Wednesday Comics: DC, January 1984 (week 1)

My ongoing mission: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics that were at newsstands on the week of September 6, 1983. 

Atari Force #1: Conway and artistic team Garcia-Lopez and Villagran present the story of the next generation, following the events of the first volume of the Atari Force comics that were packaged with Atari cartridges. It's about twenty years later, and we're introduced to a new status quo and a host of new characters: Chris Champion aka Tempest who's got teleportation powers, Morphea, an alien empath recently arrived at the Atari Institute, Dart (like Chris, a child of original Atari Force characters) and Blackjack, two badass mercenaries out to get the employer who betrayed them; Babe a giant, alien child who will one day grow into a mountain, and Pakrat, a rodentoid master thief. We also meet the Darth Vader-esque antagonist, Dark Destroyer. This issue really moves and is full of well-defined characters and interesting concepts, but the real star is the art. I loved this issue as a kid, and it holds up today.

Wonder Woman #311: Mishkin and Heck have Wonder Woman's jet hijacked by mischievous, little creatures Trevor and Wonder Woman term Gremlins. They follow the creatures to a partially solidified sky island where there is a graveyard of planes from different eras. There are some larger beings here too, but their relationship to the gremlins isn't clear before the series end. This issue is a bit of whimsical detour compared to what Mishkin has done in previous issues.

In the Cavalieri and Burgard/DeCarlo Huntress backup, our heroine is confronted by two sewer alligators, guard animals of Earthworm, after being sent into a trap by an informant. Meanwhile, the Earthworm leaves a baby on the doorstep of anti-vigilante politician Terry Marsh.

Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld #9: Mishkin/Cohn and Colon continue the story from last issue with Amethyst and her allies fighting to defend the House of Ruby from the Emissaries of Varn. A surviving member of House Diamond showed up at the end of last issue like he was going to kick the Emissaries collective butt, but know they take him out too with their ability to absorb any attack then send it back. The head of Ruby falls before them too, but then Amethyst realizes that each of the 3 Emissaries has a different function. They concentrate their attacks on the middle guy--the conduit--and force them all to retreat from Gemworld.

Blackhawk #265: The Blackhawks get a replacement for Chop-Chop, Ted Gaynor, who's skilled but a bit too humorless and cold-blooded for the rest of the team. The Blackhawk doppelganger returns and frees Professor Merson. The team recaptures Merson and prevents the double from assassinating Churchill.

In the backup by Evanier and Newton/Jensen, Olaf has a meeting with a courier at the circus where he used to perform, but masquerades as a clown when the circus is forced to perform for a Nazi field marshal. In the end, Olaf gets to the courier and the other performers hold off the Germans.

DC Comics Presents #65: Kupperberg and Morrow bring in Madame Xanadu for a team-up. This is her first appearance since the multiple part Wonder Woman story back in'82 and the last time she'll be seen before her appearance in Crisis on Infinite Earths #12. Superman is having nightmares where he destroys Metropolis. Meanwhile, two other people are also having their dreams invaded by an evil force. They feel compelled to visit Madame Xanadu for help. Together, they figure out they are all being psychically attacked by Maaldor, who we last saw in issue 56. Maaldor wants to destroy Superman or at least convert him to evil, but with the help of Xanadu he's able to put Maaldor out with a super-punch.

Fury of Firestorm #19: Conway is joined by co-writer Carla Conway, his then wife. Art this issue is from Colan and Magyar. The story feels like it could have been in a Bronze Age Spider-Man villain, complete with ill-conceived, one appearance villain, which makes sense given Firestorm sort of follows a Spider-Man blueprint, and Conway is writing. The villain in this case is Goldenrod, a plant humaoid, with the power to cause extreme allergies! He's out for revenge against the unethical researcher who made him this way and he appears to die at the end, but of course, no body is recovered, so he could have emerged next spring allergy season or whenever, but he didn't.

