Mystery Men Comics #8 - pt. 1

After a long spell we check in Fox Comics again and the first feature here is Blue Beetle.

Blue Beetle does what most of my players have always done, try to get to the location before the bad guys. But here the location works against him; with the wide open spaces, the mobsters are too far apart and the second one has an easy free shot at range.

Now, one bullet shouldn't be enough to stop BB; it usually isn't in comics. I have been wondering recently, though, if bullets should do exploding damage to account for instances like this...but on the other hand, firearms are already really deadly in Hideouts & Hoodlums and I hesitate to make them more so.

BB has a temporary Supporting Cast Member in this story; you won't see anymore of Tom.

BB has to take off his heavy mail costume; for the first time a comic book acknowledges that encumbrance can hamper skill checks.

BB must be using a power to keep up with a motorboat, that has a head start, while swimming. I hesitate to create a new swimming-related power, though, when activating Race the Train would accomplish this same thing.

It seems to me that the first mob to use an autogyro to escape from robberies is really smart, but after that people would always be on the lookout for it. The real mistake of this mob is to stay in the air so long that a plane that hadn't even taken off yet when they left the warehouse has time to catch them.

So, in addition to the autogyro, these bank robbers can afford three fighter planes. This reminds me of a lot of Silver Age stories where the super-gizmos the supervillains employ must have been so expensive that there's no way they'll come out ahead from robbing a bank. But that's not comic book logic for you!

It looks like Wing performs two Immelmann turns to get the height advantage on his pursuers, giving him a +1 bonus to hit after performing an expert skill check. As difficult as this seems to be for just a +1, it's more likely that aviators should be able to perform stunts as a free action before attacking.

Catching fire needs to be a common complication for dogfighting.

Panels 3-5 are what a fighting withdrawal looks like after a gunner fails his morale check aboard a plane.

There is currently no game mechanic for whether chutes open.

The atmosphere grows thinner, intensifying the sun's rays and causing terrific heat? Sounds like Dick Briefer predicted the ozone layer depletion! This is Rex Dexter of Mars!

What on Earth was it that exploded that took out two skyscrapers?

Ooo, I'm statting these monsters! Sadly, there is no name for these monsters given other than "new horror." The Tauromen that Reyni is referring to are actually human-like aliens controlling the new horrors, but Tauromen is a pretty cool name and I might keep it for these things instead.

They're pretty big floating heads with three long tentacles and Dumbo-like ears. Are they flapping their ears to fly, or levitating? It's not clear what those dots on the end of their tentacles are for, but I'm going to guess they are little mouths for sucking blood. And those big tusks in their mouths mean fierce bite damage. Let's assign them...6 Hit Dice? Blood drain for 1-8 damage per tentacle? Bites for 2-12? Given their scaly hides, I think we can give them an AC of at least 6, maybe 5 because they can use their tentacles as shields too.

Reyni is one great contact; not only does he hand out plot hooks, but he hands out space charts for how to get there, trophy weapons, and paints your ship!

There is no indication of how fast "zooming" is, but unless this trip takes years, "zooming" must involve folding space, warping space, accessing hyperspace, or creating a stargate.

Despite being called living chains, I'm real hesitant to stat them as mobsters; more likely, this is some technological trap, where the chains ensnare as if alive (attacking as a high HD mobster?). They might even be linked to some kind of computer intelligence that can sense enemies.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Mystery Men Comics #7 - pt. 1

And we return to Fox's second title and a feature that had started out as a small back-up strip and now is lead feature in Mystery Men Comics.

We start with a rare example of a bad guy (the Blue Beetle impersonator) using tear gas as a weapon.

Mike Mannigan is the perfect example of the copper -- a police officer so incompetent that he stumbles when there is nothing to trip on -- he's not even close to a crack in the sidewalk.

The Blue Beetle imposter could count as a doppelganger, as they are now defined in 2nd edition rules.

Although we've seen million-dollar crimes so far in the comics, $50,000 is still a large amount in 1940 and one mobsters are willing to kill over.

This is one of the earliest instances -- if not the earliest -- of cussing in a superhero story.

 I'm not sure if the Blue Beetle qualifies for the new Avenger class that is going in the AH&H Heroes Handbook, but I'm giving this ability to that class. The ability is to trigger morale saves without even being present, but via the presence of the avenger's "calling card."

Letting a bad guy get away so you can follow him back to his lair is already a cliche by this point.

I've never considered Blue Beetle to be much of a source for inspiration, but now I want a tall chest disguised as a bookcase just like that.

This may be the first and last time Blue Beetle ever carries "trick make-up" with him.

BB is teetering right on the edge of switching from the mysteryman class to the superhero class, but we're not quite there yet. BB can get two punch attacks if his opponents are unarmed, so he's not necessarily buffed with any superpowers here.

 An avenger can trigger so much fear as to cause damage.

Wing Turner takes on a "costumed" foe, though one just wearing short shorts and fake horns. The Devil goes for a bigger pay-off than BB's villains had. 

I've written plenty before about how vehicular combat needs to be based on complications rather than hit points. Hitting the fuel tank is a particularly good complication, one that cuts down how much longer the vehicle can move, while giving it a chance each turn of exploding.

Lava pit? How did he get a lava pit under his castle, when there's no sign of an active volcano anywhere in the vicinity of that castle? You just never know where lava will turn up in a comic book story.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Blue Beetle #1

Here we go, with the first issue dedicated to one of my least favorite Golden Age characters. As few comic books were doing at the time, this issue really spreads out the panels, with a rare splash page opening. I won't bother sharing it, as the only thing I would point out from it is that it mentions Blue Beetle is wanted by the police. Now, realistically, it makes sense that all vigilantes would be wanted by the police, but this only ever gets stressed for mysterymen.

I have to say, I like this opening shot, and it makes sense that I would as comics.org tells me that the art chores here are the superior work of Will Eisner (layouts) and Charles Nicholas (finishing art). The city is not named, but from the look of it, it is almost surely New York City.

Note the very specific date of Dan's birth, as we don't often have birth dates for superheroes. Hopefully the doctor is entering with the baby from an interior door, as it otherwise appears that Dan was simply dropped off by the doctor. It does seem odd to me that Dan is a "sturdy boy" already by age 3. Did they not use the term "toddler" back in the 1940?

If the opening takes place in New York City, then this is State University of New York, up in Buffalo. From the first few pages (most of which we'll skip), it would seem this is a sports genre story, as we see Dan overcome the stigma of getting to college thanks to his intelligence (sigh) and excel at more manly diversions like football, boxing, and hockey.

Nick Collins never figures into Dan's story again after this moment.

Again, if Dan's university is in Buffalo, it explains why it took him so long to come home. Mike Mannigan figures prominently in all future Blue Beetle stories. We don't learn his specific age, but we learn here how long he had been a cop, so he must be at least 43.

I'm not sure police chiefs keep letters under lock and key like that...

In perhaps the earliest retcon in comic book history, Blue Beetle is shown here wearing the outfit he would not adopt until later on his very first outing. There is no explanation for why he chose to wear chainmail as a costume.

The panel layout is a bit confusing here at the top of the page, but the hoodlum gets BB in a hold, then BB reverses it into a flip. That doesn't do enough damage to take the hoodlum down, so BB is distracted with fisticuffs. Sure, it would make more sense to stop "Chick" (such a terrible name for a villain) from escaping, but BB needs to make a save vs. plot to deal with a villain before his henchmen have been dispatched.

A "powerful" touring car probably means this is a trophy item -- something along the lines of a Car +1, or a car with one of the bonus features listed for transport trophies in the Basic rulebook.

It is super-unclear how BB managed to get into the back seat of the car, or how he managed to throw a beetle onto the windshield from the backseat (maybe they are sticky and he tossed it onto the inside of the windshield?). The point is that BB has to have someone see his beetle symbol first before he gets his signature move bonus against them (see the Mysteryman character class).

This is the only original story in the comic; the rest are all reprints of Blue Beetle or Yarko the Great that I have covered before.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

Mystery Men Comics #6 - pt. 3

This is Lt. Drake of the Naval Intelligence.  The grappling rules, as written, do not specify, but strongly imply, that both combatants have to be mobile and non-prone. In this case, I would give Drake a penalty of -4 to his attack roll and his opponent a +4 bonus to his save roll. With lucky rolls, Drake could still get this head lock.

The thug (there's that very common mobstertype again!) "sees Drake's shadow and wheels," meaning that Drake didn't manage to get a surprise action. The thug got to go first (this could have been the result of a dice roll-off, or the Editor making a common sense ruling that a missile weapon should go before an unarmed tackle).

The tackling attack -- a grappling attack, really -- caused a disarm (you automatically get that as a bonus when your opponent has a firearm).

Then Drake trades damage for pushing distance to get the thug knocked down the stairs. That's a sweet trade-off because he still gets some falling damage out of it, and it leaves the thug prone at the feet of the "black gang."

This is from Inspector Bancroft of Scotland Yard. We see the work of a sniper here, who are statted as assassins in 2nd edition.  The mobster entry will even mention how they always hit and kill non-Hero characters about to reveal crucial plot information.

I've never owned an umbrella made in 1940, so I can't say for certain, but I have this suspicion that there were no parts inside an umbrella sharp enough to cut rope. I'm also suspicious of how long the mobsters hung around before driving away, giving Bancroft so much time to get free and catch up to them. Still, an Editor who hadn't done a lot of planning on how to get the Hero from point A to point B might need to allow for this much leniency.

Speaking of leniency, it looks like either Bancroft got lucky on saves vs. science to keep from being thrown off the back of the car and vs. plot to keep from being spotted, or was given this as another freebie. Speaking of freebies -- that's exactly what the dropped bomb is, as there's no game mechanic for mobsters accidentally dropping trophy items while fleeing.

I'm amused by that ending. "I'll take care of the rest of your report. No reason to investigate me for reckless homicide. No reason at all!"

This is Secret Agent D-13. It's true, the British were not loved by the Egyptians, and understandably so; since the 1890s, Britain had been increasingly taking over the Egyptian government, cutting out self-representation of the ethnically indigenous population.

I'm much more skeptical of machine guns being able to be fired from camel-back. For one thing, the camels are just not going to like that, and I suspect the recoil from a machine gun might throw the camels off their feet.

This is Blue Beetle. I did eventually settle on what class to stat Blue Beetle as (for spoilers, see Supplement IV: Captains, Magicians, and Incredible Men), but this early in his career it was still hard to pin down what BB was, as it changed from issue to issue.  This page, with Blue Beetle playing along with being a ghost, makes me feel like he's using the Spook Bad Guys power, making him a superhero -- for at least this issue. 

This is Denny Scott and the Bengal Lancers. I've been wondering how I would stat a femme fatale differently from a vamp. This page makes me think that a Hero will always have to save vs. plot to go first against a femme fatale, even when you know she's a femme fatale.

This is Zanzibar.  It's weird how Zanzibar just happens to be there at the time of the crime, and it's unclear if this is just coincidence, or Zatara somehow mystically sensed this would happen. Perhaps he even just goes around town randomly casting Detect Evil on people and follows the ones he gets readings from...

At the bottom of the page, it seems Zanzibar has cast Poof!, although we don't see the poofing part. It also looks like, since Zanzibar is able to keep dodging around the room on the following page, that this could be our first evidence of the Blink spell being cast.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Mystery Men Comics #5 - pt. 4

I've always stressed how a Hero can only -- with specific exceptions -- get one attack per turn. So how do I explain Blue Beetle getting to attack four hoodlums at once with a ladder? Even the Multi-Attack power would only get him three attacks, and this sure doesn't look like Flurry of Blows. But, what if this isn't an attack, but a trap? Maybe BB has a chance of setting up a trap (with a skill roll). As a trap, it can be made to have an area of effect instead of a single target.

Serious, Inspector Bancroft? He just gave you the name of the hotel, the hotel room number, who to ask for, and when to ask for him -- that's about four times as much information as I give out in my clues. And you were waiting for a personalized invitation?

You can tell Bancroft is low-level because it says he's being overwhelmed by "superior numbers", but there's only two of them. Well, I guess two is more than one!

Note how easy it is for the bobby to shoot the knife out of the mobster's hand, despite the fact that the knife isn't far from Bancroft's face. That bobby wasn't too concerned about missing!  Also note that bobbies, traditionally, didn't carry guns.

Nope, nope -- calling shenanigans here!  There's no way Bancroft jumped 40' into the seat of a car and landed safely because the seats were so cushion-y. Take your falling damage and like it, Inspector!

Smashing a window should be easier than busting a door down, so I'd treat this as a skill check instead of wrecking things.

When you shoot inside a plane, I would reach for my copy of The Trophy Case v. 2 no. 8 for the plane mishap table. In fact, I keep referring to that so often on this blog that I need vehicle mishap tables for my 2d ed. basic book...

This is D-13, Secret Agent.  Recognizing fake accents is apparently an automatic skill, a skill that the Editor can ask the player to roll for, and not just when the Hero intentionally tries something.

I'm still not comfortable with searching being an automatic skill, though. I think players should have to announce they plan to use a skill in most cases, with a few exceptions.

5,000 nomads may seem like too much opposition for one scenario, but here the goal isn't to beat them; the Heroes win if they keep them out of the fort for the entire session.

Waaiiit...do I have to call shenanigans again already? If the fort is surrounded by 5,000 nomads, how do you sneak the entire regiment holding the fort out the front gate and into the same hills, without being seen? Is this some back door gate the nomads forgot to watch?  I would never let this work in one of my games.

This is from the next story of Denny Scott of the Bengal Lancers, and this is why I hate hunting stories. That tiger was just minding his own business, not bothering anyone, until he got shot and wounded. Then he goes into a mad attacking spree, hurting that poor elephant.

It took an hour of hunting to find the tiger, which is pretty quick for a wandering encounter -- though one of the hunters still griped about how long that took. The sudden appearance of the constrictor snake is unusual; it's way too soon for another wandering encounter roll, so the Editor would have had to plan for both animals to be encountered together.

The elephant failed its morale save and flees. That's as per the rules. The morale rules imply that the victim moves directly away from its attacker, but the implication here is that the elephant moves in a random compass direction, and can even move back towards its attacker. I'm not fond of that, as it seems like an extra punishment for failing a morale save, but I'll give it some thought.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

Mystery Men Comics #5 - pt. 3

And we're back with Lt. Drake of Naval Intelligence, but only for that third panel. You get a good sense for the layout of that opium den from the entry hall, the perpendicular hall at the end, the side door, and the parallel stairs. Even the guard at the door is a nice touch, a refreshing change from the yellow peril hoodlum cliche!

I like this page for two reasons. One is that there's a flight of stairs going up that looks different than the first, so this suggests a three-floor hideout. And I like the random dumbwaiter, just sticking out in the hallway there.

They say comic books were written for 8-year olds, but I'm learning new vocabulary words myself going through these old comic books. This has got to be the first time in my 45 years I've encountered the word "ruction!"

I'm amused that a cartoony little dog like that was able to bite Drake for enough damage to make him drop his gun.  That looks like a 1 hit point dog?

Dog blankets do seem like a good place to hide dope. And hollow belt buckles are a good place to hide small trophy items. Who ever thinks to search belt buckles for secret doors?

I've looked at a lot of goofy excuses for disarming an opponent over the 26 months of this blog, but this has to be in the top 5. The heat from a furnace, at least 3' away, stuns her and makes her drop her gun. And I do concede that a ship's furnace has got to be unbearably hot, but it's not like Drake took her by surprise with this tactic -- she had just ordered him to open it! She should have been prepared for it.

Captain Savage is a hero with a schooner, and a good idea.  Alignment-wise, if he's a Lawful Hero, he either has to make a save vs. plot to keep that stolen loot (1st edition) or gets halved experience points for it (2nd ed.) if he doesn't return it. But, if he can contact the rightful owner and negotiate 50% as a reward, then he still gets full xp for the half-share and gets to keep good relations with the original owner.

We return to Blue Beetle, still stuck in the back pages of Mystery Men. Though a mysteryman by class so far, the first indication that BB might be a superhero is this instance of the Quick Change power. Without the power, I can't imagine how BB managed to strip out of his clothes and pull on his hood and goggles that fast.

The dropped cage, combined with a secret door, makes for a good trap, as Heroes can never resist the lure of a secret door.

BB's opponents are a gangster and a thug (gangsters getting their own stat block in 2nd ed.).

But now we're back to evidence that Blue Beetle is still a mysteryman, as he picks the lock instead of wrecking the door. But...it's not at all clear how he got from the cage to the locked room.

I've never statted a "desperado" before for H&H.  I'll have to keep an eye out for that word...

Blue Beetle is a jerk. Here, he decides to pay back a police officer for hitting him by knocking him out, leaving him unconscious on the sidewalk, calling the gangsters over to where the cop is, and then running away. BB is going to be pretty lucky if none of these gangsters have a grudge against cops!

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)