Today’s USA Today had a small blurb about HeroMachine.Com. Hero Machine is a nicely done application using Flash that lets users generate artwork of super hero, fantasy and science fiction characters using a mix and match interface reminiscent of an electronic version of paper dolls. There are other programs out there that do this, but they’re not free, as Hero Machine is for the moment, and they don’t usually have the superb artwork that Jeff Herbert has created for Hero Machine. The superhero stuff is a lot of fun.
Ironically, it is one of most annoying aspects of comic books that landed Herbert’s site in USA Today — the exaggerated and almost always absurdly out of proportion breasts that comic arts give female characters. Herbert’s female characters are well endowed, but apparently that isn’t good enough for some folks who keep writing him asking for move cleavage. I liked Herbert’s response to those folks.
Exaggeration is part of the genre, but it’s always bugged me. You’re supposed to be this athletic figure; how would you do all that if you had these breasts flopping around in the wind? I’m not going to have ‘Superboobs’ here – it’s just a personal point of honor.
(For what it’s worth, I always assumed the big breasted super heroines had bras made out of some as-yet-discovered super alloy).
Anyway, I hope Herbert finds a way to make money off his venture as Hero Machine is a great application.