Justice League of America #222: Conway and Patton/Tanghal continue the story from last issue. The cat woman Reena reveals the origin and identity of the animal people the JLA have been encountering. They were the board of Repli-Tech who, fearing financial ruin and potential prosecution as Repli-Tech was going bankrupt, submitted to an experimental process by Dr. Lovecraft to give them animal powers. They used these powers to commit robberies and fight in gladiatorial combats for jaded, wealthy patrons. Seems like it would have been easier and safer to financially exploit Lovecraft's process to me, but I guess that's why I'm not a business executive. When Wonder Woman and Hawkwoman fly to the side of Hawkman who had been poisoned by a scorpion guy and is in the hospital, they are captured.

The lion man. Maximus Rex broadcasts a message to the Justice League Satellite, revealing his captives and boasting that he is leader of a new order.

Vigilante #2: Wolfman and Pollard/Marcos have Adrain Chase learn that those things he usually calls "technicalities" might just be justice being done, as he attacks and beats the hell out of a guy who winds up being innocent after all. He gets disillusioned and gives up he vigilante life to work for his father's prestigious but legal firm but gets disillusioned again seeing guilty men evaded justice. In the end, he takes up the Vigilante mantle a second time with the promise to do things differently, but I'm not sure in what way.

Pulp Readings: The Spider: Corpse Cargo (1934)

Volume 3, Issue 2 of The Spider magazine (July 1934) is as clear an indication as any that Norvell Page (writing as Grant Stockbridge) is not going to pull any punches with his Spider yarns. His first Spider outing saw kids dying from the bubonic plague unleashed by the villain. In this one, we're only a few pages in when a young member of a club of wannabe Baker Street Irregulars, "The Spider Fan Club," is tortured to death by a gang of modern-day pirates using a knife charged with electricity.

This is part of a larger plot where the gang, led by the beautiful villainess who calls herself Captain Kidd, is using a pulpy invention to electrify rails so that that glow with almost magical "green fire" and electrocute all the passengers of trains so their corpses can be robbed without any witnesses. The trains are sent rolling on to their destinations with no one living on board.

It's a hell of a lurid set-up, and Page is up to the challenge of delivering on it. The pirates set some pretty good death traps for the Spider to have to escape from. There's also a bit of a mystery regarding a kidnapped inventors missing granddaughter that isn't a big point but has a nice little payoff. 

The only thing missing, maybe, is any hint of femme fatale regarding Captain Kidd. The righteous and driven Spider finds her utterly loathsome (and with her disregard for human life, who can blame him!), and though Page says she is attractive, he doesn't give her the sort of loving description a Robert Howard would have.

Get The Spider: The Corpse Cargo here. Tim Truman did a loose adaptation of this story in comics format in the 1990s.

Wednesday Comics: DC, December 1983 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics on the newsstand on September 29, 1983.

Sword of the Atom #4: This final issue by Strnad and Kane was the only one I owned as a kid, so I jumped into the story at its conclusion. And it's a pretty action-packed conclusion! The Atom leads the revolt against Caellich, learning from a captured traitor that Deraegis plans to throw his support behind the rebels but then betray them and seize power. Meanwhile, Caellich has discovered Deraegis treachery and made sure the word got out to the people that the priest was one that ordered Taren blinded. Enraged, Deraegis commits regicide. As the rebels reach the palace, he activates the star drive and gets a dose of radiation that makes him even more dangers. Voss kills him with an arrow through the head.

Atom has figured out that the drive is powered by the white dwarf star fragment that he came looking for. He tries to deactivate the drive but fails and is bathed in dwarf star energy, causing him to grow to his regular size. 

