Sorcerer's Skull

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at comics that were published on June 13, 1985.

Legion of Super-Heroes #14: Levitz and Lightle/Mahlstedt have the Legion auditioning new members. After a routine call for testing purposes turns into an encounter with Ontiir of the Dark Circle, another candidate appears in the form of the diminutive alien, Quislet. As the Legionnaires gather to make their decision, Saturn Girl comes in and requests they give consideration to a mysterious masked candidate she vouches for: Sensor Girl. In the end, Polar Boy, Tellus, Quislet, Magnetic Kid, and Sensor Girl become Legionnaires.  

Batman #387: Moench and Mandrake conclude the Black Mask arc. I had this issue and the one before as a kid, but not the part in Detective. It's interesting how the story is crafted so that you really don't need that other issue for the most part to make sense of things. Here, Bruce Wayne announces a masquerade party to lay a trap for Black Mask. Black Mask knows it's a trap and knows Bruce and the police know he know's it, but his analysis of Bruce's psychology is fault as he doesn't know the wealthy playboy is Batman, so he comes. He and his goons fail to kill Bruce, of course, and Robin tracks them to their lair. Batman and Robin fight through the False Face Society to get to Black Mask who has gone just a bit crazier and is burning everything left of his life as Roman Sionis. Batman is barely able to get the villain out of the fire in time, and not before the black pigment from the coffinwood mask is seared onto his face. Black Mask ends up in jail, repeating the word "Janus" to himself. Circe leaves her mask with a guard to give to Sionis, and disappears into the night.
This was a good arc, one of the best of Moench's run, I think.

Amethyst #9: Cohn and Colon/Kessel reveal secrets of Gemworld's creation as an impish creature called the Dream Weaver visits Amy Winston on Earth and takes her on a dream voyage to Gemworld's past. The creature's version of events is that Citrina made a pact with the Ancient Ones allowing the creation of Gemworld, but only as long as she was alive. When she died, the Ancient Ones got to consume the magic generated in the world. In this version, Citrina broke the deal and now Amethyst must honor it. Amethyst thinks she knows the truth, though. The Ancient Ones (through Dark Opal and others) have worked behind the scenes to end Citrina's life early so they can collect. Amethyst vows to stop them, but she will have to physical return to Gemworld to do it.

Arak Son of Thunder #48: The Thomases/Loifficiers and Infantino/DeZuniga have Arak and Valda contend with the warrior woman Mu-Lan, who's a lot fiercer than her Disney counterpart. When they hold their own, Mu-Lan says it was only a test. She takes them to meet her grandfather who reveals the dragon of Canton is no dragon at all. Later, at a dinner, after Haakon tries to drug Arak, but is thwarted by Brunello, the grandfather reveals the dragon is a creature summoned by a sorceress. Arak and Valda are sure that sorceress is Angelica.

Flash #349: This issue shows that Bates and Infantino/McLaughlin have a few twists left, at least. After being found guilty, Flash basically just gives up and asks they take him to jail. Soon, though, he's visited by Nathan Newbury, who this issue reminds me we first met back in issue 338, so Bates has had this laid out for a while. Newbury is from the future and came back in time to observe Flash's trial because the death of Reverse Flash before he was ever born is something of a temporal anomaly. He reveals that Flash, according to the hsitory record was acquited, so his conviction points to further disruption. He also tells how Reverse Flash came out of the timestream to ensure Flash's conviction when Newbury had thought he ensured Flash's acquittal.
Meanwhile, the Reverse Flash appears to have captured all the Rogues. It's that group that manages to work out how all this is possible. Someone is involved that has access to greater technology than the Reverse Flash (or Newbury) is doing this: Abra Kadabra.

