Famous Funnies #68 - pt. 2

Just a few pages left I want to share from this issue. This shooting contest demonstrates that, if you get more than one attack per turn, and you win initiative, you still get all your attacks before the other side goes. 

These gags are from "Life's Like That," which I often enjoy. The one on the left I found particularly funny, while the right reinforces my own distrust of the stock market, all these decades later.

This page, apparently from way back in 1935 (according to comics.org), demonstrates that monkeys are naturally skilled pick pockets no matter what size the monkey (maybe a 2 in 6 chance?). 

What kind of monkey is this? As cartoonishly as it's drawn it is hard to say. It is clearly not a mandrill or a proboscis monkey. Since howler monkeys can grow to 4' tall, I'm thinking that's what this is meant to be, though a langur or a macaque are also not outside the realm of possibility.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

 

Famous Funnies #67 - pt. 2

Just a few pages left to share from this issue...

Jack Kirby isn't doing the art anymore on Lightnin' and the Lone Rider at this point, but it's still an interesting set-up with some unusual additions to the cowboy genre -- a Dragon Lady-like femme fatale, and "advanced" technology, like television, in the villains' lair.

This is from Mescal Ike, and while I think the top strip is pretty funny, I'm including this for the interesting turn of phrase in the middle tier. "Head of the class" is still a common term in use today, but if there's a head it stands to reason there's also a "foot of the class," with the bottom scores. Today's school system would not emphasize this fact and humiliate the student, but in 1940...?

This is from the one-page gag filler, Life's Like That. I'm partial to librarians, even though the "Squeaky" panels aren't as funny. What I found really funny was the baby panel.

We're checking in on Homer Hoopee again for the first time in awhile for several reasons. One, even though the chase sequence is over, it alludes to two important factors -- attack penalties for hitting a target moving at great speed (found in 1st edition Hideouts & Hoodlums' vehicular combat rules, but should also apply to attacking movement-buffed speedsters), and ranges on missile attacks. Further, Homer's prize is an example of how generous monetary rewards can be at the end of a long adventure ($50,000 -- in 1940 no less!).

If you can ignore the racism in this page of Spunky Dory, you'll see perhaps the first critical hit to the groin in comic books, and delivered by a goat no less (longtime readers of this blog are aware of the importance of goats in golden age comics)!

The question then is, is this evidence of the need for a critical hit mechanic in H&H, or does the headbutt to the groin simply explain how it did maximum damage on the damage die? I lean towards the latter.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

Famous Funnies #64

Okay, so this month's Hairbreadth Harry is pretty awful racist -- but it does contain two standout features. One is a pretty awful (but delightfully awful) trap -- our damsel in distress is tied to a giant candle that is going to set her on fire when it burns down. I can just imagine the Adam West Batman being tied to something like this by a villain called the Crime Candle.

And then there's an unusual trophy/treasure item to collect -- a solid gold bell clapper.

This is from Life's Like That. I find it particularly amusing because this seems like just the sort of thing that would happen to me.

Again, yes, racist -- but if we look past that, we see that encounters with wild animals tend to end in violent attacks more often than they would in real life. This fits, of course, with That Other Game where encounters are usually resolved with violence.

Detecting poison - is this a skill Heroes could have, or just their dogs?

Dickie's guardian, Dan, is in a tight fix and seems to have no other choice but to bribe the crew to mutiny. That he's bribing them with money he hasn't stolen yet could mean a penalty to his encounter reaction roll. On the other hand, the high amount and the promise of going free afterwards could cancel that modifier out.

We also learn that you can fit two machine guns and belts into the same crate.

Mike is willing to betray Dan because a) he's a mobster, and b) his reaction roll must have been positive or less (friendly or higher would have secured his loyalty for the mutiny).

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)

Famous Funnies #63

Roy Powers and his eagle scout troop might be onto something here. If you have a wild animal to capture and you don't want to fight it, try penning it in with lots of chicken wire. But how to handle this with an in-game mechanic? I would probably make an encounter reaction roll for the lion. If it was positive, he would stay put while being hemmed in. If it was negative, he'd jump the fence as it was being erected. And, of course, if it was hostile, he would maul the eagle scouts.

