Wednesday Comics: DC, September 1980 (wk 2, pt 1)

My goal: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands around June 26, 1980.

DC Special Series #22 - G.I. Combat: Just what I wanted, extra Haunted Tank! In the first story Kanigher and Glanzman would have us believe they put tanks on pneumatic skis in the War. I can find no internet verification of this. The ever-resourceful tank crew uses a big snowball to take out a German gun. In the "P.O.W" story, "Monster of the Wehrmacht" German soldiers are just as eager to get revenge on a sadistic prison camp commandant as the prisoners. Jose Montales Matucenio's art here has a Alex Nino sort of looseness I like.

In "Live -- or Die -- by the Cross" a medic breaks his vow to do no harm to fight off the Japanese attacking a hospital in Bataan. His inspiration is his latest patient--a chaplain that broke his own vow. The O.S.S. story by Kanigher and Cruz is a typical tale of double agents and double-crosses. Arnold Drake and Ernesto Patricio deliver the cleverest story of the issue, with the lucky survival of a group of U.S. soldiers in the Pacific Theater predicted by their respective fortune cookies. Kanigher and Glanzman bring it to a close with a somewhat better Haunted Tank yarn than the one we started with.

Action Comics #511: Luthor does what any criminal who has seen the error of his ways would do: he hijacks the TV signal and makes a broadcast declaring his newfound respect for the law and his desire to help Superman. He also provides a cure for the mysterious disorder effecting his new love interest to the world. Luthor wants Superman to take him to the Fortress of Solitude and subject him to all sorts of mental scrutiny to prove he's on the level. Superman obliges, and the tests say Luthor is legit, but when Terra-Man and his alien goons attack, Luthor leaps to Superman's aid, proving he wasn't as neutralized as he was supposed to be. But then Superman knew that, and it was all part of the test! Two parts in and Bates and Swan are sticking to the reformed Luthor. I'm interested to see how it plays out. 

Adventure Comics #475: Aquaman returns to the book courtesy of DeMatteis and Giordano. In this story, Aquaman is seeking an Atlantean doctor for a sick Mera, but has to tangle with the Scavenger. It's pretty good, but it's most interesting because of a scene whether Aquaman, rallying in his fight with the Scavenger, speaks to the (mis)perception that he is some sort of "third rate hero." He says he was saving the world when the likes of Firestorm and Black Lightning "where still in diapers" (which is odd, unless DeMatteis believes Aquaman was the first Silver Age hero, or maybe he's the same guy as the Golden Age version?) and goes on to list his powers and titles. In the 00s, we saw these sort of defenses of Aquaman mounted. It's surprising to see there was felt to be a need for them back in 1980. 

The Starman and Plastic Man stories are more of the same. Starman feels like it might be drawing to its conclusion with Prince Gavyn confronting the villain who usurped his sister's throne. Plastic Man is in Vegas dealing with another Gouldian villain, Even Steven.

Brave & the Bold #166: A Batman/Black Canary team-up by Fleisher and Giordano. The Penguin breaks out of jail (where is was put by Robin in the last issue of Detective Comics), and goes after the former henchmen that rolled over on him who all have fled to Star City. Penguin is sticking with his bird motif and trying to kill them all in a canary-themed manner (because they sang, I suppose). It's a clever enough set-up to get Black Canary involved, and the Penguin is suitably malevolent and as crazy as the Joker (though in a different, less flamboyant way). The Penguin ultimately captures Canary and puts a decoy in her costume to lure Batman into a cyanide-laced kiss. It's interesting that Penguin thinks Batman might be susceptible to that. Is her relationship with Green Arrow not known publicly? Of course, they are on the outs following last month's JLA. Once Batman rescues Black Canary, she does in fact give him a kiss, so Fleisher may have been trying to stir something up here.

The backup story is the first appearance of Nemesis, created by Burkett and Spiegle, who will go on to be a member of the Ostrander Suicide Squad. There is a real "men's adventure" genre feel to this story; it's different from the Punisher, but in the same genre. 

Detective Comics #494: The first story here is a near classic: "The Crime Doctor Calls at Midnight!" by Fleisher and Don Newton/Bob Smith. The Crime Doctor makes "house calls" diagnosing problems and helping criminals with their crimes. He's respected physician Bradford Thorne, but he's become bored with his regular life and turned to crime for excitement. Thorne renders medical care to Bruce Wayne, which leads to him to realizing Batman's identity when he meets him later. A group of criminals who don't want to give the Crime Doctor his take lure both the doctor and Batman into a trap. To be continued.

"Tales of Gotham" by Harris and Spiegle has a pinball wizard runner for organized crime develop a conscience and give up his own life to save a a kid who idealizes him, in one of the better stories in this series. Batgirl encounters organized crime entwinned with civic corruption in a forgettable tale by Burkett, Delbo and Chiaramonte. Back at Hudson University, Robin cracks the case of a murder posing as a hazing incident in a story by Harris and Nicholas/Colletta. DeMatteis and Forton win the prize for best title of the issue in "Explosion of the Soul," where Black Lightning takes down a vigilante killer ("The Slime Killer") who wears a purple costume with a very familiar, skull motif.

Green Lantern #132: Kupperberg and Staton present a more "street level" and more humorous Green Lantern adventure than what we usually get. Thieves have hidden some stolen diamonds in an aircraft seat and are stealing a new fighter to get it back. They briefly stymie Jordan with a yellow tarp, but ultimately he wins the day. Toomey and Saviuk conclude "The Trial of Arkkis Chummuck" which I enjoyed thoroughly. It ends with the prosecutor forced to "put up or shut up" and become the tutor for the fledging Green Lantern he recently tried to get booted out.

The second backup is an Adam Strange story by Harris and Rodriguez. A giant is attacking cities of Rann. It turns out to have been created by the Akalonians and directed by psychic energy. Strange appeals to the desire for peace among the dissident scientists powering the creature and they rebel, destroying it.

House of Mystery #284: "Ruby" by DeMatteis and Zamora is really the only decent story in this issue. A couple (the Paulsons) in a "small mid-Western town" decide to adopt a small girl that comes stumbling out of the darkness and passes out on their porch. The sheriff can't find any reports of a missing girl so he declares the kid theirs (lax laws they have in the Midwest!). Soon the family dog is dead. Then an elderly woman in town seems to recognize Ruby, and is found dead the next day. Linda Paulson awakens at 2 am to see Ruby crawling down the outside of the house. Shefollows Ruby to town where the girl reveals herself to be a vampire and meets with her undead victims. Rick Paulson happens to be out in the middle of the night doing research at the library where he uncovers that Ruby is really a young girl who disappeared 70 years ago after a European traveling circus came to town. Ruby attacks her adoptive parents, but sheriff appears in the nick of time with a handy stake. As the shocked Paulsons head home--twist!--the sheriff reveals himself to be a vampire. He didn't want Ruby's actions blowing his cover!

The next story by Simons, Giffen and Celardo (giving us a bit of a Hal Foster vibe on art) has a knight teaming up with a dragon to bring a comeuppance to a greedy king. "Friend to the End" by Kelley and Lofamia is a dumb story about jealousy that ends with the murderer getting killed by a pitching machine. Jodloman's and Wessler's "Deadly Peril at 20,000" is even dumber. A man dies of "pneumonic plague" (no, Jess Jodloman, that isn't the black death) on board a transatlantic flight. A doctor realizes his body needs to be disposed of, but his grief maddened wife won't allow it. A quick thinking (and ruthless) stewardess throws a hammer through their window, and the couple is sucked out by the pressure. 

Westwind Garden

If you do Roll20, you should check out Westwind Garden, a whimsical 5e one shot for all ages written by two of my friends and gamers in my group, Gina and Jim Shelley. It's kind of anthropomorphic animal adventure (in the vein, say, of something like Redwall), but provides a rationale for why this is occurring in a human-centric campaign. It's got great art with a70-80s Disney or Don Bluth sort of vibe. Our regular group really enjoyed the playtest.

It's Roll20 features include:

• 22 Colorful Maps - Temples, Greenhouses, Observatories, and Gardens, all in bright and inviting colors
• Helpful Macros - Initiative Macros and Location Macros to help speed up gameplay
• Side Quests - A huge cast of characters with different goals allows your players to explore the setting in different ways
• A Magical Scavenger Hunt - The party must collect several objects to break the curse, but there are multiple ways to find what they need.
• Dynamic Lighting - All maps come with prebuilt dynamic lighting
• Custom Tokens - 23 custom tokens sure to bring a smile to all your players
• Printable DM Guide - All handout materials have been collected into an easy-to-read Downloadable PDF DM Guide so you can easily review game details on your favorite electronic device, or print it out and read wherever you like.
• Printable Player Character Sheets - All eight Player Characters sheets are included in the DM Guide to help them pick the character they like best, and provide easy reference during the game.

Operation Unfathomable Covers

 Jason Sholtis tells me that the work on the remaining Operational Unfathomable Kickstarter items is drawing to close, which is good news to a lot of people. Jason requested I send him all of the cover designs I had brainstormed for the various products. I had not looked at any of these in 4 or 5 years, but once I dug them up and thought they were worth sharing, though none of them may get used on the actually products.

This was my first design for the Completely Unfathomable omnibus. I mainly just wanted to give it an omnibus sort of feel.

This is for the same book, but thinking a bit more out of the box. It's meant to look like an old bubblegum card wax pack wrapper. 

This is the is the second design I did for Odious Uplands. It's meant the reference the sort of WPA national park posters. 

This was my proposal for the DCC version of Completely Unfathomable. It references the Skywald Publishing horror magazine style (even with a riff on it's "horror mood" tagline). It's my least favorite of these.

Dark Sun: The Templars

 

We're told in the original Dark Sun campaign setting that the Templars are "clergymen devoted to the sorcerer king of their city. Like other priests, they are granted spells in return for their worship." Also, they "dominate the king's bureaucracy." The revised box set expands on this slightly saying they serve as city guards and in the army, they oversee the city's administration, and they "maintain the illusion that the sorcerer king is a god by using their absolute power to enforce worship and homage to their ruler."

The problem with these portrayals is it seems at odds with what we are told about individual city-states and their sorcerer-kings. Some sorcerer-kings are viewed as gods, it's true, but some (we are explicitly told) just style themselves as rulers or whatever. Also, despite their name implying the existence of temples, we are not, across all the city-states, given any indication of temples' existence or what the practices within them might be. The first Dark Sun novel, Denning's The Verdant Passage supports the view of the setting material, with Kalak of Tyr viewed as a king and little evidence he is worshipped by anyone (though there is a mention of the templar's leading his "veneration.").

Without providing a unified "origin" for the templars and their role, I feel like not only should their exact nature vary from city-state to city-state, but also their name. I suppose for ease of discussing them as a class, templar serves as  well as anything, though. For most city-states I like the approach of the setting material and the novel: sorcerer-kings are venerated but not worshipped. (The distinction, may admittedly, be a fine one, but it exists.) The sorcerer-king forms the core of the city-state's civic religion: it's holidays, festivals, and foundational myths. There are no gods on Athas, but there is an afterlife, so perhaps fidelity to the sorcerer-king is tied in dogma to reward in the hereafter. The templars officiate at public observances (except when the sorcerer-king is present) and punish those who don't appear sufficiently devoted. As bureaucrats they also have a role in legal preceding that interact with the civic religion. 

Many of the city-states are probably a bit more fascistic than ancient world cities in the popular imagination. I feel like scarcity of resources would tend to push them the direction of Immortan Joe's Citadel in Mad Max: Fury Road. I could see some smaller ones having a cult (used in the modern sense) kind of character.

Streets of Fire and the 50s-but-80s Setting

On other social media, Paul "GRIDSHOCK 20XX" Vermeren mentioned he had watched Streets of Fire for the first time after hearing that it was influential to Mike Pondsmith. I've seen people call it "proto-cyberpunk" which means, I guess, that they see it as punk without any cyber. While I can see how aspects of it would influence the aesthetics of cyberpunk, I think it's difficult to say it's "proto" anything. It's really more like an evolutionary dead-in; a path that wasn't taken.

I do think, though, that taken on something closer to it's own terms, it would suggest a pretty interesting rpg setting, not by adding cyber or other fantastic elements, but rather doing action or adventure stuff in a world that never was. For lack of a better descriptor, a world where the 80s was more like the 50s. Or maybe the 50s was more like the 80s would work, but I think the former is better.

