Mystery Men Comics #4 - pt. 2

Rex Dexter is lucky that this large robot (copper or brass?) has such a terrible failsafe in it -- all you have to do is speak to it in Martian and it overrides any programmed orders it already had.

Richard Kendall is after Chen Chang again, or will be after this quick ride in a rickshaw. When he's clubbed on the back of the head and knocked out, the hoodlums seem to think it's reasonable to expect him to be out for only 20 minutes. That doesn't match with Hideouts & Hoodlums' recovery rules, in any version, so far.

This poison has a 10-minute onset time -- exactly 10, apparently. You would think Constitution might play a part in resisting the poison, maybe make the onset time more variable...but, to be honest, I don't think we need the extra mechanics for that.

Oh sure, I could bring up that this page has a "look over there!" tactic on it, requiring the guard to save vs. plot to avoid falling for it -- or is it just flavor text to explain how Richard won initiative even when the gun was pointed right at him?

And sure, I could just point out how dynamic the art is here, with figures flying around the panels almost like a wuxia film.

But no, my main interest is in the obscure word "portiere", for a curtain that hangs over a door.

Wing Turner is in South America, "among the head-hunters." Wikipedia tells me that there used to be headhunters in both Brazil and Peru. Fancy that!

I've written before about my article "Planes in the Sky: Aerial Trophies for H&H" in The Trophy Case v. 2 #8. I had 20 entries on the plane mishap table in that article, but none of them were "the feed line's jammed!"

"Horde" seems to apply to just five natives here. Some of the natives are armed with bows and spears, but my money's on the dude with a six pack who plans to beat Wing Turner to a pulp with a wooden club.

Assuming that sixty smackers means 60 dollars, Jake Bossen is actually offering Lt. Drake of Naval Intelligence an annual salary about 2.4 times the national average. Drake has to be thinking about that one twice!

Yeah, I'm not statting black widow spiders as a mobster type. I would consider the spider a poisonous trap, in this instance. Realistically, there would be little chance of death from a black widow spider bite -- +5 to save, maybe? A success save would mean only swelling, pain, cramping, and sweating.

We finally see Blue Beetle the way we're used to seeing him. Giving people special whistles with a distinctive sound may be good strategy -- if you plan to always stick to one area, always less than a mile away...

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)