Wednesday Comics: DC, February 1986 (week 2)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I'm looking at comics that were published on November 14, 1985.

Aquaman #1: Pozner and Hamilton/Montano bring Aquaman back for his first substantial (and post-Crisis) appearance since he left the Justice League. He's got a cool new costume, which I loved (and still do) in this, but it will turn out Hamilton seems to be one of the few that can draw it convincingly, so it's probably for the best it didn't last. This is the first series to really incorporate the fantasy elements of Arion in Aquaman's lore, something that continues (as far as I know) to this day. 

Ocean Master attacks New Venice, drawing his brother into action, but Aquaman finds Orm stronger than he ever has been. Before he can solve this mystery, he's summoned to Atlantis by Vulko who tells him that the royal seal has been stolen. There have been mass demonstrations and unrest as the populace is caught up in anti-terrestrial sentiment, as they blame the surface world diplomats Aquaman invited in for the theft. Vulko believes the theft was magical and blames the secret city of Thierna Na Oge. There has been a coup there with King Bres overthrowing her sister, Nuada Silverhand.

Aquaman heads to Thierna Na Oge in a new, camouflage costume but he gets caught entering the city and is imprisoned with Nuada.

Amethyst #13: In this Crisis crossover issue, the series gets a sort of new direction as the exodus of the original writers is complete, and Giffen and Fleming take over. In the service of this direction which ties in more directly with DC's Order and Chaos mythos, Dr. Fate guest stars to reveal (in "Anatomy Lesson"-fashion) that Amethyst doesn't know the truth of her origins, and what we got before included some polite fictions from Citrine. Amethyst is a Lord of Order incarnate in human form, being the child of her mother and a Lord of Order who possessed (and sort of cukolded) her father. Dark Opal's background also gets some retconning to make him an agent of Chaos.

This new background does cleave Amethyst more tightly to established mystical elements of the DCU and it works well enough, but I feel like it's mostly here because it aligns the series more with Giffen's interests (This Order/Chaos stuff comes up again in his Dr. Fate limited series in '87.). It doesn't take away a whole lot, but I find I like what came before better than this twist.

'Mazing Man #2: Rozakis and DeStefano/Kesel continue with 2 more sort of charming, amusing (I wouldn't go so far as to say humorous, but the intent is clear) slice-of-life stories about the cast of regular folks who share their neighborhood with a friendly weirdo who thinks he's a superhero. In the first story, married couple Eddie and Brenda return to the old neighborhood to check in on Denton on their way to a movie but instead get drawn into local meathead Guido's attempts to figure out just where 'Mazing Man gets his money. They don't find out.

In the second story, Denton sells his script for the comic Splendiddog, K.P. and 'Mazing Man relate how they went to the mall to buy shoes and ran into Guido at two different shoe stores (making him imagine K.P. is into him). Throughout this storytelling 'Mazing Man keeps telling people the bathroom is occupied. When everyone compares notes, they confront him on this, and he reveals he's keeping a family of skunks in the bathroom, which Guido mistakes for cats.

Batman #392: Moench and Mandrake/Duursema begin the issue with a caption declaring "the Crisis is over," and also give the extended storylines a break with a done-in-one story. This is a fun issue about Batman and Catwoman trying to have a date night and continuously being interrupted in multiple locations by crimes. There is also a Lady and the Tramp homage (which they acknowledge in dialog) where the owner of an Italian restaurant sets up a table in the alley behind his place for them and serves spaghetti. All of this is interspersed with Bullock trying to convince an uninterested Gordon that Catwoman still has a criminal past, which shouldn't just be forgiven. In the end, the Bat and the Cat present the captured crooks to Gordon and bring him a pizza from the Italian restaurant, and he announces his willingness to forget Catwoman's previous misdeeds.

Legion of Super-Heroes #19: Levitz and LaRocque/Mahlstedt snip off a dangling plot thread. When five Legionnaires just disappear, their teammates can't help but notice that this was the crew formerly lost in Limbo. The group has been taken by a Controller who needs their help to stop the war-world Tyrraz since they destroyed the Sun-Eater he had been building to do just that (see LSH #7 from last year). 

Omega Men #35: Klein and McManus have the Omega Men depart their crossover with the Titans to deal with the menace of X'Hal and Auron. I don't think I've said this before, but I feel like title has gotten better under Klein/McManus, or at least, more interesting. The Silfer/Giffen Omega Men was oddly toned space fantasy, like Starlin's stuff without any of the gravitas. Moench's tenure was more fantastical and lost the space opera narrative drive. What this run delivers is the American comic book space opera epic sort of filtered through 2000AD. However you want to describe it, the difference is clear in the change in character designs, and emblematic of that is X'Hal.

