Hero of the Universe
For the TL;DR crowd: an artist buddy of mine has drawn the cartoon print seen here, and is auctioning it off on eBay.
OK, now the details:
My buddy Len Peralta — the fantastic comic artist of Geek A Week and w00tstock fame — has started a fun new series of drawings called 50vs50. The "50" refers to 50 heroes and 50 villains, and he’s selling them. Literally.
You submit the name and characteristics of said heroes and/or villains, and, for a fee, he’ll draw them for you and send you a signed print.
I found out about this when Google Alerts notified me of the drawing here entitled, simply, The Astronomer. The noble pate, the steely determination, the ability to manipulate black holes… the resemblance to that guy I see in the mirror when I shave was striking. And sure enough, Len told me he based it on me.
Me, a hero. Awesome. I love Len.
Anyway, Len is doing this to raise money so he can go to San Diego Comic Con this year; he was accepted to attend as an industry professional, which is very cool. 50vs50 is his way to raise cash and have fun doing it.
Len and I then hatched a plan: He printed a second copy of The Astronomer, sent it to me, and I’ve signed it. I have it right here on my desk, in fact. Do you want it? Then bid on it! Len has put it up for auction on eBay. I’ll send it to the winner from BA HQ here in Boulder. And what the heck, I’ll throw in a few miscellaneous spacey items I have lying around here, too.
The auction runs through Saturday, April 23, and ends at 7:30 a.m. PDT (14:30 UT). Get bidding!
I nominate Richard C. Hoagland as a villain.
Holy Halakaleiuea! Where did your index finger go?
I’d so bid on that if I hadn’t already purchased a hero for myself, Lupus inspired, named Papillon and a villain for kid2′s 12th birthday, named Sedux.
Len does a fabulous job on these!
So if you’re on the hero page does that put Wheaton on the villain page?
Where did you get that padded-torso T-shirt you’re wearing? Or did Len just make it up?
Hmm, trying to decide between a villain named The Charlatan (power: deception, weakness: the scientific method) and a hero name Tree Lobster (power: snarkiness, weakness: melted butter)
Why are you so sure you’re not a villain?
).
I mean, that deranged gaze, and the power to manipulate black holes. This looks and sounds more like the aim to gain world dominion to me! Like every crazy doctor from any crazy movie you can possibly think of (except maybe “Back to the Future”
So, don’t do too much “Hero-stuff”, it could be that you’re just a villain!
Hero? The guy who gleefully writes and lectures about the myriad ways in which the Earth can and WILL be destroyed?
Heroes don’t write books called “Death From the Skies”!
-Just sayin’.
This sounds a lot like :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_of_Socialist_Labour
About this (and some analog east german Medal) we
used to make jokes.
:=)
You shave?
For me, I’m afraid, the only point in having a beard was not shaving. Ever.
Already at $152. I wonder how much it would be if you appeared in a grilled cheese sandwich?
Trebuchet beat me to it.
Sorry, Phil, but Brian Cox is clearly the cooler superhero. He even has a secret underground base in Geneva!
Oh, this is *too* cool. Just purchased ‘Doc Brain’ – weakness: NIH funding cuts – and I bet he sells out very, very fast now…
“Holy Halakaleiuea! Where did your index finger go?”
This (why do comic figures have one finger too few?) is one of the Two Great Mysteries of Life. The other is why do women often go in pairs to public toilets (say, at a restaurant).
Your hand looks weird in the drawing…
I vote for the evil “DR” McCarthy as villain
So Phil your : faster then a speeding bullet, more powerful then a locomotive, able to leep tall bulding with a single bownd . Sorry I got you confused with Superman. As for enemys haow about anti-science a villan determed to wipe out sciencetific knowlge , Id man who wants to force kids to learn Id , astrology freak , brian washes people into bleveing in astrology . and of course we need Phil to stop a alien invasion of Earth. Maybe we can have him take on the space invaders I’ve been fighting them for years. (forgive me I’ve been hooked on the video game Space Invaders since 4th grade)
The Astronomer is clearly a hero, as he is -hero- gallery! Of course he studies the way in which the world can end, for he is they only person who wields the knowledge needed to stop it! We should only hope that he has clear skies . . .