It's been a busy month, but I finally got around to judging that story contest. Big heartfelt thanks to those of you who entered the contest.

The entrants and the short versions of their arcs (in order of submission) were as follows:


A fight between Pounce and Trans results in Dr. Stanley Renfield becoming transmuted by his nanobot project into a living machine. Trans and Pounce must join forces to defeat Renfield, who has been driven slightly mad by the transformation, and seeks to destroy them both. (Read SL's writeup on Renfield's powers and mindset here: [link])


Dr. Lankanovitch, the mad scientist who inadvertently created Pounce in his own quest for physical perfection, captures Trans to extract the source of her powers.


A lost other-dimensional(?) being does his part to help Pounce face some of her inner demons, while helping Trans and Arma deal with the rampant criminal element encroaching on the city (read the full writeup here: [link]).


All of these were well written, and did what they were supposed to- helped me get my creativity moving. After re-reading all the entries, I came up with hugely ambitious storylines involving these and other characters, because they seemed to fit together rather well. I will probably end up cobbling something together using bits of all three, but this here's a contest, so I need to declare some prize thingies.

Therefore, for the art portion of the prize pool, I'm calling a tie. Everyone gets a colored pic of their new character. Period. Contestants, note me regarding poses (or states of transformation in some cases), if you have a preference.

However! There is still the matter of the subscription that offered, which is a sticky wicket, because now I have to declare a first place winner.

So, here are my thoughts on the entries, in reverse order.

:
It's a little dense, and hard to follow at times. I really like the character, but had a hard time figuring out his motivations. I got a little confused toward the end when the gangs started showing up.

However! I really liked that you set up some seven degrees of separation in the backstory, and had it play out in the course of your arc, letting it tie the characters that much closer together. I think that the story might have been stronger if you played up the connection that Blackhole was able to form between Trans and Pounce separately, and perhaps play both ends against the middle, so to speak. Maybe get to the heart of the matter and help Trans resolve (or start to resolve) the issue.

:
The story meshed with a few things that I had been mulling over, like SCIENCE! It's a pretty simple concept, and that's not a bad thing, especially as you mentioned that the Doc could/should be a recurring villain. The story you've written serves well to introduce him and give him a reason to come back, through other agents or perhaps in some sort of modified form (assuming that he was able to get over the immobility part).

The process bit at the end seemed a little tacked-on, but it didn't hurt it much. I wouldn't have minded seeing more of what you'd liked to have put in in terms of process actually incorporated into the story. I'd also have liked to see your thoughts on how Trans and Arma got their powers.

:
Out of the three arcs, I think I liked this one the best, although the other two characters, Blackhole and Dr. Lankanovitch, offer more long-term playability and opportunities for character development down the road- Renfield seems like he would have to live like an Arkham inmate, constantly going through the revolving door of a new and improved containment facility, as opposed to Dr. Lankanovitch being able to operate behind his corporation's facade or Blackhole and his secret identity.

At its core, the story's pretty much ready to play out of the box, which I liked a lot, even though that's not what I was expecting at all from anyone. Compared to the others, it seems more complete, in a way that I can't quite quantify, perhaps because the others are written with longer development in mind. It stands on its own, but not much past that, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I also enjoyed your backstory bits- especially the part about the new generations of catpeople and their socioeconomic standing.

So, now that I've said my piece, the winner of the subscription is...

His piece was better put-together overall, and on top of that, he got it in well ahead of time.

Thanks to everyone for participating. Again, note me about details for your artwork, and how you would like to be credited for your contribution(s) to the (eventually) upcoming comic.