Great art: X-Men and Fantastic Four by Mike Mignola

I'm fairly sure this is related to the Days of Future Present stories through the Marvel Annuals in the early 90s, but I'm not sure where exactly this piece of art by Mike Mignola was ever published. But dang, it's some fine work on characters he rarely drew.

And did I mention everyone has pouches! Woo!

As always, you can check out a lot more Great Art over on the Tumblr. And after you're done admiring some great art here, don’t forget to check out some of the other great stuff from me this week!

Cosplay Friday: Freakazoid

Didn't have a lot of time to do a bunch of thinking about a cosplay this week. So I decided to choose a hero that doesn't seem like he's always thinking either! LaydiexSkull brings Freakazoid to glorious life here!

As always, you can check out a lot more great Cosplay pictures over on the Tumblr. And while you are admiring some great cosplay here, don’t forget to check out some of the other great stuff on Super Powered Fiction this week!

Summer writing boot camp

Sorry that it's been a bit quiet here. Been a bit busy working on projects. Here's a little bit on why: 

I'm a big advocate for the entire concept behind NaNoWriMo, so it should come as no surprise that I'm also a fan of its twice annual spinoff campaign Camp NaNoWriMo. While the original in November is set for a distinct 50,000 word novel, the camp version is far more freeform. Writers choose their project type, from novel to short stories to poetry to scripts. Additionally, they can pick from a variety of goals. The most basic is the return of the word goal, but that goal can be altered up and down by the project creator. But words aren't the only goal option. Writers can also choose to measure hours, minutes, lines or pages. It opens up a wide variety of projects to anyone that wants to participate.

Just like the last camp in April, my focus is on short stories. I wrapped Project Independence early in the month. I'm now splitting my time between another chapter of Lightweight and Quadrant. They will be the main focus of my writing for the rest of the year, as in 2019 I plan a large push for both. That doesn't mean I won't continue to produce side projects over the next couple years however. I still have Walking Shadows to finish, the local hero project I plan to launch sometime next year, three or four other projects in various states of completion and the final edits and production of two books before the end of the year.

I've been having a lot of fun with both tales as they take both my solo hero and my premiere team into new settings and introducing new villains and heroes. I don't plan on slowing down either. My current plans are to focus most of my work on both projects for the rest of the summer and early fall, but I'll cover more on that in early August in a new WIP Wednesday.

For now, I just want to encourage everyone to check out and support both NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo. Both are great nonprofit projects with a worthy creative cause.

Great Art: Warrior Nun Areala and Glory by Ben Dunn

We close out the week with art by the supremely talented Ben Dunn, founder of Antarctic Comics and creator of Ninja High School and... Warrior Nun Areala! Here's a great patriotic picture from the cover of Areala's crossover with Rob Liefeld's Glory! Can't think of a better way to close off this Independence Day week.

As always, you can check out a lot more Great Art over on the Tumblr. And after you're done admiring some great art here, don’t forget to check out some of the other great stuff on the site this week!

Happy Independence Day from the King of Comics!

I'm not sure when Jack Kirby drew this great picture (I assume it's somewhere in his 70s Cap run), but it seems a fitting way to ring in the Fourth of July this year.

Speaking of the King, remember to check out his creations over at the Newer Gods blog, as this week we conclude our look at Secret Society of Super-Villains! 

Getting ready for the 4th with American Arsenal!

Cover art by John Davies.

One of the characters I might talk about the least on this blog is American Arsenal. I have created a few different patriotic heroes over my time, most notably Freedom Patton, but the American Arsenal is easily the most explosive of them!

He's a character that had his origins in the early 2000s, fostered by a re-watch of old WWE tapes. I saw the Ultimate Warrior run to the ring and rant and rave. And my mind went to, "what if a superhero was this crazy?"

The idea existed as a couple paragraphs about mixing the lost sense of Rambo in First Blood with the ranting, manic energy of Warrior. When Warrior passed in April of 2014, my mind returned to the American Arsenal. I knew I had to bring the character to life and form.

The short story was published late in 2014 and I immediately dedicated half of its profits to Connor's Cure, a charity created by WWE and supported by the Warrior's widow Dana. Connor's Cure is named after the late wrestling fan Connor Michalek who died of pediatric cancer. The charity continues to raise money to help treat pediatric cancer, a cause no right minded human could ever be against.

As Independence Day looms, I wanted to remind everyone of the existence of American Arsenal. The story is still only 99 cents on Amazon and Smashwords, a steal by any stretch of the imagination. I want to get more readers to check it out and more people to raise money for Connor's Cure. To make this happen I pledge 100% of all profits for the book in the month of July to the charity, foregoing any profit I might make for this push. For every person that adds a review after reading it in the next two months, I'll also match their contribution.

If you feel like giving directly to the charity, that's cool too. Email me a copy of your receipt to nick{at}superpoweredfiction{dot}com and I'll make sure you get a copy of the book.

So let's all have a great Fourth of July tomorrow, and let's celebrate by reading a fun story and supporting a great cause!