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Featuring the English Language Debut of Dazzling Spanish Cartoonist Anabel Colazo Cover by Anabel Colazo PORTLAND OR, (October 2, 2024) – Oni Press, the multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-winning publisher…

Murewa Ayodele and Lucas Werneck’s STORM #1 is on sale now! New York, NY— October 2, 2024 — The day has finally arrived! STORM #1, one of the most anticipated…

The Horizon Experiment: The Manchurian # 1 Writer: Pornsak Pichetshote Penciller/Colorist: Terry Dodson Inker: Rachel Dodson Letterer: Jeff Powell Cover Date: September 2024 Rating: This week, I will examine “The…

The Esports World Cup, held in Riyadh from July 3 to August 25, 2024, has left an indelible mark on the esports industry. This eight-week extravaganza showcased top-tier competition across…

To Betty’s horror and Archie’s delight, Magnet Girl could transform the randy redhead into a literal “girl magnet.” The story Maid of Mischief in Betty and Me 4 (Oct. 1966)…

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics on the newsstand on September 29, 1983.

Sword of the Atom #4: This final issue by Strnad and Kane was the only one I owned as a kid, so I jumped into the story at its conclusion. And it's a pretty action-packed conclusion! The Atom leads the revolt against Caellich, learning from a captured traitor that Deraegis plans to throw his support behind the rebels but then betray them and seize power. Meanwhile, Caellich has discovered Deraegis treachery and made sure the word got out to the people that the priest was one that ordered Taren blinded. Enraged, Deraegis commits regicide. As the rebels reach the palace, he activates the star drive and gets a dose of radiation that makes him even more dangers. Voss kills him with an arrow through the head.Atom has figured out that the drive is powered by the white dwarf star fragment that he came looking for. He tries to deactivate the drive but fails and is bathed in dwarf star energy, causing him to grow to his regular size. 
The drive is going to blow. Atom manages to terrorize the Morlaidhians into abandoning their city and stumbles away himself before it explodes, knocking him unconscious. Ray Palmer is found and brought back to a hospital where Jean finds him. But he's now in love with Princess Laethwen, and he vows to find her and her people in the Amazon jungle again.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #14: Duursema gives Arion a "weasels ripped my flesh" moment on the cover which she and Kupperberg supply within the story as well. Arion and friends are heading home after Wyynde chose to stay with his people when a fireball forces them to make an emergency landing in the ruined city of Mu. Mu, it turns out, may have seen better days but it isn't uninhabited. Arion has to chase off attackers with illusions. The group is offered shelter by a priest named Trykhun. Mara doesn't trust him, and it turns out she's right, after the priest lures Arion into underground tunnels and traps him there. Arion is attacked by a group of rodent-things and a giant serpent creature who they are somehow associated with. Mara gets lost trying to get back to Chian but manages to blunder onto Trykhun's true identity--the chaos godling, Chaon.

Action Comics #550: Rozakis/Bridwell and Tuska/Trapani are responsible for this one. The Earth, of course, doesn't explode this issue, but the cover isn't completely a lie, just misleading. The actions of an immortal alien race of jackasses threaten to cause mass destruction as they search for five items hidden on the Earth during the time of the supercontinent Pangaea. Once Superman figures out the cause and finds out what they are after, he makes a deal to find the pieces for them so they will leave the Earth alone.

All-Star Squadron #28: There's a guest artistic team of Howell and Houston. From the Atom's hospital room, the All-Stars witness Kulak's attempt to break through dimensions to attack Earth, just like everyone else on the planet. They fly up to do battle with his gigantic hands and head in the sky, but they're losing. Luckily, Sargon the Sorcerer shows up to lend a hand with the Ruby of Life. He also delivers some exposition about how Kulak managed to over-power the Spectre. Kulak is thwarted in his attempt to break through, but he still can send the Spectre to attack, so there's another battle with a giant, supernatural foe. Sargon manages to draw Dr. Fate back to Earth to help them, but Kulak seizes the Helm of Nabu for himself. That backfires, as it reveals to him his true nature, and he can't take it. Kulak is blasted through "an infinity of dimensions," apparently by his own self-loathing, taking the Helm with him. And now we know why Dr. Fate started wearing the half-mask.

