Episode Recap: Heroic Proportions

This week is a dream within a dream for many of the competitors, since they get to go to Comic Con to find inspiration for their challenge of making an original super hero. To guide them along their way are many of the most respected artists in the comic book world, including Dan DiDio and Jim Lee, Co-Publishers of DC Comics.

Some artists take to the challenge easier than others. Meagan, who named her character Freedom Fighter and modeled him after the fallen World Trade Center towers, struggles to sculpt a mask that lines up with her vision, as does Katie, whose concept is an electricity-shooting crimefighter named ReVolt. Clipping along in the process are House, with an anime-inspired cyborg, and Eric F., who takes a dark approach with a detective named Dick Gritty, brought back from the brink of death and rebuilt with much of his internal organs exposed to the world.

As time ticks on, Anthony discovers he spent too much time sculpting the back and chest pieces, and can't free his pieces from the molds in time. He has to shed these elements from his character (named The Infernal Core) and move on. Alam also runs into trouble when the ornate glass shards she created for the back piece for Dark Shard falls clean off her model on the way to last looks. The rest of her character looks smooth and original, though, so she's safe this week.

Anthony needn't have worried about his missing sculpt, because the remainder of his work - sculpture, paint job and silhouette - are strong enough to earn him top prize once again, and this week that means that his character will have a special feature in DC Comics. House's excellent blend of fleshy and metallic components in his work also earned him a spot in the top three, alongside Eric F., who brought his knowledge of anatomy to bear and won big points for it.

The bottom looks this week include Katie, whose sculpt was unintentionally grotesque, Meagan, whose sculpt was nowhere near in line with her concept and whose arm pieces were secured with duct tape, and Michael, whose plague doctor character lacked much substance. The judges decide that, because Michael only presented a foam mask, and that was not very well done, he will be the one to go home this week.