The Dangerous Lives Invent-A-Character Contest

Thank you to everyone who sent us their original characters! The judges have cast their votes, and the winners of the Dangerous Lives Invent-A-Character Contest are:

First Place: Rich Stahnke, for Chip, the Drunken Monkey
Second Place: Bryan Helfrich, for Isaac Hogarth: Knight 4 Hire
Third Place (tie): Alex Duran for Navas, and Pierre-Luc Therrien for Captain Art

BorderWalker and comicsGB.com would like to extend a huge thanks to our judges:

• JOE QUESADA: Marvel Comics Editor-In-Chief and popular comic artist & writer. www.joequesada.com & www.marvel.com
• BEAU SMITH: "The Toughest Man In Comics," prolific writer and former Vice President of Specialty Marketing for McFarlane Productions. www.racedanger.com/flyingfistranch
• RICK VEITCH: Self publisher and talented writer/artist also known as the co-owner of the popular Comicon.com website. www.comicon.com
• BUDDY SCALERA: Comics writer of titles including Deadpool and Necrotic and organizer of the WizardWorld online comic school and forthcoming comicbookschool.com. www.buddyscalera.com

THE WINNING ENTRIES:

CHARACTER NAME: Chip, the Drunken Monkey - FIRST PLACE CREATOR: Rich Stahnke

Name: Chip, the Drunken Monkey Chip, the Drunken Monkey, is a talking chimpanzee, drifting from one low wage job to another and one bar to another. He's poorly educated, unmotivated, and often inebriated. Living in Bigg City, he's surrounded by super heroes and powerful villains. One evening, after being fired yet again from Wonderburger, Chip witnesses an alien craft crash land. He rushes to the site hoping to find something he can sell. Instead, he finds a dying alien. The alien informs him that he is a member of an intergalactic "police force" and starts to wax poetic about power and responsibility. Chip, looks around to see if anyone else is near, then cold cocks the alien and steals a blue ring off his finger. And his wallet too. Later, when his favorite bar is threatened with destruction, Chip tries to intervene and nearly gets himself killed. When he doesn't give up and decides he still wants to help, the alien ring that he stole transforms into a robotic, glowing gauntlet. When the gauntlet materializes, Chip seems to be able to withstand more punishment and has increased strength. Chip, has no real desire to be a "hero", but always finds himself stepping up to the challenge when he sees a person in need of assistance. Accompanied by his buddy, the talking toad named Al, Chip defends Bigg City from such threats as The Exhibitionist, The Sand Witch, Hogan's Warriors, The Copper Curler, The Cosmic Cubist, and El Macho Hombre. Chip is a larger than average chimpanzee. He stands about 5 feet 5 inches tall. He tends to wear baggy shorts and t-shirts. He wears sandals usually, because he has a hard time finding shoes that fit. Attached is an image of Chip and Al doing battle with Hogan's Warriors.

CHARACTER NAME: Isaac Hogarth: Knight 4 Hire - SECOND PLACE CREATOR: Bryan Helfrich aka Angelo

Name: Isaac Hogarth: Knight 4 hire Isaac Hogarth is a medieval knight trapped in the 20th century by an evil sorcerer. The sorcerer sent Isaac here through a booby-trap he had created after learning he was being hunted. Hogarth was a squire at the time, on his quest to become a knight. And hunting the evil magician was his final task on the way to knight hood. Obsessed, confused and angry Isaac fell into the 20th century. Refusing to hide from the modern world Isaac decides to adapt. While he searches full time for a way to return to his time he runs a knight for hire business. Demon slaying, dragon removal, witch hunting, damsel rescuing, and small home repairs. Personality: Hogarth is unusually comfortable with the 20th century; his calm exterior wouldn't leave a hint at his enormous longing to be back in his time with his wife to be. He was obsessed with becoming a knight, still is. He never hesitates to the cry of someone in need of help, even though his main concern is getting back to the past. His appearance is also almost confusingly up to date including clothing, hair and accessories. His dialog rarely slips into "old English" and usually uses slang with a heavy Irish accent. He accepts quests, tasks and missions with an almost over-confident attitude, convinced that this century presents no challenges or beasts he can not defeat. Much to his dismay. (X-files + A-team) x Lord of the rings = Isaac Hogarth: Knight 4 hire Add: lock, stock and two smoking barrels to taste.