Where the Perez X'Hal was a beautiful young woman, McManus's is a mad cosmic mother like a monstrous Venus of Willendorf. Her transformation makes her backstory seem more genuine tragedy and horror instead of sensationalized exploitation. With a ploy to trick her, the Omega Men end her existence and bring the long-suffering spirit peace at last. They offer the same thing to Auron, but he declines. They have the hope that, freed of X'Hal's influence, he might return to sanity.

In the backup story by Klein and Randall, Harry Hokum ships the Omegans they have come to him for help with Gordanians to Slagg, but they end up (by his design) in the hands of the Spider Guild.

 

Star Trek #23: Isabella and Sutton/Villagran continue the story from last issue with Kirk and friends facing down Bryce who is possessed by Redjac. They manage to keep her distracted long enough for Saavik to knock her out with a hypo, but Redjac boasts it is in control of the whole planet. It sends wave after wave of the Enochians against them, but the crew figures out its power is limited. As it controls multiple people, it's power to control their phasers decreases. Ultimately, they manage to beam back up to Excelsior, where Scotty has devised a plan to reconfigure the shields to keep Redjac out at the price of making them vulnerable to regular attacks. Redjac pummels the ship, but can't get in. Scotty and Saavik devise a plan to open a wormwhole temporarily and get Redjac to follow them in. It works and they close the portal, hopefully trapping Redjac forever inside.

Super Powers #6: Kupperberg and Kirby/Theakston bring this toy tie-in limited series to a conclusion. The Super Friends attack Darkseid's base on the moon and defeat his subordinates, but wind up getting captured by the lord of Apokolips himself. They escape thanks to Martian Manhunter then race to stop Darkseid from destroying the Earth. Ultimately, Darkseid is thwarted by the betrayal of DeSaad in a bid for power, allowing the heroes to take them both down. Darkseid appears to be destroyed, but the final panel casts doubt on that.

Superman #416: I think I may own this issue by Maggin and Swan/Williamson. This is another of those Silver Age throwback, mostly late Bronze Age rejecting stories the Superman titles often have, but Maggin cleverly links the two stories together. In the first, Superman nabs Luthor doing weirdly non-criminal things (even for this anodyne version of Luthor its odd!) around the same time each year, and ultimately, he figures out Luthor is observing the birthday of his hero, Einstein, by re-enacting events of Einstein's life. Superman gives Luthor a little grace after the criminal genius saves a kid from drowning who inadvertently got caught in a distraction he built for Superman.

In the second story, old man Superman of the future is questioned about his relationship with the Luthor after the genius villian reformed. Superman has to take a break from the interview to appear as a hologram to his 20th century self. That Superman, at first, thinks the apparition is some trick by Luthor, but winds up delaying his capture of Luthor on Einstein's birthday as future Superman suggests, anyway. Back in the future, we learn that the boy Luthor saved will be grow up to cure Luthor's criminal monomania, allowing him to use his genius to benefit mankind.

Q&A On Elvish Metaphysics

This grew out of my thinking about Greyhawk, but like my post on the religion of Law, it certainly can exist outside of that setting. It also might be modified a little bit when I finally reference it in a Greyhawk post.

When talking about the belief system of an entire people it's necessarily to do so in very broad strokes. Elves as individuals believe a lot of different things, and elven cultures have different understandings and expressions of beliefs that they share with other elven cultures. 

Where did the world come from? The multiverse is shadow of the source, the singular truth. It developed from a series of emanations, the cause of which is a mystery, but it is neither in error nor permanent structure.

How do elves differ from other beings? Elves are unlike the souled. We are not matter shaped by the Powers to serve and amuse them. We are, like the Powers, beings of the prima materia, Spirit.

Why is there death? Impermanence is part of the source. Death and rebirth, cessation and resumption.

What happens after elves die? Elves are beings of spirit and spirit flows in a cycle because it remembers that it is one with the source. Unlike the created souls, it will never cease its motion until the multiverse remembers its oneness. Elven spirits migrate to a new birth, a new life.

Why we here? The source is both here and not here, because it is all. We are here because the multiverse has forgotten its oneness with the source.

Who are the Seldarine of the tales? The humans and some ignorant elves think the Seldarine gods, but what is a god? The Seldarine are what it means to elven. They preceded elves, and are closer to the source. Learn from them and seek to understand the virtues they teach.

What are the beliefs of the...

...Gray Elves? The Gray tend to reject the material world, seeking a life of contemplation and arcane study to achieve oneness with the source in fewer lifetimes.

...Sylvan Elves? The Wood elves seek to find the movement of the source within the natural world and to act in harmony with it. By becoming one with the world they see the truth behind it.

...Dark Elves? The Drow have fallen under the sway of the demon goddess Lolth. Instead of pursuing action without thought to move within the source, they seek drastic rupture of multiverse, believing that intensity of experience and transgression is the shortest path to oneness with the source. 

