DC at Marvel: Atom, The Nuclear Man!

This is a follow-up to this post.

ATOM

STATISTICS
F                 RM   (30)
A                 GD  (10)
S                 EX  (20)
E                 IN   (40)
R                 IN (40)
I                   EX   (20)
P                  GD   (10)
Health:  110
Karma: 70
Resources: GD (10)

BACKGROUND
Real Name: Peter Palmer
Occupation: Physics professoer
Identity: Secret
Legal Status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record.
Place of Birth: New York City
Marital Status: Single
Base of Operations: New York City
Group Affiliation: Avengers

KNOWN POWERS
Alter Ego. All of his powers manifest with a transformation to his Atom form, which is green-skinned.  As Peter Palmer his Strength and Endurance are only Typical.
Radiation Emission: His body generates radiation of up to Incredible intensity. He can direct it in a blast at one target up to Incredible rank, or release it to effect an area. When transformed, he emits Poor intensity radiation constantly. He wears a containment suit to protect others.
Resistance: In Atom form, he has Incredible resistance to energy and Remarkable resistance to physical attacks.
Growth: The Atom can channel his radiation to increase his size and mass with Good ability up to 24 feet tall. (his growth works like Atom-Smasher's here.)

TALENTS
Palmer is a brilliant scientist in the fields of physics and engineering.

History: Peter Palmer was a genius graduate student, but a proverbial “98-lbs. weakling.” He was working with his mentor, Dr. Curt Connors on perfecting the Atomic Transmuter than could transform materials into other forms. Palmer was in love with law student Mary Jane Loring but he believed her to be infatuated with the more traditionally manly Major Glenn Talbot who represented the military’s interest in Connors’ research. In reality, Loring was conflicted, alternately intrigued and put-off by the diffident Palmer.

Palmer brought a group of high school students to a demonstration of the Transmuter. When something went wrong and the Transmuter overloaded, he heroically attempted to shield student Rick Jones from the blast. Palmer’s cells were bombarded with radiation. He awakened a short time later in the hospital, remarkably unscathed, but within hours he began transforming into a green-skinned being, He grew ever larger and, confused and delirious, went on a mindless rampage until he dissipated enough radiation in combat with military tanks to return to normal.

For a time, it appeared that Palmer might have been cured, but within weeks, the energy began to build up in him again. Palmer built a containment suit that allowed him to control the power. He dubbed himself the Atom, and begins using his powers to fight alien menaces and Communist spies. Over the years, he has gained greater control over his powers, but also perfected his containment suit to a much less bulky form.

Wednesday Comics: Storm: The Hounds of Marduk

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 Hounds of Marduk (1985) 
(Dutch: De Honden van Marduk) (part 5)
Art by Don Lawrence; script by Martin Lodewijk

The Hound man forces the craven rebel leader to take him to Storm, but when the door is opened, Storm and his friends have escaped by climbing out a whole in a dome unto the roof.

One of the rebels, incensed by his leaders betrayal, activates all the temple's ancient booby traps. In numerous fiendish ways, men are killed:

Meanwhile, Storm and friends have climbed down from the rooftop--and just in time, too. The motion of all the traps being sprung at once begins to shake apart the ancient temple, and the toxic gases meet flows of fire:

Storm, Nomad, and Ember stumble on to the field where the Hound and his men left their aircraft. Storm is confident he can fly it. The pilot, springing from hiding, gets the drop on him. He plans to turn Storm over the the Theocrat. The Hound has other ideas:

Marduk watching the scene is joyous. He thinks he has the Anomaly. The Hound, though, reveals that he is the dog Storm saved in the harbor. Despite what Marduk did to him, the Hound has not forgotten. The lets Storm go.

The enraged Marduk activates the collar and in a flash of energy the man hound is again just a hound. He bounds off just as Storm and friends fly away.

What Do You Want to See?

Hopefully, everyone who reads this blog is aware of (and enjoying) the two Land of Azurth products on the market. I have two more planned currently: a second issue of the Azurth Adventures Digest and the adventure The Cloud Castle of Azurth. Both are running behind schedule due to real life stuff, but I still intend to bring them out.

