Hermit

Long one here, about one woman's study on how malleble memory really is.

Elan makes me smile

Possible idea for a villain City in the CU.... Costa Azul (I think that's the one) has long been a haven for drugs, white slavery, gun running, and more. It's leader has seemingly mocked international law knowing that the Middle East and other parts of the world are the bigger concerns even when you take supervillains out of the equation. That was the case at least until roughly a year and a half ago. A group of supervillains was offered a chance at reduced sentences if they could perform a black op on Costa Azul's dictator. It was all supposed to be very hush hush. Failsafes were supposed to be in place for all contingences. Unfortunately, the intelligence organization that prepared this underestimated the villains in question. While the villains DID suceed in killing the dictator, they had also managed to gather evidence that the US govt (Or at least a part of it, including certain HIGH ranking politicians in more than once branch) was behind the mission. The villains broke free from the remote devices meant to contain them (Be it bombs in the head or power surpressors that could activate any time) and went public as the NEW leaders of the small island nation. With such nice blackmail material at their disposal, they managed not only to get away with it, but pressed for covert support. That's right, they struck a different sort of deal, one where they would turn over non powered terrorists that came to the area and allow it to look like the work of said government officials. "After all," One villain suggested, "Grond in DC is BAD...but a nuke going off is worse." Non masked villains would be sacrificed in exchange for the masked ones living like kings. Costa Azul is now a supervillain haven, a sanctuary for sin, where supervillains, be they solo acts or teams, can lick their wounds after a defeat, or spend their wealth after a success. How long it will last is hard to say, but it hasn't broken up into infighting yet as was predicted.

Yeah, Champions Beyond is EXCELLENT stuff imo, and Book of the Empress isn't far behind, especially when it comes to providing material that covers a potentially HUGE setting. So yeah, Grailknight is wise. Just update their timelines. Naturally filing off the seriel numbers of higher point 'present age' villains and rebranding them in new forms might be one way to go. You might want to lob a 'lesser evil' in there who fights against V'Han, and see if the heroes will go for the 'enemy of my enemy is tolerable enough to ally with for now' path or if they decide to shut him or her down first

Airdog-Airdog is an athlete, a pure thrillseeker who compares to the best of Olympians. Sport alone isn't enough to get him going though, so Airdog has happily taken up a life of crime just for the kicks of it. He has a high tech snowboard that can fly if it needs to, but he only uses that option when he must, prefering to rely on pure skill. He also has a high tech gun capable of emitting powerful bursts of focused air. He enjoys knocking heroes off ledges with it

Not sure if someone already mentioned this, but there's also the Megaprison gone wrong. A city sized prison meant to hold ALL the bad guys, where suddenly the inmates not only get out and take over, they have either hidden their take over so no one is the wiser or they have something to lord over the authorities

Roter Baron was a roadie for the band Queen and can play the entire tune of Another One Bites the Dust with his armpit

Mockingbird- is actually M'kn Br'd, an alien from the other side of the galaxy trapped here by a warp engine breach. M'kn , like many of its people, is a natural shapeshifter and can transform down to the cellular level. M'kn's people don't always stick to one sex, and because of this, many in the state believe there are two Mockingbirds, one male, and one female and no one realizes Mockingbird is an alien. The truth is it just depends on what mood Mockingbird is in that day which sex it takes. While it can be a prankster, M'kn has truly grown to love its new home and is happy to be a hero to it. -------------- New Team: Mask Inc Theme: While not as powerful as some superheroes, this group of powered individuals serve a valuable purpose in the superhero world. They help OTHER heroes protect their secret identities. Whether it is posing as a hero when he /she has to be two places at once, slipping into a villains' compound and retrieving data that could expose a hero to the world, or even helping heroes who have to set up entirely new identies because their old ones are too far gone, Mask Inc is there to help. Number of members: 5

I like the Apollo Creed look, Freakyboy.

Atomic City Sentry!- Claiming to come from Oak Ridge, home of the A-Bomb, Atomic City Senry certainly looks it. His eyes glow with strange atomic energies and he can produce devastating bursts of force, heat, and radiation. He wears an orange costume with strange plates like body armor. Whether that's JUST a costume, or something meant to help him control/contain his energies is as yet unknown. Most folks feel uncomfortable standing near him but he takes it with surprisingly good humor. The US govt has more than once considered bringing him in for study, but have had little luck. His battle cry? "Gone fission!"

Snowplow may not have the most glamourous name of the group, but he can snowboard just fine. The truth is he doesn't need one though. He tunnels through snow in a fashion that looks like a cartoon gopher going through dirt. It's his superstrength that the team needs though. He's the 'brick' of the team, and while not as strong most supervillain tough guys, give him some snow to ambush from and he can get quit the ege.

And the new theme for this one?

Csyphrett, I think you got the 7th member. Do you have a new concept?

