Wonderworld Comics #10 - pt. 3

Bob Powell really seemed to enjoy working on Dr. Fung, as he put his best early work into this feature.

Here we get to see a rare cutaway view map in a comic book panel, showing an underground tunnel complex. Note the tunnels at different levels, as evidenced in the last panel, where you have the dry level up above, and a water-lined tunnel at the lower level.

Hideouts & Hoodlums has lots of stats for giant fish in it already, but maybe there's room for one more. I'm not an expert on fish identification and the narration doesn't help. Is that a giant carp?

Dan's pretty funny.

I'm not sure how Dr. Fung knows the guard has the keys on him. Just a good guess? An expert skill check to notice things?

Dan is a 3rd-level fighter (sergeant) by now, which is how he's able to plow through sentries so fast with just his bare hands. He uses his surprise attack disarming the sentry. It appears that Dan can punch at the same time as being grappled, instead of grappling back, going against the grappling rules I wrote for 2nd edition. Stop that, Dan!

Sort of like the keys earlier, it seems like a big leap to say that a volcanic eruption is about to happen just because a subterranean river is getting warmer.

Powell must have become too busy in mid-feature, as we went abruptly from seven high-quality panels a page to this three-panel rush job. I can see what he was trying to do in the second panel, with the scientific accoutrements in the extreme foreground and the figures in the extreme background, but it also makes it look like the Chess Man is inside a giant glass sphere. Which is not a bad defense, if you know your opponents are coming in unarmed. Interestingly, Dan never bothered taking the sentry's rifle (or shirt).

I've seen lots of disarming attacks in comic books so far, but snapping a sweaty handkerchief in someone's face has got to be the most improbable yet. Maybe Karno has a flashback to being snapped with towels in gym class and freezes up. And then his guard is so shocked at Dr. Fung's sheer audacity that he does nothing to stop him. And then the other three guards are so shocked that the first guard was shocked that they don't bother attacking as Dan lunges at them (initiative rules are very loose in these situations for a reason).

Munson Paddock continues to set new artistic ground, this issue with his Tex Maxon feature. Note the creative way he illustrates a roundhouse kick in panel 2, a method that I've never seen duplicated since. And I love that insult in panel 4 -- "You insinuatin' snake!"

We've seen lots of examples of people recovering quickly from being temporarily stunned in comics -- so much so that I had to relent and put stunning rules in 2nd edition -- but this could be the fastest recovery in panel 2, as the outlaws revive while the fight is still going on and get back into it.

It's rare to see a comic book character stick around while the stolen loot is being identified, but the sheriff gives us a good excuse for why when he claims his own share "fer doin' th' work" -- which seems a likely excuse players would come up with.

This is Spark Stevens and, I'm curious, how Spark knows that those are secret Navy plans. I mean, maybe it's something super obvious and they say "TOP SECRET" across the top of them. He seems very sure of their authenticity at just a glance (skill check?).

It's interesting how they loosen the hinges first, to give them a bonus modifier to their open doors check. I wonder what they used on the screws, though -- their fingernails?

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Wonderworld Comics #9 - pt. 3

This is still Dr. Fung (and Dan Barrister, who never gets title billing). It seems the shrinking process of Karno takes two days, which is an unusually long onset time for comic books.

I had long toyed with the notion of allowing a stunning blow to the back of the head. It finally made it into the 2nd edition Basic book as the "head blow" rule (page 90).

Dr. Fung moves silently with an expert skill check to avoid detection.

Dr. Fung is still making skill checks.

It is difficult to say what that ray-gun does exactly. It can definitely strike two people side-by-side at the same time. Since Dr. Fung says it "blasts," maybe it shoots pure concussive force, allowing it to both do damage to opponents and wreck things.

It's worth noting that this is a distinctly different chamber than the throne room we saw Karno in earlier, and possibly also different from the lab Irene was imprisoned in. The rest of the hideout seems to be caves, other than these three chambers.

Tex Mason used a skill check to disguise himself as an Indian.

The bank robbers are consistently called bandits on this page, so they must be statted that way.

The last bandit should be shouting "It's over, Tex! I have the high ground!"

Willis Rensie is likely a pseudonym for Will Eisner (though the art is Bob Powell). Will seemed to have a great deal of apprehension about the War in Europe and here wrongly anticipates three Axis powers in Europe. He likely assumed that Spain would join the Axis. Unofficially they did aid Germany, but could do little because they were so wiped after their civil war.

Of Diableef, Riano, and Morga, it will be interesting to see which represents Germany, Italy, and Spain.

"Ahh, no, please -- the coat is rubbing on the fresh wounds from my lashings! Take it off!"

K-51's bizarre sentence seems to be something in Italian written out phonetically, but I can't guess what it is.

If I'm right, though, that makes Morga the Italian guy!

The uniforms look an awful lot like chauffeur uniforms...

"Guten abend" means that Diableef is the German guy (though, really, that one was not a hard guess).

It's a little bizarre that the plot of this scenario is to save Hitler.

Only this early in 1940 could someone think Hitler was just being manipulated by Mussolini and would be willing to sign a peace accord with Europe.

Stories like this were often ripped from the headlines (even if it was the headlines of a few years past). This is interesting because it is based on no real life sugar shortage that I can find. Sugar rationing did occur during the war years, but not until 1942 for the U.S.

"Daily Globe" is a fairly generic newspaper name used in a lot of cities, so it does not tell us where Mob Buster Robinson takes place.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

Wonderworld Comics #8 - pt. 3

Dr. Fung finds it extra hard to find the trickster Scorpio (the trickster class, designed for mediums and psychics, debuted in The Trophy Case v. 1 #4) in his weirdly-shaped mansion. The first room is concealed behind curtains, but behind the room is a secret door keeping the blackmail files safe. The Editor can double up on tricks and traps as well if it keeps the hideouts challenging.

Weapons concealed in canes are so cliche that they'll never fool your players, but a spring-loaded arrow-launcher concealed in a magician's wand? That's a trophy item that will surprise them (though I question the penetrating power of such a weapon -- maybe it would only do 1-4 points of damage?).

Tex Maxon is good in a fight, but not as good as Timmons!  Check out how he kicks a rock with the back of his foot and manages to get enough lift to strike Tex in the head. I'm not sure even professional soccer players could pull off that stunt. It certainly makes me question if Hideouts & Hoodlums needs any facing rules.

It is not unfeasible for someone to fall 150' and survive, as there have been lots of examples of people falling even further and living. The H&H rules are unforgiving , with a fall from that height doing 15-90 points of damage. Now, it's possible that Jon Pulski had 16 hit points and got really lucky, or the Editor set a lower minimum damage (which he could always do, at his discretion).

Fake skulls seems like it could be interesting hideout dressing.

This is K-51, though the influence of Will Eisner makes it seem an awful lot like a Black X story. This takes place in the Philippines, which was an U.S. territory at the time. The rabble-rouser Mussoni is obviously based on Mussolini, though what he'd be doing in the Philippines isn't clear.

Notice how, in fiction, no one ever gets stabbed during a grappling fight. This is borne out in the 2nd edition grappling rules, where if you grapple someone, that opponent can't make any attack back at you that turn except for grappling.

The typhoon is either a wandering event or something the Editor just tossed in, at his discretion, to shake up the plot (it had been a standoff before this). The typhoon is strong and wrecks as if a high-level superhero. X-51 and his fellow agent Claire (she does have a codename, but it's not used past the first page) both make their saving throws vs. science (or maybe plot, or whichever was worse?) to survive the storm, with the Editor rolling for the major antagonists on the ship, while likely hand-waving the rest of the rolls and just saying the crew all died.

The bad guy here is called both a bandit and a robber, but by the way he gets from the side door of the train to the ropes hanging above the train, he must be a mysteryman.

The "chief" is a master criminal; you can tell he is by the bald head. A thug (another mobster type) robs the train this time, using less acrobatics.

The car is full of a mixture of gangsters and thugs. One of the thugs recovers quickly, having made his save vs. plot to recover quickly from unconsciousness (a new 2nd ed. rule). This indicates that even small-fry mobsters are eligible for the recovery rule...though, if there was no such rule, this could perhaps be explained away as a special ability of the thug mobster-type.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

Wonderworld Comics #4 - pt. 3

Fire works kind of goofy in comic books. What was in that lamp to explode like that? Napalm? What was that castle made out of to burn down so fast? Balsa wood? Gems melt in fire?  How hot was that fire? Hmm...

