[Greyhawk] The Wild Coast

In the waning days of the Great Kingdom, folk who were faced with debts they could not pay or disagreements with the legal authorities that might see them imprisoned or facing the hangman often found it convenient to flee narrow area of flatwood, sandhill, and wetland along the Northwest edge of Wooly Bay. There, they would be, if not welcomed, at least accepted into the independent community that had grown up among the several, squabbling towns. The region had an infamous reputation and was known as the Wild Coast.

Primarily, the Wild Coast served as a safe haven for brigands and outlaws from the woodlands west and smugglers and pirates from Wooly Bay to the east. Trade went on between the groups without fear of Dyvers' or Greyhawk's tax agents. The towns grew up to crater to the needs of these clientele but also drew others in search of freedom: escaped serfs and slaves, political dissidents, fringe religionists, and more than a few nonhumans. 

The freedom of the Wild Coast was just as often manifest as lawlessness. Existence was precarious when local powers shift quickly and much of the population is transitory. Humanoids raided up from Pomarj and monsters driven out of other areas sometimes found this sparsely populated region ideal.

It seems like Gygax wanted the Wild Coast to evoke a bit of the American "Wild West." I drew inspiration from a number of places: the Romagna during the late Middle Ages/early modern period, Barataria Bay in the early 19th Century. Mostly, it's just a fantasy region though.

Wednesday Comics: DC, July 1984 (week 1)

My mission is to 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 April 5, 1984. 

Sword of the Atom Special #1: The captions in this issue purport to be from the book all of Ivy Town is talking about, The Atom's Farewell by Norman Brawler. We get a recap of the Sword of the Atom limited series, with Jean's affair, and Ray's trip to the Amazon and encounter with the Kartarthans. Since Ray's return from the Amazon, he's been having trouble with his size-change abilities. He goes to a dinner with Jean, Paul Hoben and Paul's date, but things are clearly strained. After dinner, Jean and Ray go to the Ivy Town Overlook, have an honest discussion of their relationship, and decide to split amicably.

Ray heads back to the Amazon with Norman Brawler in tow, determined to find Morlaidh. Despite a group of cocaine smugglers getting in his way, he succeeds. The Atom bids Norman farewell and goes to live with Laethwen and her people. Brawler returns to the U.S. and finishes his book.

I intuit the existence of this story as a one-shot to mean that the response to the limited series was good, but not so good that the powers that be wanted to greenlight Strnad and Kane for a full series. Unfortunately, that makes this issue all set up. Not a single sword is in the hands of the Atom, except on Kane's cover. There's a continuity glitch here too, in that the story definitely suggests Ray hasn't really been able to use his size-changing ability effectively since returning from the Amazon, but he's been appearing in the Justice League in stories that clearly take place between the two SotA books.

Atari Force #7: Tempest is being tortured on the Destroyer's ship, while Dart and Packrat are fighting against tough odds to avoid capture. Martin does the only thing he feels like he can and surrenders himself to the enemy.  Morphea turns out to be the wild card that turns the tide for our heroes. After Psyklops' psychic attack brings up painful memories of her upbringing, she unleashes her full power, defeating him and rescuing Tempest. Meanwhile, Dart and Packrat have managed to take the engine room. With the choice to either let our heroes go or risk destruction, the Destroyer lets them go and lets them take Martin's probe with them. Maybe it all seems a bit too easy, though? We'll see!

Conway and García-López/Villagran really deliver this issue. Morphea's backstory is interesting, and the layouts are amazing.

Blackhawk #271: Evanier and Spiegle resolve the Ted Gaynor storyline. A chance meeting with a British officer reveals some bad behavior on Gaynor's part from his academy days. Given the suspicions he already has, it prompts Chuck to do some digging, requiring him flying into German-held territory. While he's gone, the rest of the Blackhawks must stop a Merson-designed, giant worm-like war machine. When that's done, they confront Gaynor with the truth that he has killed German prisoners and noncombatants including children. Gaynor is unapologetic. He's kicked out of the Blackhawks, and we're told he later dies at Sevastopol between German and Soviet lines in unclear circumstances.

In the solo "Detached Service Diary" backup with art by Staton, it's back to the French town of "La Resistance," which the Germans seek to destroy for its symbolic value. The Blackhawks defend the town, even though Allied Command has given up on it as a lost cause, but eventually they run out of supplies and ammunition and are forced to evacuate the citizenry. The German's overrun it and level it to ground.

DC Comics Presents #71: On Bizarro World, Bizarro (No. 1) creates a Bizarro-Amazo who steals the powers from super-powered people and gives them to the non-super. After acquiring the powers of the Bizarro Justice League, the android heads to Earth. Bizarro No. 1 pursues him and enlists the help of Superman and an impowered Jimmy Olsen to stop him.

Bridwell and Swan/Hunt are the creative team on this one. It presents the multi-"hero" version of Bizarro World that appears in Who's Who but was a relatively recent invention, having debuted in Superman #379. Like many Bizarro stories, its inconsistent in just what being "backwards" means and to what degree bizarros stick to that. Still, for its type of rather Silver Age-y story, it's not bad at all.

Fury of Firestorm #25: Conway and Kayanan/Tanghal bring back the Black Bison. This comes about through the actions of Silver Deer, a woman with shape-changing powers who wants to get back to the old ways but wears fishnet stockings and high heels. Anyway, after framing John Ravenhair for murder she reawakens Black Bison within him to start his project of revenge against the white man. Firestorm winds up in dire straits having been bitten by Silver Deer in the form of a venomous snake and then buried under a mound of toys animated by Black Bison.

Before all this, we get a bit of character drama stuff. Ronnie is confronted by his friends about being seen with Lorraine. A mobster tries to bribe Lorraine's father the senator who is about to face an ethics hearing. Martin shares a kiss with Belle (mother to Byte and Bug) before he's whisked away to be Firestorm.

Justice League of America #228: Conway's back as writer with Tuska/Nino on art in what is billed as "back to basics" on the credits page. The Martian Manhunter races back towards Earth with a squadron of Martian warships in pursuit. After buzzing the JLA satellite, he crashes in New York and at first gets into a scuffle with the League in that superhero "I don't have time to explain, so let me punch you" way until they capture him and force him to explain. He reveals that the Martians of Mars II are on their way to conquer Earth.

The robotic Challenger, sent by the Marshall of the Martian forces, issues an ultimatum to the United Nations demanding that Earth surrender itself to Martian control within one "terrestrial revolution." The Justice League realize it's going to be a war between the two worlds.

Conway's story brings some high Bronze Age energy back, but Tuska and Nino aren't the most pleasing artistic pairing. The Patton/Giordano cover is good, though.

Wonder Woman #317: I can honestly say I have no idea where Mishkin is going with all this. Sofia Constantinas is mesmerized into entering the gates of the Underworld, but Steve Trevor and Glitch the alien gremlin manage to rescue her. Their visit also seems to revive Eros who was a statue. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman meets a splinter group of Amazons in South America, and learns from their queen, Atalanta, that Hippolyta was given her directive of separation from the world as a trial by Aphrodite to teach her how to love not as a permanent condition. In Atalanta's telling, Hippolyta refused to do so, at least until the birth of Diana. All of this leaves Diana really confused about who to trust and who is right.

The Huntress backup is looking good under Beachum/Martin with some very 80s clothes and hairstyles on display. Cavalieri's story involves Helena heading out to California by train for a vacation but winding up trying to solve the murder of an old college friend who's now an antiquities dealer. It involves a ninja named Nightingale.