Blog comments are exactly profuse these days, but I thought it was worth asking both here and on social media: What particularly would those who appreciate Azurth material like to see in the future? More adventures, maybe something in the other countries of Azurth beyond Yanth? A pure setting book? While I can't promise I will go with suggestions, the content of the second Azurth Adventures Digest was at the suggestion of Enworld's Chris Helton. So I do listen sometimes!

A Day When Titans Walk the Earth!

I saw Pacific Rim: Uprising yesterday. My short review: If you liked the first Pacific Rim, you will probably like this one, though I missed some of the del Toro quirkiness. If you didn't like the first one, this one probably won't change you mind about the series.

Anyway, vaguely tentacled blob things from another dimension taking over the minds of those who make contact with them, driving them mad, and monsters rising from the ocean depths made me think of the Cthulhu Mythos. The first movie had me distracted with the name "kaiju" and all that, but it really is a sort of Lovecraftian (in a way Lovecraft himself would have never, ever wrote it) setup.

Now, I know there is a game called CthulhuTech which is mecha vs. Lovecraftian monsters/aliens, but what I think would be cool is something a bit less Neon Genesis Evangelion and more 70s Shogun Warriors! That would be a cool setting, I think.

DC at Marvel: Bring On the Bad Guys

This is a follow-up to this post and those that came after.

SILVER SCARAB

STATISTICS
F                 RM   (30)
A                 RM  (30)
S                 RM  (30)
E                 RM   (30)
R                 GD (10)
I                   EX   (20)
P                  EX   (20)
Health: 120
Karma: 50
Resources: GD (10)

BACKGROUND
Real Name: Anton Hastor
Occupation: KGB special operative
Identity: Known to authorities
Legal Status: Citizen of the USSR
Place of Birth: Unknown
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: None
Base of Operations: Previously New York City, now Moscow
Group Affiliation: Former Soviet Super-Soldier

KNOWN POWERS
None.
Nth Metal Armor: All powers and enhanced abilities derive from a powered nth metal exoskeleton he wears Without it, his physical stats at F TY, A GD, S GD, E GD. The Armor possess Incredible Material Strength and has the following powers:
Body Armor: Incredible rank.
Flight: Remarkable airspeed.
Energy Blast: Remarkable damage.
Solar Absorption: Remarkable rank.
Self-Sustenance: 1 hour air supply.
Talents: Trained spy, engineer.

History: Anton Hastor either is (or believes himself to be) the reincarnation of an Egyptian high priest. He is obsessed with killing Hawkman and Hawkgirl, but wishes to still all of Hawkman's inventions for the Soviet Union as well.

STAR SAPPHIRE

STATISTICS
F                 RM   (30)
A                 RM  (40)
S                 GD   (10)
E                 RM   (30)
R                 EX (20)
I                   GD   (10)
P                  EX   (30)
Health: 100
Karma: 60
Resources: EX (20)

BACKGROUND
Real Name: Carol Ferris
Occupation: Queen of the Femizons; Acting head of Ferris Aerospace
Identity: Secret
Legal Status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record
Place of Birth: Los Angeles, California
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Carl Ferris (father)
Base of Operations: Central City, California
Group Affiliation: Queen of the Femizons

KNOWN POWERS
Star Sapphire: All powers are derived from jewel of Amazing material strength she wears.
Energy Blasts: Amazing rank.
Force Blasts: Amazing Rank.
Force Field: a solidified energy shield of Amazing rank in a single area.
Flight: Incredible air speed within atmosphere, Class 3000 in space
Life Support: A life-support field, providing breathable air and protection from the elements, as well as an Amazing force field. This field can be sustained even if she is unconscious.
Phasing: Remarkable rank.
Talents: Pilot, business.
History: Ferris is the boss and sometimes love interest of Hal Hogan, the Green Lantern. On a solo flight across the California desert, Ferris was transported to the 23rd Century (though she was initially allowed to believe it was a different planet) where a gynocratic civilization known as the Sisterhood of Femizonia had emerged in North America after a nuclear war. The sacred jewel fallen from space the Sisterhood venerated told them to select Ferris as their queen. The jewel pushed Ferris to proof her superiority to men by defeating Green Lantern.