Camelot 3000 #9: Sir Prentice was horribly injured taking a blast for Arthur last issue and is dying of radiation poisoning. The King splits the round table, sending some of the knights to seek the Grail to cure Prentice while he and the others go to rescue Merlin. Percival, Prentice, Lancelot, and Guinevere go to get the Grail on an alien world. They find it, and Percival is restored to human form then ascends to the next world. Prentice is healed. Lancelot is made the new guardian of the Grail, then promptly loses it to the forces of Morgan Le Fay. 

Detective Comics #533: Moench and Colon/Smith give a bit of a spotlight to Barbara Gordon and her relationship with her father as a group of criminals assault the hospital with the intent of assassinating the Commissioner. As things get low-key Die Hard, Batman shows up to help her out. Also, Jason and Bruce sort of talk out what happened last issue, though the question of a heroic identity for him is still up in the air.
In the Green Arrow backup by Cavalieri and Patton/McManus a terrorist called the Detonator blows up a plane carrying an industrialist who didn't pay $2 million in extortion money. The race is on to retrieve the "black box" that may give a clue as to the Detonator's identity. Green Arrow finds himself contending with the Detonator and a motorcycle gang.

Jonah Hex #79: Spaghetti Western-esque turn this issue, as Jonah Hex escapes the ambush the brothers laid for him the end of last issue by killing Homer but ends up wounded himself. Wilbur follows him through the desert, torturing him by killing his horse and shooting holes in his canteen, but dragging out the moment of his death. Near his end from thirst and exposure, Jonah lays his own trap with a poisoned waterhole. Wilbur drinks and dies, but it appears Hex's victory is pyrrhic, and the vultures descend on him, but J.D. Hart sent by Emmy Lou arrives in the nick of time. Meanwhile, Turnbull plans to blame the death of the governor on Hex.

New Adventures of Superboy #48: Kupperberg and Schaffenberger have Lex Luthor escape from reform school (again) and steal Superboy's super-powers with a device that looks like a vacuum cleaner. Superboy, with the help of his super-robots, tricks Luthor into a position where the Boy of Steel can get them back.
In the Dial H backup, it feels like Bridwell and Bender/Hunt are nearing the end of the mysterious Master arc. With our heroes surrounded by villains, Nick has to dial up some heroic identities to free himself, Chris, and Vicki from the Master's clutches.  In the aftermath, the Master disassembles the dial he stole from Vicki and finds nothing within the H-Dial which could make it work--and can't even recall why he wanted it. He recaptures the three heroes in an effort to learn who he is and why he wants the dials.

World's Finest Comics #298: Art on this issue is by Amendola and Mitchell, and the designs of the Pantheon members seem to be a bit different that last installment. Anyway, we get a lot of Zeta telling Superman how the Kryptonian isn't strong enough to defeat him, and for much of the, that seems to be the case. The Pantheon members recapture Batman and bring Zeta a couple of candidates to be his "Adam and Eve" as Mu is up to something on the Moon. But as Superman finally starts to really fight back, Batman notices that Zeta draws power from the other members of the Pantheon. Eventually though, it's Superman's arguments that sway Zeta. He agrees that his actions are not worthy of his godlike power. He restores a couple of people to life he killed and decides that he must leave to ponder his own humanity and disappears into the Cosmic Tree.

Retrostar by Barak Blackburn bills itself as "the rpg of 1970's-era sci-fi television." It's from Spectrum Games who publish other niche, genre emulation systems like Cartoon Action Hour.  I haven't had a chance to play it yet (though I plan to give it a try), but these are my thoughts on a read-through.

Its a fairly narrative game whose conception and playstyle probably owe a lot to PbtA games, though it has different mechanics. I find its player character mechanics to somewhat straddle a line between "meta" and diegetic. For instance, characters have three traits: Adventure, Though, and Drama. These could have functioned the same way and been called Physical, Mental, and Social, but I think using the terms they do puts you more in the mindset of thinking of a character's role in the imagined series, not necessarily their capabilities within the world of the show. On the other hand, characters are further defined by "descriptors" for above or below average attributes that are more in-world qualities.

Nonmechanically, characters are described with a Background supplied by the Showrunner (GM) and by Casting notes created by the player. The author of the game wrote up Buck Rogers from the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century this way:

Background: Time-displaced USAF and NASA Pilot from 1987, unofficial captain in the Earth Defense Directorate; cocky, charming, dashing, roguish, ladies’ man; perpetual flirt; attracted to Wilma, who is put off and charmed by his manly nature; frequently gets into trouble because of lack of understanding of 25th century.
Casting: Brown haired, rugged, charismatic smile, playful, wiseass, loyal to his friends.

Adventure: 1 (derring-do) Thought: -1 (impulsive)
Drama: 1 (magnetic personality)

SFX: 4
Feat of 1987 Machismo 1/ 2d
Laser Pistol 1/ 2dThe basic mechanics are pretty simple and again, in some ways, reminiscent of PbtA games, but not identical. Players roll at least two dice, and add the results together with results of failure, mixed failure/mixed success, or success. Descriptors, SFX, and situation modifiers alter what you roll. The absolute magnitude of the total modifier determines the number of dice rolled, whereas the valence determines whether ultimately sum the highest or lowest two dice. For example, total modifiers of -1 mean roll 3 dice and take the lowest two, whereas +1 means roll 3 and take the highest two.

To simulate the structure of 70s TV, a session or episode is broken into 5 Acts, with each Act only allowing characters 12 dice rolls. Rather than the typical "actions" (or the PbtA term "moves") Retrostar terms these Intentions. I suspect this is because they want to promote the players thinking in terms of scene resolution rather than task resolution, but it's different. An intention is about achieving a goal within a scene, so one roll might stand in for several rolls in games concerns with more granular representation of actions.
The Showrunner guidance talks a fair amount about helping players to frame intentions and how to adjudicate the results. It also talks about structuring adventures in 5 Acts.
The rest of book is focused on series creation. Retrostar defines series with 5 Dials (Thematic, Plot, Recurring, Cheese, and SFX) with describe roughly how topically socially conscious, serial, formulaic, trend-chasing, and well-budgeted the series is. In its introductory section, there's an overview of 70s sci-fi tv and the dials of a number of real TV series are given. The dial ratings are rolled against in prep to see if that element will play a part during a particular adventure. 
For its rules lite-ness, I think Retrostar will take a bit of getting used to. Its mechanics are sort of novel. Its subject matter is appealing, though, and I think it approaches it in a clever way.

I don’t regret participating in this Netflix documentary, the producers had an opportunity to tell an objective story about my life and the incredible business I built, which were equally…

Title: Cultivated Meat American Sashimi (PB) Publisher: Robert Arnold Kay Arthur: Robert Arnold Kay Pages: 330 Price: $ 9.95 US Rating: 2 out of 5 stars Website: www.robertarnoldkayphd.com Comments: Chantal and Abiona…

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Title: Unholy Nightmare # 1 Publisher: TCM Press Writer: Dolan Waddick Illustrator: Aurelio Mazzara Colorist: Gene Jimenez Letterer: Kel Nuttall Created by: Dolan Waddick & Aurelio Mazzara Rating: 4 out…

Title: Archie Facsimile Edition # 2, Veronica # 28 Publisher: Archie Comics Script: Angelo DeCesare, George Gladir Penciling: Stan Goldberg Inking: Rudy Lapick, Henry Scarpelli Lettering: Bill Yoshida Coloring: Dan Parent Cover:…