Question Of Masks and Marvels

I just discovered that a pretty good app for enlarging images is actually free to use. So I couldn't resist and did something I wanted to do for a long time: a better (compared to my own old version, that is) cover for Bek's "Of Masks and Marvels" -- I had the concept, but the image available with the story was just too small.

So, I doubled the image size, (ReShade does it in a way that minimizes pesky artifacts and actually does a fairly good job of interpolating the colors for the new pixels it creates), cleaned it up slightly, added space to the right so I would have somewhere to put the title, turned the white background transparent and added a new bg with a very slight gradient from white to sand-colored, added text and... voilá:



(It would be even better if I had a larger scanned copy of the original art... Bek, if you have it, would you make it available?)

That's awesome, Sir Lee!

Here are a couple websights that can do the same thing without downloading anything.
http://waifu2x.booru.pics/
http://waifu2x.udp.jp/index.html

Interesting, although they (uh, are those actually different sites? They have the same name...) offer a more limited range of upscaling, and less manual controls.

Sorry, Sir Lee, but that died along with the computer it was on. and Yes, there was loud lamenting and gnashing of teeth

Did you lose the file? I may have the old you sent me...

E. E. Nalley wrote: Did you lose the file? I may have the old you sent me...

If you have it, send it to Sir Lee

If it's the story you mean, well, I have it from Sapphire's -- with HTML cleaned-up to current standards even. But if you have better copies of the illustrations, well, that would surely be welcome.

I understand why the series ended... Whateley really is just a better world to tell the sorts of stories Bek was giving us in Of Masks and Marvels. But I still miss the characters and would love to see a "where are they now" piece some day. I can dream...

Sir Lee wrote: Interesting, although they (uh, are those actually different sites? They have the same name...) offer a more limited range of upscaling, and less manual controls.

I have no idea how those two sights are connected. Looking at them objectively it almost looks like one is for idiot Americans and pro Japanese users or something like that.
Looks like one is connected with and supported by Booru's sites and the more advanced one by the dev directly.

Sir Lee, I have a copy of that picture, although it's on a Word file. I can send it to you if you still need it. Just send me an E-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

*Sees the thread surfacing, takes the opportunity* Bek, you said unfortunately this story won't continue, so can I ask one last question about it? I have been thinking about this for a while. How exactly She-Devil mind-wham field worked, and why Lady Lightning was immune, if that power even existed? I mean, at no moment of her on-screen she deserves the giga-dread reputation she seems to have, with no end of rationalization for her goofiness from other characters, and that way of viewing her seemed to be limited to the people actually seeing her, (except LL, of course) and all other heroes showed skepticism about her threat level at that convention. One could suspect the existence of a 'fear me, I'm that awe-inspiring' field effect for less. Heck, was she even aware she had that power herself, she always seemed bamboozled when Lady Lightning took her down.

If I had to guess, and that's what this is, I'd say it was a kind of glamour, similar to what Fey has and about to her level at least from the story. Consider, this is how Fey is described from the wiki:

Fey is an "elf" (she prefers to be called "Sidhe"), with long flame red hair, pointed ears, tilted, almond shaped large violet eyes. By early September 2006, just after finishing her transformation into a female, she was 5' 4" tall with 28 inches of leg length (inseam) and her measurements were 34C, 22, 35

Now, granted, that is as close to a universal standard of beauty there is. But beauty isn't universal. Tansy is 5'11", six full inches taller than Fey (which is closer model height) and a bit bustier, but Fey is considered to be more attractive. Well, what if you don't like short girls? Or you prefer women of color? Nope, if you ever meet Fey in person you will always admit she is better looking than your former top pick. And even in photographs Fey has an allure that makes people seem drawn to her.

The same thing is going on with She-Devil, except her aura is 'dangerous operator'. Everyone is SURE she's a dangerous, top notch operator and even when confronted with facts to the contrary those 'facts' are dismissed as luck, or some other coincidence.

sacwriter wrote: Sir Lee, I have a copy of that picture, although it's on a Word file. I can send it to you if you still need it. Just send me an E-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Unless you somehow got it from the original artist, this is likely to be the same pic that's still available from Sapphire's , which is only 320x600 pixels. If you have it at a higher resolution, yes, I'm interested.

OH GAWD!!!! I just realised five things I missed about this story that I should have picked up the first read through

1. Tigress inspired Toni (Akido. Chi. Black. Chaka is a expy of this character)

2. I should have flipping picked this up, but goddam Kate Mulgrew is Janeway. I mean, shiz. I'm a hardcore trekkie, and I didn't pick that up the first time round. Man, I'm stupid.

3. Goddamm half the names (Skybolt among them) were adopted for the Whateley Universe after the conclusion of this story's unfinished run.

4. Goddam. She-devil. Is. Vamp.

5. I'm not kidding when I say WHICH IRON MAN MOVIE DID YOU WATCH BEK??? That did NOT happen in Iron man. Plus, why didn't you mention Robert Downey??? Unless I'm mistaken, there has only ever been ONE iron man movie??? But they way it's described??? Sounds real. Which is raising a whole LOT of questions as to my knowledge of movies, which has so far been UNDISPUTED!!! (ignore mock anger. It's a joke, and I am aware my jokes are terrible. I will NEVER be able to match the Pythons in my humour, and that really, really pisses me off. More than it should really, given that they are the undisputed gods of comedy. E.g: "He's Not the Messiah!!! He's just a very Naughty Boy!!!