[Parsulan] The Madding Plains

The old road east from Ervessos to Grancazarel skirts the northern edge of the Madding Plains, but no major roads pass through the heart of it. The Madding Plains are the only place where the frensy flowers grow and when those flowers bloom, madness reigns.

The flowers with colors reminiscent of dancing flames have a pollen that can intoxicate most humanoids. In low doses it is consumed recreationally in honey or alcoholic beverages, particularly popular in Mayura. When it is breathed in a concentrated form or for an extended period, individuals can enter an enter a state of ecstatic mania. Those that seek out this experience repeatedly are called Madders.

Madders eke out a meager living on the plains, foraging edible plants and stealing the eggs of the flightless owu (and sometimes getting killed or injured) for sustenance, but when the blooming of flowers peak, they in the heart of the area for a raucous festival. On some years they stay there, but on others the revelers breakup into smaller bands that rove wider region becoming a nuisance and sometimes a danger.

Halflings are the other group which live in the plains. Of all the mortal peoples, they alone seem immune to the frensy flowers powerful effects. They do much of the collecting of the honey made from the flowers and brew the mead made from it. The Madders can sometimes be an impediment to this, but the halflings don't let this deter them from their chosen livelihood.

More than merely an economic endeavor, the halflings view the harvesting and brewing as a sacred duty to a god that did not abandon the Earth with the others but instead sleeps (perhaps sleeping off a hangover) beneath the plain. Bok, as they name him, is the god of intoxication and the brewer's art. They depict him as halfling-like in stature, with an un-halfing-like girth (Parsulan halflings are un-Hobbitishly thin) and shaggy-fetlocked, cloven hooves.

[Parsulan] The Prismatic Lake

In the Berlaith region of the content of Parsulan, there is a magical body of water known as the Prismatic Lake. The reason for the name is obvious: clear as it is (and its waters as remarkable pellucid), they are tinted with a rainbow of colors. The reason for the lake's unusual appearance is the naturally occurring manastones that are embedded in its depths that leak arcane energy into the water.

The lake covers nearly 40 acres and is near circular. Scholars believe it was formed by the unlikely interaction of a shadow cyst emergence causing a collapse into an underground space beneath, possibly an attenuated dungeon root. The heart of the cyst was lost, causing it to burst, but the resultant magical release altered the landscape.

However, it came to be the Prismatic Lake draws wizards and other adventurers hoping to harvest the manastones within. It's not an easy task, given the strange effects the magical energies can have on divers in addition to the problem of working the stones free underwater. Monsters are also attracted to the stones, so they pose another danger.

A (somewhat) easier target for adventurers out to make quick coin is catching the lake's fish. Several highly unusual varieties live there, each with magical properties. Alchemists and magical researchers will pay handsomely for specimens, particularly alive. Would-be fishers should beware: many of the fish are dangerous due to the same magical properties that make them sought after.

Wednesday Comics: DC, June 1985 (week 1)

My mission: to read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis. This week, I'm looking at the comics that were on stands in the week of June 6, 1985. 

Losers Special #1: With this, the first of the Crisis Specials, I think we hit a new phase of that event. We saw the Losers die in Crisis #3, but this issue gives them more of a sendoff and introduces a lot of readers to the characters, probably, if they bothered to buy the issue. Easy and a town of civilians are pinned down by German rockets and Bravo company was supposed to take those out, but they're all dead. The Losers take up the mission. Along the way, they reminisce about their individual pasts, catching the reader up on the characters that originally had solo strips, but were brought together as a team. The Losers take out the emplacement, but they are separated into two groups by smoke. Separately, Sarge and Captain Storm are killed. The smoke clears and Gunner, Pooch, and Johnny Cloud manage to regroup, but then a German plan strafes the area, killing them. The Navajo Johnny Cloud prays to the sky as he dies and sees an image of a Native American deity. Then, something strikes the hill. When Easy arrives, there is no trace of the Losers' bodies.