This is Tex Mason.

Maybe cowardly hoodlums should just have a faster movement rate when fleeing?

I really just shared this because I like the dynamic artwork of Munson Paddock here.

This is K-51 Spies at War, though you might not know it by how he's being upstaged by his new fiancee, K-19. It's interesting how K-51 has picked up the relationship dynamic from Siegel & Shuster's Spy, not long after Siegel unwisely abandoned it.

But I really just shared this for the radium gun. This panel gives you a great example of the size of the rayguns described in Book II: Mobsters & Trophies. It's good that the raygun is so stationary too, because it's ability to wreck like a 7th level Superhero at long range is intimidatingly powerful.

Maybe Heroes' guns jam more often in comic books than I gave them credit for. Definitely including a gun jam rule in 2nd edition.

And here is another example of K-19 completely taking over this feature.

This is "Spark" Stevens. I'm working on the combat section of 2nd edition Hideouts & Hoodlums right now and the next mechanic I need to work on is something elegant for entangling weapons, like whips and nets. There has to be a chance of holding your opponent fast, but also a trade-off, like your opponent being able to disarm you, like this.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)

Wonder Comics #2 - pt. 2

Yarko has a spell that lets him see in the dark. Infra-Vision?

This is one weird building, by the way. The view of the manor we saw on page 1 of this story looked like a lone building standing on a hilltop. Now there's a moat around one building, or part of the same building, cut off from the rest, that wasn't visible before. Is there a moat inside the house, or is the layout of the place different once you're inside, because it's magic?

Yarko's Rope Trick spell. Rope Trick usually raises a rope vertically, but here it is shown being horizontal as well.

Under hypnosis (like the 2nd level spell Hypnotic Pattern?), victims can be commanded to perform skills better than normal. Maybe at a +2 check?

This is Shorty Shortcake again, one of the properties to carry over from the first issue of Wonder Comics. We have previously only seen temporary amnesia as a complication Heroes suffer from being reduced to zero hit points. Now we can add losing their senses to the short list. The effect leaves the Hero temporarily mumbling incoherently and stunned to the point where the Hero can do nothing more complicated than sitting upright.

Patty O'Day returns -- and we get more evidence that Hideouts & Hoodlums needs leopards statted in the next main book.

Whoa, what the- ?  Patty's new supporting cast member Ham is suddenly a Superhero! He's clearly wrecking things on those bars (which should wreck like doors), and in combat he's either using the power Multi-Attack, or he's a Fighter/Superhero and using combat machine as well!  Way to recruit the SCMs there, Patty!

Dr. Fung and Dan Barrister are back. Dr. Fung has invented a potion that ...well, the science behind it is highly questionable, so let's just call it a Potion of Water Breathing. The Scientist class has seen a little playtesting over the years since it debuted in Supplement III. One of the disappointments has been that scientists are supposed to relegate their inventing to downtime between scenarios, but that's exactly what we see here. A Scientist Hero, then, would have to be lucky enough to be working on something that will be useful in the next scenario (though the Editor could always help make that happen).

I'm not sure what's going on in that top tier of panels. Is Dr. Fung looking to buy lots of pearls to help Dan (who is undercover already as a deep sea diver)? Is he looking for someone the murderers might be unloading stolen pearls to? Or is he just going around, telling people he's loaded with dough, and looking for trouble? All of them are valid investigative angles for a Hero, I suppose.

The cross-section map of the hideout isn't as helpful as an overhead map would have been for running a scenario there, but it's interesting nonetheless.

I don't know that I really needed to share this page. I just think that's one of the goofiest octopi drawings I've ever seen, it's a rare instance of not being called a giant octopus in the comics (is "giant" now always a given?), and -- really -- that leash on its tentacle that holds it close to the villain lair is too comical to ignore.

Listen to Tex Maxon -- if you're going to stuff dynamite in your shirt, store the caps separately!

Man, the quality of these microfiche scans seems to be getting worse. I can still make out Tex saying that'll "seal 'em in for five hours". I wonder how he knows it'll take that long? Can x amount of manpower at y hours of digging duplicate the Dig power for Superheroes?

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum)