War Comics #1 - pt. 3

The artist on Danny Dash was Erwin Hess; I've never seen that name before, but I'm impressed by his atmospheric work here. And that castle would feel right at home in a D&D game!

Burnt or torn maps are great because you can leave just as much information on them as you want your players to have. In this case, the map is so partial that it could be a map or it could be some sort of runes. Keep your players guessing for hours!

Interesting twist! After establishing a lot of realism, the story veers into Don Dixon territory with a secret race of gray men attacking. Like with Don Dixon, I don't intend to stat hidden races separately if they don't do anything special.

Here we have a scientist who gets to start off with a trophy item...or do we? Because I could also stat Peace Raider as a superhero, and voracetite is just flavor text for his wrecking ability.

Or is Peace Raider a mysteryman? He seems awful sure of his knowledge of wind velocities and currents, considering that he only has a 2 in 6 chance at best according to the skill system in Hideouts & Hoodlums, but could have (a limited number of) automatic successes as a mysteryman.

Remember, if you do have small trophy items that you need to keep concealed, shaving cream bottles are good hiding places -- and prison guards will just let you have them!

If you have Lawful Alignment, you can still bust out of jail, so long as you leave a note explaining why for your jailers.

This adventure could have ended on this page if Peace Raider had landed on those spikes. Rather than just hand-wave this, I would want the player to save vs. science to avoid hitting the top of the wall. Swinging into the spikes would do at least 1-4 points of damage.

The wall must not be very tall, as that does not look like a jumping pose that would end in a safe landing. Maybe his pals have a trampoline in front of them beneath the panel?

It also seems a bit suspicious that his pals just happen to be standing outside that wall of the prison at the exact moment he escapes. That's more than a wandering encounter; that was a freebie from the Editor.

So, Peace Raider has all the resources of Doc Savage now. You'd think he could have afforded good lawyers before this all started!

Stories like this are why I had to include the exploding die mechanic in H&H, just for starting money. You're probably never going to generate a character who starts as rich as this, but at least now it's possible.

Like the filler on planes in my pt. 1 post, this filler page has some interesting and potentially useful sub info.


(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

War Comics #1 - pt. 2

The Tripod Trio are back. I don't know much about cameras, but I'm guessing rapid-fire flashbulbs and automatic plate expellers were not regular features on them back in 1940. If not, then this would actually be a minor trophy item.

And, although that torpedo is played for laughs, it reminds me that even in vehicular combat, you still need to roll to hit your target.

I was tickled by this page because hydrophones are a trophy item listed in 1st edition Hideouts & Hoodlums, but I never actually saw mention of one in a comic book until now; it was just one of those situations that I intuited to feel right.

But what first attracted my attention was the Y-gun. Was that a real thing? Yep, it's a depth charge projector! The things I learn from comic books.

It became very hard to take this story seriously as soon as that robot picked up a mask. I didn't include any other pages from this story because it's a pretty simple story of the robot posing as a person and three locals get wise to it. The one wrinkle you don't see here is that these robots are so hot that touching one can cause serious injury.

When I go to stat these, I'm not sure what to call them. Sikanduran robots seems long and really obscure.

This is one page, but there's a whole story about the fictional development of a television torpedo. I can't imagine the reception is very good, but the purpose is to be able to watch where the torpedo is going and guide it better. This too would be a trophy item (maybe with a +2 to hit bonus).

This is an unusual boys' adventure story, for several reasons. For one thing, Tim and Jerry are not particularly young boys. For another, they are in a Sweden that was just invaded by Germany -- an unusual event, because it never happened. The author clearly anticipates it, and it makes sense since it just happened to Finland, but Sweden stayed neutral through the war.

Here is Tim and Jerry on a boat trip from England back to the U.S., but they have not even gone far when they discover a German spy in the cabin next to theirs. They have a tricky situation when the spy accuses them of robbing him; the Editor is going to roll an encounter reaction check for each party (or let the players roll their own) and the master-at-arms is going to believe whichever side rolled higher.

Another sign that the U.S. was neutral in war (not a good position to be in when launching a war comic, I reckon), the Americans rescue the Nazi pilot and seem to befriend him here. This may be your last time seeing a Nazi becoming a Supporting Cast Member to Heroes in an American comic book.

This story feels all kinds of wrong! Here, Tim and Jerry are treated nicely by the kindly Nazi sub commander. After sinking the British warship, the Nazis let Tim and Jerry go to be saved by the people in the lifeboats. On the next page, Tim says they were "pretty good eggs." Is this the first case of Stockholm Syndrome in a comic book? And did Americans ever say "pretty good eggs?"

And now we jump to Danny Dash, Globe Trotter, who is in England during the blitz. Here he encounters a transport trophy I never thought I'd have to stat -- a radioactive car! I bet the insurance premiums are sky-high when you drive those.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)