So We're Making a Comic and Need Help

Mal

And here's the deal: I need character names. Both cheesy AND good. I know that probably sounds confusing but that's what I need. Bad/cheesy superhero names and then really clever ones. I'll post what my co-writer wrote in her ad for help below. That should help.

They're teenage rookie superheroes and their powers don't work right. They need somewhat geeky names but also cool names. Like a geeky name to start with then a cool one for when they mature. Also the name should reflect their powers. example: if they have super sound powers they should have a name like Decibel or Screech. Here's the list.

1.) Male, has super sound powers but can't talk without using those powers
2.) male, has time traveling powers but can't control where or when he goes
3.) male, has X-Ray vision but can never turn it off, only sees through things
4.) female, power of flight but can never touch the ground
5.) male or female, has the power of absorbing things into skin. skin turns into whatever they touched (example wood, metal, water)
6.) male or female, has power to shape shift into whatever animal he/she touches but can never return to human shape. Also is only able to communicate in Morse Code by tapping.

I already have a few names for some of the characters but I really need more (plus some of mine honestly suck)

For the Time Kid I have the name Catbox (a reference to Schrodinger's Cat)
For the Screaming Kid I have the names Decibel and Accoustic
For the X Ray kid I have Ion and Pure Vision (and let's face it those REALLY SUCK)
And for the Flying Kid all I have is Cloudkicker


So if anyone has any names or even ideas for our comic let us know. Thanks.

Willeth

First, change your text. That's impossible to read.

Secondly, only you know their characters well enough to give them an appropriate name. Just don't necessarily tie them to the characters' powers.

DVG

(Oh god, please change the font color back to normal)

Most superhero names succinctly sum up what a character does in a word or two. Your hero name needs to tell your reader pretty much everything about them, power-wise. The flying girl who can't touch ground could be named Hover for instance. It's not blazing any trails, but I have a pretty good idea what her power does by reading her name.

MKR

Look at all the best superheroes.

What is The Flash's power? Superman? Batman?

The Flash certainly isn't a photographer, "super" wouldn't tell you anything about his powers, and batman doesn't rely on echolocation to thwart his foes.

Think outside of what they do.

YodaTuna

As a legitimate piece of advice, come up with your own names instead of fishing on forums for creative ideas, unless you plan to give props in your comic to whoever comes up with a name.

DVG

MKR wrote: »

Look at all the best superheroes.

What is The Flash's power? Superman? Batman?

The Flash certainly isn't a photographer, "super" wouldn't tell you anything about his powers, and batman doesn't rely on echolocation to thwart his foes.

Think outside of what they do.

The Flash runs by you "in a flash" and furthermore received his powers from a Flash of Lightning, Superman has all his normal traits enhanced by the earth's yellow sun, making him super, and in the most recent Batman movie

He absolutely did rely on echolocation to thwart his foes

and further Batman is a man who dresses up as a bat, just like his name would imply.

But I wasn't trying to contend that it was a hard-and-fast rule. Just that no one is going to complain about a Superhero name which is apt. You don't have to have a name which is "amazing" in some way for a Superhero. There is nothing that special about the names of The Flash, Superman or Batman. It's the stories that make those characters popular.

And there are loads of examples of super heroes and villains whose names reflect their powers/personality Spider-man, Killer Croc, Dr. Octopus, most of the mutants in the marvel universe, pretty much everyone in the legion of Super-Heroes, etc.

MKR

DVG wrote: »

MKR wrote: »

Look at all the best superheroes.

What is The Flash's power? Superman? Batman?

The Flash certainly isn't a photographer, "super" wouldn't tell you anything about his powers, and batman doesn't rely on echolocation to thwart his foes.

Think outside of what they do.

[snip]

That's great, but the OP looked like he could use more angles. It looks like he already tried the power-based name approach with no success.

TychoCelchuuu

YodaTuna wrote: »

As a legitimate piece of advice, come up with your own names instead of fishing on forums for creative ideas, unless you plan to give props in your comic to whoever comes up with a name.

Ker-limed. Nobody's story has ever been hurt because they forced themselves to write it. Every time you abdicate creative control to someone else, you're saying "there is some portion of what I am writing that I cannot in fact write. Pick up the slack for me." This works about as well as getting a job and then farming stuff off to your coworkers when you're not able to do it: technically the work might get done, but are you really doing the job?

Sir Red of the Manti

1) Pitch
2) Trip
3) Far-Sight
4) Free-Fall
5) Osmos
6) Taps

Mal

I like those. And just so everyone knows I didn't plan on not giving credit if someone did help me with a name. And let's be honest We're doing this for fun so I don't need to be all serious about it. There's nothing wrong with asking for a bit of help.

