Wednesday Comics: T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents

Taking a break from Storm for a week, I want to consider the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, a 60s superhero comic conceived primarily by the great Wally Wood. The series only ran 20 issues in its initial run, but its characters and concepts were appealing enough they there have been several (brief) revivals over the decades.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents combines two popular things in the mid-1960s: spy-fi and Marvel-style superheroics. T.H.U.N.D.E.R. stands for The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves (I don't know what that means, either). It's essential SHIELD or UNCLE with more superhero agents. All of them are the product of technology: Dynamo with his thunderbelt, NoMan, the elderly scientist who can transfer his intellect into robotic bodies, and Menthor, a secret traitor with a helmet that gives him mental powers and a more heroic personality.

There enemies are a mostly forgettable cadre of aliens and freedom-threatening organizations: the Warlord, the Subterraneans, S.P.I.D.E.R. They serve their purpose for generating superhero action, particularly rendered in Wally Wood's style.

DC Comics did hardcover archives of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents material when they had the license. These aren't too hard to find, but do require a bit of looking. IDW now owns the license and has put out paperback collections called T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents Classics.

And now...Zarak!

Those of you of a certain age may remember the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons toyline line and a certain half-orc assassin by the name of Zarak. I found a nice image of Zarak from 1983's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Characters coloring book that had a bit of a Jack Kirby-esque vibe about it. I believe the artist is actually Jim Mooney.

I thought it would be cool to color and give him a logo:

I might do a few more of the characters in a similar style, if I get the time.

Rifts 1970

Rifts, arriving in 1990, is certainly a product of the 1980s. Could Rifts be scrubbed of its 80s chrome and be translated to another era? Why not? Let me pitch you Rifts 1970.

Now, you might say (but don't, because I will have already said it!): "Isn't Rifts 1970 just Gamma World?" Well, they're both post-apocalyptic games, but Gamma World is right down the middle of post-apocalyptic stuff, whereas Rifts wants to throw a kitchen sink at you: you've got cyberpunk, mecha, magic, Star Wars-style fascism, and the Rifts themselves that can get you pretty much anything else can appear.

In Rifts 1970, the mix is a little different, but there are analogous inspirations. Anime/Manga haven't really made a big impact in the U.S. yet, but there's kaiju films and Astro Boy. Fighting giant monsters would be a bigger thing in Rifts 1970, I think. Mecha would look more like Rog from the Doom Patrol, but the real Glitter Boy replacements might be guys with giant robot friends like Frankenstein Jr.

Cyberpunk hasn't arrived yet either, but computers have and concerns about the possibility of AI. Think Star Trek or Colossus: The Forbin Project. Cyborgs are already around like the Cybermen or the various Robotmen in DC Comics. Probably high tech equipment should be more T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents than Appleseed. This might push things in a bit more of a "superhero" direction, but there is an argument to be made that that's what it always has been.

Magic, of course, works well in either era. A distinctly Ditko-esque Doctor Strange vibe would set Rifts 1970 apart, though.

The Coalition and their not-stormtroopers, the Deadboys, become some other Nazi stand-ins, like HYDRA or any number of villainous comic book organizations or '50s comics alien invaders that were either Nazi or commie substitutes. Of course, Starship Troopers was written in 1959, and we saw how easy it was to paint those guys with a fascist brush in the film adaptation. Maybe the Deadboys can have their powered armor after all?

Weird Revisited: Nautical Fantasy Inspirations

The original version of this post appeared on July 15, 2011. Since then, there have been some fantasy stuff usuable with a nautical campaign--including an upcoming project from Richard Guy:

Taking a look at Driftwood Verses or planning a visit to Swordfish Island? This might help. What follows is pretty much off the top of my head and it sticks to nautical or sea- themed fantasy (so no Horatio Hornblower or Treasure Island here), but I figure it's a backbone to start with.

Classical Literature:
The Odyssey
One Thousand and One Nights. Particularly the Sinbad stories, of course.