The styles of cars and clothes resemble the 60s, but the urban sprawl is more like the urban decay of the 70s into the early 80s--where it isn't exaggerated for fanciful effect. There was a long war, which was aesthetically perhaps more like Korea, but the public perception of its pointlessness and the difficulties its soldiers had upon return resemble more the popular conception of Vietnam. The gangs that are sometimes the bogeymen of 80s films just look more like the gangs in The Wild One than the gangs in Fort Apache the Bronx. I feel like the media presence Chaykin pushes in American Flagg! (which is, of course, set in the future but like most sci-fi speaks to the fears/concerns of its era, the 80s) or The Dark Knight Returns, could be interesting translated to 50s television without loosing much.

So what would the characters do other than what we see the characters do in the film? Well, just pick any present-day set 80s action movie and give it a bit of a 50s veneer.

Wednesday Comics: DC, September 1980 (wk 1, pt 2)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm continuing my look at the comics at newsstands on the week of June 12, 1980. 

Secrets of Haunted House #28: I don't understand the ending to the first story by Kelley and Rubeny. A Hollywood agent plans to jumpstart his career by pulling a recluse former star out of retirement. On the way to get the star back in the game, the two are in a car wreck and the star dies. Luckily, an island shaman shows up and offers to revive the star, but it will require another life in his place. One assistant's demise later, the star is ready for his close up. Trouble is, it takes periodic deaths to keep him alive. Eventually the agent tires of all this and goes back to the shaman to beg him to end the star's life. Twist! The shaman is in cahoots with the star, and it's the agent that meets his end. But why? It was established previously that just not killing for him would lead to the star dying. 

Next, Barr and Cruz give us a hillbilly Romeo and Juliet among feuding mountain families, except there's also a corrupt revenuer framing them for making moonshine. Ultimately, the apparition of a burning man (in this case the revenuer, on fire) is just the omen the families need to bury the hatchet and have themselves a wedding! The last story, by Kelley and Carrillo in the most EC-like of this issue. A bullied, young warehouse worker loses his tormentors to something in a deep freeze. When forced to confront it himself, he finds a vampire that he dispatches through quick thinking.

Superman #351: This continues Conway's and Swan's story of the fallout from Prof. Tolkein (not that one) demonstrating his "genesis machine," and instead empowering some sort of creature from the subconscious. If this were a Marvel Comic of the era, the creature would be wrecking all kinds of havoc, and though it does fight Superman, there isn't really a sense of danger to it. Lana talks with Tolkein to piece together what happened, and it turns out he tried to create a psychic circuit from the minds of students (without their consent) back a decade ago, and re-activated it to power the genesis machine at the reunion. The trouble is, the circuit didn't work right because Clark Kent wasn't a part. He's immune to hypnosis, naturally. Once this is revealed, Superman joins the circuit, allowing it to discharge safely. Everyone's mind is sort of reset, so none of the participants remember what happened. 

In the backup story, written by Denny O'Neil Mr. Mxyzptlk causes trouble at a circus, and Superman has to fill in to keep the performances going for the kids. In the end, Mxyzptlk is undone by one of the children's favorite toy, a tape recorder. This is lightweight, but fun and has Garcia-Lopez art.

Superman Family #203: I will say this for this title, it makes the members of the Superman Family seem more interesting to me than they have historically. I wouldn't say I'm eager to read about their exploits, but it does make Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen more worthwhile as characters. Harris and Mortimer/Colletta provide the Supergirl story this issue, which is more horrific to me than what they intended. A young woman who has been in a coma for 7 years (miraculously thriving, though she doesn't eat) suddenly wakes up and thinks she's Supergirl. And she has the powers to prove it. X-kryptonite is the culprit and the woman got exposed to it at Supergirl's crash site. There's some nonsense with an industrial spy who Supergirl deals with, but tragedy of the woman who lost her childhood  after contact with an alien technology is sort of glossed over, focusing on the reuniting of the family rather than the loss. Tales from the Loop made whole downer episodes from that sort of material!

