Popular Comics #49 - pt. 2

I believe I had given the Power Dive stunt a bonus to hit when I made the Aviator class, but I've since learned in playing Dawn Patrol that power dives are for gaining speed, as done here. I don't presently have a rule to cover this, other than how a piloting skill check allows you to go a little faster than normal.

Once again, we're given a teasing clue that the Masked Pilot is either someone very famous or very influential, or both. Or he's carrying Doctor Who's psychic papers.

Penguin Pete, which is really a better adventure strip than it has any business being, reminds us that a "miss" in combat doesn't necessarily mean you missed your target, it's just that you caused no damage. Although I could have arrows do less damage to alligators...?

Don't forget that mobsters can wreck things, just like any non-superhero Heroes, with just two dice instead of three. That should be enough to smash a rowboat...though I could give them a +1 bonus when wrecking with their tails, or just mention that alligators can wreck things behind them with their tails.

We're going to spend the rest of this blog post spending more time looking at Captain Tornado than it probably deserves, but maybe we'll learn something about creating fictional civilizations.

Rule #1: Dress the natives exotically. Don't be afraid to make your Heroes confront a male guide wearing a thong-backed banana hammock.

Rule #2:  Rather than try to imagine new technologies, you can recreate modern conveniences through different means and still make a society look advanced. Here is a mechanical elevator. Also note the locals live in a place that resembles the courtyard of a fancy hotel.

Phosphorescence is a real thing, of course, but some unknown process must amplify it so it operates as sunlight. Of course, it's also possible that all the grass in this cave is astroturf, and the trees are fake sculptures, just to give them the feel of being aboveground. 

That the door "mysteriously opens" feels somewhat laughable today when every store has automatic sliding doors, but while the concept of automatic sliding doors is very old, the way to make this work electronically was not invented until 1954 -- so this is actually "futuristic" tech in 1940!

Note the trope of how visitors always get to visit rulers directly, instead of being made to interact with some underling who reports back to the ruler (which seems like it would keep the ruler much safer).  

Holy cow, this page is pretty terrible. "I'm free, white, and 18 and he can't boss me"? Really Jane? 

And while that's pretty overtly racist, that's nothing to how terrible this alien caste system is, with its two slave castes who either get their tongues cut out or aren't allowed to ever see light. 

If I didn't already hate this evil alien race enough, now we find out that they rip the wings off of giant butterflies and wear them. I guess we also find out from this that these aliens are hollow-boned, allowing them to fly.

The concept of species degenerating to the point where they no longer understand their ancestors' technology can be traced at least as far back as H.G. Well's Morlocks.

And we learn from this page that water pressure, instead of electricity, is how they work their technology. I wonder if water pressure could run a plane...?

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Fight Comics #2 - pt. 1

Ah, George Tuska...how much better I like his 1970s work. With Young George, you can almost see the Eisner influence there, but the figures are so stiff in almost every panel...

There is no Lolaii Island, but from the spelling it seems clearly a stand-in for a Hawaiian island.

Popeye's love for spinach, clearly the reference here, goes all the way back to 1932.

A rare use of "birds," sometimes used for crackpots and oddballs, but here sarcastically used for obviously bad people.

Manoa is not an island, but a valley on the island of Oahu, near Honolulu. Now, it would make more sense for this story to start near a major city like Honolulu, and move away from there to a more isolated island, but apparently these were lazy pirates.

Oahu does have coves, like the map does, which makes it even likelier to be the location.

I'm a bit surprised that both Shark and the girl are so eager to shoot the whipper while Daddy is right on the other side of him. I mean, it almost makes sense for Shark because he has no personal stake in this, in case he misses and hits Daddy, but the daughter too? She must be really confident...

Since Shark would still be a 1st-level fighter (beat cop), being beaten by four-to-one odds seems, statistically, extremely likely.

Now, Shark could have rushed Skinny at any time, except that he clearly missed his save vs. plot and had to fight his way through the underlings first.

Koa is the Hawaiian word for warrior.

