A Thing in the Swamp

Ok.. this is totally not my normal style. I was just messing about with my pen and the various brush presets in PSP8 and this emerged. The only definite additions were the grass and a dark green in the background. The rest I just drew on the tablet fairly randomly. If you look at the pic from a few feet away and squint.. it kinda looks like a figure made of leaves and plants…. hence the title…I added some lighter ‘leaves’ to give some definition and we have an impressionist Swamp Thing.

Press: Lion Heart Comic Cover

I thought it might be a good idea to do a comic cover for my RPG character Lion Heart. Lion Heart is part of Valiant a UK based team, formerly run by the government. The team were formerly media darlings, but have now been made scapegoats and are currently being trashed by the media. In this issue he meets the Valiant team for the first time, while battling the evil ninja Shadow Reavers…killers on the payroll of The Faction.

Character BIO:

Lion Heart

Real Name: Cameron Angus

Occupation: Martial Arts Instructor

Height: 5′ 8″

Weight: Approx 11st

Eyes: Blue/Grey, Glow white when using powers at higher levels.

Distinguishing Marks: Long burn scar down left arm where lightning struck. This also glows when using powers at higher levels.

Description: Cameron had been staying in Stirling for a few days, when he decided to pay a visit to the Wallace Monument. As he was looking up at the monument, a freak storm appeared out of nowhere from the east. As it approached the monument there was a huge release of energy, which travelled down the tower, and into Cameron, knocking him unconscious.  A few days later, as he recovered in hospital, he read about a battle between the X-Men and an unnamed being which ended up on Edinburgh Castle. The battle had ended with a huge release of energy. Cameron wondered if this was related to his accident.

It was shortly following his release from hospital that his powers began to first manifest. As he was riding his motorcycle to Glasgow one night, the whole machine began to glow, as if lit by some internal source. Screeching to a halt at the roadside, Cam leaped off the bike, fearing it was about to explode. As he let go of the machine the light subsided, leaving it untouched, and looking perfectly normal. He reached out to the bike, touching the handle bars and found by experimenting that he could cause any metal part to glow and By concentrating he could vary the intensity of the light.

A few months later, he was jumped by a mugger while walking home through Glasgow one evening. As he struggled with the man, Cam caught his assailant by the wrist, his hand over the mans metal watch. It was difficult to tell who was more surprised by what happened next. As they struggled Cam caused the watch to light up, and as it reached an almost white peak, there was a flash and a crack like lightning and the mugger fell to the ground stunned. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, and knowing the police would ask questions he wasn’t ready or willing to answer, Cameron ran into the night, catching the Subway home.

Thinking it would be best if he got some space to try and make sense of his powers, Cam rented a cottage out in the middle of nowhere, and began practising with his powers, becoming proficient at generating streams of a plasma like energy using a metal rod to channel the field in the direction he desired. By using a hollow tube he found he could create plasma ‘pulses’ like bullets.

It was at this time Cam was offered a job in London, and having nothing to keep him in Scotland, decided to take it. In london he carried on as an Instructor during the day, but at night prowled the darkness, dispensing justice on hapless muggers and criminals who crossed his path. As time passed, he obtained a sword and guns to use to further refine his channeling power, and secretly created a costume, threaded with metal for greater strength. His ability to fly was discovered by accident, when one night he slipped while running over a rooftop.

As he fell, his power kicked in flowing through the metal threading of his suit, slowing his descent. Theorising that his suit was also capable of channeling his plasma, he found that he could change direction, and achieve powered flight.

Abilities: Lion Heart has the ability to generate highly charged plasma using metallic objects as a conduit. Skilled Marksman and Swordsman. Exceptional Athlete and Martial Artist. Using metal threads laced through his uniform to channel plasma and create a frictionless field can achieve flight capability at up to 200MPH for approx 2 hours.

Weapons: Chromium Steel/Vibranium Sword, Chromium Steel/Vibranium Guns (Contain no shells. Used as focus to create and channel plasma projectiles.

Art Notes: This was based around a sketch I found on google of Punisher shooting at Spiderman. Used the sketch for shaped and the face, shadows and textures added. got rid of the chest skull. Rest of the pic is made up from textures and images I already had on my PC.

Flash Photography

Well, my first submission of something done in Poser. Just a tester really, I am still getting to grips with the program when I get a minute or two. The Flash model was downloaded from Animotions. Post work done in PSP8: Lightning, new backdrop, motion blurring/ghosting, framing. Added some fingerprints from those annoying people who don’t hold pics by the edges..;)

Kevin Newburn’s Daredevil – Inked & Coloured


I took the comments on the coloring of Kev‘s Hellboy to heart, and decided to do an inking & coloring of his Daredevil image. Done in PSP8 I started out by drawing over his image using the Vector Pen tool in black at 1.5 point to make vector shapes. I used this for the main outlines and body features. At this point I thought about which body parts overlayed others and so if you see the image uncolored, it looks a bit messy. I then used one of my leathery textures, colored deep red as a fill for the shapes, reduced 50% and rotated 45

ParkVengers #0: ParkVengers Assembled

Just thought I would introduce the cast of ParkVengers, I plan to use them in a few funnies when I feel the need for a bit of quick comedy art.. (ie. when my main manips have me tearing my hair out)..got a few in the series to kick off.. the rest will appear as and when;) Note: IM you will have seen already, all the others are new (I redid Cap again from scratch, to get that chainmail look he has again these days;))

Nomads: In Defence of Beastly Memories

This is a collection piece I did using mostly images I had previously submitted, pulled together as part of an image based on my current Character in the Marvel-Boards.co.uk RPG – Nomads. The only new parts, are the unmutated Beast created from a bust (recolor, replace head, new eyes) and The Beast in the corner (colored form the Ultimate Beast). My Character is Hank McCoy aka The Beast. This depicts him remembering his former Defender’s team mates – Hulk, Valkyrie, Iceman, Angel – and himself before his transformation.

Nomads – Profile: “The Beast”

Real name: Henry “Hank” Peter McCoy

Occupation: (current) Adventurer, (former) Biochemist

Identity: Publicly known

Legal status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record

Other aliases: None

Place of birth: Dunfee, Illinois

Marital status: Single

Known relatives: Norton (father), Edna (mother), Robert (uncle)

Group affiliation: (former)X-Men, Defenders

Extent of education: Ph.D. in Biochemistry

Base of operations: Mobile; (former) Xavier Institute, Salem Center, Westchester County, New York State; Defenders Mansion, Colorado;

History: Henry McCoy’s father, Norton, worked at a nuclear power plant where he was exposed to massive amounts of radiation during an accident. Norton was unharmed, but the radiation affected his genes, and as a result his son Henry was born a mutant. Unlike most superhuman mutants, Henry showed signs of mutation from birth: unusually large hands and feet. Thanks to his superhuman agility, strength, and speed, Henry became a star football player as a teenager. His remarkable athletic abilities attracted the notice of Professor Charles Xavier, who was forming the original X-Men.

He joined the X-Men, taking the code name “Beast.” A brilliant student, McCoy completed his doctoral studies under Xavier’s tutelage, and finally left the X-Men and Xavier’s school to reorganize another super-hero group, the Defenders, into a more formal combat organization. His X-Men cohorts Angel and Iceman served in the Defenders along with him, alongside The Hulk and Valkyrie.

After battling and subduing the Absorbing Man, Hank took it upon himself to try and find a cure for Creel’s situation. Valkyrie returned to Asgard and obtained a sample of the herbs used by Loki to give Creel his powers. Developing a serum he believed would cure Creel, Hank was preparing to inject Creel when he broke loose. As Hulk and Hank struggled to subdue Creel once more, Hank was accidently injected with the serum. The serum interacted with Hank’s mutant gene and the ambient Gamma radiation from the Hulk causing radical physical changes.

His skin turned green and he grew fur over his entire body, his ears became larger and pointed, and his canine teeth became larger, resembling fangs. The serum also further increased his superhuman agility, endurance, speed, and strength. Driven over the edge by the pain of his transformation and his changed appearance, Hank turned on his fellow Defenders, badly injuring Warren and Bobby, while Valkyrie and Hulk were concentrating on Creel. Hank then disappeared into the wilderness.

