Jumbo Comics #13 - pt. 2

We return to Hawk of the Seas and the treasure hunt already in progress. The treasure is concealed by a boulder that looks to be the size of two men, and that's going to be a really heavy boulder.

Since we imagine these stories as scenarios of Hideouts & Hoodlums on this blog, I'm guessing nobody present is a superhero with the Raise Car power. So let's consider our alternatives.

The easiest solution is that the boulder is fake and mostly hollow inside. The next best solution is for the Editor to assign a target number of combined Strength, say 40, and if the party has at least that high a combined Strength they can all make Strength checks. If all succeed, they move the boulder. This is any official use of the H&H rules, as written, but not a great departure either, with precedent in that Original Game.

Another example of healing, when the Hero isn't simply stunned, taking a long period of time. This one even suggests that healing would not take place without the first aid skill being used first, which seems a tad excessive to me.

This seems a clever strategy, both to make your opponents think they've killed you (stated here) and to make them use up their ammunition (implied?). Perhaps rumor of this strategy would later inspire Sherlock Holmes in "The Adventure of the Empty House."

Order of combat needs to be determined by random initiative roll, to account for how Hawk was able to close the distance to this musketeer before the shot goes off.

Snyde has reason to feel confident; all but Chaotic Heroes are going to need to save vs. plot or be held by the Editor to whatever agreement they make during this parlay. 

Hawk is sometimes too good a man, to the point of naivety, like accepting Snyde's surrender without searching him first for concealed weapons. 

You'll just have to trust me that everything works out for Hawk in the end, as we jump into the next feature Spencer Steel. Artist George Tuska's inking seems unusual crisp, but maybe that's from skimping on the background art so much.

The backstory of the "famous Rembrandt that was brought over from Italy" seemed so precise that I did some quick research to see if that was a thing, but couldn't turn up any news stories about Rembrandt paintings coming to the U.S. during the late '30s.

Noticing that a rug has recently been tacked down might require a basic skill check/find concealed doors check.

Sometimes I'm just baffled by what Golden Age Heroes will do in comics. Spencer has two really good suspects to question or follow as soon as he remembers they are ex-cons -- and instead he goes back to the empty room to look for more clues.

It's like the Editor tossed him a bone, having that missing key turn up there, but then got tired of Spencer's player's poor attempt at detective work and tossed a wandering encounter into the room to shake things up.

The last game mechanic issue we'll look at today is combining grappling with pushing. Can grappling damage be substituted for distance pushed? I don't see why not, after reading this page. But would Spencer really want to? The falling damage on the stairs must be affecting both of them. Perhaps Spencer's player hopes he has the higher hit point total and will come out on top (which he does)...or, maybe Spencer's player was hoping that crashing him into the door would do enough damage, but forgot to ask if the door was closed...

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

Jumbo Comics #13 - pt. 1

We're back to Fiction House now and their main publication, headlined by Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. It's a peculiar story for a lot of reasons, so let's take them one at a time. First, it seems strange that Sheena is okay with elephant hunters. Second, Zulus come from southern Africa, and my understanding was that Sheena's adventures were in northern Africa. Third, Zulus didn't use bows and arrows, apparently exclusively favoring melee weapons (though I've only done a little research on that). Fourth, Zulu were not head hunters (again, limited research, but that seems highly unlikely).

Fifth, having the Zulu stream across the plain in, practically, single file is visually appealing and probably easier to draw, but not a sound strategy. Sixth, Bob is waaay too reckless when it comes to starting forest fires. Think about the environment, Bob!

Not a story flaw, per se, but I want to pause to talk about this lion combat and emulating it in the Hideouts & Hoodlums rules. Sheena climbing onto the lion's back to keep away from its bite and claws actually makes realistic sense, but does not work in H&H where facing is barely important in combat. If facing isn't important, then it isn't necessary that Sheena grapple the lion before attacking it, and then she wouldn't be thrown off. And even if the lion reversed the hold and threw Sheena off, there's nothing in the rules that mean Sheena would drop her weapon. Of course -- and I say this a lot -- there doesn't have to be game mechanics explanation for most of this; much of it could be flavor text.