The Executioner's Diary

From 1573 to 1617, Franz Schmidt was the head executioner for first Bamberg and then Nuremberg, Germany. He kept a work journal, tersely (in most cases) recording the criminals, their offenses, the means of execution and the results. It opens a limited window into the criminal justice system of that place and time.

In The Faithful Executioner, Joel Harrington offers a biography of Schmidt, filing in the unusual circumstances that led him to this career, and uses the journal entries to attempt to build a picture of what kind of man Schmidt was. To give the story context, Harrington highlights some interesting aspects of early modern German history and society and the functioning of the criminal justice system in Nuremberg, in particular.

The Faithful Executioner is an interesting read for anyone interested in history but should prove inspirational for fantasy rpgs with its little details on the criminal underworld, the workings of city law enforcement and incarceration. Harrington even provides a simple map of Nuremberg in the period:

Wednesday Comics: DC, February 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 November 7, 1985. 

Hex #6: Fleisher and Texeira/Garzon pickup up with Hex and Stiletta in the hands of the Conglomerate. The Conglomerate agents provide some backstory on Soames, the currency of the future. These tablets are the only thing able to purify the water supply in this post-apocalyptic age. They were developed by a Tanzanian scientist who intended to give them away for free, but the Conglomerate took over the manufacture and distribution, and that's what gives them their power. They are very concerned that Borsten is close to figuring out how to make a substitute and break their monopoly, so they want Hex to kill him, then they'll let him go back to his own time. 

Hex agrees but runs into trouble. First, he wants to leave Stiletta behind and she, surprisingly given Borsten is her father, wants to be a part of the action. He has to run off, leaving her very angry at him. The plan to have him appear to be captured by Borsten's men goes awry when one of the squad of soldiers turns out to have a personal grudge against Hex and just wants to kill him.

DC Comics Presents #90: Though when individual character chronologies are established, there are some issues prior to this one that must be post-Crisis, this is the first issue that is obviously so because Kupperberg and Cowan/Hunt have Captain Atom (the one that appeared in Crisis, not the post-Crisis version that won't appear until the end of '86) on the same Earth as Superman and Firestorm with no hint of dimensional travel. To save an astronaut from the shuttle Atlantis, the three must battle and solve the mystery of a radioactive man called Rayburn. In a Marvel Bronze Age manner, Rayburn is in the end a pitiable character, but doomed. Kupperberg adds and interesting wrinkle to the team-up in that Atom and Firestorm have to keep their distance as their powers weaken the other.

Fury of Firestorm #44: The editorial announces this will be Kayanan's last issue as he moves on to other projects. Firestorm destroys a massive tornado threatening Pittsburgh (unbeknownst to him, created by Typhoon), but the effort causes Ronnie and Stein to spontaneously separate and leaves them unable to reform Firestorm. Luckly for them, after talking with his kids, Typhoon decides not to destroy Firestorm now but instead heads back to New York to deal with the situation with his wife. Meanwhile, Felicity Smoak's lawsuit against the hero proceeds and she and her boyfriend (Ronnie's dad, Ed) decide to go to Pittsburgh for a visit.

Justice League of America #247: Conway and McDonnell/Wray have the JLA head to their old cave Secret Sanctuary to re-open it to serve as their base. The issue doesn't make mention of its location in Happy Harbor, RI. Instead, it only refers to it as "near Metropolis." Anyway, Elongated Man, Vixen, and Gypsy are left to clean up, and they encounter an amorphous alien creature that knocks out everyone but Gypsy. When pushed too far, the young hero easily defeats the alien and has the realization it may only be a baby.

While all this is going on, we see a criminal, their identity obscured, escape from Takron-Galtos.

Outsiders #4: Barr and Aparo continue the story from last issue as the Outsiders and the Force of July separately follow the stolen bank plates to the USSR. The two teams are ultimately forced to team up, but in the end, Gorbachev just hands over the plates, surprising the Bad Samaritan that went to such trouble to steal them. After the two American teams depart, Gorbachev explains that what he was really after was close-up examination of the supers, with the implication with he plans to make his own team.

There's a Metamorpho backup story by Barr and Staton, with art in the cartoony style Staton used for Plastic Man stories back in Adventure Comics. It's also written in a throwback style to the Haney-Fradon 60s. The Thugg brothers try to steal a matter transmutation ray that Dr. Berner is creating for Simon Stagg, but Metamorpho with the help of Sapphire foils their plans.

Vigilante #26: Adrian Chase is still really stressed out by his work and his inability to catch the killer Vigilante who he can't help but feel responsible for. His bailiff, Dave, takes a real interest in Chase's mental health, but Adrian keeps rebuffing him as Dave tries to get him to open up about what's bothering him. Adrain decides to take some time in the country to relax so he heads to the upstate, but that just happens to be where the drug dealer Santiago is, and where Vigilante and the Electrocutioner are hunting him.

