The Funnies #30

Captain Easy might be easy, but weapon damage in Hideouts & Hoodlums is not easy. After all these years, it's still a hotly debated topic in the ongoing campaigns! One of the pros of all weapons doing d6 damage is that it makes players less dependent on getting bigger and badder weapons. One of the cons of all weapons doing d6 damage is that it can lead to some Heroes taking silly weapons -- like a wet broom -- confident that it doesn't matter if their weapon makes sense to do regular damage.

This issue marks the first appearance of John Carter of Mars in comic books. This, of course, opens up a huge can of worms for H&H -- how much of John Carter can be considered public domain and available for inclusion? It's not an issue I plan to resolve right here and now, but it's something under consideration.

Even without discussing copyrights and trademarks, there are still elements here that bear discussion. Like, a cave full of gas that sparks astral projection to other planets is one doozy of a trap! Or the fact that a human, on a different planet, may or may not become an alien, depending on how relativistic the Editor decides to treat the Hero races (or how much he wants to ape Burroughs).

And then, if we do include mobsters from Barsoom, we get to start with considering green Martians. The size of green Martians was pretty inconsistent in the books; I wonder if the comic book stories will follow suit. Here, Tars appears to be 10-12' tall. I'd generously give green Martians...7 Hit Dice?

Tars is riding a thoat, but it is drawn just to look like a giant horse with six legs.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)