Modern Literature:
Alan Cole and Chris Bunch. The Anteros series.
Leigh Brackett. The Sword of Rhiannon, “The Enchantress of Venus,” and “The Moon that Vanished.” These last two are on (or under) the strange gaseous seas of Venus, but I think that only adds to their exotic inspiration value.
Robert E. Howard. Conan stories: “Pool of the Black One,” “Queen of the Black Coast,” and “The Black Stranger.”
William Hope Hodgson. The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" and other nautical horror stories. "The Derelict" and "The Voice in the Night" are probably my favorites.
Ursula K. LeGuin. A Wizard of Earthsea.
Fritz Leiber. From the tales of Fafhrd and Gray Mouser: “Their Mistress, the Sea,” “When the Sea-King’s Away,” “Trapped in the Sea of Stars,” and “The Frost Mostreme.”
C.S. Lewis. The Voyage of the Dawn-Treader.
Abraham Merritt. The Ship of Ishtar.
China Mieville. The Scar.
Tim Powers. On Stranger Tides.
Cherie Priest. Fathom.
Karl Edward Wagner. “In the Wake of Night.” Okay, only a fragment of this exists, but the idea of the story is great.

Movies:
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954). The original novel might be inspirational, too, but its this films visuals that really capture the imagination.
Jason and the Argonauts (1963).
King Kong (the 1933 and 2005).
The Lost Continent (1968).
Pirates of the Caribbean series.
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974), Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977).

Animation:
Pirates of Dark Water (1991).
One Piece. Which is also a manga.

Two Maps, One Candy Island

Here's an excerpt from the upcoming Azurth Adventures Digest. This is Jeff Call's map of the Candy Isle with lettering by me:

And here for comparison is the original map I made for the game:

Wednesday Comics: Storm: The Seven of Aromater

My exploration of the long-running euro-comic Storm, continues with his adventures in the world of Pandarve. Earlier installments can be found here.

Storm: The Seven of Aromater (1984) 
(Dutch: De Zeven van Aromater) (part 4)
Art by Don Lawrence; script by Martin Lodewijk

Nomad wakes up on the beach of the Red Tear, the weird low hanging moon, amid the wreckage of the ship. Ember appears from the water. Too heavy to float in her new form and not needing oxygen, she walked across the bottom of the ocean.

The oppressive gravity leaves Nomad unable to move. Ember says she'll come back to get him later and heads off to find Storm. His calls for help bring her back.

Ember scatters the creatures. She decides to pick up Nomad and the Prince and carries them with her. The heavy gravity means the Seven have left an unmistakable trail for her to follow. They pass through storms, but Ember's body absorbs and dissipates the lightning. They cross a desert of glass caused by some unimaginable explosion.

As they near the equator of the Red Tear, the gravity lessens. Nomad is able to walk now, as they approach a structure of rock:

Traveling down a passage, they pass the bones of the beings they assume built this place. The come to a stairway going down. At its bottom is a thick yellow-green fog, a poisonous atmosphere. Entering it nearly kills Nomad and the Prince. They will have to stay while Ember goes on.

After what seems like hours, she gets through the fog and enters a passage with what appear to be dead snakes on the floor.

They aren't dead, and they aren't snakes!

TO BE CONTINUED

If You Go Down in the Woods Today

Yesterday, our Land of Azurth 5e campaign continued last night...

ROLL CALL: Kully the Bard, Shade the Ranger, Dagmar the Cleric, Kairon the Sorcerer, Waylon the Thief, and Erekose the Fighter!

The riverside village of Lumberton has fallen on hard times. The owners of the local sawmill bought some automatons from a mysterious traveling salesman and now the things are running amok! Day and night, these Iron Woodsmen are clearing the forest and killing anyone that gets in their way.

Our heroes happen upon a desperate discussion between Mayor Bole Wood and his advisors, and succumb to the Mayor's desperate plea for aid (and promise of compensation). Eavesdropping on the conversation, the ranger hears mention of someone or something called "snarts" and is immediately suspicious they aren't getting the full story.

A talk with the alehouse matron, Burl, reveals that Snarts are in fact small, mischievous fey that the townspeople believe have cursed them and made the Iron Woodsmen go crazy. Armed with this knowledge they set out to find the hidden Snart village.

Just outside of town, they find a dilapidated manor inhabited by the wizard Gargam. Gargam is not the most pleasant of wizards or a great conversationalist, but they discover (a) that he hates Snarts, but wishes to use them for some undisclosed magical purpose, and (b) he says they have been captured by the Iron Woodsmen and taken to the mill.

The party heads toward the mill and comes upon an Iron Woodsmen work crew. A battle is joined. and our heroes discover that the Woodsmen are tough opponents--and they explode in steam and shrapnel if they are too heavily damaged. Destroying the 4 automata, but bloodied and battered themselves, the party retreats to town, where they confront the Mayor, who also believes the Snart curse levied due to their extensive clearing of the forest is the cause of their misfortune.

The party resolves to locate the Snarts and set this problem right.