Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Superhero of the Month: Joker Little's Nolanized Penguin

Congratulations Joker Little on an amazing, decisive win! With said win, Joker Little's entered into our Superhero of the Year contest, and has the option of joining us next month as a guest judge.

This month's contest was judged by Alex and Taylor of the Superhero of the Month staff, Andrew Asberry, comic reviewer for Batman-News.com, Craig Payne, winner of our Avengers Contest, and Ross Radke, winner of our Doctor Octopus contest, with commentary provided by Alex, Andrew, Craig and Ross.

Joker Little's Nolanized Penguin - 42/50
Alex: One of my favorite pieces that was submitted. After seeing Penguin as a pretty ruthless gang leader in Arkham City, I could buy this grisly version of the character, albeit sans the tattoos -- those just aren't doing it for me. I love the glassy, blind eye, though. This was one of three that I scored a 9/10 this go-round, and in spite of the things that didn't work for me, I'd have scored it a 10 if I could see the whole character.

Andrew: Perfect really. It's a Penguin that's fresh and interesting and one that would fit within Nolan's more grounded interpretation of the Dark Knight legend. I like the white hair so much that I now think it should become a staple of the character. I hope that Mr. Little has this framed on a wall somewhere, it's really beautiful. 

Craig: This was one of my favorite redesigns in the contest. Joker Little's artwork was fantastic on this piece. He has managed to capture the Penguin's exaggerated features while at the same time making it believable. The use of the simple leather jacket and white t-shirt works well and is a great visual nod to his traditional tuxedo, and the disfigured eye is a great substitute for the out of date monocle. The prison tattoos are a great addition and fits in really well with the character. A well deserved win.

Ross: First, this is an amazing piece of artwork. Since my familiarity with Penguin is mostly the creepy Burton version, I see where you tried to take this in the Nolan universe. The nose, hair and eye work. What doesn't work for me is the leather jacket, which reminds me more of a decrepit old Arthur Fonzarelli than an mobster or whatever Penguin is supposed to be. The tattoos seem sort of arbitrarily slapped on.

Check out the round0up of the Top 5 after the jump!

Monday, July 30, 2012

OFFICIAL CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT: DAREDEVIL [Updated]

Art by Greg Land
"The Man Without Fear", Daredevil really is unique among superheroes considering he's legally blind. Much like pre-New 52 Barbara Gordon, though, Matt Murdock doesn't let this setback get the best of him, and uses his unique abilities to fight crime in one of the toughest parts of New York.

Also, he has a pretty killer costume.

Your challenge for August is to try and top the traditional reds Murdock dons to become The Man Without Fear. For inspiration, you may want to look to his original yellow costume, or somehow try to make this look cool.

Submissions are due between August 1 - Friday, August 24 by 8:00 PM MDT, and the winner will be announced August 31.

Any questions, comments, concerns or jokes can be sent to superheroofthemonth@gmail.com. Good luck!

Editor's Note: I fully realize this switch was something that came last minute. Submissions have been down the last couple of months, and I thought it might generate more competition if we put up a hero people are a bit more familiar with that had been fan-suggested before, and who has actually had a history of costume switches in the past. We may be able to work the original plan in another time. Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. - AG


[Update]

Because of other things going on, all submissions will be posted at the same time on either Friday, August 24 or the next day. This is something of a change of pace, but it will help me juggle some other important things I've got going on for the time being. Superhero of the Month will not be a "dead zone" during the interim. There's a new Redesigned feature coming, as well as another announcement, and maybe some other fun stuff to keep us all busy. Just be sure to look for all the Daredevil art on August 24 or 25.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Notice: Revised Submission Guidelines

Usually, if there's something I don't think is working on Superhero of the Month, I'll wait until someone else points it out to see if anyone else notices what I'm seeing. As such, something I've noticed has further been brought to my attention.

While everyone is very enthusiastic about their designs, we frequently get thoughts on designs that run for several paragraphs. In my opinion, the biggest draw of this site is the art, and this sentiment was reflected with the following statement I received in an email:
I just want to look at the image, grade its quality as a drawing and as an interpretation of a classic figure and maybe see one or two sentences. That's it. I don't like these that come with a full page biography.
From time to time, we do run contests where back story as an explanation is appropriate and may require a bit more input than otherwise expected; take, for instance, our Aquaman contest, which delved into What If? territory of alternate history and origins. In this case, explanatory back story is completely appropriate. In most cases, however, the intent is to redesign the character in a manner that is recognizable so that the new, better look could be easily integrated into comics. This is reflected in the following revised point of our submission guidelines:
5. Include your preferred name, website (if applicable) and any thoughts you may have on your redesign. Thoughts should reflect the process of your redesign and explanation that may not be entirely clear based solely on the illustration (i.e. "Batman's glowing gauntlets are also electrified weapons"), not revised character history or origins. Your thoughts on your art should be limited to a couple of short paragraphs, and may be edited for length or clarity.
 Now, I certainly hope no one thinks that we're not appreciative of the process many of you have put into back story and revision. We do. It takes a lot of creativity. However, in several cases the text is as lengthy as some of the images when everything shows up on the site, and it breaks up the art.

