Go Ape

 

Over on the Flashback Universe Blog, Jason Sholtis and I have started an episode by episode review and commentary on The Planet of the Apes 1974 TV show.

Head over there are check it out if that short of thing interests you.

Wednesday Comics: DC, July 1982 (week 3)

My goal: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands around April 22, 1982.

Brave & the Bold #188: Kanigher and Aparo team Batman with Thorn (as in Rose & Thorn). After taking a group of any city kids to do some environmental clan up, Batman investigates the murder of a former Nazi spy and the theft of a canister of a deadly, biological warfare gas. Batman meets Rose Forrest as she's weirdly being attacked by birds, then investigates the theft of her father's corpse from its grave. At the cemetery, Batman tangles with a group of Neo-Nazis and he is assisted by Thorn, Rose's alter. Together, Batman and Thorn defeat the Nazis, but Batman decides to continue his investigation alone.

Legion of Super-Heroes #289: The Legion searches for its five members who are lost on an icy asteroid. Lightning Lad and Chameleon Boy both engage in some self-flagellation on how their leadership got the group here. Saturn Girl and Timber Wolf, trapped on the asteroid get close, which is easily misunderstood by Light Lass when she arrives with the rescue party. Meanwhile, the darkness teased a couple of issues back is about to make itself known. Levitz and Giffen/Patterson are handling both the character stuff and foreshadowing their epic well.

Green Lantern #154: Barr and Staton/Smith have a distress signal taking Hal to planet where he saves some natives and takes them to their tribe, whose chief thanks him for protecting them "again." Only problem is Hal's never been here. After he helps them out again they offer him a throne and jewels. It turns out they mistaken him for a Green Lantern, named Dalor, who shows up and tells Hal that he is in Sector 2813 instead of 2814. Dalor explains that the tribe's offerings are merely his payments for his services. Hal's not happy about that and demands Dalor to accompany him to his spatial base.

Dalor's a new Green Lantern, but he explains all the planets have been paying him for his services, so he thought was the way it went for Green Lanterns. Hal wants to tell the Guardians, but there's another distress signal from the planet. Dalor tries to beat Hal to attend to the emergency, but he falls unconscious, just like the rest of the tribe, due to a sulfur cloud. Hal fans out the gas and saves everybody but the chief, who died by intoxication. Hal lays into Dalor for his behavior, but the projection of a Guardian appears in front of them, saying that they'll judge the one responsible.

House of Mystery #306: Jones and Sutton bring Andrew Bennett and Mary to Victorian London. Bennett is immediately mistaken for Jack the Ripper, and Mary is murdering woman in the name of the ripper to try to kill the ancestor of Dr. Barr who made the cancer cure that's killing vampires, so he'll never be born. Turns out the doctor who helps Bennett is actually Jack the Ripper, and his housekeeper (the sister of a prostitute Mary kills is Barr's ancestor.

The next story by Cavalieri and Patricio is better and certainly less convoluted. Government agents are interrogating a Private who stole a file on the secret Project: Ultra. They give him an experimental truth serum, which allows him to see all truth. The final story by Gwyon and Curry has a young boy told all his life by his vain and neurotic mother only to find it it's true--as he bleeds to death from hemophilia. As someone with hemophilia, I don't particularly find the story offensive, but it is dumb and terribly inaccurate in its portrayal of the condition.

Sgt. Rock #365: Kanigher and Redondo have Easy in a tough spot in the desert, but they're saved by a gungho kid from Appalachia who loved the arm so much he wants to stay in 30 years. He doesn't get to, but breaking the usual formula, he isn't KIA, but gets a ticket home due to injuries. He guips he got 30 minutes of action instead of 30 years. Mandrake is on art duties for the next story, a sci-fi yarn where a woman fleeing invading aliens is helped out by the geyser, Old Faithful. Between this and Brave & the Bold this month, I suspect Kanigher has an environmentalist streak.

In "Destruction from Below" a violent leader of a Stone Age human tribe leads them underground, but then he falls into some weird mushroom patch and sleeps for a looong time. When he awakens, he attempts to lead the degenerate descendants of his band, but the modern world is too much for them to handle when they emerge in a city park. In the final story with art by DeMulder, an F-4 Phantom pilot's dream of a dogfight with a dragon is symbolically prophetic of the way he escapes an enemy in a dogfight the following day. 