Tracked down by Xavier using Cerebra, Hank is finally coming to terms with his transformation but is still troubled by terrible rages which he struggles to keep under control, knowing that in losing control he might free the animal within him and lose his humanity forever. Now known as “The Beast”, Hank has become part of a ragtag group of adventurers, pulled together to try and mend the rips in the fabric of time and space. His Current Team mates are Sinistra (Victoria Essex, daughter of Nathaniel), Marie LeBeau (wife, and mother of Gambit’s as yet unborn child), Sam Guthrie (Cannonball, in his 50s had more or less retired from active heroics), Otto Octavius (New York’s premier hero after saving it from many menaces, including his long time foe The Spiderman), WildChild (The teams other beastly member.. beastly by nature and personality), Scott Summers (a young mutant just beginning to understand his optic blasts), Collosus (former member of Weapon X, now battling against them) and Eve (the younger daughter of Kurt and Wanda Wagner, niece of Magneto). Together they are “The Nomads”.

Height: 5 ft. 11 in.

Weight: 355 lbs. Eyes: Yellow/Orange

Hair: (originally) Brown, (currently) Green

Other distinguishing features: Covered with fur, unusually large hands and feet, pointed ears, fang-like teeth Known superhuman powers: The Beast has the superhuman strength, agility, endurance, speed and dexterity. He is strong enough to lift (press) 4,000 pounds. His legs are powerful enough to enable him to leap 30 feet high in a standing high jump, and 50 feet in a standing broad jump. He is able to crawl up brick walls by wedging his fingers and toes into the smallest cracks and applying a vise-like grip on them. He has enough power to smash through a eight-inch thick oaken door with a single blow or tie a six-inch solid steel bar into a knot.

He has the agility of a great ape and the acrobatic prowess of the most accomplished circus aerialist and acrobat. Ha can walk a tightrope or a slack rope as easily as most people can walk on a sidewalk. He can walk on his hands for many hours, or perform a complicated sequence of gymnastic stunts such as flips, rolls, and springs. He can easily match or top any Olympic record at gymnastics apparatus (such as flying rings, climbing ropes, horizontal bars, trampolines). Further, his manual and pedal dexterity is so great that he can write using both hands at once or tie knots in rope with his toes.

The Beast is quite fast, able to run on all four at approximately 40 miles per hour for short sprints. His stamina is approximately quadruple that of a well-trained athlete in his prime. His physiology is durable enough to permit him to take a six-story fall without a broken bone or stain (providing he lands on his feet). At the time of his further mutation into his present furry form, his metabolism underwent a period of accelerated change. As a side effect, he was able to metabolize and recover from penetration wound to his body within a matter of minutes. Since then, his body’s metabolism has stabilized and he no longer has quite such a rapid recovery rate. He is still able to recover from most wounds within a few hours.

Oldies: Superman

Just another oldie that never quite came to anything.. this was just me playing about with with shapes, and shadows and was inspired by a Loston Wallace sketch of the Superman.. the insignia I added just now from the vector one I had created for my Supergirl pic. I quite liked this basic kinda style, but when I deliberately set out to do a shaded face, it never quite came out the same.

911: Do not go gentle into that good night

I found a picture of Captain America while browsing, and thought it just evoked that feeling of battling through adversity. I just added a couple of filters, nothing fancy. I also get that feeling whenever I hear the Dylan Thomas Poem that shares the picture’s title:

Do not go gentle into that good night,Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

In memory of the lights that went out on September 11th 2001, New York City.

Nomads: Sinistra – Animated Series

Here is a wee BTAS style pic I did based on a request from from my friend Enchantress over at marvel-boards.co.uk based on the previous manip I did of her character in the new Nomads RPG we have going. The character notes below the image are actually slightly updated (2004) following most of the game participants moving to comicsuncovered.com (disagreements with board admins) and forming the game The Watch using the same characters and basic story.

Name: Sinistra
Real name :Victoria Jean Essex
Appearance: pale skin with equally pale long wavy white hair, a small red diamond shaped tattoo on her forehead and warm brown eyes.
Height 5’ 10”
Age: unknown (appears to be about 25-30 years old)