The drive is going to blow. Atom manages to terrorize the Morlaidhians into abandoning their city and stumbles away himself before it explodes, knocking him unconscious. Ray Palmer is found and brought back to a hospital where Jean finds him. But he's now in love with Princess Laethwen, and he vows to find her and her people in the Amazon jungle again.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #14: Duursema gives Arion a "weasels ripped my flesh" moment on the cover which she and Kupperberg supply within the story as well. Arion and friends are heading home after Wyynde chose to stay with his people when a fireball forces them to make an emergency landing in the ruined city of Mu. Mu, it turns out, may have seen better days but it isn't uninhabited. Arion has to chase off attackers with illusions. The group is offered shelter by a priest named Trykhun. Mara doesn't trust him, and it turns out she's right, after the priest lures Arion into underground tunnels and traps him there. Arion is attacked by a group of rodent-things and a giant serpent creature who they are somehow associated with. Mara gets lost trying to get back to Chian but manages to blunder onto Trykhun's true identity--the chaos godling, Chaon.

Action Comics #550: Rozakis/Bridwell and Tuska/Trapani are responsible for this one. The Earth, of course, doesn't explode this issue, but the cover isn't completely a lie, just misleading. The actions of an immortal alien race of jackasses threaten to cause mass destruction as they search for five items hidden on the Earth during the time of the supercontinent Pangaea. Once Superman figures out the cause and finds out what they are after, he makes a deal to find the pieces for them so they will leave the Earth alone.

All-Star Squadron #28: There's a guest artistic team of Howell and Houston. From the Atom's hospital room, the All-Stars witness Kulak's attempt to break through dimensions to attack Earth, just like everyone else on the planet. They fly up to do battle with his gigantic hands and head in the sky, but they're losing. Luckily, Sargon the Sorcerer shows up to lend a hand with the Ruby of Life. He also delivers some exposition about how Kulak managed to over-power the Spectre. Kulak is thwarted in his attempt to break through, but he still can send the Spectre to attack, so there's another battle with a giant, supernatural foe. Sargon manages to draw Dr. Fate back to Earth to help them, but Kulak seizes the Helm of Nabu for himself. That backfires, as it reveals to him his true nature, and he can't take it. Kulak is blasted through "an infinity of dimensions," apparently by his own self-loathing, taking the Helm with him. And now we know why Dr. Fate started wearing the half-mask.

Camelot 3000 #9: Sir Prentice was horribly injured taking a blast for Arthur last issue and is dying of radiation poisoning. The King splits the round table, sending some of the knights to seek the Grail to cure Prentice while he and the others go to rescue Merlin. Percival, Prentice, Lancelot, and Guinevere go to get the Grail on an alien world. They find it, and Percival is restored to human form then ascends to the next world. Prentice is healed. Lancelot is made the new guardian of the Grail, then promptly loses it to the forces of Morgan Le Fay. 

Detective Comics #533: Moench and Colon/Smith give a bit of a spotlight to Barbara Gordon and her relationship with her father as a group of criminals assault the hospital with the intent of assassinating the Commissioner. As things get low-key Die Hard, Batman shows up to help her out. Also, Jason and Bruce sort of talk out what happened last issue, though the question of a heroic identity for him is still up in the air.

In the Green Arrow backup by Cavalieri and Patton/McManus a terrorist called the Detonator blows up a plane carrying an industrialist who didn't pay $2 million in extortion money. The race is on to retrieve the "black box" that may give a clue as to the Detonator's identity. Green Arrow finds himself contending with the Detonator and a motorcycle gang.

Jonah Hex #79: Spaghetti Western-esque turn this issue, as Jonah Hex escapes the ambush the brothers laid for him the end of last issue by killing Homer but ends up wounded himself. Wilbur follows him through the desert, torturing him by killing his horse and shooting holes in his canteen, but dragging out the moment of his death. Near his end from thirst and exposure, Jonah lays his own trap with a poisoned waterhole. Wilbur drinks and dies, but it appears Hex's victory is pyrrhic, and the vultures descend on him, but J.D. Hart sent by Emmy Lou arrives in the nick of time. Meanwhile, Turnbull plans to blame the death of the governor on Hex.

