20!

Angel Redesigns on Film

Now that the Robin contest is behind us, we can look onward and upward to the Angel contest that was announced back on November 23.

Like we did with Robin, let's take a look at a couple of examples of Angel's costume being redesigned for the screen.

Like, hate, or "meh" X-Men: The Last Stand, one thing it didn't do was give us an interesting Angel redesign! In fact, the dude basically spent all of his screen time flying around in a pair of jeans. The only time he's actually seen in an X-Men uniform is in promotional materials. (Left; this image  is actually a cropped Mexican poster I found on Google.)

Sadly, it doesn't stand out from the rest of the X-uniforms either, aside from a couple of holes in the back. Really, this was a squandered opportunity--much like the film in general, some would argue.

As we saw in the Official Contest Announcement, Warren has had some pretty atrocious costumes over the years. But check out his threads from X-Men: Evolution (below).

What I really like about this costume is the "X" shape the black portion makes. It's reminiscent of the Frank Quietly Emma Frost redesign, emphasizing the "X" without having a standardized logo. 

The only thing I'm not particularly fond of is the mask. It should either cover his hair, or he should ditch it entirely.

Be sure to send us your Angel/Archangel redesigns by December 20. Remember, you can send us one each of Warren in his Angel and Archangel personae. They'll be posted as we receive them.

Do you know of any other Angel redesigns? Let us know where SHotM readers can them in the comments below!