Victoria is the daughter of Dr. Nathaniel Essex, a brilliant biologist and geneticist, Mr. Sinister is also immortal — granting him a unique perspective on human evolution. Using the genetic material he garnered from various sources he created his “daughter” Victoria. All that is known about Victoria’s “parentage” is the little bit of information she was able to get from her father… Her genetic makeup includes that of Mr. Sinister, X-Man- Nate Grey, Jean Grey and several other “Alpha” class mutants that are unknown to her.
Her powers mimic those of her father. She is able to alter her appearance and shape by molecular manipulation along with her father’s ability to phase, appearing and disappearing as he sees fit, she has an accelerated healing factor…along with being a powerful telekinetic, she has telepathic power. Victoria main power however, is the enormous responsibility of being the last ties to earth that the Phoenix Force has. She hears it’s voice in her mind and has the ability to call upon it and ask it’s aid. Having been a host of sorts for the Phoenix since childhood, she has gained firm control over the cosmic power. Victoria’s powers at one point, used on a high level resulted in severe headaches and nosebleeds. However, during an Atlantis mission, she tried introducing Atlantean DNA to her system to slow the hemophilia she suffered and nearly bled to death in the process, with the quick thinking of Beast and Sage, her team mate, Scott Summers was able to save her life by a blood transfusion. That transfusion gave Victoria and Scott a unique bond, much like the mental link she shares with Beast.

It is unknown how Victoria ages, being as her father is immortal…her aging rate is seemingly slower than that of most normal beings.

Victoria carries a grudge against Sinister. The very mention of his name leaves a distasteful feeling in her mouth. Not knowing anything about her “father’s” alter ego, Victoria grew up loving him, even when he sent her to live with Piotr and Kitty Rasputin. He disappeared from her life for a long time. Piotr warily watched Victoria grow up, fearing she would turn into Sinister. Victoria and Piotr’s father/daughter relationship is strained at best.
When Sinister reappeared later in her life, it was then she found out the horrific truth of who he really was, and the evils he had created, along with her.
Being hunted her whole life by the psychopath known as Gambit didn’t help matters much either. But as Gambit’s age began to take it’s toll on him, he hired the mercenary known as Deadpool to hunt down Victoria and finish the job. Wade, having found out Victoria was Ms. August in his “College Babes Bare it All issue” couldn’t find it in his heart or wallet to axe the cutie. She he began hanging around tormenting her…and eventually the two became friends.

Victoria’s only consolation during her childhood was her best friend Belle, who was murdered by Gambit, her secret crush Franklin Richards…who went mad the first time he saw Victoria in full blown mutant form, and her Godfather, Dr. Henry McCoy, who also died at an old age, by Gambit’s hand.
Victoria’s college lab partner and good friend Peter Parker harbored the secret of her mutant form for many years, keeping close to her side. Victoria graduated from Empire State University with a degree in Genetics and Bioscience.

Recently, Victoria has discovered Sinister’s true reason for creating her…not to be his daughter, but to be his equal, his mate. After a shock to her system, memories of physical abuse at Sinister’s hands came to the surface and sent Victoria into a catatonic state, causing yet another of her powers to appear that mimicked his, an glowing pink energy sword, produced when her anger and fear were at peak levels.
Victoria’s one consolation to all the hardships she’s endured, is that even though she’s so far from home, and has no care about going back, she’s found a life with a team, and a love in an alternate reality version of Hank McCoy.

Nomads: Punisher – Animated Series

Well this is the third of the characters I have created for the RPG. So should my Beast bit the bullet, and my Blink bleep off, my Punisher will pop up.;)

BIO:

Real name: Frank Castle (born Castiglione)

Occupation: Former United States Marine, Current Head of Security, Stark Industries.

Identity: Known to legal authorities

Legal status: Citizen of the United States, listed in Marine records (under Castiglione) as deceased.

Place of birth: Queens, New York

Group affiliation: Formerly S.W.A.T. (Strategic Warfare Assault Team), Avengers (Reserve), S.W.A.T. (Mk II)

Base of operations: Formerly South Vietnam, Currently Mobile, usually Stark Industries, New York City.

History: Frank Castle was a career U.S. Marine, who served five years in Vietnam. He was assigned to a special weapons field testing detail. It was while on this detail that he met Anthony Stark, an american inventor and industrialist. Stark was sent to Vietnam to supervise a field test for one of his tranistorized weapons. While he was there Stark tripped on a booby trap and a piece of shrapnel was lodged in his chest. Castle was knocked unconcious by the blast, and both he and the gravely injured Stark was taken captive by the Communist leader Wong-Chu.

Stark was informed that within a week the shrapnel would penetrate his heart and kill him. Wong-Chu offered Stark at deal: if he built the Communist a powerful weapon, he would allow Stark to undergo an operation to save his life. Stark agreed, hoping to gain time and access to tools. Stark was given access to a small laboratory in communist territory with another captive, the renowned Oriental physicist Professor Ho Yinsen. He claimed that Castle was his assistant and insisted that he be brought along as he was familiar with Stark’s designs.

