So we've decided we need a mascot. It was admittedly a last minute thing, but here we go. We have five prototypes vying for one spot as a permanent, sort of virtual member of the SmartNews team. Whichever one gets the most votes over the next week will get a vector-art tune-up and begin to make appearances promoting and/or making snarky comments about the news of the day. So it's an important decision, folks. Most of the concepts came from correspondent James Johnson with interpretations by sundry artists.


To start, we have the character of secret agent Fay Deville. Two prototypes represent Fay. No. 1 is a manga-Fay drawn by Gabrielle Jones. True story: I was sitting in a restaurant eating a sandwich and struggling with sketches of my own for this contest. I'm not much of a draftsman, but Gabrielle came to my rescue. Overnight, she produced this cool character in the style of Japanese manga. We can see this character involved in all sorts of exciting journalistic ventures and snooping around the news all Homeland Security-style.


Fay No. 2 is a much mousier denizen. You can't trust this Fay any farther than you could throw her, but we bet she's pretty resilient under that weather-beaten trenchcoat. Fay is the product of publisher and editor Randy Foster, who's not only saving my bacon in this endeavor, but also showing off his sensitive artsy side. Not bad for a former Marine officer, huh? You can just imagine the world-weary utterances from this seedy underworld character.


I had pictured Sgt. Freedom as a pit bull in a helmet until Randy informed me that the Marines' mascot is an English bulldog. That ain't gonna fly in an Army town, but we bet Randy's buxom beauty will do just fine. And we love the idea of a bull-headed babe who's out to save us from ourselves, whether we need it or not. She's got movie rights written all over her.


Ghoulie. Let's not kid ourselves. This guy's a throwaway. Not only is he badly drawn (by me), but what's a "Scream" ripoff like this going to add to your journalistic experience? Precious little. And he's had his 15 minutes. Let's move on.


Smarty. Now, I'll admit, I thought this was a pretty weak idea at first. But Randy's drawing is surprisingly charming. Unless you think of it as a skeletal California Raisin. Just be glad we didn't name the character "Smartass." OK?

Read more about the characters here: