New Comics #5

We now rejoin my coverage of New Comics, energized by the discovery of this blog.

Sandor and the Lost Civilization presents us with two animal-mobster types: the tiger (that we have covered elsewhere to show that Hideouts & Hoodlums really needs tigers statted!) and the wild dog.  Personally, I would just use wolf stats for wild dogs.

This page of Sandor presents a poser and illustrates the difficulty of statting Heroes based on published adventures. Is "with superhuman strength, Sandor battles the huge brute" meant to be taken literally, so that Sandor is a Superhero?  Or is he an Explorer, and this flavor text is only, figuratively talking about how tough Sandor is to beat because he has so many hit points?

Here, Rattlesnake Pete demonstrates the Cowboy stunt of Improved Cover.

I include this page because Pandora's Box will become a recurring theme -- if not a literal item -- that comic book authors will come back to many times over the years, and this is its first appearance.

Also, H&H Supplement III: Better Quality included a section on mythic magic items, which Pandora's Box should have belonged to.

(Scans courtesy of the Days of Adventure blog at http://adventurecomicsblog.blogspot.com/2011_11_06_archive.html)

Comics Magazine #2

We're up to June 1936 now, two years before Superman and what is normally considered the beginning of the Golden Age of Comics. We'd get there faster, but there's just so much good stuff to look at first!

Of course, by "good", we're looking for material useful for applying to the Hideouts & Hoodlums roleplaying game. Good, in terms of quality, is sparse in this next issue, the second one to come out of what will become known as Centaur, but is at this time only the Comics Magazine Company.

First of all, what is it with goats?  This is at least the fourth comic book in just the first six weeks of this blog project where I've seen a goat. People must have thought goats were hilarious in the '30s.

Even half-pints can go hideout delving!  Something for novice Editors to keep in mind is illumination in the hideout, and remembering to treat it as a limited resource. A lantern only sheds light in a small (30' radius) and even flashlights are only good for so far, and in only one direction at a time.

Bart Regan, Federal Agent, is another character that was somehow borrowed from National. Here, Bart demonstrates how to use Supporting Cast Members to help solve a case.  An engraver was a new one on me, not even included in Book III: Underworld & Metropolis Adventures.  The other SCM works for a newspaper, a vital source for information.

Like Dan Dunn yesterday, Bart Regan doesn't like to show up at a hideout empty-handed. He and his men will be showing up with riot guns (shot guns, absent from the starting equipment list in earlier versions), machine guns (not immediately available to Heroes for game balance issues), and tear gas (also treated as a trophy item that must be acquired in-game).

I include this page as a dual history lesson/lesson in not always trusting Wikipedia. According to the Wikipedia page, the Mexican Expeditionary (Air) Force was not formed until 1944 -- but here it is in a 1936 story!

When your Hero needs access to a skill set his class and/or race would not normally have, the best resource is Supporting Cast Members (SCMs).  Here, we see the value of the assayer for appraising things.

Here are the now familiar tropes of the antique diving suit and a giant octopus. But, attacking it with a knife?  Hoo-hum, after seeing Captain Easy fight one with a saw, how is this going to impress?

A knife in both hands!  That's how!

Skipper Ham Shanks may be the star of this Popeye rip-off, but Corky (the Bluto stand-in) is the half-beast Superhero, wrecking things with his bare hands/claws, in their midst. Note how Patterson takes a familiar cast, shakes up relationships, and renders it into something that can pass for new.

And lastly, Spunk Hazard talks about iron nerves.  What is that?  Could it be a stunt non-Heroes could use to temporarily suppress their morale saves?  I think it sure could!

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum at http://www.digitalcomicmuseum.com/index.php?dlid=13445)

Famous Funnies #22

Following Captain Easy's continued exploration of a sunken lost city is a lot like watching a Hideouts & Hoodlums game scenario unfold. Here, he moves from encounter to encounter, from 1 hp baby octopi to 1/2 Hit Die large cutlassfish to 1 Hit Die large barracuda.  Will all of these make it into the next edition?  Well, maybe barracuda...

The reward for all this hideout delving?  The trophy is a giant gold statue of a monkey. But, as is often the case in H&H, sometimes the bigger challenge than finding the trophy is figuring out how to get it out of the hideout!

...Huh, Easy's solved that one already!  Maybe a saw should be on the starting equipment list. Also nice job calculating its value. Players who can do that kind of research and calculating should be rewarded for it -- I would not hand out this information with some kind of skill check!

Next up would be Easy vs. a giant octopus, armed with just a saw!


The Alley Oop dino of the day is dimetrodon (really just a 3 HD giant lizard with a sail on its back).

This installment of Hairbreadth Harry shows us three things:  a simple plot hook (find the tiger for money), yet another example of why I should have statted tigers for H&H, and the use of tracking to solve a scenario.

Here we see Dan Dunn is all equipped for a H&H adventure -- a hand grenade in each pocket, dynamite bombs on his back, and carrying a sub-machine gun.  All he's missing is a 10' pole and 50' of rope!



(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum at http://digitalcomicmuseum.org/index.php?dlid=23785)

More Fun Comics #10

We rejoins Sandra of the Secret Service, now involved in a Gothic adventure around a spooky old castle!  Not only would the Black Tower and its secret halls be an ideal hideout, but a Silent Watcher would make an interesting mobster-type to encounter...

Jack Woods demonstrates a climb stunt here.  Also, Pancho Villa's henchmen, previously called bandits, are called brigands here. Another RPG distinguished bandits from brigands, suggesting that brigands were evil bandits, while bandits weren't necessarily quite so bad.  Hideouts & Hoodlums follows this model.

A skeptical reader might wonder about two things here -- why Pancho Villa took the time to knock Jack's gun out of his hand instead of just shooting him in the back, and how Jack managed to grapple Pancho without getting shot first.

If we do assume that bandits are Neutral and not Chaotic, and since Pancho is specifically a bandit here and not called a brigand like his henchmen, then Pancho would be naturally more inclined to take Jack prisoner rather than kill him in cold blood.  It will be important to remember, when running H&H, to make sure that most mobsters encountered have goals other than killing Heroes.

The other question is, how did Jack strike first?  One possibility is an Editor that ignored the traditional order of combat and allowed both missile and melee attacks to be decided by the same initiative roll.  Or, the Editor rolled for Pancho first, missed, and then used flavor text to describe it as Jack getting the drop on Pancho, since it made more sense to describe it like that than a miss at point blank range. H&H has that kind of flexibility.

Though Don Drake is on an alien world full of wondrous things, it's interesting how a simple net trap is what does him in.  It's a big net, so if Don was surprised, there wouldn't be much of a chance to run out from underneath it. I might even give him a -1 penalty to his save vs. science to dodge the trap.

Barry O'Neill is wise to worry about the Secret Service seaplane. That deck-gun is probably an autocannon, which was statted in Supplement I: National, and does a doozy amount of damage.

It's interesting how many targets the paralysis ray can be used on at such a short distance. That's one wide-angled ray...

What's interesting here is that the the paralysis raygun is easily thwarted -- because it's plugged in by wires. When planning to use a hi-tech weapon in your campaign, it's important to consider the power source. This isn't so much an issue with magic trophies.

Doctor Occult explains at length about a magic spell that drains years off your victim's life and adds it to your own. It's not the sort of combat- or hideout exploring-related spell you would expect to need in H&H, so it will probably stay off the spell lists, but on a magic scroll, as a one-shot item to be found, this could be an atmospheric addition to an evil necromancer's treasure trove.

Henri Duval is getting overwhelmed by sheet weight of numbers.  Truthfully -- I haven't figured this one out yet. The H&H rules are more geared towards one-on-one grappling combats. Overwhelming with numbers is something I'll still have to work on.

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus at
http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=11615&b=i)

Popular Comics #4 - pt. 2

Don Winslow U.S.N continues to fight "The Scorpion" -- actually just a colorful name for a South American dictator.  Two-seat fighter planes were statted in Hideouts & Hoodlums Book II: Mobsters & Trophies.  Heavy artillery was not statted until Supplement I: National, but the closest thing to these heavy cannons in that book is the howitzer (in a pinch, I would use those same stats).

Luckily, "the canon-fire has uncovered an ancient underground passage".  Now these Navy boys can do some hideout delving!

Bos'n Hal continues to learn about the lost world in the Arctic and what would, before modern times, be considered hi-tech trophies -- solar-powered motorboats and solar-powered cars!

Little Joe is going to grow up to think all Mexicans are bandits.  If the roles were reversed and the bandit was the Hero and Little Joe was just a half-pint, the bandit's $10 bill would have entitled him to a new encounter reaction roll, to see if he could get a better result.  Also note the reference to the Foil Tracking stunt in the second-to-last panel.

"Whiteboy" has got to be the worst name for a comic book character ever, though it probably comes from the "Paleface" name that Indians always used to use in the movies.  Here we get to see an elephant (never statted for H&H, but will be in the next book to come out).

We also get to see some trick riding, which might warrant a stunt to do. Should circus animal trainer be a mobster-type...?

Tiny Tim has an interesting encounter with Rip Van Winkle, though Rip is curiously not referred to by name.  Assuming the story is the same, then this is the first appearance of ghosts in a comic book story.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum at 

http://www.digitalcomicmuseum.org/index.php?dlid=3808)

Popular Comics #4 - pt. 1

Besides Little Orphan Annie, Maw Green was another mouthpiece for Harold Gray's backwards libertarian spiel.  Here, Maw Green tells us it's okay to just grab some stranger's kid and start paddling them, if you think they need it.

Maw Green is also shown here to be a potent fighter.  Making a new mobster called the big maw, with a bonus to grapple and spank, might be called for.  Better yet, I could use it later for characters like Ma Hunkel...

Demonstrating that cowardly hoodlums can look like well-dressed gentlemen.

Also from Little Orphan Annie, Punjab walks through a hail of bullets completely unharmed and contributes it to a bulletproof vest.  A bulletproof vest is only AC 7 in H&H.  This must be a hi-tech bulletproof vest +3, or better!

Smilin' Jack is a catalog of flying trophies this time.  There's Jack's trademark flivver plane, the parasol plane, the autogyro, and something called the vacuum type plane, though I can't figure out what kind of plane that is.  It looks like it has hinged wings...?

In this installment of Terry and the Pirates, Terry, Pat, and Connie get a tour of a great hideout: an abandoned monastery taken over by pirates. Most of the strip details various forms of torture practiced in the hideout, but there is, near the end, a rather "delightful" trap detailed.  In a bedroom, the beds are rigged so that they will flip over and dump anyone in them into a crocodile-filled pit, if a lever is pulled in a separate room.

Tom Mix demonstrates two new stunts the Cowboy class should get: Cheat at Cards and Sense Cheating.

Ella and Her Fella reveals that a half-pint does not necessarily have to be a child, or even particularly young.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum at http://www.digitalcomicmuseum.org/index.php?dlid=3808)

The Comics Magazine #1

We're now up to May 1936 and this was the very first comic book from Centaur Publishing. And yet, some of the contents of this first issue also look familiar, as several properties that had been freelanced to National (DC) found new (or temporarily new) homes at Centaur.

Chikko Chakko is not the sort of strip that's going to show up here a lot. No, it's not included here as an example of early comic book racism, but for that rooster.

One of the first new mobsters invented wholly for Hideouts & Hoodlums was the giant carnivorous rooster. I had long thought this creature would have no precedence in comic books, but I thought it was funny and wanted one.  Now, this rooster is not giant and not necessarily carnivorous -- but, man, is it one tough little rooster!  Pecking a hole in a tire? I'd have to give this little fierce rooster at least 1/3 a Hit Die, and maybe have it peck for 1-3 points of damage!

The history of Doctor Occult and how he briefly became Dr. Mystic for Centaur is a story told in other places (perhaps most notably in the book  SUPERMEN: THE FIRST WAVE OF COMIC BOOK HEROES; 1936-1941, reviewed in The Trophy Case v. 1 no. 3).  What I'm interested in here is the magic.

Because this is only the first known adventure of Dr. Mystic -- second, if you consider him to be the same character as Dr. Occult.  If we keep with the notion that all published characters are actually H&H Heroes, earning Experience Points during each published story and slowly advancing in level, then Dr. Mystic should still be low level Magic-User -- probably 1st level -- and still casting 1st level spells.

That makes it pretty unlikely that Dr. Mystic and Zator can grow to such colossal size as to dwarf skyscrapers. Yes, the next edition should have an Enlargement spell, but I would not make it this powerful.

What else could be going on here?  Well, perhaps neither Magic-User has actually grown at all; perhaps they are using illusions to lure each other out.  They would be illusions on a grand scale, covering a much larger area of effect than I am comfortable allowing low-level spells to cover, but it still a possibility.  When they actually confront each other, face-to-face, in panels 4 and 5, there is no longer any background to suggest scale.

That brings us to the question of how they are journeying through the spirit world to reach India from the United States. Some sort of teleport spell?  Again, more powerful than I would feel comfortable allowing low-level Magic-Users to have.

Perhaps a magic trophy, then? Some, oh, perhaps oil that can be rubbed on more than one person and allow them to enter an ethereal state?

There is only one mention of an Ethereal Plane in all of H&H -- the seldom-used (never-used?) psionics section of Supplement III: Better Quality.  This page certainly looks like how I imagine the Ethereal Plane. The monsters that follow and cannot touch Dr. Mystic and Zator must be able to see into the ethereal, but are not on that plane to interact with them -- at least not until Koth brings the monsters there.

Another possibility is that these are examples of some new mobster-type.  Nether creatures?  Gaseous beings that cannot harm you unless you touch them first?

On the lighter side, Captain Bill of the Rangers is the source for the Foil Tracking stunt given to the Cowboy class in Supplement III.

No, your computer isn't messing up -- this is how bad the coloring was on some pages of the early Centaur comics. If you squint and look past the colors, there are some ideas worth sharing here.

One is the idea of a homing horse -- the trope is that if you're injured, your horse always knows to go back home and, in this case, you can pin a note to it telling everyone where you are.  I'm not sure if horses have really been known to do this and, more importantly, I don't know if it should be treated as a new mobster or a Cowboy stunt.

Another possible Cowboy stunt would be Know the West. Using it, you could encounter a note that says you have to find a place called Antelope Gap and, using your stunt, you would happen to know exactly where that's at.

T'aint So! is a joke strip not meant to be taken literally as a story, so I'm hesitant to include it here, but a monstrous rattlesnake the size of a mountain range would make a really tough encounter in a high-level H&H game! Okay, that's a bit extreme, but a 30' long giant rattlesnake would still be tough and, I figure, about 5+2 Hit Dice.



Skipper Ham Shanks is a poor man's Popeye, but here he runs into a half man, half beast.  A half-man was offered as a Player Hero race in The Trophy Case v. 2 no. 4.  I never had a good example of one from comic books at the time -- this is my first!

We previously saw this character, but just called The Professor.  Here, Prof. Nertz demonstrates a hi-tech trophy, the Pill of Growth.  Or perhaps it's a specialized Pill of Poultry Growth that is more effective against chickens.  Maybe this is the source for all giant carnivorous roosters.  Or maybe that entry should be for giant poultry in general?

(Scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus at  http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=23379&b=i)