Here's an interesting trap -- the stairs fall away into a slide. Harry slides down the slide, head-first, into the stocks with a guillotine set up above them. I guess, had he gone down feet first, there would have been a chance of his leg going into the stocks and getting cut off, which is still pretty bad.

Maybe I'd roll randomly for what direction he was facing when he hit the bottom of the slide, then make him save vs. plot to avoid whatever part was at the bottom going through the hole and getting stuck. The long delay on the guillotine blade drop seems like it makes it too easy to escape, but a quick drop would make this a nasty encounter.

I'm torn on whether this qualifies as a trap or a deathtrap. On one hand, Harry falls into the trap and isn't placed directly into it. On the other hand, his nemesis is present and clearly expects Harry to die. If it's a trap, I would have the blade only do 1-10 points of damage. If it was a deathtrap, I would make it potentially lethal, or at least limb-cut-off-able.

From the gag filler Life's Like That, here's a corner panel that made me chuckle out loud.

This is Jack Kirby's Lightnin' and the Lone Rider, one of the only cowboy features to give title billing to the horse. Which is extra appropriate today because, in this installment, the Lone Rider would be dead if it wasn't for Lightnin' sensing his trouble, kicking a door in, and coming inside to get mixed up in the fight. Hideouts & Hoodlums has rules for Supporting Cast Members, and even accommodates animal SCMs -- but how do you summon a SCM when you need one?

Right now, in H&H, the Editor always decided when and if a SCM shows up, unless the Hero has a means of directly contacting him/her/it. I was reading the Cortex game system recently for the Smallville RPG. In that game, a player can spend a plot point to make a featured character (SCM) show up. It merits consideration.

I had to look up what a yawl is. Apparently it's like a schooner. One or the other will likely be a trophy transport item.  But freighters? We'll see on that one, as I might stop smaller on sea-going trophy vessels.

This is why Heroes seldom take food or drink offered by suspicious people.

We haven't visited Scorchy Smith in awhile!

I'm working on the treasure section of the H&H basic book right now and here are three examples of treasures -- $200 in cash, a ring (we can assume it's worth roughly $200; if it was a lot more, the stolen cash wouldn't be as relevant), and the deed to a gold mine.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

Famous Funnies #62

Opening with a joke...

Jack Kirby's Lightning and the Lone Rider reminds us that silencers existed for guns in the 1930s, though here it is called a "muffler". I would think everyone in a hideout would want a silencer, because gun shots echo so loud.

$2 for an airplane ride.

Dickie Dare's Editor needs to stop having his supporting cast do all the hard work for him, or he's going to get over-reliant on them. If Joe had missed a loyalty check, they would have been done for.

And here's a good lesson about smoking. If you smoke, you'll eventually discard a match in a pile of wood shavings and almost burn down the boat you need to get off a deserted island.

I have a write-up for nobles ready for 2nd edition, because evil counts show up so often in comics...but I can't help but wonder if this guy isn't an evil mysteryman, or even just a really capable slick hoodlum...

Oaky Doaks is a great example of Lawful Alignment. I admire his convictions.

From Babe Bunting -- a map!

From Connie -- a good size comparison of a yacht, a sloop, and a rowboat.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

Famous Funnies #60

Eagle Scout Roy Powers reminds me that, whenever Heroes travel by sea, they almost always run into some storm, or hurricane. The 2nd edition Hideouts & Hoodlums basic book won't have room to talk about sea voyages, but if I ever get to the Advanced H&H Editor's Guide, I'll have to make sure to give a high chance of encountering inclement weather on any nautical, wandering encounter charts.

Something's not kosher about this, Skyroads...Speed says the canoe can go twice as fast as him. Okay, downstream, I could buy that, but upstream? Those are some strong oarsmen!

I'm sharing this because, not only does this educated Mayan school Sally on her cultural bias, but he then teaches her about fatalism. That is one cool character...