Adrian, in fact runs across the Vigilante and two start fighting, only to get interrupted by the Electrocutioner's arrival.

Nonhuman Deities

While I like some of the "classic" nonhuman deities (meaning those in AD&D Deities & Demigods and in Roger Moore's Dragon articles), their existence raises some questions for the world, some of which I have been thinking about as I consider them as part of my detour into the religions of the Flanaess in my Greyhawk series. 

First of all, the suggest nonhumans are monocultural or at least were monocultural at some point in the relatively recent past because all of them have the same gods, or their gods are very activist and keep their worshippers on the right path by constant intervention. Admittedly, this might not be that much of a problem given we're discussing a fantasy world where the gods (at default) are demonstrably real.

The other problem is that how these deities relate to the human deities isn't clear. In Greyhawk, though the human deities have various cultural origins, many are now worshipped by people of multiple ethnicities and cultures. While neither the Folio nor the boxed set goes into this sort of detail, I would assume that this means their mythologies are likewise intermingled. Where does this leave the nonhuman deities that aren't even mentioned in those works?

One solution to this problem (and one I'm sure I'll employ it to a degree if I write on the topic) is to assume a degree of interpretatio humana so that the nonhuman deities are seen as the elvish or dwarvish names or aspects of gods the various human cultures are already familiar with. Another would be the demonization of the deities of groups with whom hostilities exist, so that orcish or trollish gods might be seen as known demons/devils, or simply as yet another of those legions.

The other side of this would be new humans cults emerging that would incorporate nonhuman deities, sometimes with new (and perhaps even erroneous) interpretations. How would one have an erroneous interpretation when the gods and clerical magic are real? Well, again, I think it depends on how you believe those things work. 

The Book of the Weird Revisited

I was revisiting this book the other day, then I remembered I had written a post about it in 2017. If you read that one, well, this is pretty much it again.

It has been argued before, that Barbara Ninde Byfield's 1967 "Lexicon of the Fantastical," The Glass Harmonica (republished in 1973 as The Book of the Weird) was an influence on D&D. It's easy to understand why, given Byfield's atmospheric illustration and whimsical prose. While it would certainly be a variant, more fairytalish world, I think you could do a lot worse than basing a campaign on the details from the book.

Here's a few tidbits:

"If times are not propitious for battle, Berserkers tend to sink into lethargy and untidiness and show interest in little save becoming Werewolves."

"Dragons drag; they are lazy and sluggish and prefer to live on their reputations...Like Nobility they take place names for their own."

"Dwarves own all treasure underground and all treasure that originated underground. Dwarves do not steal; they reclaim what belonged to them in the beginning."

"Frogs live under a Monarchy."

"Gnomes have an unfortunate tendency to become transformed into toads; their King is particularly prone to this enchantment."

"[Witches and Warlocks] lead disorderly lives, hate salt, and cannot weep more than three tears."

Wednesday Comics: DC, January (week 5)/February 1986

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 October 31, 1985. 

Legionnaires Three #1: This issue is one of three this week that have February 1986 cover dates, rather than January. Giffen/Newell and Colon/Kesel begin the Time Trapper's evolution to a major villain status. The Time Trapper on Takron-Galtos (i.e. the one we've seen in previous issues) was just a lackey who is killed by his boss for failure this issue. The real Time Trapper hatches a plot to defeat the Legion (specifically the 3 original Legionnaires) by kidnapping Lighting Lad's and Saturn Girl's infant son. He succeeds in doing that through trickery, but the three legionnaires know he's responsible and are coming after him.

The Colon/Kesel art looks great on this issue, though I think I see a hint of Giffen at times. Assuming it isn't my imagination, I think Colon is aping his style slightly on some character designs.

Crisis on Infinite Earths #11: Another February dated issue. Creation re-occurs and a single universe is born. In the modern day, Clark Kent of Earth-Two wakes to find himself on an Earth not his own and gradually, with his fellow superheroes, he discovers his Earth doesn't even exist anymore. In various places, other heroes gather and this same truth is discovered. Wolfman's dialogue lampshades the fact they don't have this merged universe quite worked out yet: Why are Huntress and the Earth-Two Robin completely forgotten by the world, but Power Girl remembered? How can Power Girl and Earth-Two Superman be remembered but not their Krypton? While we don't have long to linger on this, the grief the characters feel at erasure or the erasure of their world is addressed to a degree I didn't remember. 

It's addressed but not allowed any emotional resolution. The heroes discover to their dismay that the single Earth has been shifted into the Anti-Matter Universe. The Anti-Monitor still lives and makes one last play for vengeance!