This story is a better death for a group of war comic characters, but it doesn't fit perfectly with their death as depicted in Crisis. Presumably, we're meant to assume they were taken from the battlefield just before death to die in Markovia at the hands of shadow demons. But how did they get moved and healed? This story can't take place essentially at the same time as that part of Crisis #3, because Rock and Easy appear in that issue in 1944 Markovia, too. I suppose it's possible this issue was retconned out of existence before it was ever published. This is how they would have died, had not the Crisis occurred transtemporally.

Crisis on Infinite Earths #6: The Monitor's adversary gets a name this issue (well, two, since the Psycho-Pirate just calls him "Monitor"): The Anti-Monitor. He gives the whining Psycho-Pirate enough power to control the emotions of the populaces of multiple Earths. He starts pushing the peoples of Earth-S, X, and 4 to suicide in the anti-matter wave. 

Meanwhile, the Monitor's satellite is falling apart. The heroes scramble to save themselves while Alex gets read to attempt to bring the other surviving Earths into the Netherverse. Harbinger knocks him out and takes on the risk herself. Disparate groups of heroes (somehow, it's not clear) are transported to the 3 battleground Earths where they are forced to contend with the mind-controlled heroes of those worlds. Black Canary is wearing her new costume here that we have seen before outside of her Who's Who entry. 

In the Anti-Monitor's base, the Psycho-Pirate suffers feedback and he loses control of the Earths' people. Harbinger manages to link Earths S, X, and 4 with the merging Earths 1 and 2 in the Netherverse, but she burns out her power, leaving her just Lyra. On Earth-Two, a new Wildcat debuts and a group of villains mysteriously disappear. On Earth-One, Brainiac scoops up Luthor from and tells him he has a plan...

DC Comics Presents #85: This is the first of two Alan Moore Superman stories this month. He he teams him up with Swamp Thing with Veitch and Williamson on art. A patch of still-surviving fungus from Krypton known as the bloodmorel infects Superman causing hallucinations and overheating. It will eventually lead to death from overexertion, and the Last Son of Krypton seems powerless in his delirious state to do anything about it. Trying to get away from people, Clark luckily encounters the Swamp Thing, who manages to link Superman to the Green through the remaining fungus. Immersed in cool calm, Superman is able to sleep and when he awakes the fever is broken. He returns to his life, unaware of the help of Swamp Thing.

Fury of Firestorm #39: Conway and Kayanan/Chen finish up the Weasel story from last issue. Firestorm manages to escape Weasel's death trap but can't capture the villain. Ronnie does some sleuthing and figures out that the connection of the people killed and those attacked is that they were all at Standford in the 60s. Knowing that, Stein still can't figure who the Weasel might be. The Weasel attacks again and Firestorm manages to best him this time. The villain is unmasked as John Monroe...some guy nobody remembers. Ronnie heads back to New York and graduation.

Justice League of America #242: Conway and Tuska/Machlan continue the story from last issue. Aquaman finds Mera, and they make up surprisingly easily. Meanwhile, the rest of the League splits up and blunders around the Canadian woods like teens in a slasher film and get taken out by Amazo. There's even a ridiculous sequence that seems perhaps a riff on a similar scene in Temple of Doom where Elongated Man just keeps talking utterly oblivious to Gypsy dealing with an irritated grizzly bear behind him. In the end, Amazo throws most of the League in a deep hole and covers it with a Boulder.

There's a MASK preview insert "Assault on Mount Mayhem" in this issue and Tales of the Teen Titans as well, but I don't have a copy of it, alas, in the format I'm reading them in.

Tales of the Teen Titans #57: Cyborg's surgery is a success, and he's more human appearing than ever. He's sent to rehab and meets a tough physical therapist who I feel like should be named Sarah Potential Love Interest unless I'm totally misreading Wolfman's intentions. Meanwhile, the other Titans are hanging out at the pool then doing a little training, oddly unconcerned that the Fatal Five are out there a new member the Titan's failed to stop them from busting out of prison. 