Wong-Chu denied this request, but sent Castle along to be held prisoner anyway, hoping to use him as an additional incentive for Stark to build his weapon. With Yinsen’s help, Stark manage to convince their guards that he was indeed complying with Wong-Chu’s wishes, however they secretly designed and built an electrically powered suit of armor and equipped with heavy offensive weaponry. The armor also contained pacemaker like device which enabled Stark’s heart to keep beating after the shrapnel entered it.

Donning the suit, Stark connected it to its power source, an electrical generator. Lying on a table Stark was helpless until the suit was fully charged. His captor, Wong-Chu, sensed something was amiss and came to investigate with armed men. Realizing he was sacrificing his life, Professor Ho Yinsen went out to confront Wong-Chu, to give Stark the extra time he needed to charge the armored suit fully. As the Iron Man Stark avenged Yinsen’s death and scattered Wong Chu’s guerilla troops. Then, still clad in his armor, which was necessary to keep his heart beating, Stark freed the captive and badly beaten Castle, and made his way to the jungle, trying to escape communist territory.

James Rhodes, a pilot in the United States Marines who was stationed in South East Asia, had been shot down in the jungle nearby Communist rockets while he was on a reconnaissance mission. Rhodes managed to land safely and was attempting to get his helicopter air worthy when he encountered Iron Man and the slowly recovering Castle. After Iron Man help Rhodes fight off an attack by communist forces, Rhodes allowed him to drain helicopters batteries to recharge his armor. The three men attacked the jungle together, finally discovering a hidden Communist rocket base. Stealing an enemy helicopter, they destroyed the base and flew to the nearest American base.

Back in the United States, Stark redesigned his chest plate, which contained a pacemaker like device, reducing the chest plates size and weight so he could wear it under his normal clothing.  Required to wear this armored chest piece at all times to keep his heart beating, Stark decided to put to rest of the armor to regular use as well. After redesigning the entire armored suit to match the chest plate, Stark was forced to don his battle suit untested in order to prevent thieves from stealing his designs. This experience made him realize that the suit was too dangerous to me made available to the public.

Stark went to the government, with the idea of setting up a team of “Iron Men” who would be available for missions deemed to dangerous for standard troops. He concealed the suits true origin, as well as the fact that he himself had to wear the chest plate to live. Wishing to retain some degree of anonymity, Stark established the fiction that Iron Man was his paid bodyguard wearing a suit of armor that he had invented. Only his most trusted aides learned Stark and Iron Man were one and the same.

It was at Stark’s insistance that Rhodes and Castle were picked to be the prototype team, called S.W.A.T. (Strategic Warfare Assault Team). The government assigned the team a liaison, Obediah Stane, to pass on mission details. Stark had already named “Iron Man” and encouraged the others to pick codenames for their armours. Jim Rhodes chose to become “War Machine” while Frank Castle, always the darkest of the three due to his experiences both in warfare and at the hands of Wong-Chu’s torturers, took the name “Punisher”.

At first the S.W.A.T team were involved in covert missions deep into communist territory in South East Asia. These mainly involved taking out heavily armoured and fortified positions, in order to allow US troops to advance. Over the next couple of years, however, the missions took on a darker tone, eventually becoming assassinations in all but name. Over the years Stark constantly refined and modified the design of his armors. From the bulky, transistorized Iron suits, Stark eventually built relatively lightweight, integrated circuit, magnetically polarized suits with more human looking articulated musculature. Stark’s natural genius at theoretical mechanics has enabled him keep his suits of armor at the cutting edge of technology.

Stark eventually underwent a heart transplant so that he was no longer obligated to wear his metal chest plate. It was near the end of the conflict in South East Asia, that Stane ordered them to carry out what was to be their final mission as a team. They were given instructions to head deep into enemy territory, where the intelligence services had learned the enemy was attempting to construct a new deadly weapon. S.W.A.T were to go in retrieve any materials they could and destroy everything else.

Upon arriving at the designated co-ordinates the team immediately realised something was very wrong. What they found was a training camp, filled with american advisors, teaching the enemy troops american military strategy. Stane was trying to get the team to tidy up somebody’s loose ends. The team refused to carry out the mission, and instead captured the camp intact, and handed the advisors over to the US Marine base for incarceration and trial. When they returned to their base, they found it had been cleared out and Stane was gone.