Thank you all for continuing to make Superhero of the Month a great place to share art on a monthly basis. Here's to another great month!

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Fan-Art Special: Stephanie Brown

Stephanie Brown, how we miss you! Many fans fell for Stephanie as she grew and matured, inhabiting the roles of Spoiler, Robin IV, and Batgirl III. Since the launch of DC's New 52 initiative, Stephanie Brown's only appearance has been in Batman, Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes!, and that issue was explicitly stated to have taken place pre-New 52. With Stephanie out of the picture for now -- it is comics, so never say never, right? -- we asked readers to send in their Stephanie Brown fan art, depicting her in any of her identities. Here's what we got.

Warren Newsom
Gabzillaz
JBadgr
Chou-roninx
Torisora
Beowulf716
Steve Andrew
Michelle Sciuto

Michelle Sciuto

Michelle Sciuto

Michelle Sciuto


Michelle Sciuto
Editor's Note: Michelle sent me so much stuff, and all of it was fantastic. Some of it fit more into the redesign/re-imagining category, and so I didn't post it here, but you really should check out her deviantArt page for her Neo-Victorian Spoiler, Robin and Batgirl versions of Stephanie, her future Stephanie, Tiny Titans Steph, and loads more!


x-Venzia-x
KrisSmithDW
Joe Lozanno
Andrew Charipar
There it is! Thanks to everyone who participated. While we generally focus on redesigns, it's fun to see artists take on established designs with their own styles. 

Readers! What do you think? Did you enjoy this little break from the norm? Would you like to see more Fan Art Specials? It wouldn't be something we'd do all the time, maybe twice a year; for example, we might do a Fan Art Special in lieu of an "anything goes" redesign month if we did another contest spanning two months, like we did for the Avengers contest earlier this year. Sound off in the comments and let us know what you think!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Batman Movie Villains - Part 5

Hey there! I had something of a 5-day weekend, so I'm sorry for the delay in getting these up. Here are the final results of our Batman Movie Villains contest!

Matheus Barbosa's Nolanized Riddler
"I imagined Riddler as a common enemy between the Gotham police, the mafia and Batman. He would make a huge puzzle, challenging anyone who would like to gain the prize... Batman's secret identity (he discovered using his deducting abilities)! This puzzle would involve the murderer of mafia members and police officers, and the familiars of those people for each wrong answer of his riddles. Riddler would also have a unique puzzle for Batman, a chance for him to stop all the killing, preserve his secret identity and capture the head behind all of it."

Emilse Cepeda's Nolanized Riddler
"Riddler is my favourite villain of Batman for his story, personality, and because he uses the intellectu to put his challengers between the life and death. I took a basic and minimalist approach to dress, using the classic black, green and violet color scheme. He's a narcissist, brilliant, egocentric and insane."

thedespicablegoat's Nolanized Riddler
"This is Edward Nashton, a former member of the notorious Gotham crime families. He was often called whenever someone in the mob needed something 'special' done. Nashton was known for his wit, often cracking jokes--even during a job. He often come up with quick, insignificant riddles, thusly being nicknamed by the local newspaper, 'Eddy the Riddler'. Edward was quite proud of his infamy, until one day his reign ended. Batman caught Nashton red-handed, and off to prison he went.

"Angry and unstable whilst serving his sentence, this angst and hate was gradually channeled to the man that put him there: Batman. And ever since, Edward, has been intent on finding the answer to just one riddle: Who is the Batman? Rather than focusing on the destruction of Gotham, or the chaos of people, this villain is after one thing, and that is Batman. Nashton eventually breaks out of prison, and so his gauntlet begins."