New Adventures of Superboy #48: Kupperberg and Schaffenberger have Lex Luthor escape from reform school (again) and steal Superboy's super-powers with a device that looks like a vacuum cleaner. Superboy, with the help of his super-robots, tricks Luthor into a position where the Boy of Steel can get them back.

In the Dial H backup, it feels like Bridwell and Bender/Hunt are nearing the end of the mysterious Master arc. With our heroes surrounded by villains, Nick has to dial up some heroic identities to free himself, Chris, and Vicki from the Master's clutches.  In the aftermath, the Master disassembles the dial he stole from Vicki and finds nothing within the H-Dial which could make it work--and can't even recall why he wanted it. He recaptures the three heroes in an effort to learn who he is and why he wants the dials.

World's Finest Comics #298: Art on this issue is by Amendola and Mitchell, and the designs of the Pantheon members seem to be a bit different that last installment. Anyway, we get a lot of Zeta telling Superman how the Kryptonian isn't strong enough to defeat him, and for much of the, that seems to be the case. The Pantheon members recapture Batman and bring Zeta a couple of candidates to be his "Adam and Eve" as Mu is up to something on the Moon. But as Superman finally starts to really fight back, Batman notices that Zeta draws power from the other members of the Pantheon. Eventually though, it's Superman's arguments that sway Zeta. He agrees that his actions are not worthy of his godlike power. He restores a couple of people to life he killed and decides that he must leave to ponder his own humanity and disappears into the Cosmic Tree.

Retrostar RPG Review

Retrostar by Barak Blackburn bills itself as "the rpg of 1970's-era sci-fi television." It's from Spectrum Games who publish other niche, genre emulation systems like Cartoon Action Hour.  I haven't had a chance to play it yet (though I plan to give it a try), but these are my thoughts on a read-through.

Its a fairly narrative game whose conception and playstyle probably owe a lot to PbtA games, though it has different mechanics. I find its player character mechanics to somewhat straddle a line between "meta" and diegetic. For instance, characters have three traits: Adventure, Though, and Drama. These could have functioned the same way and been called Physical, Mental, and Social, but I think using the terms they do puts you more in the mindset of thinking of a character's role in the imagined series, not necessarily their capabilities within the world of the show. On the other hand, characters are further defined by "descriptors" for above or below average attributes that are more in-world qualities.

Nonmechanically, characters are described with a Background supplied by the Showrunner (GM) and by Casting notes created by the player. The author of the game wrote up Buck Rogers from the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century this way:

Background: Time-displaced USAF and NASA Pilot from 1987, unofficial captain in the Earth Defense Directorate; cocky, charming, dashing, roguish, ladies’ man; perpetual flirt; attracted to Wilma, who is put off and charmed by his manly nature; frequently gets into trouble because of lack of understanding of 25th century.

Casting: Brown haired, rugged, charismatic smile, playful, wiseass, loyal to his friends.

Adventure: 1 (derring-do) 

Thought: -1 (impulsive)
Drama: 1 (magnetic personality)

SFX: 4
Feat of 1987 Machismo 1/ 2d
Laser Pistol 1/ 2d

The basic mechanics are pretty simple and again, in some ways, reminiscent of PbtA games, but not identical. Players roll at least two dice, and add the results together with results of failure, mixed failure/mixed success, or success. Descriptors, SFX, and situation modifiers alter what you roll. The absolute magnitude of the total modifier determines the number of dice rolled, whereas the valence determines whether ultimately sum the highest or lowest two dice. For example, total modifiers of -1 mean roll 3 dice and take the lowest two, whereas +1 means roll 3 and take the highest two.

To simulate the structure of 70s TV, a session or episode is broken into 5 Acts, with each Act only allowing characters 12 dice rolls. Rather than the typical "actions" (or the PbtA term "moves") Retrostar terms these Intentions. I suspect this is because they want to promote the players thinking in terms of scene resolution rather than task resolution, but it's different. An intention is about achieving a goal within a scene, so one roll might stand in for several rolls in games concerns with more granular representation of actions.