DC Challenge #3: Moench and Infantino/Smith take the baton. We find out part of the Viking Prince's soul was trapped in the tablet Batman has been puzzling over. He gets the help of the archeologists Carter and Sheira Hall. Their attempt to investigate the truth leads Hawkman and Adam Strange back to Rann, while Batman and Hawkgirl face peril on Earth. Jonah Hex manages to get the speeding car from crashing and gets returned to his own time. Meanwhile, Aquaman is saved from dying in the desert by what he believes to be his fellow JLAers, but turn out the be aliens in disguise.

With all the twists and turns, I can't say with any confidence I know what's going on in all of the scenes. I would say this probably rewards reading in a collection, but I think while it would be easier to follow, I'm not sure it's going anywhere in the end. 

MASK #3: Chaykin's second cover this month here. Well, in the release month of October; This issue carries a February cover date, though. The team escapes being entombed alive as a traitor in their midst intended and calls in to their supervisors to complain about the vetting of that guy. The reader knows what they do not: their command structure has been compromised by VENOM. With a couple of new operatives taking over for some others, the team heads to England where most male characters sport elaborate 19th century or older facial hair and wear bowlers. VENOM breaks a guy who believes he's Guy Fawkes out of an asylum and appears to be going after Parliament, but it's a ruse. Instead, the Crown Jewels are their ultimate goal. Good thing MASK is on hand.

Nathaniel Dusk II #4: McGregor and Colan bring the second and final Nathaniel Dusk limited series to a close. At the start, Dusk must escape from a locked steam room in a scene that has definitely showed up in some fashion in detective media before. After tracking down one of the goons that nearly killed him before, Dusk lays out the solution to the mystery: It was Valentine that made the first attempt on Clement's life and tried to frame an employee, and Valentine who got Rothberg to send his goons. The guy with the tommy gun shows up, and after a struggle that ends with both goons dead, Dusk is off to Coney Island to try to stop Valentine from killing his wife, Amanda. He succeeds, though only after climbing up a rollercoaster to shoot at Valentine who's riding in an on-rushing car. The climatic fight is on Valentine's seaplane as he attempts to take off.

This serious was a well-done detective story like the first, differing from its literary models only in how over-the-top the action is at times. It's more reminiscent, in that regard, of contemporary film than older detective fiction.

V #12: Bates and Infantino/DeZuniga continue the story from last issue. In the wake of the rash Visitor assault Lydia ordered on the ranch the Resistance was using as a base, she's called to account by Diana. Meanwhile, Donovan and Juliet escape with Prince Bron, all of them disguised as farm folk. Bron's inhuman comes in handy saving some trapped miners. In the Visitor ship, Diana interrogates Willie and sends another Visitor wearing Willie's human face to infiltrate the Resistance.

The Obligatory Greyhawk Catchup Post

For those of you late or those who might have missed a post or two, I provide this post collating the post on my series extrapolating some meat for the bones of the Greyhawk Folio.

The project idea. It's drifted a bit since, but it showed you where I started and this post on inspirations will show you where I'm at.

The Bone March

The Horned Society

The Iron League

Onnwal

Ket

Keoland

Veluna

The Holy See of Medegia

North Province

South Province

The Pale

Rel Astra

The Duchy of Tenh

The Wild Coast

The Aerdian Church of Law

Some gods of the Suel and Oeridians.

And some real-world images for terrain inspiration.

[Greyhawk] Four Suloise Deities

In my last Greyhawk post, I presented some Oeridian gods. This time, a sampling of deities from the Suel.

Kord

One the most popular Suloise deities, at least in terms of folklore and tales he appears in, Kord is the hero god of strength and personal combat. He is said to have given mankind the art of wrestling and is credited with slaying numerous monsters.

Lendor

Lendor was perhaps seen by ancient Suel as the personification of time, but by the later Imperium he is the god of infinite space as well as time and the first cause that proceeded all existence. As such, Lendor is understood in some traditions as the supreme deity of Law or Divine Law's personification, though the Oeridian Church of Law (when it recognizes him at all) views him as the embodiment of the strictly mechanistic law of the material world, a flawed demiurge subordinate to higher, spiritual law. In folk belief he is again just the long-bearded Father Time.

Phaulkan

Phaulkan is a god of sky and storms among the ancient Suel, in latter times he is primarily invoked as a god of wind and weather, and of interest to sailors and travelers. Depictions in the current age more often show him as youthful and clean-shaven.

Wee Jas

Wee Jas is the goddess of magic and death. As a deity of Law, she was a frequently present but minor figure in Suloise religion, but as the patron of magic, she is frequently invoked at the start of magical rituals and shows up in the iconography of classic arcane works.