That new member is Jinx, an Indian sorceress from who only speaks Urdu until Psimon gives her telepathic language lessons. The Fatal Five come for Cyborg's Doctor, and take him too, not recognizing him. They want her to awaken Neutron. Cyborg sabotages Neutron's containment vessel to a degree, causing an explosion they we are assured didn't hurt the guy inside. All the strain causes his new plastic veneers to start melting down, though.

Later. Psimon interrupts a press conference by the Major to demand ransom from the city, boasting the Fatal Five now has Neutron on its side.

Vigilante #22: Wolfman/Kupperberg and Smith/Maygar continue the story from last issue with Nightwing and Chase in a running fight across multiple locations, each saying tough guy things to each other and demanding the other stand down. Meanwhile, a guy with a heroin addiction sets out to commit a burglar on an attempt condo, and winds up through a series of bad luck and worse choices, killing 3 people, and causing a police car to wreck with a stolen pistol. He ends up out of bullets and executed on a rooftop by the Vigilante. When that makes the TV news, Nightwing and Chase overhear it and both realize that Chase isn't the current killer vigilante--Chase hadn't even known for certain. Nightwing leaves agreeing to hold off his hunt for the other vigilante so Chase who feels responsible for inspiring the guy can handle it, which given the murders and Chase's mental state seems a bit irresponsible but bro code and all that. 

Wednesday Comics: DC, August 1985 (week 5)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I read the comics on sale on May 30, 1985.

The "Meanwhile..." feature this month mentions work continuing on new Batman project that isn't named but is clearly Dark Knight Returns. There's also discussion of a Matt Wagner project that is the forthcoming Demon limited series from the following year. Interestingly, there's also mention of a Jason's Quest revival that never came to fruition.

Detective Comics #552: Moench and Janson pick up the Black Mask story from this month's Batman. Black Mask recruits more members into his gang and takes more deadly reprisals against people he feels have wronged him, which are mostly newly installed Janus execs. He also has Circe, the model who jilted Sionis when his fortunes turned, kidnapped and subjects her to a diluted portion of the cosmetic. After that torture, he gives her an ultimatum: join him or get the full treatment. Circe accepts a mask without the tainted cosmetic in it. Batman figures out Sionis is Black Mask just as the False Face Society, but he can't find out where his hideout is or what his ultimate plans are.

Cavalieri and Moore/Patterson have Green Arrow and Black Canary facing a rash of tenement fires, arsons that Arrow believes were committed by the owners for the insurance and redevelopment. The meat of the story, though, is about what happens when Black Canary confronts a fire-throwing super-villain arsonist, Bonfire, and the Canary is strangely frozen with fear. After her rescue, she later tells Ollie that she had a strange episode of deja vu while in the blaze. Later, she's looking through her scrapbook at old pictures of her mother, the first Black Canary, and she's struck by a revelation.

Action Comics #570: The first story by Kupperberg and Schaffenberger/Hunt has a Superboy vibe, except that it has Jim Olsen as its focus instead of some random Smallville kid. A blast of cosmic energy splits off Jim's inflated ego into a super-villain who calls himself Alter Ego. The bit of mystery here isn't in Alter Ego's identity. Superman figures that out early on. Rather it's in how Jim got split and how to fix it.

The second story by Boldman and Bender/Marcos is more "humorous" than the first. One might say "silly," even. After saving a man's life, Superman accepts the guys invitation to dinner for beef bourguignon, but then stays and stays, making a complete annoyance of himself. This could have easily turned to horror as having a super-powered bore for a house guest might in real life, but once the man blows his top at the super-freeloader, Superman drops the act and reveals the truth: the man had been infected by some alien something or other in the initial incident and only making him angry could cure him. 

I mention the "stuck in the past" nature of this era of Superman a lot but should also point out this isn't inertia or ossification. Superman was different at points in the 70s ("Kryptonite No More," and all that). Superman was different just a few years prior with stories by Wein and Starlin and Wolfman. This was a choice editorial made.