I also keep saying two more things, how much I hate seeing animals killed and how sick I am of animals, or mobsters, being one-shotted.

Seven, it's weird that Sheena is only okay with male elephants being killed...

While exploring, they just happen to come across a cave. Can physical locations be wandering encounters? If you want them to be.

I had to double check to make sure I hadn't already covered this story on the blog because this is, what, the third time we've seen an elephants' graveyard in a comic book so far?

Eight, how are poachers worse than hunters? 

There's a lot of different versions out there of what happens to people who mess with elephants' graveyards. In this one, at least 10 elephants show up to stampede you to death. That's a pretty high challenge level.

Nine -- tripping over a snake is lame, Bob.

In a jungle genre adventure, animals need to have greater than animal intelligence so they can do things like rescue people and communicate to each other.

Having a few more pages to kill, another wandering encounter comes along. This is a good technique for when you've finished the scenario for the night, but Sheena's player says he can stay a bit later.

At least cobras are jungle-appropriate. 

"Golleh", or Dick Briefer (Bob Kane's replacement on this feature), really pulls out all the stops on this wacky ride, with figures squashed and stretched way beyond the point of cartooniness. Perhaps appropriately, Peter Pupp has been shortened to a mere three-page presence, of which I'll only share one of you here (and given how racist it is, consider that a blessing).

"Maravian Crater" is a clue for where this story is meant to take place, since the Moravian Crater is a real place in Germany. Why the villain is, then, a Chinaman, is beyond me...

This page is from Will Eisner's Hawk of the Seas, his great , unfinished pirate saga. Here we see a treasure hunt in progress, with some great ideas for wilderness dressing to look for on such a hunt.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

Thrilling Comics #2 - pt. 5

We're going to look at just a few more pages of this issue before moving on, including two more from Tommy Dolan. As I mentioned last time, this feature is full of pulpish dialogue you'll need to master to get that noir-pulp feeling in your urban crime campaigns, like "wise guy," "two-timed," "where's the dough?", "lammed," and "smart guy."

Whiteface seems like a villain name Chester Gould rejected for Dick Tracy.

A good tip for Editors; make sure every exit from the hideout is guarded after the Heroes enter, so getting out is an extra challenge (they can no longer expend all their energy and then easily escape, but will need to leave some hit points for one more battle). 

"Hiding behind the bones of another Super...?" Tommy (here pretending to be Terry so convincingly that even the narrator is fooled) inspires a future scene in The Incredibles.

Although it looks like wood, the roadside barriers are apparently made from concrete, which must have already been pretty common back then.

This is one of two and a half pages adapting Pinocchio, interestingly coming out around the same time as the Disney version. This version stays much truer to the original book -- which is a crazy psychedelic nightmare, if you've never read it -- with just the curious addition of a female protagonist named Vicky. Yes, Geppetto really was going to throw his talking puppet into the fire.

The talking animal world of The Adventures of Pinocchio would make for a really bizarre, but interesting, campaign, for android half-pints.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Thrilling Comics #2 - pt. 4

We're still looking at The Woman in Red as she investigates at a hospital, and talking Hideouts & Hoodlums game mechanics.

The one benefit I've seen so far to WiR dressing as a vigilante is, when she comes out of the costume, she's unrecognizable and doesn't have to make a disguise skill check.

Grabbing the canopy is a normal attack roll. The Editor has to wing the Armor Class based on how fast WiR was falling past it. Since it looks like she fell no more than 30', I'd say AC 7. Of course, the Editor does not have to put a canopy there, but a player can request one and, if the Editor is feeling half-generous, allow a save vs. plot for there to be a canopy between the window and the ground.

It's hard to make out that figure in panel 3, but it looks like the killer is wrapped up like a mummy. So...stat as fake undead?

Note the wisps of smoke around the police officers in panel 5, suggesting that they have been shooting at her, in the hallway of a hospital! This is so typical of the mysteryman genre, that police are ineffectual against crooks, but super-dangerous when they turn on the Hero.

The basement of the hospital is now more like a traditional hideout, with long, dark corridors and cell-like doors. A morgue contains lots of good, atmospheric dressing for a hideout.

A maniac might be a workable mobstertype. He seems at least as tough as a thug, but also has the ability to rip costumes off.

It's rare for radiation to be treated realistically in a comic book at any decade, so it's nice to see radium having an effect on someone. It must have also affected the morgue attendant's brain, since he doesn't apparently recognize a Geiger counter.

Geiger counters should be a mundane trophy item Heroes can collect.

Here's a question to ponder: is the rattlesnake a wandering encounter, the woman in trouble, or both together? Setting up wandering encounters as a rescue situation is a good way to let your players net additional XP!

"You spoke your piece" is just the kind of phrase you'd expect in a western.

There's some interesting slang on this page. A "waddy" was a cowboy, in this context, and not an Aboriginal war club.

This page makes me nuts. The top tier is all about confronting the killer, and then the store veers off into this sub-plot about capturing wild horses. The timing of it is terrible, but the idea of having sub-plots ready that your players can go do during less busy times in the game is a great idea.

Speaking of great ideas...setting off dynamite in the vicinity of the wild horses you want to capture alive? Probably not one of those great ideas...

This is from Tommy Dolan, Ace Detective. It's a confusing story that seems to be about an undercover detective pretending to have shot a cop in order to get in with a vamp who knows where treasure is buried, but not all of that is very clear up to this point; confusing things is that even the captions keep referring to Tommy as his alias, Terry.

Under dashboards is a good place to look for hidden weapons.

The "Lambeth Walk" is "an exaggerated rhythmic swagger, with plenty of arm swinging, copious hat-play, and elements of slapstick," according to the Londonist.com. 

There's some interesting chemistry between detective and vamp here, and lots of good pulpish dialogue, like "You hold all the cards," "I'm nothing but a stooge for a blonde," and "grab yourself a chunk of ceiling!" Perfect for an urban campaign with lots of noir to it.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Thrilling Comics #2 - pt. 3

Saving the Wayne Girl is worth 100 XP for the good deed. Capturing the Mask is worth $25,000 and almost guarantees a level up.

And yet...letting the villain slip away once he's underwater is a staple of the genre, so he would have had to make a save vs. plot to dive for the Mask.

Now we'll jump into Tom Niles, Undersea Raider. This strip is even harder to read, with smaller font and gray captions. I could read enough for this part to jump out at me, about Berlin being a seaport. That can't be right, can it? I thought. Apparently, Berlin is linked to the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the Rhine River by a network of rivers, lakes, and canals.

There are a lot of ways this encounter at the bottom could have gone without violence. I mean, don't be so jumpy, Tom! They probably just wanted to check your papers. But in fairness, the soldiers seem to jump the gun too for no reason. It's a good idea to always come up with an idea for your encounter and a motive for the mobsters to work for.

The ol' impersonate-an-officer trick backfires because the commanding officer makes his save vs. plot. The guards at the door fail their saves and fall for such an obvious bluff.

I'm not sure how you would use a bayonet to bend iron bars, but apparently it was easy enough for Tom that it happened off-panel.

I honestly don't know how difficult a zip line is to ride, and if it should be treated as a skill or not.

I wonder if there is really a single lever on a submarine that would let water in. That doesn't seem like good design to me.

I really wanted to share this page because the U-boat is the U-46, and that was the name of my school district!

Tom's strategy seems sound, but I'm not sure how those tactics would play out mechanically in Hideouts & Hoodlums. I'm not liking the idea of fast-moving opponents being able to move into range, attack, and move out without counter-attack, as it seems grossly unfair the way the combat system is set up now. I may have to come back to thinking about that, particularly later when we start looking at more speedster superheroes.

Mobsters can punch women without a save vs. plot!

Despite only being halfway ready for second level, Tom is already given a captaincy at the end, as a special reward for his mission. Special rewards and titles can be worth XP as well.