CHARACTER NAME: Navas - THIRD PLACE CREATOR: Alex Duran

Name: Navas The fate of the universe falls in the hands of a soldier who doesn't know who he really is, but would soon find out. His name is Navas (nah•vus). He is a Guardian. A Guardian is a solider of God. Guardians are often confused with Angels when Man sees them. But unlike Angels, Guardians have a will of there own and can change the outcome of the War for the universe. This Guardian stands at 6'7", weighs around 235 lbs., slender and tone to perfection. His muscles aren't massive, but their speed is remarkable. His armor covers his body completely; this armor is made out of thin metal bands that are strong as steel but gives and expands. Designed to give him the most flexibility, minimal muscle resistance, and to protect from slashing, large impacts, and the occasional broken bone. This is worn under several layers of cloths made out of material similar to kevlar so that he is well protected against guns and other such weapons. The layers used to hide his form include robes, capes, and hoods; underneath are clothing, a jumpsuit or shirt and pants. (Black) Armies of demons all over the universe, raging war against Man, God, and all that gets in their way; will not stop until the universe is theirs. A Guardian must hunt down these demons, defend against their armies, and keep all this a secret from Man. For if Man found out that there really is a God, it will take away their free will to believe or disbelieve. Which will undo existence by breaking God's decree. It has been this way since the 18th millennium. Fast-forward to the 24th m. (present time), when the now veteran Navas learns a horrible secret. On one of Navas's many adventures, he comes across a powerful demon whose image mirrors his own. He learns that he is, in fact, a demon, more importantly they are brothers that were meant to be one being, the perfect being. And it is their destiny to merge together and rule or destroy them all. In a fit of confusion, Navas kills his brother Gog and returns to Heaven seeking answers. Finding that this was the truth he must now make a choice. Will he continue his path at God's side or will he turn away and destroy the ones that he came to love?

CHARACTER NAME: Captain Art - THIRD PLACE CREATOR: Pierre-Luc Therrien aka M

Name: Captain Art His first name is Art and he once was the captain of a noble vessel roaming the seas of earth. But his name is also symbolic as he is my personal vision of the embodiment of the concept of Art. One day the ship was sunk with its crew, but before they die, they met a Demon Of the Seas and struck a bargain with him. They were to be immortal and serve the Demon who wanted to escape the seas and go beyond this world. As the wreck emerged from the depths, it was changed and so was its crew and their Captain. The Demon had physically bonded with the ship and became its figurehead. Now it was no longer the wind that drove the ship but the Demon's will! The rest of the ship was changed into a demonic vessel of metal, technologic and organic matter, with black blood flowing through the entire Demon Ship, and pumped by a giant pulsing black heart at the center of the cale (at left on picture). The sailors were not human anymore, they hung between life and death but they had a purpose and were faithful to their Captain. Art was the most changed by the demon. He was to be the main conduct of his evil will. The quest of the Demon and Captain Art is to find the source of the universe and find ultimate meaning and answers. Driven by the evil will, they roam in space across the universe, exploring endlessly. He is tall and has slightly rotten grey skin , with black shiny eyes and grey-white hair. He has an armor made of metal, demon-like skin and forms that look like seashells, and it is bonded to him, to his flesh, bones and nervous system. He has metal nails on his shoulder pads and feathers under them. He wears a ragged cape and has a big scar crossing his face, in the shape of a Y. He wears a delicately carved scabbard in which he keeps the Demon Sword given to him. The sword is sentient and whispers the Demon's thoughts into Art's head. When he seizes the sword, veins and flesh from his arm and hand merge with the handle and unite the Captain and the Demon fully. The Demon Sword is a powerful magical weapon that glows of a fiery light. Art has black holes in his hands that ease communication with the sword through electric impulsions and have other powerful attributes such as sucking matter like a black hole and throwing devastating rays of white light at enemies. He also has demon-like feet with sharp claws.

Winners | The Winning Entries | Critiques from Beau | Additional Entries | Prizes

BEAU SMITH was kind enough to include critiques for our two top-place winners. For the benefit of the winners and aspiring comic creators, those critiques are posted here:

FIRST PLACE: Chip, The Drunken Monkey, by Rich Stahnke -- "I found [this entry] to be funny and witty. I liked the way he played off everything from Hong Kong movies to comic book origins of noted super heroes. There was also a Simpsons slant to it that I liked. The art wasn't very good, but hey... I can't draw a straight line with a ruler, so I've got no room to talk. This would make a fun comic book or animated series. I would suggest he find an artist."

