HOME | DD

Description

You can watch a sped-up video of me penciling and inking this piece on Youtube here: youtu.be/Vx5ggwDMg6A

Still working with my Arteza Real Brush Pens. I'm really enjoying them. I actually review them in the above video.

Meet Battleaxe from our Challenger Confidential book series. She's the granddaughter of Airmaster, who you classic hero fans may know better as Airboy*, and his foe turned flame Valkyrie. We tweaked his former Nazi lover Valkyrie's backstory so that she's descended from the god of war, Mars, which gave her superpowers, and two generations later we get Battleaxe.

Caprice Nelson-Hightower is a whopping but well-sculpted 500 pounds and six-and-a-half-feet tall. She's a superhero, but on a day-to-day basis she's better known to the public from her action expy roles (in which she insists on doing all of her own stunts) and swimsuit modeling. Not that being a member of the Challenger Foundation is a low-profile job. She was a popular figure in professional wrestling for a while, but she was also a serious athlete who medaled in the Olympics. As a competitive weightlifter, she set a women's world record with 2.8 ton dead lift in 2010. She is often considered the premier female bodybuilder in the world.

As her unexpectedly high weight and great strength suggest, Battleaxe's bones and muscles are considerably denser than normal human tissue, enabling her to survive a level of physical punishment that would easily incapacitate or kill a normal human. This superhuman resilience has often saved her life in combat. Her unprotected skull has deflected sub-machine gun rounds and opponents have broken their hands and legs while punching and kicking her. On the downside, all that extra mass can make crossing rope bridges or riding in elevators an unexpected hazard.

Contrary to the impression given by her gigantic strength, Caprice is actually one of the gentler members of the Foundation. Usually, she's the "shoulder to cry on" for the other ladies on team, and everyone respects her for her calm, level head. As a rule, she tries to avoid direct confrontation, preferring to resolve disputes with a kind word or let issues resolve themselves through benign neglect.

Battleaxe created by Michael A. DiBaggio and Shell "Presto" DiBaggio. Drawn by Shell Presto. AscensionEpoch.com

*Airboy is a 40s superhero who has fallen into the public domain, originally created by Charles Biro, Dick Wood, and Al Camy.

Description

You can watch a sped-up video of me penciling and inking this piece on Youtube here: youtu.be/Vx5ggwDMg6A

Still working with my Arteza Real Brush Pens. I'm really enjoying them. I actually review them in the above video.

Meet Battleaxe from our Challenger Confidential book series. She's the granddaughter of Airmaster, who you classic hero fans may know better as Airboy*, and his foe turned flame Valkyrie. We tweaked his former Nazi lover Valkyrie's backstory so that she's descended from the god of war, Mars, which gave her superpowers, and two generations later we get Battleaxe.

Caprice Nelson-Hightower is a whopping but well-sculpted 500 pounds and six-and-a-half-feet tall. She's a superhero, but on a day-to-day basis she's better known to the public from her action expy roles (in which she insists on doing all of her own stunts) and swimsuit modeling. Not that being a member of the Challenger Foundation is a low-profile job. She was a popular figure in professional wrestling for a while, but she was also a serious athlete who medaled in the Olympics. As a competitive weightlifter, she set a women's world record with 2.8 ton dead lift in 2010. She is often considered the premier female bodybuilder in the world.

As her unexpectedly high weight and great strength suggest, Battleaxe's bones and muscles are considerably denser than normal human tissue, enabling her to survive a level of physical punishment that would easily incapacitate or kill a normal human. This superhuman resilience has often saved her life in combat. Her unprotected skull has deflected sub-machine gun rounds and opponents have broken their hands and legs while punching and kicking her. On the downside, all that extra mass can make crossing rope bridges or riding in elevators an unexpected hazard.

Contrary to the impression given by her gigantic strength, Caprice is actually one of the gentler members of the Foundation. Usually, she's the "shoulder to cry on" for the other ladies on team, and everyone respects her for her calm, level head. As a rule, she tries to avoid direct confrontation, preferring to resolve disputes with a kind word or let issues resolve themselves through benign neglect.

Battleaxe created by Michael A. DiBaggio and Shell "Presto" DiBaggio. Drawn by Shell Presto. AscensionEpoch.com

*Airboy is a 40s superhero who has fallen into the public domain, originally created by Charles Biro, Dick Wood, and Al Camy.