Crackajack Funnies #1

For months now, I've been reviewing pretty much the same cycle of comic books each month; now I've got two new ones in consecutive posts!  Though, to be honest, Crackajack Funnies has a lot of familiar content in it...

We've certainly seen Dan Dunn before! Sometimes I share particular pages for the history they teach us; this time, I share this page because of how accurately it predicts the future. Here, Dan and Irwin predict the prevalence of security cameras in modern society. Next stop, red light cameras!

Speaking of predicting the future -- this notion of mobsters using a naval destroyer seemed novel to me when I thought of it for The Trophy Case no. 9, and here Norman Marsh had already done the same thing 77 years earlier!

Here's an aviator we haven't seen before! So, what stunts is Captain Frank Hawks, Air Ace, using? Conjure Parachute? Deadstick? These both come from the Aviator-themed issues of The Trophy Case, vol 1. nos. 6-7, of course.  Broken oil line sounds like one of the plane mishaps identified in The Trophy Case no. 8.

Is Hawks a two-classed Hero, an Aviator/Scientist? Naw -- he's using the Repair Plane Damage stunt. With all the stunts Hawks has used so far, he must be at least 3rd level.

I've never been satisfied with the Scientist class, and it may be that I made inventing things too difficult. It turns out, any crackpot tinkerer working in a movie theater can invent a death ray!  The things special nurses have to deal with...

Hmm...a rubber finger tip sure seems handy for framing people (and I just saw how you can make your own in the Ant-Man movie!). I wonder if this should be a trophy item...?

Hunting for food is something that could come up when Heroes are on long expeditions, or simply run out of money. I don't think there needs to be a separate game mechanic for hunting, though one should dispense with the rule about only being unconscious at zero hit points.

Ventriloquism, largely forgotten now except by the occasional stand-up comedian, used to be a skill that seemed to fascinate comic book/strip writers. Not everyone could do it (given the confused and surprised reactions in The Nebbs), but you also didn't have to be a Hero (or even an adult) to use it. I'm thinking now that this needs to be more accessible than a stunt; perhaps a basic skill, like finding secret doors and hearing noises, that everyone has a flat chance to do?

We haven't touched on the Spanish Civil War in a while, but Don Winslow reminds us that neutrality poses its own challenges and a scenario can be built around "get in, get out, don't attack either side".


(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

Popular Comics #19

I'll start with talking about the Dick Tracy pages from this issue, not pictured here. A playing tip is that Tracy and his fellow cops dab phosphorescent calcium sulfide on their noses so they can spot each other in the dark, while not giving their location away like entering a dark hideout with flashlights blazing would do.

Japanese dope smuggler Toyee tries to hide from Tracy by being sown into a big dead fish. So if you see fish hanging from the ceiling in a hideout, make sure you punch them a few times and listen for "ow!"

Toyee wore a ring with a secret compartment for a poison capsule, potassium cyanide specifically. Something else to look for when capturing mobsters.

Alignment doesn't get discussed in comic books often, but here's a perfect discussion of what constitutes Law from this page of The Nebbs.

Hmm...a mini-aircraft carrier (though only able to carry one aircraft) that flies through the air thanks to helicopter propellers? Is this the granddaddy of Jack Kirby's Helicarrier for Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD?

Although this page refers to Galapagos iguanas as "giant marine iguanas", they're actually not that large. I wouldn't stat at giant iguana, then, as anything over 1+1 Hit Dice.


(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus)

Popular Comics #13

Nebbs reminds me that, when I statted half-pints for Hideouts & Hoodlums Book II: Mobsters & Trophies, I should have given them some natural climbing ability.

Maw Green's pearls of "wisdom" usually just annoy me, but this installment has some useful 1930s pricing information:  prunes – 10 cents a can, bananas – 15 cents a bunch, soup – 7 cents a can.

Dick Tracy runs into more "gangland trickery" -- a car with a concealed machine gun under the hood that shoots through the radiator grill. This is a good example of combining two hi-tech trophy items to create a new item.

Gasoline Alley features a map to a gold mine that you can read over Mr. Bat's shoulder and use in your home campaign.

This page of Tom Mix would take some explanation to fit H&H. First, he is hearing noise, as if at a door (with the same 2 in 6 chance of success).

The chance of the floor crumbling is a trap (perhaps a 2 in 6 chance of crumbling each turn 180+ lbs. remains on it).

