Wonderworld Comics #4 - pt. 2

When you're seeing a stunt in a comic book, it's always really easy to tell what's going on. When you're seeing a power, it's usually pretty easy to tell what's going on. But with spells...

So the game is, What Spell is Yarko casting? Did he get shot, and then somehow cast Gaseous Form, Spirit Form, Astral Projection, or the like to spy on them? Or is the image on the floor an illusion and Yarko is really invisible?

And here's why the answer is relevant -- if Yarko is having an out of body experience, it seems that going back into his body heals himself. That's a pretty cool and useful spell (with the danger being that the mobsters could have shot him full of more holes while he was Astral projecting).

A polymorph spell that lets you turn two people into pearls is heavy stuff -- like a 9th level spell.

This is Shorty Shortcake again. I include it because, not only is it a classic example of a rich benefactor feeding plot hooks to the Hero, but it's got a good rationale for using half-pint Heroes instead of full-grown ones.

This is Patty O'Day again, and I'm amused that Patty has to go to a special costumer to sell her clothes that make her and Ham look like mobsters (or a sailor and a girl going to Paris on vacation). A costumer could be a useful supporting cast character to have, though we're a long way from Edna Mode here.

I love the unusual slang here -- "toots" as a masculine pet name? "Janes" instead of "dames"?

I also wonder if biting should do more damage if a woman or child does it. Men never bite each other in comic books, so their bites must be less effective?

This is interesting! Vampires needing gems to stay on this plane of existence? It's like liches and their phylacteries.

No reflections in mirrors is obvious, but expressionless eyes is surely a lesser known (made-up) way of identifying vampires.

Vampires can, predictably, turn into bats and back at will.

That's a really curious thing Dan says. If they "can't keep her awake until sunrise, she will really die!" So, if they fail to keep her awake, the vampire dies. So putting her to sleep is the way to end her...?

Note the convenience of the stairs that run all the way down to the cellar. In a game like D&D, many dungeon maps are deliberately made with staircases spread out to force adventurers to explore.

Another curious thing -- if vampires need gems to "exist among the living", then how is the vampire okay without the gem? Is the castle some underworld place outside the living world?

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)