Top-Notch Comics #3 - pt. 3

We're still looking at the third issue of MLJ's second series and the aviation/espionage adventure of Wings Johnson. I'm looking at the German seaplane bomber and am unable to identify what type of plane that is...though, the artist is correct to use the 'plus' sign on the side of the plane.

Now, it looks like the plane coming after Wings is a Dornier Do 24, a 1937 flying boat, and not what one expects to see in an aerial dogfight.

Already moving on to Swift of the Secret Service. I include this page because the technique of getting the gems off the ship interests me. It's a daring ploy, and it's carried out right in front of the Hero, so if the player is paying attention there is a good chance of catching it.

The unfortunate engine accident is an unusual complication, especially since it occurs inexplicably.

Swift made his save vs. plot very well (maybe a natural 20) to find not only a convenient motorcycle, but one conveniently with its key still in it.

We have two more chase complications here -- the "has to beat the train to the tracks" complication and the "bridge is going up" complication. Both require an expert skill check -- or stunt -- to overcome.

We'll also look at Scott Rand on Mars today. Here we see Martian pirate saucers, with four weapons on opposing 'sides.' It's unclear what these weapons are, whether some kind of projectile weapons or rayguns.

As if we didn't already have enough versions of Martians, now we get Pink Martians, bald, with pointy ears and fangs. In one previous panel they were yellow, suggesting that they can either change their colors chameleon-like, or was miscolored for one page.

Four-to-one odds are too much for Thor, meaning these Martians are super-tough, or this is not an Asgardian god (something that was never clear).

I'm as big a fan of my wrecking things mechanic as anybody, but I don't think throwing a rock into the gears should have this big an effect...unless maybe you roll triple 6's?

I haven't showcased some filler in awhile, and picked this page to discuss condors. If a normal sized condor has a 15' wingspan, then a large condor would have a 30' wingspan, a huge condor 45', and a giant condor 60'. A large condor would weigh as much as a full-grown man, so would have 1 HD (if a particularly ferocious fighter, it might have 2). That would also be as large as the largest flying animal ever, the quetzalcoatlus. As such, I can only speculate as to how much a huge or giant condor would weigh. Maybe enough to be 4 and 8 HD...?

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

Top-Notch Comics #2 - pt. 4

Scott Rand encounters yet a different race of Martians (Purple Martians?).

This story is by Otto and Jack Binder, who would go on to make a lot of comic books throughout the Golden Age, but you would hardly know it by this early story. Regardless, the Binders have an unusual definition of "hand-to-hand fight" when one side is using a big gun.

Initially, this was just a guy from Viking times who's name just happened to be Thor. Sometimes it seems like the Binders are treating him like the real Thor, but then other times they do things like having Thor fight with an ax.

This is Keith Kornell, West Pointer, being hazed. The last panel  illustrates that grappling damage can be transferred into distance pushed/tossed.

It's interesting that West Point soldiers have access to a new type of military rifle. The M1 Carbine was approved for military use in October 1941. Could these have been the M1 Carbine prototypes being used in 1940?

The last page is from Jack Cole's Manhunters. Flooding a hoodlum out of a hiding place seems like a smart tactic.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

Top-Notch Comics #2 - pt. 3

This is Stacey Knight M.D. still, even though it looks like a more nautical-themed hero's adventure. Here, we see hoodlums in 1940 are still torn between traditional sailboats and modern patrol boats.

Brass knuckles are a popular weapon for heroes in Hideouts & Hoodlums, but there is little evidence of them being used in comics. Here is a rare instance of a mobster using them.

Stacey must have surprisingly narrow hips to squeeze through a porthole. I'd give him a save vs. science or he'd do 1 point of damage to himself and get stuck.

Splash pages were rare things in 1940. The feature is Air Patrol and the narration makes it clear that this was a random encounter with at least 3 aviators. It's also clear that these are Nazi planes by the swastikas, an image most comics shied away from still this early in 1940.

I'm struck, on this page, by how hard it is for people to hit their targets with missiles. The anti-aircraft gun is a powerful weapon, but fired by 1st level fighters, only has a 50/50 chance of hitting (less, if the modifiers for hitting moving targets at great speed, found in 1st edition, are used). The depth charges, against a stationary submarine, should have been an easy hit, but then the same modifiers could apply to dropping from above. Area of effect damage does not seem to impact vehicles, only direct hits.