Pre-modern Hawaiian hunters used bows, but Hawaiian soldiers used slings. Of course, this is 1940, so they'd actually be wearing modern clothes and carrying guns in real life.

I can find no evidence that Hawaiian soldiers ever used poison.

Shared for the prize purse after five months of professional fighting, which is good news for Heroes who want some side money between adventures.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

Tip Top Comics #17, 20, 22

Also known as vol. 2, no. 5, 8, and 10. Outside of Tarzan, the strip I can't see because of strict copyright laws, the race for second-best ongoing story line is a contest between Billy Make Believe and Peter Pat. Like The Adventures of Patsy, these were parts of a minor and unsuccessful movement to merge the kids' adventure and fantasy genres. Both Billy and Peter have exciting adventures and reveal themselves to be capable fighters despite being half-pints, though Billy's seem less dangerous, as it is not clear whether his adventures are actually taking place or are only imagined by him, as the title suggests. 

I include this page's How to Make It sub-feature because, of all the mini-craft projects I've seen described in filler material so far, that one about making paper tepees is the only one I've actually done.

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Billy is still fighting toy people (and contributing to racism?). It looks like toy people can be encountered in groups up to 30, and do not have to be human-like in form.

Captain and the Kids gives us wild men, another name for cave men, and reminds us how strong they are. Maybe all cave men should have the Raise Car power?

The reference to state police in Hawkshaw the Detective suggests that, despite being based on Sherlock Holmes, this takes place in the U.S.

Here's an issue we've discussed here before: when do powers/spells/stunts need to be activated? Does the wild man need to have used the Raise Car power to lift that tree out of the ground, or is simply flavor text accompanying the attempt to wreck the rope? It may depend on what comes next. If the wild man simply escapes the tree and ignores it afterwards, the Editor can rule that the tree was lifted out as just flavor text, as it has no bearing on the story. If, however, the wild man tried to pick up the tree and use it as a giant club, then the Editor should rule that a power needed to be used, even if he has to retroactively make that ruling.

We're now on issue # "20"...

This really takes me back to the early days of the blog when I used to keep a running tally of how many goats appeared in the comics. It's true, before there were supervillains, goats seemed to be the supervillains of comic books.

Here we see how little provocation goats need before attacking.

Ella Cinders addresses the issue of language. It's been a Hideouts & Hoodlums rule since the beginning that languages aren't important and all characters speak the same one. Ella Cinders makes it clear (or even more clear, we just assumed so before) that the language we all speak is English.

In a more capable artist's hands that first panel of Fritzi Ritz could have been downright scandalous. But I include this strip not to titillate you, but to point out that fur wraps cost $150 and that, if you're going to haggle, maybe you should wait longer before suggesting furs depreciate in value.

Peter Pat's first big adventure has been wrapped up and he's returning the princess to claim his reward -- and is seemingly very well rewarded too. Peter should be at around 3,000 XP right now, which means his title should be an officer, but colonel seems really high...

 ...but then, it depends on the perks that come with it. Peter, after all, won't be commanding large armies or have access to heavy artillery -- it looks like he gets a fancy helmet and a pony, and the chance to perform in the rodeo.

This page also reminds us that, when developing alien cultures on the fly, all you really need to do is swap out one detail, like pigs for horses at the rodeo.

And we'll wrap up for today on this first share from issue # "22" and Hawkshaw the Detective. It's a rare, early occurrence of bad guys using passwords or phrases to get into their hideouts.

A question to ponder, that I'm not sure how to answer yet: when Heroes are on a stakeout, should they make a save vs. plot or science to determine if they sneeze...?

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Amazing Man Comics #9 - pt. 3

This is still Magician from Mars, and she's here in battle with the (fear) elemental (which I already statted and added to the Mobster Manual last night!). Almost too subtle to notice in panel 2, Jane seems to be tossing tiny lightning bolts at the elemental -- or are those Magic Missiles?

I'll have to add a note that fear elementals can assume gaseous form once per day.