Wednesday Comics: DC, January 1986 (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 October 24, 1985.

World's Finest #323: Metropolis is engulfed in perpetual darkness (these events are presumably after Crisis) that Superman figures must be magical. He's correct in that assumption, and soon he falls prey to the eldritch wolves employed by the villain Nightwolf. Nightwolf is really doing the bidding of the mysterious Powerbroker and his cronies (who question their boss's methods in this case), but our heroes never find out about that connection. Batman, meanwhile, is on the case and finds out Nightwolf's origin (an archeologist on a grant from Wayne Enterprises) and the Mesoamerican artifact that gives him his power. Before Nightwolf can have Superman torn apart by his wolves in front of an audience, Batman takes him down using tricks from his utility belt. In the aftermath, Bats is angry with Superman and lectures him about taking unnecessary risks and flying in without planning. In an abrupt turn, Batman suggests he can't work with Superman anymore unless he changes his ways, and the two part company.

The rupture between them, which honestly seems a mere plot point (and a sort of random one), becomes more permanent because this story by Cavalieri and Delbo/Alcala unexpectedly is the last issue of this 41 year-old title. In the editorial, this is announced as a "hiatus," and we're told they are working on retooling the title for a comeback, but that doesn't happen. The heroes' relationship will be different in the early years post-Crisis. 

The Oz-Wonderland Wars #1: The Zoo Crew is back courtesy of Bridwell/Cavalieri and Lay. The Chesire Cat shows up in Roger (Captain Carrot) Rabbit's office to enlist the help of his team. Despite the title, Oz and Wonderland aren't at war. Rather, Roquat the Nome King, has taken over Oz, imprisoning a number of prominent Ozites, and now threatens Wonderland. Bridwell wasn't allowed to use any Oz characters not in public domain (so up to Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz), though in the delay between when this was written and when it was published, another Oz book came up for grabs. The story is impressive in regard to depth of the Oz lore employed. Even so, the real star is Lay who mimics Tennel, Denslow, and Neill quite effectively, given she's also putting them with Shaw's character designs.

I do wonder why this series came out in the time of Crisis. My theory (related to my feelings on all the Silver Age-y one-shots in Superman titles) is that DC is clearing their files, getting old stuff that has been completed or paid for out that might not fit with the post-Crisis universe.

Action Comics #575: While Batman and the Earth-Two characters have multi-issue (and multi-title) arcs relating to Crisis, the Superman books seem to spend most of their time in pre-Crisis one-offs. Case in point, this first story here by Cavalieri and Schaffenberger/Hunt that brings back the villain Intellex from Superman #396. He steals the brain of Einstein to employ it to develop a plan to capture and harness Superman's Kryptonian brain power, all while a meteor threatens Metropolis.

The second story by Boldman and Bender/Hunt has Superman dealing with a runaway rodent he plans to add to his interplanetary zoo, who turns out to be a sophont space-traveler. That should teach Superman to stop grabbing beings and throwing them in a zoo, but it probably won't. 

All-Star Squadron #53: Another Crisis crossover and a companion to this month's Infinity, Inc., as we get the Golden Age Earth-Two heroes' perspective on the meetup at the Monitor's satellite. First though, the Monster Society of Evil breaks up. Superman isn't able to defeat them, but they turn on each other, kicking out Mr. Mind who accidentally goes back to Earth-S. Oom takes over, however, and will still be trouble. 

Detective Comics #558: Even with Nocturna gone and Night-Slayer in custody, Moench and Colan/Smith have the melodrama under red skies claim one more victim. The night watchman, recruited and beguiled by Nocturna, tries in vain to find the woman he has fallen in love with. He gets in conflict with Robin and is pursued by the Dynamic Duo as he goes to the top of a skyscraper where the remnants of Nocturna's balloon have snagged on its spire. Finding the basket empty and blood inside, the man decides to commit suicide. Batman and Robin try to dissuade him and get him to return to his wife, but the storm sweeps him from the tower. His body, like Nocturna's, isn't found; they both disappear into the pre-Crisis storm. Batman is notified that the Joker escaped and heads off to his scenes in COIE #2. Bullock has the unenviable task of giving the watchman's wife the bad news.

In the Green Arrow backup by Travern and von Eeden/Barras, Green Arrow runs into trouble when an informant is struck down before he can tell the hero about an impending big drug deal. The only words he gets out seem to be "sure...bet". After some hassle, GA figures out that the clue is actually "sherbet," which leads him to a cargo of imported ice cream with the drugs concealed inside. Ollie gets the best line of the month with: "Does Ambush Bug ever have days like this?"