It was at this point the men knew that their war was over and they all returned to the United States and went their seperate ways. Stark took over his father’s company, Stark Industries. At first Stark kept up the pretense that Iron Man was a paid emplyee, using his Iron Man identity only to combat spies and criminals who threaten Stark industries. Later, he expanded the scope of his alter ego’s activities to battle any force or person who friend the security of America or the world. Stark was instrumental in the organization of the original world wide intelligence and law-enforcement agency known as SHIELD, and as Iron Man he became a founding member of the team of super human champions known as the Avengers. Stark donated his Manhattan mansion to the Avengers for their exclusive use.

Stark eventually decided for moral reasons no longer to manufacture armament and devote his company to other areas of technology. Rhodes returned to university and obtained several engineering degrees. He took up a position at Roxxon Oil Company, involved in testing the effects of experimental aviation fuel. It was while working here that he first head that Iron Man was back in action and where he first encountered Stane Industries, one of Roxxon’s rivals. Frank Castle became a SHIELD operative, working undercover mostly seeking out evidence of industrial espionage.

It was just as Castle was learning to put his wartime experiences behind him thatObediah Stane came back into his life. After the war Stane had become an industrialist, and one who had no qualms about selling armaments to the highest bidder, including armaments that would have looked very familiar to Tony Stark – they were his designs. Stane had escaped any retribution for his actions during the war and indeed had used his knowledge and contacts to become very powerful indeed.

Frank managed to get a message back to Nick Fury of SHIELD with a request to pass this information on to Iron Man. Knowing some of the history between them, Nick complied and also took it upon himself to make contact with Jim Rhodes. Stark outfitted Castle and Rhodes with new versions of their wartime armours, the three sought out Stane. Stane himself put on a suit of armour his engineers had built using Starks plans and, together with his similarly armoured Dreadnoughts, met the Iron Men in battle as the Iron Monger. Ultimately losing his battle against Stark and his more advanced technology, Stane committed suicide rather than face trial.

Castle returned briefly to SHIELD and learned that before his death Stane, while calling himself Spymaster had stolen the plans for the many secret technological innovations in weaponry that Stark had devised but never implemented, including initial designs for future armours. Spymaster had then turned these plans over to Stark’s most powerful and antagonistic business rival, Justin Hammer, who in turn, had made them available to many criminals. These criminals had then incorporated the stolen technological innovations into their own armored battle suits.

Outraged that his inventions were being used for criminal activity Stark determined to deprive these criminals of his secrets. Castle and Rhodes agreed to stay and help him and S.W.A.T. was reborn. Infiltrating Hammer’s New York Complex, they planted a computer virus in Hammer’s computer system that would wipe out all traces of the plans for Stark’s Iron Man technology. As S.W.A.T., Castle, Rhodes and Stark sought out and caught many criminals and others (such as the United States government’s black ops  Guardsmen) who wore battle suits utilizing Stark’s technology, and implanted devices on their armor that rendered the suits useless.

With the stolen computer records deleted, Stark presumed there would be no further attempts to reconstruct the suits. In the course of these “Armor Wars” Iron Man accidentally killed the second titanium man (also known as the gremlin).  The United States government branded Iron Man as an outlaw as a result of these “supposed” vigilante actions, and Stark publicly claimed that he had fired Iron Man in displeasure over his illegal activity. Shortly afterward, Iron Man was apparently destroyed in combat with government forces. In fact, however, Stark had survived.

He created an even more sophisticated armored battle suit to wear as Iron Man, using technology far in advance over that which spymaster had stolen from him. Stark continued to go into action as Iron Man, but he publicly claimed that the previous Iron Man was dead and that another employee of his whose identity is being kept secret was now wearing the armored suit. Castle and Rhodes remained with Stark, taking up civilian positions within his company. Castle became Stark Industries Head of Security, and on occasion acted as Stark’s bodyguard both in and out of armour. Rhodes became Chief Aviation Engineer and acted as Stark’s personal pilot. S.W.A.T. continue to fight together as a team.

Iron Man, War Machine and Punisher have all spent time as Avenger’s aquitting themselves well, although Rhodes and Castle found the rules and regulations to inhibitting. Punisher has also operated on his own while carrying out the odd assignment for Nick Fury and SHIELD. Castle retains his full SHIELD clearance which has proved useful on more than one occasion.