Thanks for the names Sir Red. I appreciate it. And as for everyone else. I appreciate the constructive criticism.

Quoth

As always, I recommend a random name generator to get the ideas flowing.

AtomBomb

I think it's just me getting old, but I like the more "reality" based superhero books. In that case, I think superhero names arise from either the press, nicknames, or they wouldn't have names. I find introductions akward enough without having to say "Hi, please refer to me as PURE VISION." So, off the top of my head, here's a few ideas of what I might do with some of your characters:

1) If this guy can't talk without using his powers I'm thinking he's like Black Bolt in that he really can't talk without bad shit happening. I think the other characters would give him some kind of ironic name like Chatty Cathy or something more accurate like the Mime. It could be really fun if he was also illiterate, so he couldn't even convey accurately what his normal name is. You could have him get a rather stupid name from the other characters misinterpreting his "sounds like" gestures.
3) Perv.
6) It might be fun if the only way you can tell if a given animal is this character is a collar with a nametag. You could have the nametag change whenever the character does.

Those are all really bad ideas, but maybe they will inspire you to come up with something better.

ANTVGM64

1.) Male, has super sound powers but can't talk without using those powers

- Screech (Is this taken)


2.) male, has time traveling powers but can't control where or when he goes

- Blackout

3.) male, has X-Ray vision but can never turn it off, only sees through things

- Peeping Tom

4.) female, power of flight but can never touch the ground

- Cassandra Cloud - The Angel or something like that.

5.) male or female, has the power of absorbing things into skin. skin turns into whatever they touched (example wood, metal, water)

- Chameliman..or woman

6.) male or female, has power to shape shift into whatever animal he/she touches but can never return to human shape. Also is only able to communicate in Morse Code by tapping.

- Fucked.

Mal

First off I have to say thanks to both ANTVGM64 and AtomBomb for their excellent suggestions. You both really helped a great deal and ANTVGM64 that "fucked" thing gave me a chuckle. Atom our original idea was for a whole "young avengers the public makes up their names first" but we were stricken with writer's block like crazy. Both of your posts has got the mental juices flowing though so now we are back on track. We're still going to look here for some names just in case but the both of you have REALLY helped.

I just want to remind everyone that sees this post that we are also accepting ANY ideas for this comic or characters you'd like to put in. We will credit you and even though this comic will never be published (then again you never know), it may find itself online and maybe you could get some recognition out of it. So if anyone has any ideas or ANYTHING let us know. :P

ANTVGM64

I imagine perhaps one of the more unique ways to begin your comic would be to start with the time traveling dude waking up in quite literally twenty minutes before a plane he was on was about to crash.

Go from there.

Instead of not being able to decide where he needs to go, it's almost subconcious, and that brings him to whatever time period he needs, like a reflex.

Mal

Ooh that's good. We actually were thinking up a way to introduce his powers but couldn't decide. I like that idea.

We actually were going to start it with the X-Ray kid but then his opening story sorta ran itself into the ground. Head first. We realized we might have taken our attempts at humor a wee bit too far and it brought our story to a screeching halt. We're fixing it now but if we remain stuck in "writer's hell" as we call it we'll probably scrap his opening for a bit and try the time kid's.

Thanks again! :P

ANTVGM64

I think it'd be interesting where each character wakes up with their powers in full swing. It can also lead to character development depending on WHERE they wake up.

1.) Male, has super sound powers but can't talk without using those powers.

Wakes up next to a beautiful girl, and, like all people who wake up, begins to Yawn. Upon Yawning the girl he is with begins to bleed from the ears, all the windows break, and the house rumbles. He is terrified.


2.) male, has time traveling powers but can't control where or when he goes

Falls asleep on a plane, wakes up at the airport 20 minutes after the plane crashes, just long enough to see that it was his plane. Then zips back to 20 minutes before the plane takes off.

3.) male, has X-Ray vision but can never turn it off, only sees through things.

Wakes up at like, 6pm to see a sibling/parent doing some kind of hard drug in their room, he thinks he's dreaming, turns over in his bed, sees through to the basement, is freaked out. He closes his eyes, and sees through those as well.

4.) female, power of flight but can never touch the ground

Wakes up in her car, floating towards the ceiling. Freaked out, she can't get back down. Stupidly, she opens the door and begins to float higher and higher into the sky.

5.) male or female, has the power of absorbing things into skin. skin turns into whatever they touched (example wood, metal, water)

Guy wakes up after sleeping on a water bed that has sprung a leak. Hilarity ensues.

6.) male or female, has power to shape shift into whatever animal he/she touches but can never return to human shape. Also is only able to communicate in Morse Code by tapping.

