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The shape-shifting seamstress of your cosplay dreams

Comic-Con is just a month away and Mel Hoppe definitely plans to be there. In fact, July is a busy month for the self-described cosplayer, gamer, and geek. Almost immediately after the big show in San Diego, she'll be heading up to Kintoki-Con, the Asian media and culture convention in Sacramento, Calif., where she'll be hanging out in the "Artist's Alley" under her alias, WindoftheStars.

That's because Hoppe isn't just a dedicated cosplayer, she also makes and sells her own costumes from her home base in northern Nevada. I came across the work of WindoftheStars on Google+ a few months ago and was blown away by the beauty, realism, and range of her creations (fortunately, she doesn't go as far as this real-life anime girl).

I reached out to Hoppe to learn a little more about how she got into her craft. She told me a story I'm sure many readers of Crave can relate to. It all started with a Commodore 128 and a joystick at a young age.… Read more

Crazy engineer electrifies Wolverine's claws

While most of the X-Men have shiny superpowers, it seemed like Wolverine couldn't quite match up to some of the science-fiction abilities found among his peers -- until now.

Engineer James Hobson, who calls himself the "hacksmith," created a homemade upgrade for the comic book slasher by electrifying a pair of claws he created himself. The experiment, inspired by a similarly electrifying Thor's Hammer post on Hackaday, looks radically unsafe (and is definitely not recommended for all you at-home DIYers), as Hobson utilizes a transformer from an old oil furnace and feeds the electrical current into the claws.… Read more

New digital comics meet old storytelling tricks

The high camp era of the 1960's Batman TV show, and video game-influenced "choose-your-own-adventure" stories, will come to DC Entertainment's digital comics this summer with new digital storytelling techniques to draw in readers.

At a "Future of Storytelling" event that DC Entertainment parent company Warner Brothers held on Tuesday in New York City, DC Entertainment President Diane Nelson said that the new comics will appeal to fans of the classic Batman TV show and the current series of Batman: Arkham video games.

"These are our latest steps in a methodical digital strategy," … Read more

Children's cancer wing transformed into superhero ward

Kids dealing with cancer at the A.C. Camargo Cancer Center in Sao Paulo, Brazil, are getting a slightly different kind of cancer-fighting treatment. The medicine is the same, but the delivery method carries a superheroic message. The IV fluid is now covered with superhero logos created by advertising agency JWT Brazil.

Warner Brothers (owner of DC Comics) is also a client of JWT and gave its blessing and a helping hand to the project that features Green Lantern, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. The kids are given custom comic books and animations that show the popular superheroes undergoing similar treatments. The superheroes recover thanks to the "superformula" and continue in their crime-fighting ways.… Read more

'Life': A comic book for the blind

Although the invention of the Braille system means the blind have access to the printed word, one printed medium, based as it is in visual storytelling, is impossible to enjoy without seeing it: the comic book. At least until Philipp Meyer, a design student at the University of Applied Sciences in Potsdam, Germany, got involved.

His idea was twofold: create a story that's as graphically simplified as possible, and realize it in a way that is equally explorable to both the sighted and the blind. Thus was born Life: a simple tale told using only circles of varying textures … Read more

Grant Morrison: Google Glass is 'half-fish, half-man' (Q&A)

Superman has been able to leap a tall building in a single bound since he was created in 1938, but author Grant Morrison's ideas seem to know no limits.

DC Entertainment held a press event recently to celebrate the conclusion of Morrison's seven-year run writing Batman, in which he posited that all of Batman's adventures, from his dark crime-busting origins, to the crazy science-fiction romps of the 1950s, to what he calls the "hairy chested love-god" tales from the 1970s, to today's Dark Knight, have all happened to the character.

Morrison's authorial interests … Read more

Review: Comic Book Camera puts a twist on photo filtering

Comic Book Camera is an impressive photo filtering app, managing to go above and beyond most other free options. Some of the photo apps on the App Store are incredible in what they enable your camera to do. From active filters that layer over your lens to video editing software, developers have done some impressive things with the camera in these devices. Comic Book Camera does all of this and more with a unique twist.

The premise of Comic Book Camera is to convert your photos into black & white, comic-style images that you can edit and add text bubbles … Read more