Champion Comics #3 - pt. 2

Picking up where I left off, Penny Wright is tied to a tree by Santos and just left there (I guess he has to go somewhere to get his favorite whip).

While Penny's not that bright, Gus seems to be a quite capable assistant -- so much so that I hope he represents a played Hero and not supporting cast. Making a rope out of a blanket is clever, and I don't think I've ever seen a snare trap used like this.

There's a couple freebies from the Editor here, though. One, I'm not crazy about allowing a snare to do knockout damage. At best, I would treat it as an improvised weapon and have it do 1-3 points of damage (of course, it could also just be a very weak guard). Second, the keys in easy reach is either a freebie or the result of a save vs. plot.

Government Man seems to be a wandering encounter, though he could also be a third freebie. Or a third played Hero who's player showed up late to the session!

Liberty Lads had me fooled with Wonocco for a bit there, as it sounds just convincing enough that I thought it might be an actual Indian name. I can't find any evidence of that being true, though. If this is Richmond, Virginia, then Wonocco is likely Algonquin or Sioux.

The mother bear, apparently, attacks just to defend her cub, but Wonocco ruthlessly guts her and then, also apparently, they just leave a motherless cub to defend for himself. Way to live with nature there, Wonocco!

Now I have to decide if I need to stat militiamen as a mobstertype. I could just leave them as fighters, but they are also characterized here as "yellow backed" (low morale), and we know their number appearing goes up to 400. They are shown to be racist -- but then, when even the good guys call you Possum, you know you're a black man in a racist society.

Quinine is a a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis -- an odd remedy for a fever, but what do colonial-era kids know?

And maybe it's my modern sensibilities at play here, but that wood-cutter's intentions seem more perverted than "wily" to me. Maybe, if read from a 1940 perspective, it would seem more obvious that the wood-cutter is in league with the redcoats.

This is Jungleman. Evidence that the white (-ish) tiger is a supporting cast member and not directly under Jungleman's control is seen in how Jungleman leaves it behind to guard his prisoner.

That Jungleman's ability to speak with animals is not limited to one animal at a time is demonstrated by this communion with a small army of apes and monkeys (all living together, as if they were interchangeable).

Angkor is incorrectly described as a living city here, when it was actual already in ruins well before 1940.

Kalu is an actual name, but more often an African name than an Asian name.

The Blazing Scarab picked up where it left off.

More proof that languages spoken is unimportant in comic books.

Evidence of an unusual magic-user "wand" -- in this case, the scarab -- and evidence of a visual manifestation of the spell being cast.

It seems that the spell was Hold Person, but Walt can still follow commands. Hold Person II?

Interestingly, these men-at-arms that can step through walls are very similar to the hieroglyph guardian mobstertype that I introduced in the 2nd edition Basic book, only full-sized and not monstrous-looking.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)