There's trouble at the hospital and the police are called in. Naturally, a policewoman is put on the case and...immediately dresses up like a vigilante? Does she not think being a policewoman would give her enough pull with the hospital to let her talk to the staff? Or is this some subtle social commentary, that as a woman she feels unsupported by the establishment and has to go outside the boundaries to do what needs doing?

She lucks onto that mobster way too easily in the hospital, like a really lucky wandering encounter roll, or maybe a set encounter.

The assassin is a good one, offing the mobster before he can get out any clue.

The Woman in Red also loses the fight quickly, as a 1st-level Hero most likely would.

Typical of the mysteryman convention, everyone who sees her thinks she's one of the bad guys. You'd think she would just give up and show them her badge...

There's no such thing as an automatic hit in H&H, even when you're firing with a gun and your target is standing less than 10' away from you.

Implied in panel 3 is that the Woman in Red killed those mobsters, or else she could have questioned them when they woke up.

The caption in panel 5 tells us that the assassin we saw earlier is also classed as a mysteryman. Probably at least 2nd level, since he worked over WiR so quickly.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Thrilling Comics #2 - pt. 2

We're picking up where we left off with the Golden Age Dr. Strange -- though I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the microfiche scans. These are the best copies I know of out on the Internet.

The turning letter that unlocks a secret door is worth remembering. Though, if a superhero suspected there was a door there and wanted to get through badly enough, there is always a Raise power or wrecking things to get through the statue. I would treat this particular secret door as the machines category, one better than door, since the statue adds a non-door element to it.

The ol' "sarcophagus that's full of real diamonds but opens pit traps around the sarcophagus if you disturb it" trap. It looks like the pit has five crocodiles in it, but it's really hard to tell with the quality of this scan.

Dr. Strange's ability to punch boulders away strikes me as flavor text; all we really need for this is his save vs. missiles mechanic to make sure he's not taking damage.

There's no game mechanic that would account for how the boulders break the ledges apart; that seems like Editor fiat.

It doesn't need to be said that superheroes have leaping powers; the distance pictured here looks like one that even non-superheroes might be able to bridge.

Strange beats Crewe in initiative, letting him act before the drugs can be thrown away.

Speaking of thrown away...we know Strange could likely have leapt after Crewe and saved him, but he chose not to. Strange has already demonstrated that he's comfortable with letting villains fall to their deaths.

Interesting how we never hear about this miraculous wonder drug again. Maybe it didn't work as well as advertised.

We're going to jump into the next adventure, this being the debut of The Three Comrades. It's the first story I've seen drawn by Howard Sherman, who will later co-create Dr. Fate!

Newspapers are handy for dropping plot hooks!

Reading shorthand, like decoding a code, is a basic skill and not something automatic, like speaking to Germans or aliens.

A rare instance of a smell-based clue!

I like the little detail of, not just seeing a light, but a reflection of light in the plant tipping them off. I also like how every entrance has a guard on it, even on the roof.

That looks more like a necktie than a carat to me. Regardless, I have to pause now and consider what game mechanic in Hideouts & Hoodlums would emulate this scene? Grappling, with the result of throw? The actual tie grabbing is an irrelevant detail, as H&H focuses on the results, not how you get there.

The same here; it doesn't really matter how much the bullet touches the head or just "parts the hair," as the damage is just an abstraction.

The beat cop is a wandering encounter.

The kicked barrel is an improvised weapon...but a barrel can pick up a lot of speed rolling down a stairwell. I'd be inclined to assign it normal damage.

Did The Mask change his mask since we last saw him...?










This is the first time I've ever seen someone take damage from jumping into a car before! I guess the best way to handle this is to give the jumper a save vs. science, with no damage if successful, and regular damage if it fails.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

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Thrilling Comics #2 - pt. 1

Mike's Amazing World of Comics tells me that the next comic book I should be reviewing, in order, is War Comics #1. But I accidentally reviewed that early, a year ago. Oops! So let's skip another ahead to Better's Thrilling Comics and the original Dr. Strange.

