Pep Comics #1 - pt. 1

We've seen some MLJ comics already here, but this is arguably their very first good comic book.

The Shield also starts off with one of the longest narrative captions ever written for a comic book splash page.  In it, it already makes some serious boasts about the Shield's abilities. The speed of a bullet is easy to simulate in the game with the Race the Bullet power. The "strength of Hercules" sounds entirely subjective and impossible to quantify.  That his costume is bullet- and flame-proof illustrates Hideouts & Hoodlums' flexibility.  When statting The Shield in H&H, is he a fighter wearing trophy armor with all these properties, or is he a superhero buffed with powers, and that they stem from his costume is only flavor text? That both are equally valid in H&H is one of its strengths. 

Although unnamed, the FBI chief is even drawn to resemble J. Edgar Hoover.  "Stokians" is going to clearly mean Germans.

The spies show above average skill at shadowing, gaining surprise, and attacking from behind -- though all of those skills have already been given to the assassin mobstertype in the upcoming Mobster Manual.

I don't think the H&H unarmed combat rules should account for fumbles where one opponent accidentally punches an ally. Maybe for other weapons, but there is already enough working against punching in the game.

The striking of the head on the ground is not a separate attack, but flavor text explaining why the tackle did so much damage.

The Shield demonstrates Wall-Climbing, a pretty rare power this early in the genre.

The radio sound detector could be a trophy item allowing for better than average hear noise skill checks, or it could be flavor text for the Super-Senses power.

Again, either The Shield came with vials of really strong acid recorded on his Hero record sheet, or this is flavor text for wrecking things.

What seem to be examples of the Imperviousness power in play (note that the sword is even blocked by the mask, even though it appears that the really protective body armor is down below; this seems like more evidence that the armor is only flavor text for the power).

That The Shield is able to dig through the files directly to the papers he needs, during combat, is the surest example of the Find Evidence power I've seen yet.

I don't have an exact mechanic for how much damage TNT does per pound, but 20d6 for that much seems reasonable. If The Shield survives it (which he does), then he might (see below) be using the Invulnerability power instead of the Imperviousness power. That means this novice-level superhero must have five brevet ranks (since he's acting as a level 6 superhero with access to 4th level powers).

Now this could set an interesting precedent.  An attacker can choose to push a target instead of inflict damage -- can a target choose to accept pushing instead of damage?  If the Editor says, okay yes, you can switch -- but you have to accept being pushed straight up into the air and then be susceptible to falling damage -- it at least buys the player a little more time to figure out how to survive. 

Here, The Shield appears to demonstrate Feather Landing, Outrun Train, and Leap I. Coming down from his fall and just happening to land right next to the spy he was after? That's got to be a freebie from the Editor.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)