I offer this page as evidence that skills, like identifying counterfeit money, need to get better as heroes gain experience, like Experience Points.

Not a bad strategy, pretending to be a delivery boy so Swift can listen outside the door of the hideout. Bad guys often happen to be saying something important just when Heroes might be listening.

Joe's not very smart. Tony just told him that there's a cop in the pit, but Tony doesn't seem at all suspicious when he sees Don Carlos below. We've long seen that disguises work really well in comic books, but even here I might give the thug a +1, or even a +2, as a common sense modifier to his save vs. plot to see through this deception.

Here's a nice dystopian future for those who like such things: a New York in the year 2000 where rocket cars race along really high overpasses without guardrails. I think they've solved overcrowding in this future!

Hmm. Now, they just left 1940 because taxis were too dangerous, but they are happy to fight to the death against overwhelming numbers of Martian invaders.

And the Earth forces are so desperate for fighters that they're willing to take in a man dressed like a Viking. This actually reminds me of so many RPG campaigns where the DM/GM/Referee/Editor had a fixed story line and tried to shoehorn all the player characters into it, even though some of the players insisted on making gonzo characters that don't fit into that story line.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

Top-Notch Comics #1 - pt. 2

As I move deeper into this issue past The Wizard's feature, it becomes clear that this issue was prepared by the same packager (Chesler?) that produced a lot of the early Centaur books...and has that same level of quality. Still, I found some things worth commenting on.

This feature is Scott Rand in the World of Time and, as a campaign idea, the focus would be on traveling through time and trying to pick up the most unusual supporting cast throughout history you can get. Here, we see Scott and his boss picking up a high-level Viking Fighter. On the following pages, they also recruit a very un-Egyptian-looking Egyptian princess.

In Hideouts & Hoodlums, language is not an issue -- except when the Editor chooses to make it one. In 2nd edition, there's a note about how the Editor can require a Hero to spend one month's time learning a new language, but these Heroes have a work around for that thanks to the timeless limbo their time ship can reach. This limbo also opens up all kinds of other possibilities for breaking the downplay parts of the game, like unlimited time for inventing things.

I think it's interesting to point out that the time ship has to move forward in physical space before it can time jump; it isn't a one or the other deal.

The Doctor Who parallels should also be pretty obvious and need no elaboration.

From Air Patrol, we see the Aviator stunt Find Blind Spot. Also the stunt Find Origin Story?

Interesting, that the dog fight takes almost an hour of game time to resolve. In second edition H&H, an hour is 120 combat turns!  Maybe aerial combat needs to be run at a different speed?

A rare example of "splash" damage from a comic book (I mean the fire "splashing", not the splashing from hitting the water).

This is from The Mystic.  I find it interesting because, despite the trappings of a magic-user, The Mystic appears to only have skills like escape artistry, which makes him more of a Mysteryman. Never be fooled by the trappings.

This is from Manhunters, showing the true crime genre being a poor fit for Jack Cole.

So how hard should it be to vault a 6-foot fence?  The world record for pole vaulting was almost 15' circa 1939, and that's the closest comparison I can think of. If we rounded down to something divisible by 6 and split the feet between pips on a 6-sided die, that would give us: a 1 in 6 chance to vault 11-12', a 2 in 6 chance to vault 9-10', a 3 in 6 chance to vault 7-8', a 4 in 6 chance to vault 5-6', a 5 in 6 chance to vault 3-4', and vaulting 1-2' would be automatic successes.

And that's all assuming the Editor has time to break things down like that. On the fly, I probably would have ruled a 2 in 6 chance, but might have compromised with a 3 or even a 4 in 6 chance depending on how good a case the players made I was wrong.

Okay, there's no way a belt buckle counts as armor, so using it to explain the miss is just flavor text. I think I've used this example, or something like it, from a comic book story before, though. The real reason I like this page is because Sukup is such a comically ridiculous name, as is the line "Alright, Sukup, come along!"

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)