Ambush Bug #3: Giffen, Fleming, and Oksner deliver their funniest issue yet, provided you like silly, absurdist humor goofing on silly DC characters of the past. It's actually kind of clever, structurally, we get vignettes in text and comic form uncovering what happened to a lot of obscure and best forgotten in the estimation of Fleming and Giffen DC characters like Egg Fu, The Green Team, and Binky. It's also sneakily taking a swipe at Crisis on Infinite Earths and the rationale for it, as all of the segments point to a mysterious woman being involved in their disappearances or deaths. In the end, we find out who is responsible: Jonni DC, Continuity Cop. Just as she confesses, she's blasted by Darkseid for the recurring "next issue, a fight with Darkseid" gag.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #34: Kupperberg and Duursema get Arion and Chian back to the City of the Golden Gate and into the business of selecting a new king. In Atlantis, that's done by a council of wizards presided over by Arion. These days the wizards have only the barest magic except Arion, but still tradition. There's one scheming wizard up to no good, though, and he disrupts the proceedings and gets Arion trapped by shadow bat things. Meanwhile, Wyynde is reunited by Mara. He finally returns her affections in a leering sort of way which puts her off. Apparently, having a dog head for a while changes a guy! Who isn't put off by the new Wyynde is the princess and potential successor to the king, T'Galla. She and Wyynde get along quite well to the irritation of Mara.

All-Star Squadron #48: Mike Harris takes over as artist. This is his first work for the Big Two. He goes on to do a fair amount of work at Marvel in the '90s on grittier titles like The 'Nam, The Punisher, and Cops: The Job. Here, the All-Stars travel to the UK, meeting the Blackhawks on the way. Churchill wants them to find the Shining Knight who disappeared investigated something at the site of Camelot. The All-Stars find Shining Knight in the company of other Arthurian characters who turn out to robots. Our heroes are captured, and they learn that Dr. Fate's old enemy, Wotan, is behind it all.

World's Finest #318: Cavalieri and Delbo/Alcala bring back Sonik who had his debut and only appearance to date back in issue 310. Beyond that the issue is very much of its era. Lilanne Stern is now on RTV. There's a wealthy popstar named Marlon Monroe (a Michael Jackson stand-in) who is menaced by robots made by one of his staff, and a boy in a bubble with an immunodeficiency syndrome someone may be trying to kill. Superman and Batman are on the case though, and everything works out in the end.

Tales of the Legion #326: We start the reprint era this month, so I won't be reviewing this title anymore, but I wanted to note it. 

V #7: Newell steps in as writer, and we an issue that focuses solely on Julie as she goes back to her now empty hometown, trying to get some time to herself to go to terms with everything that has happened. A mother and father get mentioned and the implication is that perhaps both are dead due to the Visitors, though based on the V wiki, this appears to be new material. Anyway, she's followed by an assassin that has the appearance of a high school friend, but when a Visitor patrol attacks them, the assassin seems to have a change of heart and saves her life. The issue is rather ambiguous on several points, which was perhaps Newell's intention.

XNOO is Nearly Upon You!

The latest Kickstarter from the Merry Mushmen is XNOO #1, a 276 page "aperiodical" fantasy comics anthology. It features work by several rpg and comic artists, among them James West, Stefan Poag, and Jason Sholtis. Of interest to readers here, it also features the debut of the Land of Azurth comic "The Runaway Shadow" written by me and featuring art by comics veteran Mike Kazaleh. There's also great stuff by artists like Alexey Gorboot. Kennon James and Tim Molloy, and more!

In addition to the comics stories, it's filled out with articles by the likes of James Maliszewski and myself on related topics. My text piece is on comics adaptations of literary Sword & Sorcery characters.

You're going to want to check it out.

Head over to Kickstarter now to be notified on launch tomorrow.

Local Experiences Tables

 One idea for my new campaign I'm working on that I'm borrowing from the Japanese rpg Sword World (or at least its unofficial translations into English) are Local Experience Tables. These show up in some of the setting books and are just random tables of events themed to varying degrees to specific locales. They don't typically provide any mechanical benefit (though I could see it in limited situations), but they are still potentially useful, and they certainly provide a roleplaying hook.

