Champion Comics #3 - pt. 2

Picking up where I left off, Penny Wright is tied to a tree by Santos and just left there (I guess he has to go somewhere to get his favorite whip).

While Penny's not that bright, Gus seems to be a quite capable assistant -- so much so that I hope he represents a played Hero and not supporting cast. Making a rope out of a blanket is clever, and I don't think I've ever seen a snare trap used like this.

There's a couple freebies from the Editor here, though. One, I'm not crazy about allowing a snare to do knockout damage. At best, I would treat it as an improvised weapon and have it do 1-3 points of damage (of course, it could also just be a very weak guard). Second, the keys in easy reach is either a freebie or the result of a save vs. plot.

Government Man seems to be a wandering encounter, though he could also be a third freebie. Or a third played Hero who's player showed up late to the session!

Liberty Lads had me fooled with Wonocco for a bit there, as it sounds just convincing enough that I thought it might be an actual Indian name. I can't find any evidence of that being true, though. If this is Richmond, Virginia, then Wonocco is likely Algonquin or Sioux.

The mother bear, apparently, attacks just to defend her cub, but Wonocco ruthlessly guts her and then, also apparently, they just leave a motherless cub to defend for himself. Way to live with nature there, Wonocco!

Now I have to decide if I need to stat militiamen as a mobstertype. I could just leave them as fighters, but they are also characterized here as "yellow backed" (low morale), and we know their number appearing goes up to 400. They are shown to be racist -- but then, when even the good guys call you Possum, you know you're a black man in a racist society.

Quinine is a a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis -- an odd remedy for a fever, but what do colonial-era kids know?

And maybe it's my modern sensibilities at play here, but that wood-cutter's intentions seem more perverted than "wily" to me. Maybe, if read from a 1940 perspective, it would seem more obvious that the wood-cutter is in league with the redcoats.

This is Jungleman. Evidence that the white (-ish) tiger is a supporting cast member and not directly under Jungleman's control is seen in how Jungleman leaves it behind to guard his prisoner.

That Jungleman's ability to speak with animals is not limited to one animal at a time is demonstrated by this communion with a small army of apes and monkeys (all living together, as if they were interchangeable).

Angkor is incorrectly described as a living city here, when it was actual already in ruins well before 1940.

Kalu is an actual name, but more often an African name than an Asian name.

The Blazing Scarab picked up where it left off.

More proof that languages spoken is unimportant in comic books.

Evidence of an unusual magic-user "wand" -- in this case, the scarab -- and evidence of a visual manifestation of the spell being cast.

It seems that the spell was Hold Person, but Walt can still follow commands. Hold Person II?

Interestingly, these men-at-arms that can step through walls are very similar to the hieroglyph guardian mobstertype that I introduced in the 2nd edition Basic book, only full-sized and not monstrous-looking.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus.)

All-American Comics #9-10

Continuing #9...

In Hop Harrigan...we have to talk about Gerry. Because either a retcon has made her older, or there was a lot less stigma on relationships with underaged girls back in 1940. We've already seen Gerry making out with Hop, but Hop seems to be 17 and Gerry seems to be 14, so that's not quite so bad. But in this installment, an older poet starts hitting on Gerry.  Hop doesn't like it -- but only because Hop doesn't like poets, not because the man is clearly over 18.

Gerry also gives a sick patient iodoform to drink. Today, you only give a patient iodoform for minor skin diseases, and this man is bandaged like he was hurt in accident -- but circa 1940, iodoform would have been used for more forms of treatment.

And, really, who doesn't like poets?

A page of Believe It or Not about Rob Roy McGregor claims that the term blackmail was coined because of the black armor McGregor's clan wore -- which sounds pretty cool, but isn't true; "mail" in this sense means "payment agreed on," with "black" being used a negative connotation.

Adventures in the Unknown has an interesting take on time travel; as it feels like physical motion to those experiencing it, and going back in time feels like falling downwards (of course, actual time travel over the span of 1 million years would also have to involve space travel, because the Earth has moved a considerable distance during that time). And it is not instantaneous or near-instantaneous travel; it is a process that moves them through 1,000 years a minute, so traveling 1 million will take them approximately "36 hours" (though I think Ted's math is off; by my count it would be 16 hours).

Once in the past, the strip falls into the fallacies of many time travel adventures, mixing dinosaurs (from the late Jurassic no less, which was a whole 144 million years earlier) with humans. The first things they spot are a pterodactyl and a brontosaur, though to be fair they also hear a non-anachronistic saber-tooth tiger. In a scene that makes little sense, they shoot and kill the brontosaur for getting too close to Ted. Lastly, they meet a group of nine early humans with spears. Knowing these guys, these early humans are toast.

The strip takes pains to detail what equipment they brought on their expedition -- rifles, automatic pistols, field glasses, matches, axes, knives, cans of food (revealed later) and a movie camera -- but no mention of drinkable water. They also bring a large square of white canvas which they wisely use to mark where they left the time machine.

And, finally, catching us up to the "present" of January 1940. Issue #10...

Red, White, and Blue finally confront their first mad scientist in an adventure that takes place a few months earlier, in the Fall of 1939. It even takes us away from exotic locations to New York City, which will shortly become the hub of all superhero activities, and features the Empire State Building. The Master has created an electrical forcefield around the entire city of Manhattan. Cars are destroyed when they try to leave and the Master threatens to destroy the city if anyone tries to come in.

We also learn that, although "Blooey" and "Whitey" are nicknames, Red is not a nickname; his real name is Red Dugan and his nickname is actually "Smarty."  We learn that Doris West has the hots for Red and cries when she manipulates him into what seems to be a suicide mission to save New York.

Doris claims New York City has 7 million citizens; it actually had 7.5 million, but the 1940 Census would not have come out yet so Doris would not know that. It is also possible that the electrical field failed to extend around all five boroughs.

Red beats the forcefield by flying through on a parachute with no metal parts, but he's not done yet. The Master has an army of over a thousand Nazis and Nazi sympathizers working for him to control the populace. Further, the Master's electric fields can roast an entire city block -- and he has, killing men, women, and children to prove his power. Doris, Blooey, and Whitey join him by using a rowboat with no metal parts.

Red is SO Lawful that, when a clerk tells him he can't see the mayor, he just leaves.

(Read at fullcomic.pro)