Funny Pages v. 4 #1 - pt. 2

We return to Mad Ming. No, that's not Mad Ming at the bottom, though it is pretty crazy to think that Chinese people think in broken English.

No, I included this page because the first panel gives us a great image of a single, multi-level encounter area, plus a reminder to use olfactory clues in describing hideouts to players.

Jinny was revealed on the previous (not shown here) page to be a "safe expert, burglar, and all-round confidence woman" -- in other words, a mysteryman. I had been surprised to learn a while back that the Sandman's companion, Dian Belmont, had an identical criminal background, but apparently this was a pulp fiction trope that both stories drew on.

Jinny uses sleight of hand (a basic skill check) to slip him the mickey while his back is turned, and then lock picking (an expert skill check) on the safe.

I love how this story starts in a library! The big book being carried around in the last three panels is how newspapers used to be bound together for libraries. The [something] Pelican is the name of the newspaper; with an unusual title like that, you might think it was a clue as to where this story takes place. Unfortunately, I can't find a single newspaper called The Pelican before 1949.

Never mind that the cottage is "concealed" behind a gaudy gold-colored boulder and a striped blue and gray boulder -- we can excuse that as careless coloring. But pay attention to the fact that The Owl brought dirt samples back to his geologist father to examine for no particular reason. Your players are really hard up for plot hooks when they start doing things like this.

Here we learn that The Owl's father is completely legless. Cooped up in a remote cabin with nothing else to do, and certainly incapable of going outside for a stroll, Dad fends off cabin fever by endlessly checking his son's soil samples and inventing for him.

The owl costume is able to fly at a Move of 200, which is equal to the Fly IV power. Since that puts the Owl in possession of a very high-level power, I'd like to think this is just a trophy item rather than a class ability.

The big dial-like thing on his chest is a touch-activated radio.

The New York Blade was fictional at the time. Interestingly, a paper would eventually bear that name as of 1997, as a LGBT-oriented newspaper. 

This is when we learn The Owl's real name is Jack.

Jack soothes the irate library patroness with a friendly result on the encounter reaction table.

Covering the windshield just as they take that turn too fast...it's another situation that is just about impossible in most game systems to emulate with specific mechanics. Luckily we have the catch-all save vs. plot mechanic here in Hideouts & Hoodlums.  The Editor has to decide if the situation warrants it (I would agree that it does here) and then roll a save vs. plot for the driver, as opposed to the player rolling for his Hero.

Shoily Dimple is almost surely meant to be Shirley Temple.

It's really hard to put a class on The Owl after just one appearance, as he doesn't really do much. I'm inclined to say he's a fighter so far.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)