The Showrunner guidance talks a fair amount about helping players to frame intentions and how to adjudicate the results. It also talks about structuring adventures in 5 Acts.

The rest of book is focused on series creation. Retrostar defines series with 5 Dials (Thematic, Plot, Recurring, Cheese, and SFX) with describe roughly how topically socially conscious, serial, formulaic, trend-chasing, and well-budgeted the series is. In its introductory section, there's an overview of 70s sci-fi tv and the dials of a number of real TV series are given. The dial ratings are rolled against in prep to see if that element will play a part during a particular adventure. 

For its rules lite-ness, I think Retrostar will take a bit of getting used to. Its mechanics are sort of novel. Its subject matter is appealing, though, and I think it approaches it in a clever way.

Double Edged Sword & Sorcery

The Double-Edged Sword & Sorcery crowdfunding campaign from Brackenbury Books presents two historical Swords & Sorcery novellas (Waste Flowers and Walls of Shira Yulun) in one hardcover, reminiscent of the style of the old Ace Doubles. I was intrigued by the novels and charmed by the style, and since I knew Dariel from the blogosphere, I reached out to the authors about doing this brief interview.

Thanks to the both of you for doing this! How did you come to be involved with the project?

Dariel: I've been working with editor/publisher Oliver Brackenbury since he launched the New Edge of Sword and Sorcery magazine, for the first several issues of which he solicited/commissioned most of the content. We got to meet through the recommendation of Ngo-Vinh Hoi in the Appendix N Book Club podcast; Hoi mentioned my collection, Swords of the Four Winds, among his recommendations, and that led to Oliver contacting me for an interview on his podcast, So I'm Writing a Novel. 

 At the end of that interview, he invited me over to the Whetstone Discord server. At around the time that I joined, a big discussion had started over what could be done to revitalize the sword and sorcery genre and get new readers in. That led to Brackenbury being tagged to edit and put up a new S&S zine, and I was among the writers who pitched in a story, gratis, for our Issue #0. Brackenbury Books has had several successful crowdfunders since then, lately for NESS 1 and 2 last year, 3 and 4 this year, and an anthology of S&S-meets romantasy, Beating Hearts and Battle Axes. 

 At around the same time NESS 3 and 4 were in production or planning, Oliver had already approached me on an idea to sort of revive the Ace Doubles or do a homage to the Ace Doubles.

Bryn: Like Dariel, I’d written for Oliver Brackenbury’s test issue of NESS, which was put out free in digital and at cost in physical formats. When NESS proved a success, we both went on to write further stories in further issues. There’s a New Edge Sword & Sorcery Discord server where I chat daily, and where Oliver, I guess, lays his evil schemes to expand in sword & sorcery publishing. I said a quick yes, of course, to his first ‘want to write a novella?

I think part of the appeal here is that two-in-one format that does remind fans of the Ace Doubles. So that was the publisher's idea? How do you feel about it?

Bryn: It was Oliver’s idea to put us back-to-back: two tales that kick off from the medieval Mongols and the great Mongol himself, Chinggis or Genghis Khan. Oliver got to know us, know our past work around Mongols, and thought it neat to have "steppe siblings" in a Double. 

I think it works wonderfully well. Dariel and I have similarities, and we have contrasts too – you won’t feel it’s same-samey as you move from one novella to the other, since we have such different styles, but our stance, our position, the kind of thing we are concerned with, have a harmony and common ground. 

We’re both set on the frontiers between the steppe of the nomads and settled societies, with the frontier issues that arose in history – and still arise today. Both of us take a nomad’s perspective on that history. Our heroes may be far apart as people, but each is very conscious – and fired up about! – the encroachment of settled civilizations onto the steppe, the creep of towns and cities into the free grass. I believe sword & sorcery is its most essential self when it sees from the less privileged point of view, which has often been the figure of the barbarian up against the ills of civilization. Both of us give what is resolutely a "nomad’s eye" on the world. If Goatskin and Orhan Timur met, they’d understand one another, they’d thrill to the same call. They’d be steppe brother and steppe sister, too. 

In style, though, you get dishes quite distinct from one another. You won’t be bored. Dariel writes a strong, swift, propulsive story, and lists his influences as Robert E. Howard and David Gemmell: he has everything most classic about S&S, cast into a new sensibility for areas of Asia neglected in fantasy. Me, you can probably tell I’ve loved most a few fringes and odd edges of sword & sorcery, that I am attracted to the rich aesthetics of M. John Harrison’s Viriconium or Tanith Lee’s Tales from the Flat Earth. What excites me most about New Edge Sword & Sorcery and now Brackenbury Books is an openness to innovation within the genre. 

Dariel: I loved all aspects of the doubles idea, of course, so I said yes, I don't think I even asked how much he was going to offer. But Oliver's very decent about that, he credits his parents, both freelance artists, with instilling in him an ethic of making sure creatives get paid their due, so it's a decent deal. Even better, I know from experience Oliver is good and active at promotion, so that level of attention I think makes working with a small press really worthwhile. 

And doing a homage to the Ace Doubles of yore (haha, yeah, I feel old enough to say that!) is a special kick for me. I had quite a few of those, hunted for them in bargain bins all over the seamy side of downtown Manila and the old American airbase in Clark -- back in the 80s they were treasures, as prized as the DAW yellow spines. So given the chance to do that, and with Bryn's work as my novella's companion, it was a golden opportunity. I think Oliver's idea to do a 'steppe siblings' themed set for the first Double Edged book gave it a strong platform, and also fits very much what I want to do with S&S, which is to weave tales about and highlight what I call Forgotten Asia. 

The project looks well on track to fund. What's next for you after that?

Dariel: I'm actually set to deliver two stories, because if we hit at least 250 backers all backers will receive my bonus story, The Shaman's Blood Price. That story is about Orhan and Jungar when they were still young and still brothers - kinda like an Obi Wan-Anakin teamup, and also features their first meeting with the villain of Walls, Qara Erke. As of 16:23 today, Manila time, we’re just thirty backers away from that. And we're already talking about another set of novellas for next year.

I also want to work on more Wali and Khalid stories. These are comical sword and sorcery stories patterned after the adventures of Sindbad. Khalid is dashing, handsome, brave as a lion, swift as a falcon...and thick as a city wall. Fortunately, he has Wali to do the thinking for him. Problem is, Wali is a lecherous failed sorcerer cursed with the body of a monkey! The Wali and Khalid stories are like palate cleansers for me, since I tend to write dark stories otherwise. I'll also be continuing work on my sword and planet novel Warrior of the Lost Age, and in between, tinkering with the Swords of Maruzar RPG and its setting.

Bryn: I hope we fund, because what comes next is highly exciting for me. Oliver has said in public that if this book works out, it’ll be the first of novella series for both characters, Dariel’s Orhan Timur the Snow Leopard and my Goatskin. I’m a slow writer so I am at work well ahead of time. Yesterday I sent Oliver a ten-page outline for the next novella, and today I wrote the first sentences. It has the working title What Rough Beast?, which I’m pretty committed to already. 

Tell everybody where we can see more of your work.

Bryn: My website is Amgalant. That’s mostly about my historical fiction on Chinggis/Genghis Khan, and the research for it. I have a storefront where you can buy direct from me: my historical novels, my Voices from the Twelfth-Century Steppe, an essay on how to listen to the Secret History of the Mongols, my source, and a few short stories. 

Previous Goatskin tales can be found in the pages of New Edge Sword & Sorcery #0 and 1; and in A Book of Blades II from Rogues in the House Podcast. Another is on the way in Beating Hearts & Battle-Axes, an anthology that crosses sword & sorcery with romance, from Brackenbury Books, edited by Jay Wolf. 