Christian Burns' Burtonized Scarecrow
"Jonathan Crane was put under the care of his somewhat crazed grandmother, who was somewhat of a bird fanatic, and had a large broken-down aviary on her property. Although he was warned not to go into the aviary, young Jonathan ventured inside. There, he was viciously attacked by a murder of crows, and his right hand was damaged so badly that amputation was required. Due to this, he developed a crippling fear of crows all through his adolescence, and was mocked and bullied in high school, both for his amputation and for his somewhat lanky stature, earning the mocking nickname 'Scarecrow.' One night, when walking home, he was ambushed by some of his tormentors and strung up in a field, like a scarecrow. This was the last straw, and Jonathan sought revenge on his tormentors. He replaced his prosthetic hand with a sickle, and dressed up as a Scarecrow. At a school dance, Crane cornered the leader of his tormentors outside of the school. Frightened by the Scarecrow, the bully ran into the busy street, and was subsequently struck by a car, killing him. Crane, shocked by this unexpected result, ran away and left the town permanently. Eventually, he gained his doctoral degree in psychology at Gotham University and became a professor of parapsychology, having become fascinated with the power of fear. But when he was fired by the university for inappropriate conduct, both in class and his research, he sought revenge once again..."

Christian Burns' Burtonized Riddler
"Edward Nygma was a man of genius intellect and a lover of riddles. He dedicated his life to understanding the mechanics of the mind and the source of intelligence, both out of his own interest, and to prove to others that he was vastly more intelligent than them. When in university, he became friends with a fellow psychology student, Jonathan Crane. But midway through his own doctoral studies on intelligence, he grew very ill, and was diagnosed with an advanced stage of brain cancer. Seeing this as unfair, and with the tumor in his brain distorting his thought patterns, he became deranged and determined to prove that he was still smarter than everyone around him, including the famed Batman. Nygma's deranged brain convinced him that the only way to get Batman's attention was to commit crimes and leave riddles for him to solve. But, although the Batman solved these riddles, he never caught Nygma. After a while, Nygma had brain surgery (leaving that scar on this head), and the tumor was removed, relieving the distortion of his thought patterns. However, the months in the hospital left him habitually addicted to telling riddles and committing crime in order to have Batman solve them. But this time, he decided to introduce himself to Batman and Gotham as the Riddler."

Anthony A. Farrar's Nolanized Riddler
Editor's Note: For Anthony's thoughts on his design, please click here (they are quite in-depth).

Alexi Sargeant's Nolanized Riddler
"This version of the Riddler is a brilliant, wealthy con-man who comes out of retirement in order to match wits with the Batman. Trusting in his resources to keep him out of jail, Edward Nygma crafts a garish persona and leaves a series of taunting clues for Batman connected to a deadly scavenger hunt for kidnapped Gothamites rigged up with riddling deathtraps. His endgame is to force the Dark Knight to bargain for clues by revealing hint's to Batman's own secret identity. Though cavalier about human life, the Riddler is ultimately motivated more by intellectual arrogance than by brutality or ambition, and so would make sense to team with a more visceral threat like the Black Mask."

Issac Bartsch's Nolanized Riddler
"Eddie Nigma, college computer genius is hired by Wayne Enterprises for his a naming computer programming skills at such a young age.  When he recklessly hacks into secure Wayne enterprise files, Eddie is fired for misusing his skills.  Humiliated and bitter Eddie uses his hacker name, The Riddler, to seek revenge on Wayne enterprises and who he sees as the figurehead, Bruce Wayne himself."

Issac Bartsch's Schumacherized Penguin
"Circus ringleader Oswald Cobblepot runs a drug ring from the back-end of his traveling circus until he is shutdown by Batman creating a lifelong vendetta against the Bat."

Issac Bartsch's Burtonized Scarecrow
Editor's Note: Issac didn't leave any thoughts on this piece.

Barry's Scarecrow
"I just like Scarecrow, and I think a graveyard setting is great for a haunted scene."

Joshua Daniel's Schumacherized Penguin
"I thought he would be perfect for Joel Schumacher as he's already royal and a bit showy. I fashioned him after Alfred Molina, because after playing Doc Ock and Snidely Whiplash, he's the kind of big name actor that they would pick for that role.  I gave him a shiny glittery purple motif including a full feather boa."

Joshua Daniel's Burtonized Scarecrow
"Scarecrow is perfect for TIm Burton as he's a tall lanky spooky character. I fashioned him after Johnny Depp as that's who I saw Burton picking for the role. I made his colors more drab, and made his face look more like a scarecrow with scars rather than having a mask. I think Burton would rather have Depp's face out as much as possible, and give him some sort of back story in which he's crazy and immune to his own gas so doesn't need to worry about the mask."

