Blue Ribbon Comics #3 - pt. 1

Back now to early MLJ and, remarkably, another reason to visit with Rang a Tang the Wonder Dog. And it's not for anything that Rang has done yet, but for this interesting transition of the term bandit. Long-time readers here (if there is such a thing) will recall that bandit was long used as a racist term for non-white or Latino criminals. But lately I've been seeing "bandit" used much more as it's used here, as synonymous with bank robbers. I wonder what changed in 1939 to make that happen?

A dropped hat is a good clue circa 1940, as hats could still be purchased then at specialty stores and might be more easily traced back to their owners.

Instead, Speed must be hungry because he decides to go have lunch first. This is the first use of the terms "lunchroom" and "luncheonette" in comics, terms that have been cast aside in favor of "diners" today.

Bandits are now also synonymous with gangsters. Cut it out, guys, or you're going to take away all my mobstertypes!

Still unresolved is, is Rang a playable Hero, or Speed's supporting cast?

You wouldn't think this page would present such a game mechanics problem, but what causes Speed's crash, game mechanics-wise? Is his inability to see where he's going a randomly generated complication or obstacle to overcome during the car chase? Or is the complication triggered by the car taking damage during the chase? Could Speed's hit points apply to both himself and his car during a chase scene (the answer is a weak yes -- yes, hit points are highly abstract, but on the other hand there is no precedent for treating them so broadly)?

We also see that bodies of water do not necessarily stop tracking (at least not for dogs).

This first issue is older than RPGs and goes back to war games -- do you let the players know exact measurements, so they know where missile ranges end, or make them guess? There is no definitive way to rule on this and Hideouts & Hoodlums Editors could go either way.

Very unusual for a RPG scenario, Hy (our hero "Speed") finds the boss villain outside the hideout, rather than after exploring much of it. The gang's chief and at least one other are thugs, making them tougher than bandit/robber/gangsters. Because Hy is low level, two thugs are more than a match for him.

Now this is a little crazy, and why I find it hard to believe Rang is an ordinary dog. This is the second time he's leapt through an upstairs window, making me think Rang should be statted as an alien instead of a real dog.

Hy, now I know you don't really care about this dog at all anymore. We know those mobsters have at least two guns between them. And you're making your dog run towards them, with dynamite in his mouth? How about dropping the dynamite out a window on the other side of the house, where he won't get shot at?

Okay, as crazy random as this page seems to be, it actually could play out this way in Hideouts & Hoodlums. Even though Rang cannot get to the boat without running past the three men on the dock, there's still a chance of the dog getting surprise. Maybe all their backs were turned for three seconds.

The mobsters are not "paralyzed," but stunned by the explosion (because they made their saves to avoid being unconscious longer when reduced to zero hp). They are all stunned for a random amount of time, but it is possible to roll the same recovery time for all three of them. Since they recover hp after recovering from a stun, it's possible for them to be winning this fight.

And...yeah, I'm not really sure what to make of this page. The local police force has planes, and elite squad of parachutists, and extra parachutes for rescue dogs? What do they even need low-level Heroes for around here?

This page is from the next feature, Stuart Logan. The artist is unknown, and Stuart Logan never appeared again, which is doubly tragic because this looks really good.  I've also never considered searching a scabbard for dust before to find out when the blade was drawn.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)