Dariel: For my self-published collections Swords of the Four Winds and Track of the Snow Leopard, there's my Amazon page. 

 

 My stories also appear in issues 0, 2 and 4 of New Edge of Sword and Sorcery Magazine, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly issues 7, 54, 58 and 61, DMR Books' Die By the Sword 1, Rakehell Magazine 1, and Broadswords and Blasters 13: Futures That Never Were.

Wednesday Comics: DC, December 1983 (week 3)

My mission: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics on newsstands around September 22, 1983.

Power Lords #1: A tie-in with the short-lived toyline, written by Fleisher with art by Texiera and Dee. The cover completely sold me on this issue as a kid, and overall, Texiera does a good job working with the sometimes-challenging character designs by Wayne Barlowe. Shaya, trusted bodyguard for the Toranian royal family, flies to Earth purused by the forces of an alien alliance, to recover Adam Power, who is unaware he is actually a Toranian Power Lord. A jewel removes Adam's amnesia, and he remembers everything about himself, his family--and also remembers how his homeworld fell to dictator Arkus and his allies. Shaya and Adam are attacked by two of Arkus' henchmen, Raygoth and Ggriptogg. While Adam and Shaya defeat both those two, Arkus ambushes them.

Thriller #2: This issue drags out Dan Grove's introduction to the Seven Seconds so some background on those characters can be given to the reader. There are a number of things unexplained, including why there is a bank robber called "Molluskan" and Scabbard's girlfriend Mallochia seems to be Scotty Thriller's nanny under the name "Molly Lusk"--and what either of these people have to do with Edward Thriller's old colleague, Moses Lusk. Von Eeden's panel layouts are as difficult to follow as last issue. We do learn that, thanks to a lab accident during his attempts to harness the power of the so-called "rogue cell" lurking within every human, Edward Thriller and his wife Angeline got merged, so that Angeline exists a noncorporeal being tethered to Edward's body. Or something like that. We also so the fire that killed Angeline's father and blinded her mother--a fire her brother Tony accidentally started while playing with matches. I like the setting and characters, but there was probably a better way to go about this.

Supergirl #14: Indicia and cover title now agree that this is Supergirl. We pick up where last issue left off with Supergirl battling Blackstarr. Supergirl manages to hold her own, but eventually Blackstarr just decides to escape. Back at her building, Linda is talking with Mrs. Berkowitz, and they discover that Blackstarr looks uncannily like Rachel, Berkowitz's daughter who she believes died in the camps in 1941. 

That night, Blackstarr's followers fire-bomb a synagogue. Supergirl gets the rabbi out, but the old man dies of smoke inhalation. Angry, Supergirl takes to the skies and calls out Blackstarr. The villain shows and the fight is on. Blackstarr boasts she has comprehended Unified Field Theory which is the source of her powers.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Berkowitz heard about the fight on the radio and rushed to the scene. When she sees Blackstar she exclaims "Rachel!", and Blackstarr stammers out "M-momma?"

Batman and the Outsiders #5: Barr and Wolfman continue the story from last week's New Teen Titans, this time with Aparo on art. The two teams barely escape drowning in Gotham Harbor after Psimon destroyed the underwater base, but thanks to Terra they manage it, bringing Dr. Jace with them. Whiny Dr. Light is on the outs with the Fearsome Five, so Psimon sends the mudmen to get him, but he winds up captured by the heroes. This issue plays up the tension between Batman and Robin, and Batman assumes leadership and makes Robin feel like a junior partner. Robin eventually asserts himself, countermanding Batman on strategy, but when it works out, Batman commends his leadership and the part with mutual respect. It's interesting how aligned the Batman books, BatO and NTT are on the whole two potential Robins and Batman stuff. It does really feel as if these are all events happening at the same point in the characters' lives.