Tony Ryland's Burtonized Riddler
"Let the emo girls swoon again."

Eric Kenney's Nolanized Penguin
"My inspiration is the movie The Jackal. Basically he's an ex-League of Shadows mercenary. He's Eastern European, about 5'0 -5'3, and heavily muscular, heavy accent, he works alone. Quiet and cunning. He also has a touch of Le Chefre from Casino Royale. I envison him being hired by the mob, which brings him to Gotham and once there he likes what he finds and begins to take out those that hired him rather than work for them. He begins to takeover."

Eric Kenney's Burtonized Riddler
"The road I took with Riddler was to follow his storyline of the Red Triangle Circus and Make the Riddler a rebellious member/employee. He's the guy that can guess your weight, maybe he's the original leader before the Penguin brought them to Gotham. As far as look goes, I was inspired by Something Wicked This Way Comes, an excellent dark movie form the early '80's. I believe the villain's name is Mr. Dark, and I took inspiration from his design."

And there it is! What do you think? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to check out all of the Batman Movie Villain redesigns we've received. Don't forget, we'll be posting the results of our Stephanie Brown Fan Art Special this Saturday, so submissions for that post need to be in by 6:00 PM MDT Friday night!

Stay tuned, we'll be back soon with the results of this month's contest!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Batman Movie Villains - Part 4 [UPDATED]

Hey, everyone! We're back! With The Dark Knight Rises hitting theaters at midnight tonight, excitement for Batman is high. Here, we present you with more villains that never were:

Justin DeVine's Nolanized Riddler
"I imagine my Riddler not as a meglomaniacal super criminal, but more of a Wikileaks/open-availability-of-information type of guy who becomes fixated on the question of who the Batman is, and who slowly becomes more destructive in his quest to find out.

"I pared down his outfit as dramatically as I felt I could. The paisley of his shirt is meant to echo his traditional Matthe Lesko-esque, covered-in-question-marks getup. The only actual question mark left to him is a lapel pin made from a vintage typewriter key, which I imagine as a gift that someone bought for him on ETSY."

Joe Lozzano's Scarecrow, Nolanized Penguin and Riddler
"Penguin: She is a femme fatale with a tech-mask that allows her to go under water (at last we can see a penguin power). She is a 'shoot them all' girl. The cane came from a former penguin. She is married and has two children

"Scarecrow. He wears a tech suit to deal with the fear poison. The helmet has some lights effects. He likes pizza.

"Riddler. He is a long term convict very fond of solving cross words and the like. Due to a drug habit, he has a clocked up brain (more synapses, more speed) and no respect for other people's property or right to live. He moved from Boston to Gotham, he still likes to see the Celtics on TV."

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to check out all of the Batman Movie Villain redesigns we've received so far. Be sure to check out the Official Contest Announcement for details on this month's contest, as well as our Stephanie Brown Fan Art Special we'll be posting later this month!

Are any of you seeing The Dark Knight Rises this weekend? Let us know what you think in the comments! Keep it spoiler-free, though -- anything with spoilers will not be posted.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Batman Movie Villains - Part 3 [UPDATED]

Over the weekend we had another submission pop in. Check it out!

Richard JP Le Guen's Schumacherized Penguin
"I decided that since the Schumacher films are sequels to the Burton films, a Schumacher Penguin shouldn't contradict the Burton Penguin too much. So this is the same character, who has survived the end of Batman Returns and is incarcerated in either Blackgate or Arkham. I wanted the straps on his straight jacket to evoke the feeling of Napoleonic piping -- making him still feel aristocratic -- and for the arms which hang loose to look somewhat like a child's penguin costume."

[Update]

Editor's Note: Usually we'll do same-day updates should we pick up new art when we post submissions, but I didn't get back to the desktop yesterday. Since submissions have been slower prior to the deadline of later, I figured it'd be best to update this now, rather than hold on it and wait. - AG

Matthew Ray's Burtonized Scarecrow
"My reworking I feel follows more in line with Burton in my mind. I think there is a toyishness about the the character that Burton could have exploited well. My take on Scarecrow is one where he relies on cutting edge tactics to instill fear, over that of chemical nature. I tried for a more traditional scarecrow feel."

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to check out all of the Batman Movie Villain redesigns we've received so far. Be sure to check out the Official Contest Announcement for details on this month's contest, as well as our Stephanie Brown Fan Art Special we'll be posting later this month!