Details:

Height: 6 ft.

Weight: 200 lbs.

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Black

Abilites: Frank Castle possesses the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and build who engages in intensive regular exercise. Castle is a thoroughly seasoned combat veteran of exceptional skills. A former U.S. Marine Captain with a distinguished combat record who has undergone SEAL (Sea Air Land) training, UDT (Underwater Demolition Team) training, and LRPA (Long Range Patrol) training, Frank Castle is well versed in the arts of warfare and hand-to-hand combat. Armed solely with conventional weapons, Castle has single-handedly incapacitated up to a dozen well-armed and experienced opponents in a single encounter and escaped uninjured.

Weapons: As Castle, constantly employs an arsenal of portable weaponry when on undercover missions. His most commonly used personal weapons are the Vietnam era M16 automatic rifle in.223 caliber; a Sterling Mark 69mm, 34-round clip fed, semiautomatic rifle converted to automatic fire; a 14-round, 9mm Browning Llama automatic pistol; a Government issue.45 caliber automatic frame re-chambered for 9mm ammunition with a replaceable barrel to convert it to.223 caliber ammunition; and a 4-shot derringer in.223 caliber (Thus, he needs to carry only two types of ammunition.)

Armour Specifications: Iron Man Armored, Flight-Capable, Environment Suit, Mark VII. Modified for Enhanced Combat Capability

Designer: Anthony Stark Major Contractor: Stark Industries

Armor Ext Dimensions: Height: 78 in. Width: 34 in. Depth: 21 in. Weight: 240 lbs.

Armor composition:

Surface/primary Layer: Molecularly aligned crystallized iron over a base of titanium nitride. Metallized paint is precise thickness to destructively interfere with RADAR band microwaves.

Secondary Layer: Comprised of various thermoelectric generators, temperature insulators and regulators.

Tertiary Layer: Consists of two independent, ‘crimped’ armature electric motors that are aligned at right angles to each other, which can simulate human musculature movement.

Special Features: Each layer possesses integrated communication, power-handling and control circuitry – with regions, which contain certain large area specializations, such as the simulation of a specific muscle.

Note: Suit’s microscopic scale chain mail is made rigid by numerous computer-controlled magnetic beam generators. These generators can sense and amplify the suit wearer’s motions and strength. Discrete networks of them are arranged, in conjunction with the full-body system of DC motors, to mimic the function of human musculature.

Armor Articulation Motivation – Musculature enhancement: The armor enables its wearer to lift (press) approximately 80 tons under standard operating conditions. Limits: When directly tapping a sufficiently potent power source, the armor can be boosted to Class 100 strength (able to lift in excess of 100 tons) for several seconds at the risk of having a total system seize-up.

Power Supply:

Type: High-density storage battery, AC/DC electricity.

Primary: Beta particle generator, creating constant current from passing beta particles that continually bombard Earth.

Secondary: Solar power converters, regrouped in microscopic ridges for improved collection efficiency, arrayed on shoulders and headpiece.

Tertiary (back-up): Increased efficiency of conversion of electric field potentials into usable electricity. Mark VII two orders of magnitude more efficient than Mark VI.

Armor System Controls:

Type: Automatic, computerized, body motion following.

Sub-Systems: Local networks of muscle groups and high-density computers, which control large scale movements such as walking.

Special Features: Armor is comprised of finely tessellated mail, which can minimize sudden compressions, such as a blow, by racially dissipating the energy throughout the suit. Articulation Seals/reinforcement: All magnetic. Due to microscopic construction, seal topology allows a 4.5-inch diameter wrist cuff (for example) to have a practical circumference of 12 inches. This allows for a greater area over which a magnetic seal can be affected.

Life Support: Range: High altitude to deep water: 130,000 feet above to 1,800 feet below sea level. Air Supply Duration: 1.2 hours Pressure: Normal atmosphere (14.7 pounds per square inch) maintained internally over a wide range of external pressures. Temperature: 73

Press: FXM

Theme Day Submission. Well I have been messing with this pic of Jaime Presley as Emma Frost for a week or so, and almost submitted it in a slightly different form (big thanks to Juvenilemike, for comments and encouragement) but I ended up doing it this way. And I think it works so much better. Other than Jaime herself (well most of her!), and the manipped Greg Horn prints in the background – pretty much everything in this was created from scratch.