Mystery Men Comics #7 - pt. 3

We're back with Chen Chang and here Richard Kendall teaches us what a replacer is. Or at least he would be if my father wasn't an expert on trains. One look and he explained to me those are called derailers. But, yes...other than the name mistake, those are real things.

This is Lt. Drake of the Naval Intelligence, with examples of the dangers of shooting into a melee (uh-oh, shot your friend in the back!) and surprise rolls coming up in the Hero's favor (vs. guards, a mobstertype that is easily caught off-guard or easily overpowered in almost all instances).

Keeping someone submerged, as Drake does to the poor guard, is handled as a grappling roll; whoever has advantage forces the other one under. Three turns under in a row and it's save vs. science or drown each turn.

This is likely the first and last instance of a dead fish being used as a throwing weapon in a comic book.

This is Denny Scott of the Bengal Lancers. Torture never works on Heroes because they don't have to save vs. plot to resist giving out information like non-Hero characters would have to.

Putting your slaves to work along a river doesn't seem to be a good idea, especially in a comic book universe where water always acts as hard cover.

Moving on quickly, this page is from D-13, Secret Agent. Being dizzy and weak seem like complications from being low in hit points, but when it comes time to aim a gun steady enough to shoot through the heart, these "complications" don't seem to have any game mechanic effect on him and turn out to be merely flavor test.

This is from Captain Savage, Sea Rover and is an extremely rare example of a Hero succeeding by simply giving up and doing exactly what the bad guys tell him to do.

Nope, I'm calling you wrong on this one, comics.org. I know the art is credited to George Tuska, but there's no way that was inked by Tuska. A better artist, likely Bob Powell, inked over him on this one.

Anyway, Conjure Sand Storm seems like a pretty narrowly useful spell -- unless you plan on running a desert-based campaign. More likely this is Control Weather on display. You really do get a sense for how deadly Control Weather would be in the desert, though, as you can suffocate almost an entire caravan with it.

Melosh's next spell is Insatiable Thirst, a spell that wouldn't find its way into D&D until the 2nd edition book, Tome of Magic.

Melosh also has Polymorph Other and Protection from Normal Missiles in his spell arsenal. Pretty powerful for a guy who doesn't even own pants!

How Zanzibar casts Dispel Magic in his leopard form is unclear. Or the water has magical properties?

Having burnt through his higher level spells, Melosh is left with only Charm Person.

Zanzibar claims to have just won a "duel of wits", but it seems like what he did was cast Insatiable Thirst back on Melosh, then maybe used an Phantasmal Image spell to conceal the water hole. Then Z uses Dispel Magic on Audrey.

And in the end he gets to claim Melosh's Flying Carpet as a trophy! (Say...was Melosh wearing the carpet as a robe the whole time??)

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)