Here's the covers of the two-parter combined:

Green Lantern #171: Feels like another fill in issue while we're waiting for the new creative team house ads have been telling us about (Wein and Gibbons) to take over. We've got Alex Toth on pencils here, at least, and Austin on inks. The writer is "Noel Naive" which is a pen name and here apparently represents Giffen, Snyder, and Cavalieri. Jordan and Dorine visit desert world are are captured by the "Caretaker" of an alien race. He plans to siphon their life energy in an attempt to cure his people of their "sleep sickness," just like he's doing to his own wife. Jordan intervenes when the alien's wife cries out in pain, and destroys the machine, causing the Caretaker to die of shock. His sadden wife explains that their race was not sleeping, but already dead, and she only let her husband keep believing they could be saved because his struggle to find a cure was the only thing keeping him alive.

In the Tales of the Green Lantern Corps backup by Klein and Gibbons, mustachioed GL Deeter, explains to a young boy how he too was given a hard time by a woman: a caustic princess whose rescue he botched by failing to understand the situation. In the end, he reveals he got his revenge by marrying her as the princess arrives on dragon back to pick him up after her errands.

Sgt. Rock #383: The main story by Kanigher and Redondo is a bit of a surprise in that idyllic, isolationist community Rock discovers in the Alps isn't destroyed or forced to accept the grim necessity of fighting the just war at the end of it. They stay hidden and Rock leaves, managing to catch so G.I.'s looking to loot some Nazi booty and defeat some German ski-troops on his way back to Easy. 

There are "Battle Album" entries on the F-14 and Cromwell's heavy cavalry, then a morality play by Harris/Lindsey about a German soldier on the Russian Front who murders a fellow soldier to get his fancy boots only to lose his feet to frostbite. 

Legion of Super-Heroes #306: While awaiting the returns in the election for Legion leader--one where Star Boy hopes his girlfriend Dream Girl loses--he passes the time by filling Wildfire in on his origin. Giffen draws the frame sequence, but the flashback is handled by Curt Swan and recaps incidents from recaps incidents from Adventure Comics #317, #342 and #350.

Warlord #76: I reviewed the main story here. In the Barren Earth backup by Cohn and Randall, something appears to be blocking the pipe taking water from the subterranean sea to their reservoir. Jinal dives down to take a look and finds an ancient, space battleship, which she manages to salvage but only after defeating some automated guardians.

Space: 1999 the Role-playing Game

I pre-ordered the Space: 1999 role-playing game coming from Modiphius not because I am a big fan of the show (the only complete episode I've seen as an adult I reviewed here) but I do like retro-sci-fi in general, and I am always at least curious about another instantiation of the 2d20 system, which I like a lot in Star Trek Adventures. With my pre-order I got the quickstart and with it a window into what the game is going to be like.

First off, they get the aesthetic right. There is a lot of beige and orange in this pdf. Unlike the Trek books, they use stills from the show in this one, though there is some original art.

Characters are defined by Skills and Attitudes. The Skills (Command, Flight, Medicine, Security, Technical) seem analogous to STA's Disciplines (Command, Conn, Medicine, Security, Science, Engineering), but they also serve an attribute function with the rules telling us Command has to do with "charm" and Flight with "athletics," for example. Attitudes (Bravery, Compassion, Dedication, Improvisation, Mystery, Perseverance) are essentially approaches as used in Fate and other games (the 2d20 Dishonored game calls them "Styles"), though they don't work as well conceptually for me because they seem to be a mix of character traits and traits and motivations, but they probably will work okay. One problem I forsee is that with approaches/styles doing things one way means you probably aren't doing it another way, e.g. if you are Quick you aren't Careful or Sneaky. It's less clear to me that the Attitudes have that sort of exclusivity.

Beyond Momentum and Threat, which are in most 2d20 games, Space: 1999 characters have Spirit which serves the functions of both Determination and Stress in STA.

There are some sample characters in the quickstart and a short adventure, but no real gear, aliens or monsters. Still, from what's shown it looks like a good 2d20 riff on the lower crunch side. I'm looking forward to seeing the full game.