SECOND PLACE: Isaac Hogarth: Knight 4 Hire, by Bryan Helfrich -- "Very good presentation. I liked the twist of the character. The 'fish out of water' slant is nice. The art was excellent and had its own style. I like the basis of the story line and the feel of the character."

Winners | The Winning Entries | Critiques from Beau | Additional Entries | Prizes

SOME OF THE ENTRIES that didn't win are posted below, with a big extra thanks to their creators for allowing us to share them with everyone:

CHARACTER NAME: Maniac Medic CREATOR: Jerry aka Negative Zero

Name: Maniac Medic Real Name: James McFord. Occupation: Ambulance Attendant Age: 27 James McFord has gone through various ideas of what he wanted to do with his life, after viewing his friend’s father’s line of work as a Doctor at a local hospital he had thought of actually trying out a career in a medical profession. Although doubting himself and his abilities to become a actual doctor he settled instead for becoming a Ambulance Attendant instead helping those in emergency situations , a tough job but he pressed on. After a routine emergency trip during a hostage situation and one dying survivor in need of help, he found instead the survivor to be a sort of hero trying to rescue the hostages but instead fallen in action, the dying man whispers to James about his lifelong dedication of saving the good civilians against the rising terrorism of the city. He tells James his dying wish of James taking over his legacy, he grabs James wrist with the last of his strength and tells him to find the inner power of emotion and controlled anger with a sudden surge between the two the man dies before James. Shortly after that James found his place of operations just like the man mentioned, he found weapons and defensive tools for fighting crime, including a prototype costume. James felt this was ridiculous but decided that he needed to do the man his dying wish and actually take over. After customizing the outfit with his inspiration for helping people which was his medical skills and expertise, making it with different crosses yet battle ready styled. After the first day of trying James was feeling new emotions of total madness, though thinking he’s lost it, he then found out that his form of anger can be helpful in extra type strength and higher developed senses. James with his new found forms of technological weapons and "anger power" have given him the chance to finally change the state of the city as well as still help people as a medical technician, he becomes the heroic Maniac Medic! As his normal self he’s quite a optimistic guy with himself except for his abilities to accomplish higher responsibilities which has set him back a bit. Though after finding out newly found powers , his outlook on life has become quite positive as well as his confidence in his ability to fight crime as well as still be a good ambulance attendant. A 5'9 tall and 211 lbs, James Mcford stands in his work shirt and khaki’s, his short browned hair and brown eyes he stands confident and prepared un-stressing over his duty as a ambulance attendant. As the Maniac Medic he dons a camouflaged pants and sleeved shirt covered by elbow and knee pads along with several pieces of armor , a black vest with a large red cross over on front. And a helmet with a small cross on front along with medical/gas type mask covering his mouth. He’s armed with various weapons which include a nail type machine gun for distance, a short ranged powerful shotgun, a long ranged pump shotgun, a melee crowbar weapon and finally his two most important weapons, a advanced medical kit which can both heal wounds or infect a paralyzing serum on enemies when used. His other is a type of grenade which can forma concussion effect when he jumps above it making him launch to incredible heights above ground. I thank you so much for taking your time and making this an official entry, I do hope that you can consider this when you make your final decision in the contest. I respect your wishes and suggestions, thank you.

CHARACTER NAME: The Stealth Serpent CREATOR: Dennis

Name: The Stealth Serpent A female imparied driver swerves unto her untimely death. i can picture her personality preserved for the wait. Under the ground. She was born to the devil ,under the devils sign,no two ways about it. God missed this one ,as a complex failure stem clone. The Stealth Serpent picked at her blackened burn wounds of her fading bueaty with his same mind of sensual immortality. At first glance who was it, in the twisted wreck afire.? why did the people flock en masse? She had crossed the hell-bent bridge and was restored. The darkness scares her no more. Here you sit on the minutes of being bored, after a dirty dream and a handgun on the night table. You know him as Private Hell , every visit is worse than pms. from the personal beating to death of an innocent drunk in a jail cell. And untill the earth cries of spilled blood I arise beside the Steatlh Serpent. As you soon will..........

