There’s not really any thematic link between the two heroes I’m giving you this week, but here they are:

Stegosauress

Stegosauress has the spine, tail, and thagomizer of a stegosaurus. There’s not much else that one needs to know, but I suppose I’ll come up with some more anyway.

Following her origin, she had Stegosaurus powers and became Stegosauress. Now she fights crime with her Stegosaurus powers. I don’t know what more I could possibly say!

This is a character created name first, that’s for sure. And I admit, the particular bad naming joke could work with any dinosaur ending with -saurus (Tyrannosauress, Brachiosauress, anything), but I’m not doing that. Stegosauruses are the best and I see no reason to diversify.

Lex Techno

Lex Techno lives in a world where the bad guys are winning, and the heroes have to be tough just to survive. Superhuman dictators have conquered the world and divided it among themselves. Wars rage between them causing destruction and pollution on a scale the world has never seen. Slavery, genocide, and viral warfare are all over the place like they’re going out of style. Comfortable shoes cost way too much. It’s basically a world you don’t want to live in.

But Lex Techno lives there. And he’s trying to make the place workable. Lex Techno is a cyborg, more than 50% technology, and he’s been fighting his entire life. The leader of a proactive squad of violent super-soldiers called Raid Force Zero. The group performs hit-and-run attacks on the villainous despots and try to make a difference as best they can. With all necessary brutality.

The 90s have a reputation in comics as being a time when stupid violent stories starring stupid violent guys with big guns and shoulder pads. First of all, the 90s were the decade when I got into comics, so I know very well that that is an oversimplification that is just wrong. There was no point during the 90s when there wasn’t something good being done. Sure, I admit that for a couple of years that bleak kind of hero was the dominant trend, but you can’t write off the whole decade.

But Lex Techno is not a rejection of those 90s Anti-Heroes, he’s an embracing of them, because simply being a 90s-style character is not inherently bad. The cyborg soldiers and killer vigilantes of that era are as much a part of superhero mythology that we should accept that and deal with it. So, with Ol’ Lex here, I’d try to explore what kind of heroism you’d expect to find in the bleakest of circumstances.

I’ve finished writing essays for the year, and I think I’ve only got three days of classes left. After next week, all that remains is the exams.

Exams have got to be my least favorite element of schooling, so I’m not happy that they’re what’s left. It is especially sad because the classes that remain aren’t about teaching any more. It’s all about how to study for exams, and how to pass exams, and all that stuff that I don’t care much about. Basically, from a PDR point of view, school is over and all that’s left is the annoying unimportant stuff they make us do so they can feel like they’re doing something.

My plan was to take some classes over the Summer, but reality is that I can’t currently afford any classes. With that in mind, I’m kinda going to have to make up Summer as I go, so let’s see what happens. Hopefully I will have a lot of time for doing things on the site, here.

(Edited in later in the day): Looks like the Radiolab polling has finished and I felt like I should include the results for posterity. Shrewdinger wins.

Well, the results are in and my suggestion did not make it to the final round of that ancient mammal-naming contest. I expected it to happen, but it is still a shame.

I’m still a big fan of ancient mammals, though. I’m not gonna let this bring me down. Ancient mammals are great. I’ll have to find some other one to name someday.

It’s a new month, so here’s Little Choy insulting someone:

Today Little Choy is insulting Claire, who has already had some rough times in her life.

And, as usual, there’s the Phone Guys:

Here’s the thing: At the rate of only putting out one superhero a week, I’m getting buried under my sketches. In an effort to keep up with myself, I’m going to start doing two a week. Here we go:

Securitaur

When a minotaur finds himself mysteriously transported form his mystical home realm to New York City, what does he do? How does he go about his life in a world so unfamiliar? Like anybody else, if a minotaur wants to fit into society, a minotaur needs to get a job.

Suppose you live in a world where crazy supervillains, colorful crimelords, overt ninjas, and evil aliens all abound. Sure, superheroes do their part to preserve the status quo, but suppose you own a bank or a company or something, and you think you’re likely to be robbed or attacked by superhuman criminals. The regular superheroes will show up when the fighting starts, but if you want to create some preventative measures, you need to hire a security guard. A security guard like Securitaur.

If I got to do a comic about Securitaur, it would be all about crazy absurd fights and set pieces. Also, Securitaur would be the face of his security company, but would have a squad of teammates, and would have to answer to a cranky boss and shareholders. It would be an action-packed sitcom starring a man-bull, and I am honestly surprised that isn’t the dominant genre on television.

Mythologikelly

When nine-year-old Kelly Doukas and her family moved to a new town, she discovered a ball in the basement of the new house. Later, while reading a book about heroes of Greco-Roman myth she’d got from her grandparents, the ball started to glow. When Kelly touched it she found herself transformed into Hercules himself! At least physically she was Hercules, mentally she was still Kelly.

Though Kelly doesn’t know it, she’s discovered the Eidolon Sphere. This magical device allows her to occupy the idea-form of whatever Greek of Roman hero she is focusing on. Kelly can transform to any of the mortal heroes, Odysseus, Achilles, et cetera (even a couple of actual women like Atalanta and Camilla), but none of the gods. The catch is that Kelly can’t just repeatedly be the same hero, and the strength of an idea-form is dependent on the hero’s kleos, or how well they are known in the world. So while Hercules and Odysseus would still be pretty renowned, other heroes, like Iarbus (who doesn’t even seem to have a Wikipedia page), would be less useful.

I was going for a sort of Saturday morning cartoon here, based entirely on Ben-Ten, a show I have heard about, but never seen. I know it’s about a kid who can turn to a variety of (ten?) aliens. Also, there’s a bit of Captain Marvel in here, with the idea of a young person turning into a full-grown hero (especially given the connections to mythology). For the sake of ease, I’d keep the Greek and Roman myths together, because they’re certainly close enough, but at some point, probably, Kelly would have to encounter someone who can transform into the heroes of some other mythologies (Sumerian, Norse, Egyptian, Aztec, anything with enough mortal heroes, really).