Not only is this gag from Life's Like That pretty funny, but it gives us a rare glimpse of a 1930s-era camper.

As if it even needed to be said -- why you don't want to get into a fight with a whale in H&H (this is from Dickie Dare).

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)

Famous Funnies #58

Here's a good example of game play. There's three non-Heroes controlled by the Editor and one player-controlled Hero in the boat, with a gun under the seats. The Editor knows it's there, but has his characters stay quiet, so the player can solve the problem and remember about the gun.

Also worth discussing is the term "high-powered". In the basic rules, that could be code for a Gun +1. Or, if using the optional damage rules, it means the difference between 1-10 points of damage and 1-12 points of damage.

It's also worth pointing out that, unless that's one sickly shark, 12 points of damage is not going to kill it. More likely, the shark failed a morale save afer being injured.

Is it ever just an octopus? It's almost always a giant octopus, isn't it?

This is from the gag filler page Life's Like That. I think this one is pretty funny.

Oaky Doaks has nothing to contribute this month to Hideouts & Hoodlums, but I'm sure digging King Cedric's snappy patter.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

Famous Funnies #55

Goat joke #19, courtesy of Skyroads!

I don't agree with Hairbreadth Harry that pulling a snake off of someone would spin them like a top, that spinning like a top would necessarily hold a tiger spellbound (though I suppose you never really know with cats, maybe every turn spent around a cat should result in a random encounter reaction check?), or that a tiger wouldn't notice its own tail being tied. That all said -- it does seem like a sound strategy to pick up an animal and throw it at your main opponent. The animal, enraged, is likely to attack whoever it lands closest to.

Dickie Dare doesn't fail to provide -- we get a partial map of a hideout, ideas for treasure to place in a hideout, and the idea of having the hideout unoccupied, giving the Heroes a limited time to loot before the mobsters show up.

Never miss a chance to split up the party!  If asked which way they jump, during a cave-in, players may be tempted to use player knowledge and make sure they all jump the same way. A better way to handle this might be to ask the players to write down on slips of paper which direction they jump.

An unusually effective page of Oaky Doaks. This would be a good set-up for a haunted castle...

This is from the Life's Like That gag filler, but I found it quite amusing.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

Famous Funnies #54

Here's a fun item to throw into a hideout -- a bucket with a glass bottom. What's it for? For seeing underwater, of course, as any eagle scout can apparently tell you.

This is from Skyroads, and I've done this too. Your players want to know exactly how many gold coins are in that sack, but you cut corners preparing for the game and only worked out what the dollar value of the whole contents are. Who has time to go check the price of gold in 1940, divide the total dollar sum by it, and get a number of coins? So you tell them, "it's a sack of 50,000 bucks in gold" and, if they ask for details, you add "don't worry about it..."

From the gag filler Life's Like That, here's something I thought was funny.

This is from War on Crime.  It seems that hoodlums always have a chance of identifying "dicks" -- or good guys in general, on sight. A 1 in 6 chance, perhaps?

I am not a fan of Jitter, a pretty humorless gag strip, but this page has some mini-history lessons for us -- specifically what a street-cleaning wagon looked like in the 1930s, and the fact that gas stations also had water hoses.

It's rare that the entire hideout turns out to be one big trap, but in this case the entrance is rigged so that, if someone pulls out some of the support stones, the entrance slides shut and traps you inside.

There's two interesting things to point out from this page of Dickie Dare.  One is the clue, mysterious words written on a piece of paper, meaningless without context, which turns out to be the last name of a villain to be met later (and will be recognized then as foreshadowing).  Two -- and this has come up before -- is that every hideout should have more than one entrance, even if you need a crowbar to break into the secondary entrance.

This is from The Adventures of Patsy.  Animals won't cross a line of fire unless they make a morale save. This might apply to ordinary hoodlums as well, since the line of fire could do 1-6 points of damage to the crosser.

Seaweed Sam is back because of the iron robot he encounters this month. It's far stronger than the version found in Book II: Mobsters & Trophies, though maybe it could use an upgrade -- give it the Raise Elephant power?

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)