Champion Comics #4 - pt. 2

This is Penny Wright, girl reporter. We can see here how useful it is carrying glass compacts, especially if you get tired up a lot.

I still do not plan on statting henchmen as their own mobstertype. Hair-pulling? This henchman fights like a girl...

Although, according to Penny Wright, the way a girl fights is to put out a cigarette in your opponent's eye. Normally I wouldn't allow a called shot, but a lit cigarette to any other part of the body would barely qualify for a point of damage. An eye is going to be a small target -- AC 2? If it hits, I would let it do 1-6 points of normal damage.

The people in the sewers are not labeled, but they are "Apaches," also known as bloodthirsty hoodlums.

Waist-deep in raw sewage, Penny is going to have to save vs. poison or be diseased after this.

Doormen are good bad guys because they see everyone who's coming and going.

Until this page it wasn't clear what Nina's scheme was or that she was mesmerizing people. That would be simple skill-based hypnosis, rather than a magic spell.

The guy from the window is actually smart to put away his gun, since Penny can save vs. missiles to dodge getting shot...

But he's maybe not so smart to choose grappling, because grappling can always turn against you.

Typewriters, particularly 1940 typewriters, are heavy. I would let that do normal 1-6 damage.

The French police talk about being indebted to Penny, but it seems like the squad did all the hard work, except for the one guy she hit with the typewriter.

This filler page has an interesting image of what a Martian could look like. It's distinctly different from any other Martians we've seen. Do I need to stat another Martian??

This is Neptina, Queen of the Deep, though the cast is expanding so fast that Neptina only gets a cameo on this page. It is worth pointing out that the top two tiers of panels are told from point of views that no hero in the story is present to witness. This kind of "set-up" scene is common in modern comics with their infinite subplots, but is virtually unheard of this early in comic books.

That second tier of panels clearly illustrate what bothers me the most about so many underwater adventures -- how do merpeople or fish-men smelt ore to make things out of metal underwater? And these giant tools we see in the background, winches and cranes -- would they really be the best way to move things underwater?

Now, what interests me on this page are the fish-men "shadowers," which makes me think of allowing fish-men to be classed as mysterymen, or the obscure 1st edition class, the spy. But, on the other hand...they aren't very good secret agents, are they? They fail to blend in, inside a city of fish-men, and then easily fall prey to an ambush.

Note the merwomen's antiquated weapons. Brad's tuning fork, as we've seen previously in this serial, is a thought transmitter, which explains how the merpeople can talk to each other underwater (except for, again, how they smelt the ore to make the metal to make the tuning forks).

Sub-plane? Why would it need to be a plane underwater?

I'm half-convinced I should make some kind of a joke about revolting seamen here, but probably won't.

Remember how the merwomen "took care" of the shadowers on the previous page? So they've already been beaten or surrendered, but here's our murderous Brad, still going around stabbing them to death and getting to the battle at the palace late. Way to lead, Brad!

Lastly, note the hydraulic jet pack on Brad's back, which would be a handy way of getting around underwater.

These are the Liberty Lads, appearing three years before Johnny Tremain was published.

Liberty Lad Tom here demonstrates what not to do when trying to find the American Secret Service headquarters -- walk up to complete strangers on the street and openly ask them.

Sgt. Upjohn triggers a morale save with just a trip attack.

This is from the Adventures of Bill Handy. Here we get a rare look at a wild boar in comics. Curiously, guns are less effective than stabbing weapons against boars. Who knew?

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

Champion Comics #3 - pt. 2

Picking up where I left off, Penny Wright is tied to a tree by Santos and just left there (I guess he has to go somewhere to get his favorite whip).

While Penny's not that bright, Gus seems to be a quite capable assistant -- so much so that I hope he represents a played Hero and not supporting cast. Making a rope out of a blanket is clever, and I don't think I've ever seen a snare trap used like this.

There's a couple freebies from the Editor here, though. One, I'm not crazy about allowing a snare to do knockout damage. At best, I would treat it as an improvised weapon and have it do 1-3 points of damage (of course, it could also just be a very weak guard). Second, the keys in easy reach is either a freebie or the result of a save vs. plot.

Government Man seems to be a wandering encounter, though he could also be a third freebie. Or a third played Hero who's player showed up late to the session!

Liberty Lads had me fooled with Wonocco for a bit there, as it sounds just convincing enough that I thought it might be an actual Indian name. I can't find any evidence of that being true, though. If this is Richmond, Virginia, then Wonocco is likely Algonquin or Sioux.

The mother bear, apparently, attacks just to defend her cub, but Wonocco ruthlessly guts her and then, also apparently, they just leave a motherless cub to defend for himself. Way to live with nature there, Wonocco!

Now I have to decide if I need to stat militiamen as a mobstertype. I could just leave them as fighters, but they are also characterized here as "yellow backed" (low morale), and we know their number appearing goes up to 400. They are shown to be racist -- but then, when even the good guys call you Possum, you know you're a black man in a racist society.

Quinine is a a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis -- an odd remedy for a fever, but what do colonial-era kids know?

And maybe it's my modern sensibilities at play here, but that wood-cutter's intentions seem more perverted than "wily" to me. Maybe, if read from a 1940 perspective, it would seem more obvious that the wood-cutter is in league with the redcoats.

This is Jungleman. Evidence that the white (-ish) tiger is a supporting cast member and not directly under Jungleman's control is seen in how Jungleman leaves it behind to guard his prisoner.

That Jungleman's ability to speak with animals is not limited to one animal at a time is demonstrated by this communion with a small army of apes and monkeys (all living together, as if they were interchangeable).

Angkor is incorrectly described as a living city here, when it was actual already in ruins well before 1940.

Kalu is an actual name, but more often an African name than an Asian name.

The Blazing Scarab picked up where it left off.

More proof that languages spoken is unimportant in comic books.

Evidence of an unusual magic-user "wand" -- in this case, the scarab -- and evidence of a visual manifestation of the spell being cast.

It seems that the spell was Hold Person, but Walt can still follow commands. Hold Person II?

Interestingly, these men-at-arms that can step through walls are very similar to the hieroglyph guardian mobstertype that I introduced in the 2nd edition Basic book, only full-sized and not monstrous-looking.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)