Next Bridwell and Tuska treat us to a really trivial Mr. and Mrs. Superman story where Lana Lang arrives at the Daily Star and gets a job as a tv critic. After a poison pen review, a tv writer tries to kill her (and Lois) in an elevator. I'm uncertain when this story is suppose to take place. I would have guessed the 70s based on the fashion, but Earth-2 Clark and Lois are still pretty young, and TV seems to be in black and white. The early 60s maybe? The Clark Kent story by Rozakis and Janes has Clark helping a movie star whose developed the power to predict disasters. "Helping" in this case means convincing her she really doesn't have the power anymore, so then she really doesn't? 

Rounding out the issue, we have Lois and Jimmy stories. In Wolfman's and Oksner's Lois Lane piece, Lois is captured due to a trick elevator (bad elevators are a theme). A deprogrammer with a high tech apparatus steals her memories for some shadowy someone. Before they can kill her, she escapes. Suffering from amnesia she meets a widower haunted by the past, and they have a whirlwind romance-- Before goons show up to try to kill her. To be continued. Jimmy Olsen overhears a plot to kidnap a congressional candidate, but he has a hard time getting anyone to believe him, particularly after the criminals feed him false information to discredit him. Ultimately, it's revealed that the candidate too good to be true is really in league with the criminal element, and Jimmy has a target on his back.

Weird War Tales #91: I'm a bit surprised by the first story here because it's about the U.S. (conventional) bombing of Japan in WWII, and it takes a critical view. I wouldn't have expected that in a kid's comic in 1980. JM DeMatteis and Ernesto Patricio present a sadistic bomber captain, a young Japanese boy with pyrokinetic powers, and the war-weary bomber crewman that somehow helps facilitate the boy's revenge for the loss of his family. It's only marred by the narrator hitting us over the head with the fact that all the principles died, both righteous and wicked, because "this is war--where their is no justice--no happy ending--only death!"

The next story by Bernstein and Ayers and Adkins is much more standard issue. Some Italian soldiers decide they're done with the Germans and seek to surrender to the Allies. The Germans don't take too kindly to that and pursue them into the catacombs to kill them. Ancient Roman bones rise up to defend their descendants. In the next yarn, Haney, abetted by Sutton's intricate art weaves the tale of the doom of Harold, the Norman Invasion, and a certain comet. Finally, a futuristic tale of prejudice that I think I may have seen as a kid. Kupperberg and Ayers/Celardo present a post-apocalyptic world where "muties" with skins like California raisins are mistreated by a racist soldier--until he is cast down after his wife bears a mutant child, thanks to the mutants placing a source of radiation under his bed. Seems like neither side takes the high ground here. The future is like a weird mix of cod Roman Empire and modern day which the art fails to sell.

Wonder Woman #271: I'll be brief with this Conway/Delbo reset. Diana saves Steve Trevor's life, again (not the one from her Earth than had died, but another one). Then, she wins the right to be Wonder Woman again in a competition. Then, she leaves with Steve Trevor again for Man's World. Years of continuity dumped with no fuss, no bother. There's a backup story starring the Huntress by Levitz and Staton which isn't bad.

Two digests the first half of June: Best of DC #7 focused on Superboy and DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #4 full of Green Lantern stories.

Weird Revisited: Zone Commandos!

The original version of this post appeared in 2017.

 

THE SETUP: In 1985, a deep space probe returns to Earth after being thought lost in a spacetime anomaly. It returns to Earth, dropping otherworldly debris in its wake. Across the globe, zones on anomalous phenomena and monstrous creatures are created!

Twenty years later, only special UN troops stand between humanity and the destruction of civilization as we know it!

It’s Roadside Picnic meets 50s monster and sci-fi movies/kaiju and 60-70s action figures like G.I. Adventure Team and Big Jim.

THE HEROES are mostly buzz cut military men like the MARS Patrol but with code names and personalities more like 80s G.I. Joe. Their ranks many be augmented by beings that appeared from an anomaly (Kirby-esque amazons, aliens) or people enhanced by barely understood and dangerous technology acquired from them (Atomic Man, THUNDER Agent sorts)

THE DANGERS are strange environments, monsters of all sorts of 50s and 60s sorts, from Zanti misfits to human mutates to giant mutant dinosaurs.

This is a refinement/re-imaging of my Rifts 1970 campaign idea, just a little more militarized and more informed by the early 60s.