The "Aug. 10" note, superimposed on the newspaper clipping, tells us that this story can't be taking place in the present; it has to have been the recent past (Aug. 10, 1939), or some time in the future.

Sleep gas is a standard trope of the genre, as is the tactic of pretending to be unconscious to get captured.

This time, Jane tries a much different tactic, hitting just the right musical notes to send the elemental back (likely flavor text for a Dispel Evil spell, though).

How is it that the elemental appears taller than the ceiling in panel 5? Could it be that its size is illusory...?

Just to remind you that Jane is a magic-user/superhero, here she wrecks the staircase.

This is Chuck Hardy in the Land beneath the Sea (you know, where the pressure should be crushing him to death, but...). Jerry has just been captured by something we'll soon learn is called a Quadropel Man.

Chuck, Oxan, and Jerry were outfitted like D&D adventurers, with backpacks and lanterns.

Before Chuck can find Jerry he has a random encounter with a giant pterodactyl (comic book writers never seemed to be aware how small pterodactyls were).

This might be the first time a sword has been specifically a shortsword in comics.

The Quadropel Men look a lot like green Martians.

In a nice twist on the "knock the statue over on the cultists" cliche, Chuck tips the statue over into a pool of scalding water, the scalding water floods the room, and that kils the Quadropel Men/Green Martians (or at least damages enough of them that they fail a morale save en masse). I would have scalding water do 1-4 points of damage to everyone in the room (more if they were submerged in it, but the water level doesn't rise that high in the temple).

REALLY unusual for a comic book story -- not only does Oxan decapitate a foe so he can bring its head home as a trophy, but Chuck is willing to accept this as a cultural difference. In Golden Age comics, cultural differences are usually an excuse to shoot first and ask questions later.

Now we're going to move on to Mighty Man, the 12' giant. I'm not really interested in anything Mighty Man does on this page, but I'm remarkably amused by panels 3 and 4 and what I'm tempted to stat as a "jack-in-the-trunk." When hitchhiking with strangers, be extra wary if they start humming "Pop Goes the Weasel" to themselves.

It is remarkable to me, raised on comic books of the '70s and '80s with their issue-long fight scenes, how many fights are done in one hit in the '40s. Here, an ordinary person sucker punches a 12' giant in the face and takes him down in one hit.

"Little cage" has got to be a joke, since it has a 12' giant in it. Still, you've got to ask yourself, if your assistant is that dangerous that you need to keep 10' square cages set up around your fortress, maybe you should think about firing your assistant?

I'm not much interested in statting half-wolves separately from normal wolves, but the assistant (our jack-in-the-trunk from earlier) will be handy for me. I had statted assistants for the Mobster Manual what seems like ages ago, but did not have a good illustration of one to use until now.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

Speed Comics #5 - pt. 3

And we're back with Crash, Cork, and the Baron in their Ceylon adventure. I was very pleased to look up arrack and find out that's a real thing, but it's only an Indian liquor. So, he wasn't actually "doped" so much as they just got him drunk.

Covering him with leeches was an unusual deathtrap.

I'm not sure how this would work, game mechanics-wise. Nooses are a simple entangling attack, but how to handle pulling them up into the trees? A second save vs. science to avoid (the first save would be vs. the ensnaring)? A skill check does not make much sense here; it's almost necessary to introduce ability score checks so the Heroes could make Strength checks for this.

This is Ted Parrish, the Man of 1,000 Faces. Thankfully, we don't have to discuss disguise again this time; I'm sharing this page because of the unusual entangling attack. It looks like he's attacking two people at once with the bed sheet, but in the next panel it is clear that the two men are tied up in separate bed sheets; Ted must have thrown one over one mobster's head and then a second sheet over the other on the following turn (since he has surprise for the first attack, the second could have occurred at the beginning of the first regular combat turn).

Since bed sheets are not made for ensnaring attacks, I might give the mobsters a +1 bonus to save vs. being ensnared.