Wednesday Comics: Storm: The Hounds of Marduk

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 Hounds of Marduk (1985) 
(Dutch: De Honden van Marduk) (part 4)
Art by Don Lawrence; script by Martin Lodewijk

An aircraft carrying the newly evolved hound and a group of the Theocrat's soldiers lands in a field outside of town. They carry with them a device to locate the Anomaly aka Storm.

Meanwhile, Storm and friends are meeting with the rebel leader. He wants to know why Storm as the Anomaly is so important to Marduk. Storm reluctantly explains Marduk's theory as to how his travel through time and space has filled his body with some sort of energy. Storm demonstrates:

But that's enough to make him show up on the Hound's device. The Theocrat's men track Storm to an abandon temple.

The rebel leader tries to sell Storm on letting the rebellion harness his power. Storm isn't buying it. The rebels detect the incoming Theocrat troops. The temple is full of ancient traps. They kill some of the troops, but the Hound figures out how to avoid them and a contingent makes it through. I firefight breaks out, and the rebel leader attempts to get Storm and friends away.

The Hound, again thinking quickly, uses a prismatic Tear of Pandarve to reflect the energy beam from the booby trap against the rebel forces.

He leads the Theocrat's men forward, but they are stymied by another trap.

Meanwhile, Storm and friends have had about enough of being pushed around by the rebels:

Unaware what's going on in the other room. The rebel leader surrenders to the Hound and his troops who have just made in through. He promises to give them the anomaly in return for his life.

TO BE CONTINUED

Switcheroo-Witcheroo

Mortals always run a risk when they traffic with magical forces. Just ask June Moone. A strange encounter with a being called the Dzamor at a costumed party left her with the power to transform into the raven-haired witch known as the Enchantress. During the late 60s and possibly longer, she used the powers of the Enchantress to combat evil. Few of her adventures are known. She kept a low profile—until she tried to trick Supergirl into altering the orbit of the moon.

At least that’s what the comics say, but we have reason to doubt the complete veracity of that account. Santa Augusta is really just a barely pseudonymous stand-in for publicity shy (at least this sort of publicity) Saint Augustine, though the New Athens Experimental School was a real place. Supergirl was commonly seen in the area, but this wasn’t Linda Danvers. Instead, it was her niece Lola Kent, daughter of Lois and Clark, who worked as a student counselor at the school. June Moone was a parapsychology teacher (I told you it was an experimental school); she had hardly aged in the decade since gaining the Enchantress identity, though she had long since split from her trouble-prone boyfriend Alan Dell.

Enchantress was still on the side of heroes, but her methods had become, it’s fair to say, unsound. She sought to capitalize on a cosmic alignment of astral forces centered at New Athens and make herself (and her mystical patron, perhaps) nearly omnipotent, so she could defeat evil once and for all. The only downside was the complete overturning of all scientific law. How Supergirl defeated her is not entirely clear, but we may be certain it was not accomplished by briefly changing the moon’s orbit as depicted.

Shortly thereafter, the two clashed again at Miami Beach. This time, the Enchantress tricked Supergirl into helping her, but ultimately the Maid of Might saw through the ruse and again defeated the sorceress. Moone vowed revenge, but never seems to have gotten it.

When next we see her, she has joined up with a band of forgotten villains who call themselves exactly that. Interestingly, this Enchantress is blonde and blue-eyed, like June Moone herself, but not her Enchantress persona. This may be the author's signal that this was the Asgardian sorceress also known as the Enchantress instead.

What little nobility there was in the Enchantress must have died in the Crisis. When she next surfaces as a coerced member of the Suicide Squad, the power hungry and sociopathic Enchantress persona has completely overtaken June Moone.