A callback to this http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0136.html I did not see that coming

Mmm, touch of Weapon Master here but mostly Martial artist Golden Glove Lashay Washington is the daughter of Dumas Washington, a winner of the Golden Gloves amatuer boxing tournement. Dumas could have gone pro, but gave up a career at the request of the woman he loved, Lashay's mother. Still, Lashay idolized her dad, and when the chance for female olympic boxing came up, she determined to go for it. She trained on the side, first with others, then, when her dad found out she was going to insist, with her old man. She was going for a gold medal, instead, she found herself getting gold of a completely different nature. The Empire sent out a scouting party, to grab some local humans...reasons unknown. Unfortunately for Mr. Washington, his 'real job' in security meant he got taken along with some scientists. Lashay managed to avoid the initial capture, but snuck onto the transport ship, and later found herself on a much bigger one looking for where they took her dad. Instead, she stumbled into a room of relics, antiquities from other worlds that the Empire had long conquered. Most of the weapons were far too advanced for her to understand, but that pair of golden hued gauntlets looked pretty handy. So she slipped them on. An alarm sounded, and Lashay found herself besieged by a dozen alien troopers. They fired blasts, and she found that her gauntlets could deflect them. She also discovered, much to her enemies dismay, that her already impressive right hook had been magnified one hundred fold! Lashay did some serious damage but would have lost if it hadn't been for the incoming rescue of her future team. Now she stays with the rest of them, calling herself Golden Glove. While her mitts can deflect almost anything now, the rest of her is shielded by an only silghtly protective costume so she has to keep her guard up. Fortunately, she's got quick hands and knows how to use them to devastating effect. She practices constantly and actually has grown to love superheroing. The downside? While they don't seem to hurt her, the gauntlets just won't come off. And some times she has strange dreams of being a champion in an alien world. Is it just one set of memories stored in the gauntlets, or many? And is it just going to be contained to dreams? She's really not sure. Lashay is an American of mixed heritage. Her father being black while her mother is herself half Latina and half white. Having taken @#$#$ from all sides, she doesn't much care for bigotry but she tries not to lose her temper against such. Usually she succeeds. Usually.

It's good to be the Batman?

Ouch. Sorry there, DB

"Truly, that's all any man can hope to hear from his girlfriend's father"

Immunity to booze? Do you have some form of Extra Dimensional movement be it a way to request Bifrost or perhaps a cloak that allows you to take a back door to Asgard?

New one is up http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0940.html Ah, creative interpretation

I recall seeing a character with a 'transform to mindlinked individual' power once, to get around the voluntary rule. But that was a long time ago and I'm not sure on the legality

Doctor Drop Legs- This hero moves like a dancer on fast forward, which is why they call the man Doctor Drop Legs. With his stylish hat over an other wise 'typical' hero costume, Dr. Drop Legs has been seen dodging bullets and weaving through entire mobs of villains untouched. His reflexes and grace are off the charts. He can climb most buildings' walls quicker than some walk across the street as long as there are handholds he can flip too now and then. He's a bit of a show off and folks keep wondering who he might be. Of course, in his secret Identity, he's Dr. Manning Clement, a paraplegic who is finding the tests of his chemical meant to retore mobility to be very promising, but potentially lethal. He knows its poor ethics to use himself as a test subject, but he'd rather be a superhero dancing on the roof tops for a few years than a crippled man for a lifetime. If his sister ever found out about this, she'd be VERY ticked at him.

Is it wrong I side with Belkar JUST a little on this?

Wow, there are so many good ones out there that it's hard to nail it down. Some that come quickly to mind... 1) Doctor Strange- An arrogant worldly man finds himself stripped of the surgical ability he thought placed him above the peons. He tries anything to get it back, only to find humility and then finally enlightment when he looks not just into the next world, but the needs of others first. I really love the message of Doctor Strange's redemption and rise to power. 2) Captain America- Sometimes, when terrible situations arise , good men step forward and are ready to die to help their family, their people, their nation, maybe even the world. This is heroism that happens everyday in the world, but it's so lost in the darkness of it all we don't see it. Sometimes when we do see it, we don't trust it (And with good reason). Steve Rogers is one of those guys, and he risked his life to do the right thing. It paid off for him, but while sometimes discouraged, he never lost sight of the WHY he stepped forward in the first place. (Come to think of it, that's probably why I loved Rom Space Knight) 3) Blue Devil- I'm speaking of his original 80s run. Oh my god, this origin just embraced the weirdness and indeed made it a regular thing. A holywood stuntman who's also a damn good inventor gets in a 'devil movie' until encountering a real demon! Gets blasted, magic and science make out and BAM...Baby Superhero ! A superhero who's in severe denial about it for the longest time. It's not a GREAT origin, but having seen all the classic origins, I just couldn't help but smile at it.

Ha! I love that last line