Amazing Mystery Funnies v. 2 #12 - pt. 2

We return to Space Patrol to find the space bandit (which is like a normal bandit, only encountered in space and with a spaceship instead of a horse) Kosterman has already failed a morale save despite not having even entered combat yet.

A shock gun seems an odd name for a weapon used to wreck spaceships, but perhaps the blue flame somehow delivers a violent shock that shakes ships apart. Here, the ship is only partially wrecked.

Right now, wrecking things is an all-or-nothing mechanic. One would have to revise it to three categories to include a "partially wrecked" column.

I think this is our first scenic view of Venus in all of comic books. We get a good sense of the flora and fauna. Of course, the only detail Basil gets right is that the air isn't breathable.

Venus got a write-up in Supplement III: Better Quality, where I tried to compromise between the factual Venus and the comic book Venus, while keeping to the side where it was inhabitable enough a place to go and have adventures. The comic book version I was working from was the Fawcett comics' version; next time I write a gazeteer for Venus, it will have to include a lot more details from Basil's vision of it.

The Venusian Spider-Men will definitely need to get statted for the upcoming Mobster Manual. They are only vaguely spider-shaped, with their legs being more like tentacles that they use to grapple tree branches and victims. They seem to travel only via brachiation.

We will have to wait and see what all Kosterman's flame gun can do; it could be statted as nothing other than an acetylene torch with some space-age flavor text added.

Here we see that spider-men prefer caves to jungle dwelling when it comes to lairs, that they strew bones around their lairs, that they eat humans (though I don't agree that makes them cannibals), and we see that they use simple stone age technology.

This is a page (likely a Sunday page) of Don Dixon. You have to read carefully to pick out which character is the merman because this merman looks just like an ordinary human, but simply can't handle the air pressure above water without a breathing helmet.

This is one of the more obscure strips by Harry Francis Campbell. I love his John Law, Scientective, and thought John's prototype, Dean Denton, still had a lot of potential. Which makes it sad to see Jon Linton is so goofy. Though, to be fair, most attempts to depict the future in comic books tend to have looked pretty goofy.

Here, we learn that, by 2009 AD, we're going to have intercontinental rocket planes that can go 1,000 MPH (which sounds really impressive, but was possible by 1956), hooded robes are going to be stylish, and televisions (which already existed in 1939) will be called "visigrams."

It seems like Jon has performed some kind of aviator stunt here, but I think by now we know what the answer to aviator stunts are in most comic books; by 2nd edition Hideouts & Hoodlums rules, they must be simply the use of a piloting skill (and a successful roll).

As for thermite shells, one could make a case that they ignore armor and cover when attacking (all targets are AC 9, though still subject to other modifiers like the Dexterity bonus of Mysterymen).

Tibet? Green mist? Someone was reading Bill Everett's Amazing Man...

The Wall of Green Mist is actually a Wall of Force spell (or the power equivalent).

Tracking mundane resources like rations should only matter when Heroes are trapped in the wilderness, or spending long periods of time in hideouts. In an urban environment where food is plentiful, players and Editors can skip over detailing the mundane tasks of every day life like stopping to eat and drink periodically.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)