This guy wakes up looking exactley their Ferret, who has escaped.

Mike Danger

If you changed the sound-based one to a girl, a good hammy name would be Decibelle.

ceres

Mike Danger wrote: »

If you changed the sound-based one to a girl, a good hammy name would be Decibelle.

Decibill?

TychoCelchuuu

Decibud.

ANTVGM64

You guys said you were looking for all sorts of ideas, so here's what I would do with these characters, a kind of tongue and cheek approach, and lots of acid.

These six people have been friends for their entire lives, sometimes estranged, but friends. Then, one night, after a going away party for the guy who eventually is able to time travel, they all go swimming in the local lake, leading to them drinking contaminated water (More on that later) that gives them there sort of powers.


Hero 1) SpeakerBoxx. (Voice Power Guy)
Powers: A BOOMING (har har) voice. When he talks it can shatter windows. Here's the problem. Things like burping, and sneezing can do fun things like level a house. He's not immune to his own power, so now he must perpetually carry around ear plugs just in case.

Bio: Reggie Smith has always wanted to make music. As a rapper, as a rock star, as anything. And everytime, he was told he never had it. Following a dip in the magical lake of awesome that gives him and his friends his powers, he realized that now he must his voice never, and gives up on his life long dream, depressing him. To communicate, he has a small chalk board he writes on.


Hero 2) The Love Below (The one all the furry fans will like)

Powers: The ability to turn into any animal she comes into contact with, but when touching humans, nothing happens.

Bio: Talia Halas, Given her super-hero name by her boyfriend, Speaker-boxx, she is given the name because as time progresses she gets into the habit of taking the form of various adorable animals like Hamsters, Kittens, and Puppies. As her father was a sailor in the Navy, she knows Morse Code from her Father, the legendary Hawk Halas.

Hero 3) Kite (Floaty lady)

Powers: The ability to fly, well, more accurately float, she is costantly floating up into the air, and the only way she can come down is via weights, or thinking really hard. But she is never able to touch the ground on her own, only with VERY heavy boots (That she can't lift on her own)

Bio: Katrina Burnside is in a rough place, and always has been. She wants to escape her life, her family, and sadly, her child, Bobby. Neglecting responsibility is her calling card. Eventually, like, believe it or not, Peter Pan, she needs a happy thought to be able to control her flight. This may be pyscho-sematic, but in any case, her happy thought is her son.


Hero 4) X-Ray (X-Ray Guy)

Powers: He can see through things. Like REALLY see through things. Where his eyes are focused he just see through the first three things in his way. So if a person was in front of a wall, he'd actually see through the person, know there was a wall there, and only see what was behind the wall.

Bio: Ray Jordan. After wishing he could see what was causing Katrina all her pain, he wakes up in his bed seeing through his ceiling, watching his mother take a hit of crystal meth. Scared, he turns over, sees through his bed. He closes his eyes, he can see through those, too. Hilarity ensues.

Hero 5) Punch Clock (Time Guy)

Powers: Travels through time sub-consciously, arriving where he needs to be to avert any danger or issues that may cause harm. The most time he spends in any one time period is roughly 2 hours. He subscribes to the "All Good Things" theory of Time Travel, where he can't quite control it, but if everything is working right, he knows what to do anyway, and yes, to fix the paradox, he CAN run into a pas version of himself.

Bio: Todd Simmulas was leaving. He was leaving for a new life in Chicago, Il, until the lake, until the plane crash, and until the time travel. He's a smart person, pretty good with technology, and has always (luckily) loved science fiction.


Hero 6) Stan Bush (The Touch Guy)

Powers: His body turns into whatever he touches, specifically his skin and any extremities. For example, if he places a finger inside of his mouth to grab a bit of chewed up chicken, his outside body becomes chewed up chicken. This works for him because if he touches a tooth or a filling he becomes medal, or gold. Wearing gloves turns him leather, and his powers only apply to his hands AND toes, leading to his perpetual need to wear short sandals that do not touch them.

Bio: Stan Bush. He's just your average joe with extraordinary power...and plans to use it to become rich as all hell, such as touching gold and cutting off strands of his hair....Until he realizes that when he turns gold he topples over from being to heavy.



These people don't really need to come together as a super-hero team to be compelling characters, just watching them deal with their day to day inconveniences would be awesome. However, I had some ideas if they did want to fight crime.

1) How hard it is to actually find crime to fight.

2) How none of them have any training on fighting, and routinely get their asses kicked.

3) SpeakerBoxx + The Love Below relationship would be fun.

Mal

ANTVGM64 first I have to say MAJOR MAJOR THANKS. Seriously. You rock.