CHARACTER NAME: Kayln Ryno CREATOR: Carlos Duran

Name: Kayln Ryno The problem with Kayln Ryno, was never the fact he was a boy genius, or the fact that by the time he was 15 earth years old, he had revolutionize weapon's designs for the Black Planet's military. The problem with Kayln Ryno, is that he talks to himself. Every intelligent species in the universe tends to talk to itself, but when Ryno does it... he hears voices. He answers the voices. Everyone thought it was the eccentric ramblings of a genius, hard at work at the next new weapon. Little did they know it was the sounds of an insane Rotun, debating with himself the merits of destroying "everything." All the years of making death machines skewed his mind into thinking of making death itself. They stopped him. Locked away inside a massive compound, they keep him sedated, and designing. Even though his mind is troubled, the Black Planet generals, still need the precious weapons he has hidden in it. He only worsens in condition, the voices tell him to build this, make that, kill those, kill them... Finally the words silence, the voices finally speak in unison... they sing the word "escape." Caged animals do everything they need to, to escape. Ryno builds weapons and explosives from nothing in his cell. The slaughter, that was his escape, causes the voices to begin to speak again. They want death... still. Always death, they tell him of a planet full of life to end, a Blue Planet, in the Sol System of the Milky Way Galaxy. Helplessly insane, he gets what he needs to go to the Blue Planet. On his journey threw space, the voices tell him about Earth. They tell him about the wars, the misery, and the injustice of life as a human. He finally has found the answer to the voices, a perfect place to make death. He plans to gather terrestrial supplies to make the most awesome weapons in the universe and destroy "everything", but little does he know that Earth expects him. They have an area set aside for him, a prison, a cell, a cot, and a drafting table. After all, on the Blue Planet, the ability and desire to make death is an art form.

CHARACTER NAME: Hyper-Organism CREATOR: True Scion of Atlantis

NOTE: This one came in late, and was not applicable for winning any of the prizes. It's a fun entry and an interesting character, however, so we've decided to include it here, with thanks to the creator. Name: Hyper-Organism Rapidly evolved from a hominid through genetic tampering by higher beings with a mysterious agenda, this massive beast roams stupidly across the planet without regard for society's laws of conduct. This behavior inevitably marks the creature a menace, and superheroes must continually thwart its actions. It proves to be a difficult task, as the creature is a hardy lifeform that always finds a way to survive. The creature is not built for beauty. Its skeleton is a highly more robust form of our own. It has opposable thumbs and big toes. It is covered in jagged edges and tough protrusions that do more than intimidate. Claws just out its knuckles and fingertips and its jaws are tremendous, made for crushing. Every physical aspect of the creature is modified from our own physical structure for perfect defense and offense. Each cell of its body is self-sufficient and covered in a semi-permeable cell wall and diamond lattice. Similar to the mutable connective tissue of a sea cucumber, it can turn to jelly. It can reproduce by fragmentation. It can produce energy by chemosynthesis, by photosynthesis, or by ingesting other organisms. It is nocturnal and diurnal. Its eyes adjust to any amount of light and can see energy across the electromagnetic spectrum. Its eyes can focus microscopically or telescopically. It has heightened olfactory senses. Chemoreceptors located over its body can detect the slightest scent from miles away. Its nerves can sense movements in the thinnest air yet no stimuli register as pain. Individual ganglia in every appendage act like secondary brains. It has instinctual knowledge of how best to strike and where to hit. It retains an ability to learn, and can remember and recall anything it has ever sensed. Having secondary brains, its reflexes are very fast. Its skin can secrete a number of toxins due to the chemicals it exploits. It can easily pick large objects up or just dissolve them through skin contact. Its muscles don't tire as long as energy or matter is present to be synthesized.

Winners | The Winning Entries | Critiques from Beau | Additional Entries | Prizes

PRIZES to be awarded to our winners include:

The First Place Winner will receive:
  • Spawn on throne figure, from the Alternate Realities series
  • Army of Darkness Ash figure, from the Movie Maniacs 3 series
  • Ghost in the Shell Kusanagi figure, from the Animation from Japan 2 series
  • a Legacy Dawning character mug, from BorderWalker
  • a Backdraft character mousepad, from BorderWalker
  • a page of original artwork by comic artist Buzz, from comicsGB.com

The Second Place Winner will receive:
  • Medieval Spawn figure
  • Armitage III Naomi Armitage figure, from the Animation from Japan 2 series
  • a Legacy Dawning character mug, from BorderWalker
  • a selection of comics signed by our judges, including Beau Smith, Joe Quesada, and Rick Veitch, from comicsGB.com

The Third Place Winner will receive:
  • Pirate Spawn or Samurai Spawn figure
  • a Backdraft character mug, from BorderWalker

Thank to everyone who entered!