Here's one I came up with for Salvage:

Salvage and the Field of the Fallen Colossi

Roll	Experience
1	Swindle. You either suckered someone or got suckered.
2	Dust Up. You were involved in a violent altercation.
3	Busted. You were once down and out.
4	Scarred but Smarter. You got caught in a trap in a colossi, but now you know better.
5	New Part. A part of your body is Magitech.
6	Poisonville. You once lived in a pretty toxic area.
7	Bad Blood. You made an enemy, and someone is still after you.
8	Took a Bullet. You’ve been shot before and have the scar to prove it.
9	Lost Mine. You believe you know the location of treasure.
10	Tech Friends. You have a friend that is a construct or otherwise Magitech.

And here's one that covers the region outside the major cities:

General

Roll	Experience
1	Courier. You once delivered a sealed letter to an important person.
2	Marshlander. You’ve spent a good deal of time in the marshes.
3	Mad Season. You’ve experienced the mad ecstasy brought on by exposure to the pollen of the irrsin flowers in the scrublands
4	Rail journey. You’ve traveled by train.
5	Runaway Construct. You had a dangerous encounter with a magitech construct.
6	Under Strange Stars. You were once lost in the Stargazer’s Garden.
7	Fantastic fishing. You have fished in the Prismatic Lake
8	Captive. You were once captured by a Fomori (humanoid) raiding party.
9	Birthing. You witnessed a Mothernode produce a Mek.
10	Searcher. You are looking or have looked for a friend or relative lost in Berlaith.

Wednesday Comics: DC, August 1985 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I read the comics on sale on May 23, 1985.

Batman and the Outsiders #23: Barr and Davis send most of the Outsiders to the Gotham Zoo where Rex and Sapphire have a tense meeting with Simon Stagg over their wedding plans. A group of armed men attack, and the Outsiders have to deal with the chaos they cause. In the aftermath, it's revealed the attack was cover for the attempted assassination of Stagg orchestrated by his assistant. After Rex saves his life, Stagg warms on the idea of the hero marrying his daughter.

Meanwhile, Halo is in the city by herself and encounters a friendly hippie guy in a van who calls himself Brother Abraham. Meanwhile, he offers her a place stay and drives her to a secluded commune called Eden.

Blue Devil #15: Truly the DCU most be overrun with geniuses because an inventor on the level of Cassidy just winds up doing special effects and theme park animatronics. In this issue, as Blue Devil contends with Verner's Vanquisher (Verner's chaffeur that he had empower by scientists as a superhero), the two fight a King Kong-esque robot running amuck that Cassidy made for the studio tour. The process that created the Vanquisher seems to have made him mentally unstable, and he kidnaps Marla with whom he's infatuated.

Green Lantern #191: Engelhart and Staton/Patterson reveal the Predators identity at last, and it is certainly unexpected. After Hal's discover of Carol's perfume lingering in the Predator's hideout, he also finds the reporter's videotape showing the meeting between Green Arrow, Black Canary, Carol, and himself, that on one else involved with seems to remember. Hal calls Ollie, Dinah, and John Stewart, but no one's home, so he heads to Carol's place and shows her. Even with the reveal, I'm still not sure why the Predator doesn't want them to remember this, but luckily, I don't have to think about that long, because the Predator shows up and kidnaps Carol. He takes her to his old theater hide out. Powerless Hal suits up for battle and confronts the villain. He gives a good showing, but he can't stop the Predator from playing the old organ (something Carol thinks is important). When he does, Carol declares her love for the Predator, as he does for her. Then they merge into one being: Star Sapphire!

Infinity, Inc. #17: The Thomases and McFarlane/DeZuniga introduce the rest of Mr. Bones crew, and they are an odd bunch. I don't know quite what to think about Thomas and DeZuniga creating Arak as a historical S&S hero then doing a modern, minor villain that bears his name but is unrelated presumably other than being Native American. Does him calling himself (or someone else naming him) Arak suggest that the original Arak is a well-known historical figure in the DC Universe? 

Anyway, Fury finds herself prisoner of this team who call themselves Helix. They want to ransom her for millions from Carter Hall. Hector tries to rescue her but gets defeated.