Secondly: Can I like adopt/commission you as a personal Muse? No seriously. o_O You seem to EASILY take our small ideas and push them to their limits and then laughing, cross those limits and smirk. or maybe I'm just trying to wax poetic to make myself seem less stupid after reading your amazing ideas. (I Art Teh Smooth Operator 8-) ) I don't know. Either way, you rock and I'm in awe. Keep those ideas coming. You've earned your name in the credits in BOLD print. If this comic goes to great places rest assured your name will be with it.

*runs off to write those ideas down*

Btw characters sketches are coming along nicely. Once their up I'll give everyone a link to our deviantart pages if anyone wants to see. We are still in "pre-production" as it were and have a while to go but like I said, keep the ideas coming. (Hopefully our internet won't KERPLODE as it oft does and leave us in the devastating wreck like it did with our first story )

Thanks guys!:P

Sentry

umm... not to be a dick, and I know all super heroes are derivative... but man, your sound guy is just a copy of Black Bolt from Marvel. Might want to edit him a bit.

ANTVGM64

Who is black bolt?


(Really I didn't know)

(reads)

...Aw poop.

Anyway, creator guy, hit me up on AIM, I'm online a lot and totally love brainstorming ideas, as I'm trying to do it for a living.

I'll work on the sound guy :-P

truck-a-sauras

For the sound guy I'd also add in an accident early on when he doesn't understand his power. Have him blow out his own ear drums making him deaf. From there he really has trouble regulating his own powers as the only reference he has is the vibrations from the sound waves. That and him being deaf and can't speak makes him even more pathetic. Call him Helen Keller 2 the sequel!

Mal

Wow that is a good idea too! Big thanks man. I'll add that to the list.

Willeth

I think there's actually something interesting about the guy with the permanent X-ray vision. Wouldn't he be completely fucked up? Like, he'd be fine with nakedness at all times but he'd find exposed skeletons and organs attractive?

ANTVGM64

Right, well, my logic is Xray vision would suck, because if anything it would see through to the bone and not much else around it, because that's what X-ray really means I think, So It's kind of a twist on the "I can look at naked things" joke that occurs with Xray vision

Mal

Exactly. I want him just to see like literally through everything. There would be almost no perks to it (at least not anatomy wise) because all he would see is bones and organs. Although I do like the idea of him being attracted to people differently because of his power. We also recently came to the idea that he could have an almost healing quality to his power as well (in the way that he can see if someone has a medical condition or failing organs). We decided his father would be a surgeon and that he's been pushing his son to become the same and there we would have the advantage of seeing exactly what he would need to.

While we were thinking that however it hit us both simultaneously that maybe we could have some sort of reverse Cyclops thing going for him. Being that he would need a very special pair of glasses or maybe even contact lenses to see normally like we would. Although if we did go with this idea it wouldn't show up until much later in the comic, we like to know what you guys think of this idea and the doctor one.

Thoughts?

Willeth

Mal wrote: »

While we were thinking that however it hit us both simultaneously that maybe we could have some sort of reverse Cyclops thing going for him. Being that he would need a very special pair of glasses or maybe even contact lenses to see normally like we would. Although if we did go with this idea it wouldn't show up until much later in the comic, we like to know what you guys think of this idea and the doctor one.

Thoughts?

So he wears leaden glasses?

Mal

Something like that, yes. We haven't officially decided what kind.

Mal

What, no more ideas? *slight pout*

ANTVGM64

I'd be down for coming up with an entire script if you want. I've never written a comic script before but have done screen plays and television pilots.

Mal

Let me be honest then. It's obvious we're not professionals so we need all the help we can get. Based on what we have heard from you so far we'd GLADLY accept (beg you?) ANYTHING you wanna send our way. Scripts, art, ANYTHING. Seriously. Hell if this keeps up we might hire you lol. :P


We'll be smooth about it though and in our minds we're not as lame as we seem here 8-)

ANTVGM64

That works for me. For the record I have the artistic ability of Stephan Hawking on Special K, but creatively I think I have some clever Ideas.

How long is a typical comic book? Do things need to be broken down in panels/words/pages or should I just go batshit nuts and send you what I have, and let the professionals see what they need to do with it?

Mal

The latter. To be honest we don't even know how long we're making this thing. It started out as just a fun thing to pass the time and a way for us to work on our skills (writing for myself, and art for my friend) but now we're being serious about it. Alot of our mutual friends agree that we should try to put it online and go places with it so we're going to try.

Point being that we'll take anything we can get and thank you for it. In fact if you wish we'd like to credit you once we have a site. What we credit you as (and if you'd like to continue working with the comic) is up to you.

Mal

Also, lol on that Stephen Hawking thing. It made me chuckle.