Argosail of the Free Universe

Oh, I hear what you're saying. I think that our main difference comes from the difference of interpretation of "phantom." You take it to mean something dark and menacing, whereas I usually read it just as mysterious. Both are valid, but it sure colors the take on the character!

I agree with you about the inadequacies of PL's costume; I would add a mask with special lenses or a pair of goggles that would allow her to see through her own black light ray (one weakness of the character that was never addressed in the few GA stories I've read).

And I prefer "Lady Phantasm" of the two names, but I thought someone might like "Phantasmagoria." Or that might be a good name for her Tyrant Universe self....

Just out of curiosity, do you have templates that you use for the artwork? Or do you start from scratch with each new image?

Unfortunately, the DC versions of Phantom Lady all have IR goggles, so using that idea might put one in jeapordy of copyright infringement. That's why I am trying to stake out ideas like that for the public domain before someone else comes up with them.

And yes, for the art, I created several templates for myself, because I knew that otherwise, I'd have to draw and clean up a hundred characters that basically have the same muscular outline, and I wanted to keep the proportions right. So I drew an "athletic" outline, a "muscle bound" outline and a "Herculean" outline, for both males and females. Since then I have created several other body shape variations as templates. Then, I printed them out, and I draw the details of characters on top of that, scan them in, and if parts of the image use the basic outline, I join the new scan with the template image. I wanted it to be easy, so I could pump out a ton of characters, but I'm a perfectionist when it comes to details, so it actually takes me a long time for each character. Each character has a unique head, and the coloring, shading and texturing take a long time. The less human looking characters don't use any template at all. Also, the images I work with are actually MUCH bigger than what you see on the site. If you printed out the original image, they'd be about two feet tall. That allows me to really pay attention to details. When I shrink them down onto the grid background, some of the detail is lost, but it also obscures anything that looks funky up close. I'm trying to be less of a perfectionist, but I can't help it. So even with the templates to guide me, the characters get a lot of individual attention.

Just a quick suggestion for The Free Universe site:

For Phantom Lady, you state "Notes: The Phantom Lady is actively used by DC Comics, and they hold the trademark on the character."

I think you should change that to read "they hold the Trademark on the character name". As it is written now, people may get confused and think that as long as DC publishes any comic with their version of Phantom Lady in it, the Public Domain version of the character would be off-limits altogether as long as DC holds a Trademark on the name.

For Zog's entry on the Free Universe site, change Creators from "None" to Lew Glanz (aka Louis Glanzman). Glanz created, wrote & drew all of The Shark stories that were done, so Zog would be one of his creations.

For Amazing-Man, Lloyd Jacquet is generally mentioned as being a co-creator of the character along with Bill Everett.

Good idea re: the "trademark" note, bchat. I'm not stupid by any stretch of the imagination, but I sometimes mix up the "copyright" and "trademark" issue (I think I just have a mental block because legaleaze is just not my normal mode of thinking). So, anything that can make the issue a little clearer is a great idea!

Thanks for the info and the suggestion bchat. I will add that stuff next time I edit the site (probably this weekend). I definitely welcome any additional information on these characters and their history and legal status.

Just a couple of quick suggestions, Argosail:

1) Why not start up another thread here to deal with updates and issues concerning The Free Universe, rather than letting it clutter up your intro thread?
2) Concerning the villains on the site, would you consider adding another line to the "stats" section, stating which hero fought/defeated the villain? For me, knowing who the villain has fought gives me a better idea of the villain's power-level and modus operandi. Sometimes you mention it in the body, but not always, so having it in the stats section would be simpler...

Hey, Argosail, I haven't been able to get onto the Free Universe site for the past few days. Were you aware that there's a problem? Any idea what's going on?

Haha...sorry guys for being away so long. I've had a lot going on lately...mostly good (new girlfriend, new condo, holidays), but I haven't had any time to maintain the site or create updates. They took the Free Universe site offline because I hadn't logged in for a while, and it's on a free server that requires me to do so. I may end up moving the site to one which has ads, so that doesn't happen again (I have a site on another server which is still up, even though I haven't touched it in about 8 years).

No worries though. I have all my files and the site WILL return better than ever (I have lots of new characters to update with, and I am considering changing up the look). It may be a week or two before I have time to get everything back online, if you can stand the wait, but you'll see some cool new updates.

Whew! Had me worried there! Glad to hear life's throwing good things your way; enjoy!

argosail wrote:

Haha...sorry guys for being away so long. I've had a lot going on lately...mostly good (new girlfriend, new condo, holidays), but I haven't had any time to maintain the site or create updates. They took the Free Universe site offline because I hadn't logged in for a while, and it's on a free server that requires me to do so. I may end up moving the site to one which has ads, so that doesn't happen again (I have a site on another server which is still up, even though I haven't touched it in about 8 years).

No worries though. I have all my files and the site WILL return better than ever (I have lots of new characters to update with, and I am considering changing up the look). It may be a week or two before I have time to get everything back online, if you can stand the wait, but you'll see some cool new updates.

Wow,That is good news.

The Free Universe is back at http://universe2.1free.ws

Looks great, Argosail! I didn't have a problem with the old, red, background, but I think I like the light blue a little better. It seems a little easier on the eyes or something. BTW, the "Fictional Universe Project" seems to be gone, so you might want to delete that link if you get a chance. Either way, great to see the site back up!

Updates are on the way...I am thinking of changing the background on a regular basis...red, blue, green, purple...I'll try them all. I may also move the site back to its original address if the squatters get bored of not getting hits.