Now we'll jump ahead into Biff Bannon of the U.S. Marines. Biff has an unique challenge to start this scenario, as I can't think of any comic book before or since where the Hero had to park a battleship. Looks like a failed expert skill check, but here the Editor allowed something good to come of the failed roll; Biff crashes into the underground lair of saboteurs (just feet away from hitting all their dynamite too -- lucky he only missed his roll by 1!).

All of Biff's mini-adventures in this installment are random/wandering events. Here, a subway driver has fallen unconscious behind the wheel and Biff has to jump onto a careening subway train. Jumping is a skill check when you have to jump higher or farther than normal, but to jump "on target" like that, you need to make an attack roll instead.

The following newspaper headlines make it clear these mini-adventures are taking place in New York City.

I'm just going to share this one page of Smoke Carter as we race through this issue, and for just two things. One, this long-winded confession is emulated by only one game mechanic, the unconditional surrender of mobsters who fail morale saves. And two, "Flames like the stamp that seals his doom" is so melodramatic that Stan Lee should have used it as the title in a Marvel Comics story.

Now we'll jump to Landor, Maker of Monsters, who creates a 20' giant mole in this story.

It makes no sense at all that a) Landor has his pet mole start digging from so far away instead of driving it closer, and b) that Landor left no guards behind to protect his castle, even though he knows Tony Terrence knows where the castle is. Further, I am skeptical of gunshots causing a cave-in so quickly, but maybe it could happen...plus it's a good way to make guns less of an option in an underground hideout.

Now this is Texas Tyler, and this page demonstrates how easy it is to get information out of drunken hoodlums (I'll have to add a note to their stat entry).

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)

Planet Comics #1 - pt. 4

So much to talk about Planet Comics! I really think someone could run a great, if campy, sci fi campaign using Hideouts & Hoodlums, and I hope someone does someday and tells me about it.

A couple of things about this page: one, making heroes wait for a reward at the end of the adventure not only gives them more XP, but it motivates the players to play out the return trip home, rather than just wind up a scenario right after the battles are over.

And another thing -- one of many that bugged me about this story -- who is that woman? She's been standing around Zan the entire story, and even in jail she's forced to keep the same gown on, but she never says a word. What's her story?

Ah, Spurt Hammond, the most awkward comic book character name of all time!  Spoilers abound here, as we learn that Spurt is going to run afoul of Amazons on the Moon (so, Lunerzons). This is sometime in the future after Mars has been colonized, so in the Amazon entry in the AH&H Mobster Manual, I'll just add a mention about them having a moon colony in the future.

Now this is kind of a cool cultural tidbit -- despite being armed with scimitars, the Lunerzons only beat Spurt into submission with their fists. This could be a code of honor like is found in the Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter books, where no one on Mars attacks with a weapon better than their opponent is using.

Those are some funky-looking plants for making explosives.

Speaking of funky-looking, the droopy-nosed Mooniacs are said to be "powerful," which should translate into at least 5 Hit Dice. But how powerful? Hopefully we'll see clues soon.

All we learn here is that the "dullwitted" Mooniacs are still smart enough to use tools (or at least can throw weapons), and that they can walk on two or four legs like a bear.

I guess mooniacs aren't so powerful after all, as Spurt can not only defeat them with his bare fists, but he beats a bunch of them. Oddly, despite the fact that I can clearly see four mooniacs in that lower left hand corner, they only attack him one at a time (maybe they are dullwitted after all).

Spurt clearly has no code of honor, threatening women with a gun that refused, twice, to use weapons on him.

Oh come on!  I guess the Amazons are attracted to douche-nozzles with no code of honor. I can honestly say I've never read a Golden Age story until now where I wanted the hero to get beat up by a moon monster.

I can tell getting through Planet Comics is going to be tough; here's another interchangeable space hero. Maybe this story will have more to offer us, though, as we already get the concept of plastic armor (AC 6 maybe?) and a mention of Neptunian Shark-Men.

Okaayy...I don't know what those shark-men are supposed to look like, but it sure isn't sharks.

Despite the fact that Buzz seems to be a fighter, Buzz appears to be using the Sleeping Nerve Pinch power of a superhero on the control room shark-man.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)