Superman Family #220: Supergirl is still trapped in a ghostly state thanks to Master Jailer. She goes to Ivy University and seeks help from Ray Palmer, the Atom, who is able to figure out a solution. Returned to normal, Supergirl goes back to New York. She manages locate the Master Jailer's hideout in the Brooklyn Bridge--but he turns out to be a robot, and the real Master Jailer is still at large.

In the Kupperberg/Delbo Jimmy Olsen, the accumulated inconsistencies lead Jimmy to begin to realize that he is under someone's influence. But he goes to the Planet and accuses Clark of being Superman, as Brain Storm observes from his secret lair. The O'Flynn/Oksner has a reformed criminal Lane helped stay out of jail tipping her off to a job his old gang is pulling. She helps fake his death so they can catch the gang. Finally, in the Mr. and Mrs. Superman story by Bridwell/Schaffenberger, introduce (briefly) a Supergirl stand-in--Liandly from the planet Rolez. She returns to her homeworld at the end of the story, but not before helping Superman against the Earth-2 Colonel Future.

Warlord #58: I detailed the main story in this issue here. In the Kupperberg and Duursema Arion backup, Arion continues on his journey more troubled than before, after learning he was born from cosmic matter. Meanwhile, Garn Daanuth, sorcerer and ruler of the dead city Mu, plots Arion's downfall. While Arion sleeps the sorcerer sends an astral projection to kill him. Arion awakes up but is struck down by Garn. Gemimn and Chaon observe the battle an argue over who they think will prevail.

Four-Color Swords & Sorcery: Monsters!

Earl Norem

Big monsters are a hallmark of Bronze Age Four-Color fantasy of the Swords & Sorcery mode. These creatures are often are the antagonist of the "big battle" of the issue, the full manifestation of the menace posed by the main villain--and occasionally the main villain themselves. Less formidable big monsters may be an obstacle to the final confrontation with the villain.

The monsters come in a variety of forms from merely giant to gargantuan natural animals to animate statues/automata of humanoids or animal shape. Tentacled, tendriled, or pseudopod-waving creatures seem to particularly common. I suspect so their threat is made clear in a way that doesn't immediately injure the heroes or result in a Comics Code Approval imperiling amount of blood.

So are multiple heads. Both of these have the added benefit particularly in games of allowing one creature to engage multiple heroic opponents more easily.

These creatures, at least the bigger ones, are seldom defeated by hacking them until they die. In game terms, the simplest to defeat require a "critical hit" or called shot of some sort, often an injury to their eye. Others are dispatched by a trick of some sort: using the environment or their own abilities or natural weaponry against them. Finally, some can only be killed using a special item or weapon, typically obtained earlier in the adventure.

What does this meaning for emulating the genre in gaming? These are my take aways:

• Unique, big monsters need to show up regularly. Maybe not every adventure, but most of them.
• The best way to defeat the creatures should seldom be the most obvious brute force method.
• This means the GM needs to reward creative thinking by the players to handle these encounters.
• If the ways of defeating the monster are particularly limited, the means must be telegraphed to the players and be available to them.

Outgunned

Two Little Mice, the designers of Broken Compass, have a new game on the way called Outgunned, which is billed as "a cinematic action rpg inspired by the classics of the action and heist genre, from Die Hard to True Lies, passing through James Bond, Lethal Weapon, Kingsman, Ocean’s Eleven, Hot Fuzz, and the latest John Wick."

The Kickstarter hasn't launched yet, but the "quickstart" (really more of a preview) is available on drivethru as pay what you want. It's basically the same system as Broken Compass, though has a few new features and refinements. It's a bit less rules lite than BC, though still very much a rules lite game.

Wednesday Comics: DC, July 1982 (week 2)

My goal: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands around April 15, 1982.

Batman #349: Conway and Colan/Alcala reveal just what sort of trouble Robin is in, when Dala outs herself and her "brother," a Monk, as vampires. Robin escapes, but not before Dala bites him. Meanwhile, with the threat of Vicki Vale revealing her photo evidence about Batman's real identity, Alfred goes to Boston to hire the Human Target to impersonate Bruce Wayne. To shake for father out of his depression after losing his job, Barbara gets him to partner with Jason Bard in order to investigate the suspicious political situation in Gotham.