Our adventure begins with a mysterious death and the easy plot hook of Strange being asked to investigate it by the police. Strange looks for clues and, in an unusual move that I want to call your attention to, appears to be using scissors to cut into the dead man's clothing (unless, of course, he's also planning on performing an autopsy...). This is how he finds a secretive pin sewn into the seam of the clothing.

Note how Strange now has dark hair. Does he, instead of wearing a costume or uniform, just darken his hair before going into action?

Really, Fleming? The only place in the world you would find a three-headed serpent is an ancient lost city? I decided to do a quick Internet search on three-headed serpents to see if he was right. Besides an awful lot of hits for the video game Hitman 2, there was an article about a pillar depicting a three-headed serpent that came from Delphi. Good thing Strange didn't go there instead!

I wouldn't put much stock in what that assistant's telling you either, Strange. And you, Richard Hughes, writer of this story, if you knew you were going to base this story in Tibet, how hard would it have been in 1940 to do a little research and learn the real name of the desert there (which is the Gobi)?

One of the nice things about that last page is the fallibility of the assassin, who allows the assistant to get one vital word out before offing him. This makes it pretty easy to follow from one plot character right to the next -- and then risk killing him by punching him through a wall.

The game mechanics of Hideouts & Hoodlums (remember, this blog is also about a game!) don't currently support punching villains through walls, and would either need a modification to the pushing rules, or a new power that combines damage with wrecking things. I would definitely need to consider this as we move ahead, as I can think of quite a few later comic books that combine violence with such a flagrant disregard for property.

This third page, to the right, makes no sense to me...

Strange seems to have Crewe dead to rights already, yet after beating up his henchmen and showing off his Nigh-Invulnerable Skin, he just leaves so he can tail Crewe instead. You would think Crewe would be extra-cautious now about Strange and not act so brazenly criminal.

As stupid as Crewe is, his henchmen must be even stupider to nab a girl and bring her to their boss, just for loitering around a giant skyscraper. Strange isn't happy with them either, as he's perfectly willing to toss one of them out the window, knowing it's a lethal fall from that height.

Now this page has some tricky geometry to it. I'm not sure how Strange twists his body to land on the roof across the street, but it definitely appears that he is still leaping instead of flying. And, the fact that he needs to land on the roof instead suggests there is an upper limit to how far he feels he can fall safely.

In game mechanics-terms, maybe an upper limit needs to be put on the Feather Landing power. 

A herb that cures diseases like the spell would be a very valuable item in any campaign, and probably one best to keep out of the Heroes' grasp so it doesn't change the campaign world too dramatically.

Mongols are just wandering around Tibet? Mongolia is about 1,400 miles from Tibet. Seems like more writing done without research to me. Though the artist, Alexander Kostuk, at least looked at some old references for how Mongolians once dressed.

Strange uses his wrecking things ability on a stone wall, a door, and a cage here, demonstrating that a superhero needs the ability to use that game mechanic in quick succession.

What's going on with the guards being drawn like primitive African natives, hurling spears? How does that make sense in Tibet?

Rescuing prisoners is always a good idea, for the "good deed" XP award, the useful information they may have about the hideout, and their Supporting Cast recruitment potential.

Animals never fare well against Golden Age comic book Heroes and the fights are usually over in a single panel. This one, with Strange fighting two lions, occurs largely off-panel!

Once again, Hughes gets his geography wrong. The "Mountains of the Moon" are a legendary mountain range in east Africa, once thought to be the source of the Nile River.

More evidence that ordinary people can make push attacks on superheroes.

Strange wisely carries a flashlight.

Finding a secret door usually includes finding the means of opening it. But, if you just suspect a secret door is there, but you're getting impatient waiting for that successful "find secret doors" check, you can always wreck the wall. If you're right, you will only be wrecking against the door category, even if you can't actually see the door.

Millions of dollars' worth of treasure is usually a campaign-busting find and should be avoided doling out in actual play.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)