The Old World of Greyhammer

Despite their differences, the Old World of Warhammer Fantasy (at least as presented in WFRP 1e, which is the extent of my knowledge of it) and the World of Greyhawk have enough similarities, I think, to make a mashup both easy and interesting. Both have Andersonian/Moorcockian Law and Chaos alignments as a feature with Neutral a reasonable position, though it's not generally as militant a stance in the Old World as it can be in Greyhawk. Both have the Tolkienian compliment of races without the Tolkien-inspired epic. Both have an Empire that seems to take some inspiration from the historical Holy Roman Empire. 

The way history would go would be something like this: The technologically and perhaps magically advanced Old Slann open warp gates on Oerth, letting Chaos in and ultimately destroying their civilization. Their degenerate descendants are the scattered tribes of bullywugs. Human civilization arises relatively quickly through the rediscovered learning of this elder race, but the Baklunish and Suel eventually use that knowledge in mutual destruction.

Some centuries later, Oeridian tribes establish the Empire (combining the particulars or the Empire of Warhammer and the Overkingdom of the Flanaess). It persists to the present day, but it is a shadow of its former glory. Both all too human failings and the taint of Chaos have a hand in this decline.

I'm not sure what to do with the Chaos Gods, but I'd be inclined to replace them with Greyhawk deities, though I don't know exactly which ones.

I feel like this is a scene that could happen in both settings

The Old World has fewer countries, and they are more obviously analogous to earthly nations, but I don't think it would be particularly hard to map any particular aspect of the setting one wanted to a Greyhawkian surrogate. The default technological era is more advanced, too, but I don't really think gunpowder would spoil Greyhawk in any way. To honor the war game focus of Warhammer, one could also set the campaign during the Greyhawk Wars.

Neither setting is a stranger to punning humor, so there's that. Warhammer is grimmer than Greyhawk at standard, but I think the tones of both can sort of meet in the middle. 

Take a Trip to Gnydron

In an abandoned fragment by Clark Ashton Smith Gnydron is "a continent of the far future, in the South Atlantic, which is more subject to incursions of 'outsideness' than any former terrene realm; and more liable to the visitation of beings from galaxies not yet visible; also, to shifting admixtures and interchanges with other dimensions or planes of entity." Smith's Gnydron eventually became his Zothique. 

Lester B. Portly has picked up the name Gnydron in the same way he's salvaged some gaming ideas of yore for a series of publications that aim to inject a bit of "outsideness" into the terrene realms of your standard OSE or other B/X-derived gaming. 

I have known Lester for a number of years. He did the layout on several of my gaming publications (in addition to the likely better paying work he did for Goodman Games), and I played in a pulp campaign he ran set in his interpretation of my Weird Adventures setting. Lester has also been a fan of true old school gaming with its incursions and visitations from other genres, based on fiction that was not so firmly and definitely categorized as fantasy is today. Each of these Gyndron supplements focuses on another subgenre of fantastic fiction (and gaming) that was once a part of the old school domain these days is often trimmed or shunted off to works dedicated to it in modern old school-derived systems. 

Supplement 1 is subtitled "Mystic Fantasy" and offers an AD&D-styled Monk class and a cool system of martial arts. It also provides a system of Psionics that again reminds one of AD&D's but this one is more streamlined and appears imminently usable. There's a bestiary of old school psionic-based monsters that have either been left out of or de-psionicized in OSE and other modern interpretations. Rounding out the supplement are some optional rules and a Saurid (lizard man) race-as-class.

"Science Fantasy" gets its due in Supplement 2. There is a star-farer class for playing those high tech individuals stranded on a fantasy world and the Vat-Born, a synthetic mutant class. To support these two, there's a chapter on high-tech equipment and one on mutations with an appearance table. Again, there is a menagerie of science fantasy monsters, many derived/adapted from classic modules like Expedition to Barrier Peaks. 

"Weird Fantasy" rises in Supplement 3. Lester gives us the Initiate class, practitioners of ceremonial magic, and adherents to strange deities, and the Formican race-class of eusocial, hive-dwelling humanoids. There's a system of ritual magic to support the Initiate, as well as a chapter on deities where you'll recognize some Lovecraftian Elder Gods and Old Ones, among others. Finally, there's a chapter on Monsters from Appendix N. Lester really did a deep dive here, and I confess I didn't catch all the derivations, but I see creatures from multiple Burroughs series, works of Jack Vance, and the Gondwane tales of Lin Carter, among others.

All of this is presented in the nice, clean layout style Lester does so well and enlivened by the always flavorful artwork of Zhu Baije.

If you play OSE or other B/X inspired rulesets and dig Appendix N fiction, then these are a must. Even if you play a bit more variant old school ruleset and like those sorts of inspirations, they are worth your money to have all this content for easy adaptation.

If drivethru isn't your preferred shopping site or if you want POD, you can also find the Gyndron supplements on Lulu and RPG Trader.

Wednesday Comics: DC, January 1986 (week 3)

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 October 17, 1985.

Green Lantern #196: Nice Chaykin cover here. I think this issue is the real beginning of the jerk version of Guy Gardner as Englehart and Staton/Patterson have his first official act as Green Lantern be returning to his hometown of Baltimore and telling the people there how much he hates the city and how all it ever did was keep him down. Then, he goes to resurrect the Shark as commanded by the Guardians and winds up being beaten by the villain. Meanwhile, Hal returns to Earth and goes to offer his help to John Stewart should his replacement ever need it (his magnanimous characterization here is particularly notable after his portrayal in HBO's Lanterns). 

While Stewart and Jordan are talking, with Stewart telling Jordan the Crisis is ended, the Shark attacks. Stewart defeats him owing to the experience he has gained.  Guy Gardner shows up and reveals that his mission is to assemble a supervillain assault on the Anti-Monitor's base on Qward. The two Lanterns don't see eye to eye and appear ready to fight.

Batman and the Outsiders #29: Barr and Davis continue the story with a rather pulpy turn, as the team finds an entrance to an underground world. They are attacked by the mind-controlled Metamorpho, and Halo and Geo-Force wind up captured by a Princess Tamira, while Batman, Katana, and taken by her rival Prince Mardo of Abyssia. Davis gives us some very fanciful costume designs for the Abyssians, in some ways reminiscent of work he'll do later on Excalibur. They also meet Emily Briggs again and we see now that Looker's costume is a variant on the standard Abyssian outfit.

Blue Devil #20: Mishkin/Cohn and Kupperberg/Collins present what is apparently in-continuity Blue Devil's first post-Crisis appearance. Dan is looking at houses to rent when, checking out a closet, he accidentally opens a portal to the House of Weirdness and lets out a powerful demon that looks like pinkish Cousin It. Cain of House of Mystery and Blue Devil have to work together to track the creature who (after trick or treating with Kid Devil) is drawn to a concert where an undead rock star plans to stage a ritual and make his comeback in more ways than one. With the bad guy defeated and the demon banished, Cain offers Blue Devil the room in the House of Weirdness.

Infinity, Inc. #22: The Thomases and McFarlane/Montano/DeZuniga serve up another Crisis crossover. In South Carolina, Hourman II and the new Dr. Midnight battle Union deserters/renegades from the Civil War and a dinosaur. Meanwhile, we get an expanded view of events on the Monitor's satellite as the other Infinitors join the heroes there. 

It's interesting comparing these crossovers with those for events that will follow. In the future, it feels like writers of various books try to dispense with the crossover as quickly as possible. Here, there is a variety of approaches. Some writers have expanded the lead up, others detailed and elaborated events that got only a few panels or part of an issue in the event, while others have told stories adjacent to it. It really seems like all hands are on deck in a way we won't see later.

New Teen Titans #16: Wolfman and Patton/Tanghal pick up right after last week's Omega Men with the two teams manipulated by Auron into fighting each other. Jericho senses something amiss, and he's able to give Kalista a chance to use her power on Auron. Once he's distracted, both groups are able to cool down and quickly discover how they have been fooled. Auron gets away, but they learn he has a hidden confederate in whatever is going on. As prep continues for the wedding, Nightwing is pushing Starfire away, refusing to see the position that she's in. Out in the forest with Jericho and Ryand'r the three happen upon Blackfire and her advancing army and are captured.

Saga of Swamp Thing #44: Moore and Bissette/Randal bring Crisis to the book as Constantine meets with Steve "Mento" Dayton in a Gotham under red skies. Constantine is recruiting Dayton for something which will come after the Crisis. We get a brief Batman cameo with him acting oddly like a police officer. 

Meanwhile, in Louisiana, a serial killer who calls himself the Bogeyman makes the mistake of killing his last victim in the swamp and getting the justice coming to him courtesy of the Swamp Thing. At her home, Abby gets a call from Constantine telling her to send Swamp Thing to San Miguel, California, for the "last stop before the finale."

Warlord #101: Another Grell cover on this issue. I reviewed it here.

Who's Who #11: I's and J's are covered this issue. Immortal Man and Infinite Man are covered, just in time for their appearances this month. Both of the Legion's Invisible Kids are here, the latest courtesy of Arthur Adams. "I...Vampire" who with last saw in May 1983 rises again courtesy of Tom Sutton. Ironwolf is presented by creator Howard Chaykin. Jennifer Morgan from Warlord is here with art by Dan Jurgens. Jemm appears, and it turns out he's also in this weeks Infinity, Inc. Jonah Hex appears in his new Hex duds with art by Texeira/DeZuniga. Jonni Thunder also shows up and she's also in this week's Infinity, Inc. The biggest character this issue is likely the Joker who is rendered by Marshall Rogers.