New Teen Titans #11: Wolfman and García-López/Tanghal continue the story from last issue. After sleeping on it, Joe is still weirded out by the mutated bug people, and I mean, who wouldn't be? He and Kole get the other Titans and they head out to the mansion where we follow the familiar pattern to this title of our heroes getting captured so they can talk with the villain while he puts them in one trap, then they escape and end up in another, then they escape and the bad guy is neutralized in some way. In this case, Weathers and his mutant followers (including his own grasshopper mutant wife) expose themselves to a gas that turns them completely into bugs so they can survive the nuclear devastation he's sure is coming, and they let the Titans go. Other than following the typical Titans formula, this story is just weird. With its Hellstrom Chronicle vibe and schlocky mutants, it feels like something from a 70s Marvel comic, or done a different way, one of DC's now-defunct horror/sci-fi anthologies.

Sgt. Rock #403: The main story by Kanigher/Catan involves Rock and an Italian resistance fighter pursuing a German officer guilty of war crimes to a church in Terza, Italy, where the officer has asked for sanctuary--and Pope Pius XII. This story is another one that has that weird story beat that comes up on occasion where Rock seems to really want to capture a German officer (it's always an officer) to make him stand trial instead of killing him. And this is after the guy just shot the Pope. Rock's hesitancy leads to the resistance fighter getting shot. Rock then pursues the Nazi into the church's bell tower where in the scuffle, the German gets knocked out of the tower by the bell and falls to his death.

The second story is the first publication of Tom McWeeney, who will go on to do a lot of work in the 90s, particularly at Wildstorm. This goofy story is not a career high point, though, and would have made more sense in Weird War Tales, if anywhere. Soldiers die and are burnt to a crisp on a deserted battlefield. Is it nuclear war or at least are they caught in a nuclear test? No, it's a pizza in the oven and they're...anchovies? 

Saga of Swamp Thing #39: Moore and Bissette/Totleben continue the story with Swamp Thing walking into the reservoir covering Rosewood to deal with the vampires. The vampires aren't a threat to him, that is until the next generation is born. The survivor of the brood is an inhuman monster that rends Swamp Things body apart. That doesn't stop Swamp Thing, though. He just moves through the Green and becomes a whole hillside of vegetation. He moves and diverts the water of the reservoir into the river again (likely flooding places downstream, but anyway...) and the vampires die in moving water. Before all that, the parents of the boys who went missing come to Rosewood, and one of them is killed by their own vampire son, but the rest escape. Constantine tells Swamp Thing he didn't take care of things quick enough. Now word will get out, and people will believe in vampires. That's what the enemy he's trying to defeat needs. Constantine tells Swampie to meet him in Maine.

Warlord #95: I reviewed this issue here.

Talent Showcase #18: The editorial reiterates the reason for the name change and tells us that the next issue will be the last. This issue is a weird mix of sci-fi stories done by established pros (Bruce Jones, Shawn McManus, and Dan Adkins) sometimes with the assistance of relative newcomers that could have been anthology book inventor stories from a few years ago. Then there are several short, humor cartoons, and even a text piece by John Constanza. The only complete newcomer story is a superhero humor piece with everything but the lettering done by Kerry Callen, who will go on mostly to work for Mad.

Who's Who #6: We're into the D's and we get Darkseid, the Demon, DeSaad, Doctor Bedlam, and the Deep Six courtesy of their creator, Jack Kirby. Atari Force is well represented with Dark Destroyer and Dart by José Luis García-López. García-López also does Deadman, perhaps because he's the artist on the limited series that will be published at the end of '85. Amethyst's Dark Opal also shows up with art by his original artists, Colon. Marshall Rogers renders Deadshot who will become more prominent in the next few years. Deimos shows up from Warlord, courtesy of Grell. The then-recent Demolition Team is here, courtesy of their co-creator, Dave Gibbons. There are, of course, a lot of "Doctors." Giffen and Mahlstedt give us Doctor Fate instead of whoever's drawing All-Star Squadron this month.