Flash #311: Bates is milking this mystery of the identity of Colonel Computron. He's firmly zeroed us in on the suspects, but it's really just a tease in that he isn't giving us any means of choosing who might be the culprit. The alliance Colonel Computron and Boomerang doesn't last long, as Computron traps the Flash and Captain Boomerang on a high-tech boomerang that takes them both into the past. They contend with pirates, but then make it back to the present--but Computron still gets away. 

In the backup, Dr. Fate is trapped in the nihil-verse and his to contend with the Lord of Chaos,  Vandaemeon. He makes it back to Earth, only to find Inza missing from the tomorrow. Meanwhile, Inza is getting close to the silver fox, Vern Copeland. 

G.I. Combat #243: In the first Haunted Tank tale, Kanigher would have us believe that a group of highly disciplined teen soldier would turn on their Oberst when it was revealed that Americans weren't cowardly like he said. Next we get something more plausible, as an O.S.S. operative pretends to be a blind man to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower--and blow it up--so the Germans can't use it as an observation post. He fails. 

Newman and Redondo present a pointed tale of the Pacific Theater, where a Nisei soldier fights bravely for the U.S.--and his parents read his letters about his exploits from a U.S. internment camp. Kashdan/Catan reveal the secret history of a Jewish clairvoyant who tricks Hitler into flubbing the response to D-Day. In the final Haunted Tank story, Jeb briefly loses his nerve worrying about the price of command, but rallies to when the day.

Jonah Hex #62: Hex's caught by the Manchu Emperor, who knows about the assassination plot by the White Lotus and is prepared to torture Hex to find out where she is. Luckily, Mei Ling rescues him and the two escape the palace. Sledge, a sailor, offers them passage back to the states, on the ship Malay Tiger, but when they discover the ship's carrying opium, things get ugly. Meanwhile, the Imperial troops raid the White Lotus stronghold, but Wu Gong Phat escapes and swears revenge against Hex.

Saga of the Swamp Thing #3: "A Town Has Turned to Blood." Pasko and Yeates have the Swamp Thing and Casey arriving via freight-train in Rosewood, Illinois. Swamp Thing becomes involved with a small band of hunters out to rid their town of vampires. They ultimately flood the town to get rid of the vampires--will see how that turns out in Alan Moore's run. Swamp Thing is pretty cold in that the sole survivor of the humans, a teenage boy, asks Swamp Thing to take him with him, but Swampy says, "no, stay and rebuild the town." This town that is under feet of water. Where no one else is left alive.

New Teen Titans #21: Wolfman and Perez introduce Brother Blood. Raven and Starfire save a baseball stadium crowd from terrorists, unaware that they are being monitored by the criminals' secret backer in a satellite base. Meanwhile, Cyborg's ex, Marcy Reynolds, is murdered when she tries to leave the Church of Brother Blood's commune. Trying to get information on the cult, Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, and Raven infiltrate the cult, and are disturbed by what they see. Their identities are discovered, and the four battle Blood and his minions, but are defeated. Raven's soul-self escapes to warn the other Titans.

This issue also contains a preview of "The Night Force" by Wolfman and Colan/Smith. The mysterious, time-traveling Baron Winter reviews the operatives he soon plans to gather: Jack Gold, a reporter investigating a Pentagon operation called "Project Satan"; Donovan Caine, a professor conducting a parapsychology experiment in the form of a Black Mass; and Vanessa van Helsing, a young psychiatric patient who only Winter seems to be able to calm. But someone else is watching these individuals, as well.

Superman #373: Bates and Swan/Hunt bring back Vartox. He's after a quick hookup with his love interest, Lana Lang, but when she suddenly acquires an aura that will allow her to live on his homeworld, maybe they can get married after all? Vartox assumes this strange turn of events is just his power working unconsciously (okay), but it turns out it's part of a revenge plot by Vartox's first (and supposedly deceased) lover.

In the "Private Life of Clark Kent" backup, Linda Danvers talks Clark into doing a cameo on her soap Secret Hearts as himself. When Clark hears an ambulance nearby being stuck in gridlock, he tries and apparently fails to get Linda to change into Supergirl help. He becomes Superman and does it himself. He confronts Linda about not handling it, but it turns out she was asking him via super-ventriloquism to handle take care of it. Embarrassed that he was not listening to her at the time, Clark apologizes. The drama!