Well gang, I have good news and bad news about the Free Universe site. The good news is I have some great new updates that are finally ready and I'm pretty psyched about them. The bad news is that it appears the site's current host is no longer functional, so I can no longer log on to edit the site.

This means I am going to have to find a new site and transfer my files yet again, which is a lot of work. Does anyone know of a good, reliable free hosting site with no banners, a reasonably short url and lots of bandwidth and storage space? I think I'd prefer one that has been around a while. I liked the 1free.ws host because the url was short and fit the name of the site. I'm not liking most of the other hosting sites I see, but at this point, reliability is paramount.

argosail wrote:

Well gang, I have good news and bad news about the Free Universe site. The good news is I have some great new updates that are finally ready and I'm pretty psyched about them. The bad news is that it appears the site's current host is no longer functional, so I can no longer log on to edit the site.

This means I am going to have to find a new site and transfer my files yet again, which is a lot of work. Does anyone know of a good, reliable free hosting site with no banners, a reasonably short url and lots of bandwidth and storage space? I think I'd prefer one that has been around a while. I liked the 1free.ws host because the url was short and fit the name of the site. I'm not liking most of the other hosting sites I see, but at this point, reliability is paramount.

Which updates are finally ready?

I'll keep it a suprise, but there are many new colorful villains. You can see some of their faces in the site's current background image. I think I've also mentioned a few of the upcoming heroes in other threads. They include The Shield and Astro-Man, but there will be some other really cool ones as well.

I'm not sure if anyone lives in California, but I will be at the Anaheim Wizard Comic Con this Sunday, and I will attempt to pass out some fliers advertising the PDSH Wiki, the Free Universe site and our forum. Hopefully before then, I will have time to set up a new permanent Free Universe site address. Wish me luck on getting it all done this weekend.

I will be dressed as Mr. Monster...perhaps the only guy there dressed as a PD character and possibly the first person to ever attempt that costume. Stay tuned for photos....

argosail wrote:

I'm not sure if anyone lives in California, but I will be at the Anaheim Wizard Comic Con this Sunday, and I will attempt to pass out some fliers advertising the PDSH Wiki, the Free Universe site and our forum. Hopefully before then, I will have time to set up a new permanent Free Universe site address. Wish me luck on getting it all done this weekend.

I will be dressed as Mr. Monster...perhaps the only guy there dressed as a PD character and possibly the first person to ever attempt that costume. Stay tuned for photos....

when will the free universe site finallly be updated?

To answer your question, the new Free Universe site is under construction, but it is taking much longer than I had hoped. I feel awful that it has not been updated in so long, but my time to work on it is a little limited. I have about 300-400 images that need to be uploaded and it’s very time consuming (have a slow connection at home, so I do most of this at the library and I don’t always have a chance to get to the library on the days/times it’s open). But, please know that it the new site is under way. I just don’t want to give any more dates if I’m not sure I can meet them. I assure you, there will be TONS of new content when it is done.

In the meantime, I did attend the Wizard Con in Anaheim, and brought this flyer with me:



You can see that there is art for a few new characters on this, and I believe it is the first comic convention appearance of Astro-Man and Outworlder.

As promised, here are a few pics of me at the convention as Mr. Monster. This is probably the first time anyone has actually dressed up as this character. I did take some liberties with his costume design because his usual costume is a bit…flamboyant…I am considering the idea of a “Mr. Monster” YouTube series with me in this costume. What do you think?



These fellows hunt ghosts. I guess you have to leave the monsters to the real men.



Here I am with my favorite hero.



At first I was going to shoot this guy. I thought he was some kind of hideous bat creature. Then I realized it was just some weirdo in a costume.

I Have some questions:
1.Can I use all of the free universe characters as seen on the free universe site?
2.Which characters will be added soon to the free universe site?

1. Yes, of course. I don't claim any copyright on the new designs (to me, they are intuitive), and the old designs are public domain as well. So you can use the characters exactly the way they appear on Free Universe, or as they originally appeared, or you can add new design features. I updated some of the designs to give creators more options.

2. Based on the flyer, you can see several characters that will be added to the site, including Astro-Man, Captain Marvel, and Iron Jaw. If you look at the background image on the site, you can see the faces of a few new characters including one that seems pretty obvious (Droon). I've stated before that the Shield will be added as well. Expect more female characters as well (good and bad). But I'd rather keep some quiet as a surprise.

argosail wrote:

1. Yes, of course. I don't claim any copyright on the new designs (to me, they are intuitive), and the old designs are public domain as well. So you can use the characters exactly the way they appear on Free Universe, or as they originally appeared, or you can add new design features. I updated some of the designs to give creators more options.

2. Based on the flyer, you can see several characters that will be added to the site, including Astro-Man, Captain Marvel, and Iron Jaw. If you look at the background image on the site, you can see the faces of a few new characters including one that seems pretty obvious (Droon). I've stated before that the Shield will be added as well. Expect more female characters as well (good and bad). But I'd rather keep some quiet as a surprise.

OK,Thank you for Telling me.

hi,argosail,
Sorry to bother you,
But I want to know if you will be adding public domain movie,and tv show characters to the free universe site anytime soon.

No problem dude! I do have plans to create profiles for a few tv and movie characters. The first will probably be "Maciste." Look him up on regular wiki. Also, I'd like to add characters from the Street Fighter series and the Space Rangers serials. A lot of the others are technically characters from literature, but I will be using public domain movies as a reference for characters like Tarzan and Zorro. Do you have any specific requests?