Falling and landing on an opponent and damaging the opponent has been covered previously. Falling and landing on two opponents -- that's just a freebie from the Editor.

Here's another freebie -- apparently, the Editor rolled for surprise after Tom fell and gave him a free surprise turn to act. Normally, if the Editor felt the situation warranted a surprise roll, the mobsters could only be surprised long enough for Tom to get back on his feet, not to move as well.

The firefight in the dark is tricky too. Tom is in complete darkness, so the gunmen are at a -4 to hit penalty against him. But, the gunmen are in dim light -- a charitable assumption by muzzle flashes alone -- so Tom still has a -2 to hit them. That Tom hits them all with rocks before they shoot him is quite lucky.



I'm not sure, but remain skeptical that H&H needs a game mechanic to cover pinning someone's clothes to the wall. It seems more like flavor text to me...








Now, Don Winslow might be making sense -- I helped you against a rampaging jaguar, now you help me -- right? For a one-time favor, an Editor could easily hand-wave the encounter reaction roll and rule by common sense. However, if Don was looking to recruit those natives long-term, or to put them in mortal danger, then the Editor would still be right in rolling randomly for an encounter reaction.



Bos'n Hal learns that the U.S. Navy decided in the 1930s that dirigibles were obsolete, so they became available for sale (the police dirigibles on Batman: The Animated Series were probably Navy surplus dirigibles). However, given their limited availability and a presumedly high price, I still plan to keep them off the starting equipment list.

And, lastly, Skippy makes me think I may have underestimated how many hit points half-pints have. Or are these 3rd-level half-pint fighters?









(Scans courtesy Digital Comic Museum)

Famous Funnies #18 - pt. 1

Connie is more of a talky sleuth than an action-adventure sleuth, but this installment shows the value of seeing through disguises.

There are two different game mechanics for disguises in Hideouts & Hoodlums.  The first was requiring a saving throw vs. plot to see through a disguise.  The second, introduced with the Villain Class in Supplement II: All-American, gave a percentage chance per level of fooling people.

The Villain Class will likely not carry over to the next edition.  Further, like with Connie, it should be incumbent on the viewer to see through the disguise, rather than incumbent on the disguised to fool the viewer.

This panel from the "Flight" feature is of particular interest to me, since in my previous H&H campaign, the Heroes had to travel by air to China and I had to research this route on my own.

 Ah, Seaweed Sam!  How did I ever ignore you before?  Here we're treated to a new spell, or is it a new magic trophy?  My guess is the latter, so here we have the Shawl of Temporal Relocation.  Each time it is used to cover a living thing, that being is transported back in time (the example here is 1,200 years, but let's say the Shawl sends people back a random 1d6+6 centuries instead).  There should also probably be a saving throw vs. spells to resist, though given how powerful the Shawl is, the save should probably come with a hefty penalty, say, -5 to the roll.

This snippet from Hairbreadth Harry features a trap (chloroform concealed in a bouquet of flowers) and a deathtrap (the cliche of being tied to the railroad tracks).  The distinction between a trap and a deathtrap is that the trap is passive, triggered by the victim interacting with it.  The deathtrap is actively put into motion by the villain.

This snippet from The Nebbs demonstrates why Half-Pints should be treated as combatants (and are statted as such in Book II: Mobsters and Trophies).

From Flying to Fame, here we have our first constrictor snake (also statted in Book II).

This installment of Hairbreadth Harry brings up an element left out of H&H to date -- the weather.  Extreme weather conditions are here shown to cause damage, like weapons, only perhaps more temporary.  The next edition may include some notes like this.

We also get a good idea for a using snow to replace a grappling hook.

Since Harry did not knowingly initiate a grappling attack on Rudolph, Rudolph is not technically pinned.  Rather, the fall probably did enough damage to Rudolph to subdue him.

The next edition should have a note in it about how cushioning a fall like this both lessens damage to the faller and transferring damage to the cushion.

Here we see even a domestic situation can turn into an action-adventure story, thanks to a hostile terrier. Although watchdogs are statted in Book II, that type of dog is likely a 150 lb. mastiff.  For a 30-40 lb. terrier, I would assign it only 1-2 hp, with the ability to bite for just 1 point of damage.

Terriers and mastiffs are likely to both become notes under one entry for Dogs in the next edition.

(Scans courtesy of the Digital Comic Museum at http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/index.php?dlid=23799)