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Batman Movie Villains Results - Part 2

Alright, after the last post's Nolanized take on villains, the other directors of the Bat-franchise are getting their go! Check out the newest entries below!
Dan Barrett's Schumacherized Penguin
"I imagine Shumacher's creative process going a little something like this: 'Okay, I want to bring The Penguin back from the dead. Somehow I have to make him more colorful though. That's what I love about comics, all of the pretty colors. He's a circus performer right? Carnivals are more colorful than circuses, and Carnival in Rio is more colorful than circuses and carnivals combined! Kids also loved that movie with all of the singing tropical birds. Hey, penguins are some sort of bird right? Bingo! Now he just needs nipples.'"

cmonies' Burtonized Scarecrow
"I focused on the heightened gothic silliness of Burton's work,particularly Batman Returns. The movie was filled with missile penguins and fish eating circus mobsters and resurrecting armies of cats. It had a lot more fun with Batman then it gets credit for so I had fun with this. This Scarecrow I think sticks to the gothic simplicity in Burton's usual designs but has a wackiness to it at the same time. The silliness in a scarecrow pumpkin head that can inexplicably make human facial expressions still mixes well with a creepiness that Burton's Batman contains. And also Burton's love for black made me think he wouldn't hold back in draping Scarecrow in as much as possible.

"I imagine this Scarecrow design would very comfortably fit Burton's usual narratives. I imagine it would just be Crane as a mad psychologist obsessed with bringing fear to the fearless, and Batman is the most fearless of them all, so he would be infatuated with destroying him with it. Maybe mix in some Hugo Strange motivation, with him trying or successfully figuring out Batman's secret identity to exploit his fears. On top of that, the scenes where Batman gets exposed to fear gas could be crazy fun. Bats flying out of his dead parents' mouths! Batman turning into a horrendous Man-Bat in his mind and trying to suck the blood of criminals! Catwoman's body exploding into a hundred flesh eating cats and consuming Batman! Just creepy fun all around."

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to check out all of the Batman Movie Villain redesigns we've received so far. Be sure to check out the Official Contest Announcement for details on this month's contest, as well as our Stephanie Brown Fan Art Special we'll be posting later this month!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Batman Movie Villains Results - Part 1

Hey, there! We're back with the first batch of redesigns for this month's Batman Movie Villains contest!

Warren Newsom's Nolanized Riddler
"I've chosen the Riddler as he might be interpreted by Christopher Nolan. Edward Nashton is a clerk who has worked for many years crunching numbers for a financial firm in Gotham. He’s an under-educated genius who has an instinct for investments and knack for coming up with creative ways to manipulate markets. The only thing that holds him back from moving up in the firm is the fact that he only has a two-year degree. The higher-ups come to him for his opinions, which he freely gives, and over the years he’s helped make them very rich men. When the firm gets caught up in a scandal, Nashton is the only person to serve prison time. He later finds out that his bosses had all actually received bonuses after the firm was bought out by a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises.

"Nashton escapes prison and begins a crime spree.  Wearing a bandana mask printed with a large question mark and using burglary and robbery as a fake motive, he hunts down all of the execs from his old firm and kills them (and any family member or witness who might be present). Before he pulls the trigger he gives them one last hope. He says, “You think you’re so smart?  I’ll tell you what – answer this and I’ll let you live…”  Then he asks them a riddle, worded so ambiguously that an answer is indeterminable. His victims can never answer, thus proving – in his mind at least – that they are intellectually inferior to him, so he feels justified in killing them.

"And since we’re designing villains for an imagined movie, then who better to play this narcissistic bad guy in a Christopher Nolan film than Justified’s Walton Goggins?"

Joker Little's Nolanized Penguin
"Still a short, dumpy older criminal, but in the real world that's pretty easy to make scary. No tux, just a leather coat over a t-shirt, and since no one has worn a monocle in about 70 years ago, he has a glassy, discolored blind eye."

Joker Little's Nolanized Riddler
"The real world equivalent of the Riddler would be something like Gotham's version of the Zodiac. I wouldn't even think he would be in the story very much, more like you would see headlines about him as characters walk by newsstands. When they do catch him it wouldn't be like, "Great Caesars ghost, it was the deputy mayor all along!" It would be some nobody."

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below, and stay tuned for more Batman Movie Villains as we approach the release of The Dark Knight Rises! As always, be aware of the contest deadline -- Tuesday, July 24 -- and be sure to check out the Official Contest Announcement for details and special rules for this contest. Also, remember our Stephanie Brown Fan Art Special, for which submissions need to be received by July 28!
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