Weird Revisited: Four-Color Fantasy Adventure Seeds

This follow up to this post first appeared in 2016. These aren't actual stories from comics (though some are close), but pastiches of the sort of thing that does show up.

1. A madman seeks a golden disk to bring life to colossal automaton, an ancient weapon of war, that lies half-buried in a remote desert.

2. A city under seige! Legend holds a magic gem will restore to life the mummy of the cities demigod founder. His body lies in a crypt in deep within the city's catacombs.

3. The jungle-choked ruins of an ancient city surround a vast, walled garden, an earthly paradise, inhabited by beautiful, golden-skinned youths. The brutish beast-folk that dwell in the ruins will let no stranger enter the garden, nor any of the garden's inhabitants leave.

4. An arboreal village of elfs is harassed by pale, giant bat riding goblins from a cave  high on a nearby mountainside, who raid the village for victims for their cook-pots.

5. A PC has a rare trait that fits a prophecy--a prophecy predicting the downfall of a tyrannical ruler, who means to ensure it does not come to pass.

6. A lake of lurid, swirling mists where time becomes strange. At it's center is an island with a castle where an immortal witch queen dwells with her eternally youthful handmaidens. No one comes to the witch's castle without being summoned.

7. A playing piece from the game of the gods falls to earth, perhaps accidentally or at the whim of a capricious godling. This touches off a race to acquire the piece with the rat-men minions of one sorceror contesting with the shadow demons of a cambion child--and the PCs caught in the middle.

Broken Compass What If?

CMON, the current owners of Broken Compass, have been slowly releasing the books in the second Broken Compass Kickstarter in pdf to drivethru. (When and if there will ever be a physical book reprint is unclear. There have been conflicting reports.) The latest of these is What If? It's a book of 14 "mini settings" adding to the pulp, pirates, and Verne style Voyages extraordinaires setting books already available. I've been anxious to get my hands on this book for some time as I knew it had rules adaptations for some genres I was interested in.

So, what's it got?

• Cosmic Horror for Lovecraftian stuff. It's got new rules for Madness. This one is a bit of an odd fit for BC as it's a game of cinematic action heroes, but they make a few suggestions to up the lethality.
• Space Opera is particularly geared toward a Star Warsian setting, giving rules for Energy (the Force) and succumbing to Darkness--and also for beam weapons that haven't appeared in any setting before.
• Gods and Men for Hercules and Xena style adventures. It would also work for things like the Clash of the Titans remake, and probably the Harryhausen Greek myth films or even Sword & Sandals movies. It has rules for Mythological Adventurers (demigods, exiled gods and the like).
• Good Boys, an animal adventures (typically pets) setting. It includes Animal Tags (which could be some use in creating nonhuman alien tags for a Space Opera game, now that I think about it)
• Fantasy Quest for D&Dish fantasy. It has the rudimentary magic system and rules for fantasy races. I'd choose it over D&D to play something like the Dungeons & Dragons movie! :D
• High School for stuff "kids on bikes" fare or stuff like The Faculty or a number of CW shows.
• Last on Earth, a post-apocalyptic setting. It has "Danger Clock" rules for impending doom.
• Black Light is a classic cyberpunk setting. It has rules for Grafts (cyberware).
• Toon City is for Who Framed Roger Rabbit? or Cool World type games, though you could probably ditch that angle and just use the rules for a toons game. In addition to toon characters it also gives rules for "stuffed" characters, so you come do Muppet movies, too.
• Urban Legends does X-Files or Warehouse 13 sort of stuff. It could probably also be used to set up a GvsE thing, too. There are rules for playing Supernatural entities.
• Leaving Wonderland has a narrower premise, I think, than the others. It's about trying to escape a weird, fantastical world like Alice in Wonderland or Labyrinth. There are rules for creating a random Wonderland.
• High Noon is an Old West setting. It's got Quick-draw Duel rules.

There are also guidelines for hacking the Broken Compass system, and a couple of adventure set ups.

While not all of these settings are things I see myself playing, all of them give rules that I could see myself kitbashing to make up other stuff. As such, this is a really useful book for BC fans. One caveat: in order for these settings to stay "mini" they reference material presented in the other, full setting books. If this is the only BC expansion you buy, you aren't going to be able to use it's contents to the fullest.