G.I. Combat #279: Kanigher and Glanzman give is two Haunted Tank stories, though one is more a vignette. The cover story, Stuart's Raiders are tasked with assaulting a cache of stolen gold and recovering it so that it can be used to fund an insurgency in Germany. Faced with gold bars worth $30,000 each, the crew are tempted to take one, but Jeb keeps them in line. It's a good thing too, because a portion of the bars are booby-trapped. As luck would have it, another group of Germans tries to take the gold back and winds up catching the brunt of the explosion.
In the other story, the Raiders go swimming and wind up having to deal with an ambush while they're in the water.
Kana is back courtesy of Kanigher and Cruz, and this time is "transcendental meditation" takes him into a Mad Max-ian future where he helps the civilized Survivors fight against the hostile Wasters. Finally, there's a Mercenaries story by Kanigher/Catan where the three are hired to help an opposition leader return safely to a Latin American country for an election. An assassin disguised as a flight attendant almost ends his life, but the Mercenaries are there to save the day.

Omega Men #30: Klein and McManus bring this arc to a close. Artin/Primus reveals the answer to one of the Psion's Four Questions. It's an answer the Psions have discovered more than once before but their ego hasn't allowed them to accept and so they have forgotten it. The Psions were uplifted from reptiles by experiments of the species that would be the Guardians of the Universe. Learning the technology these ancients left behind, the Psions "improved" themselves, then went out seeking their creators. When they found them, the Guardians were disappointed in their creations and exiled them to the Vega system until they learned something more than soulless science. While the Psions are reeling from these revelations, the Omegans escape and help some of the inhabitants in their experimental domain do likewise. The robots who have now gained sentience vow to take care of the rest.

Red Tornado #3: The Construct has taken over the world. What few superheroes are left take their last stand and the free human population is down to a scattered few in hiding. It's all very Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Meanwhile, Red Tornado is out on a mountain in Wyoming being aloof from humanity. Sulking really. Kathy who is one of the last free humans finds him. At first Tornado rebuffs her, but she offers that the very fact he can question his humanity means that he has it. He's convinced by this argument and reconnects with his human side, deciding to save humanity. 

Star Trek #18: Kupperberg is writer on this issue with Sutton/Villagrain still on art. We get a Scotty solo story. He visits an old from who is commander of Starbase 7. When an assault by armed men appears to be only related to theft of the station's new shipment of paper towels, Scotty and a cadet wind up investigating. They discover a plot by a cabal of Starfleet officers (including Scotty's friend) to manufacture and sell a dangerous drug of abuse. Interesting, this is exactly the sort of story element (a Starfleet officer selling drugs) than Roddenberry objected to in Ellison's original City on the Edge of Forever script. 

Super Powers #1: Series Two of the Super Powers toys have hit shelves, so we get another out-of-continuity (in fact, from this issue, it's unclear if it's in continuity with the first limited) limited series. This time, Kirby does the penciling himself with Theakston on inks and Kupperberg scripting. Due to the revolt depicted in Hunger Dogs, Darkseid flees from Apokolips. He uses his last boom tube and so constructs a new star gate once he's in his secret base. Darkseid plans to conquer Earth using the Seeds of Doom. The Justice League stands in his way, and this issue is mostly about Martian Manhunter and Aquaman going up against his plans.

Superman #411: The cover proclaims this "a very special issue" and the title of the story by Maggin and Swan/Anderson nods to at least one way that's true. This is "The Last Earth-Prime Story." On Earth-One, former science fiction agent and editor Julie Schwartz is a homeless in the Bowery on his 70th birthday. After attempting suicide by jumping off a building, but being rescued by Superman, he is kidnapped by a forgettable super-villain, Olaf. Perry White's concern for his old friend leads to Superman looking for him and rescuing him from Olaf. The ordeal has been too much though, and Schwartz is dying. He has Superman transport him to Earth-Prime where they arrive at an office birthday party for that universe's Julie Schwartz, editor at DC Comics. Bringing two versions of the same person together as one is dying apparently causes them to merge into one. Schwartz and Superman have a brief conversation alluding to Crisis and the end of multiple worlds, then Superman says goodbye. Back on Earth-One, Clark Kent adds a bust of Julie to his apartment next to the bust of Mort Weisinger.

New Teen Titans Annual #1: Wolfman and Hannigan/DeCarlo present a backdoor pilot for a Vanguard series. The Vanguard is a group of space-themed alien super-heroes. We meet them in the reveal of a previously untold adventure of the Titans when Raven and Terra were still with them. The Titans intervene when the Vanguard appear to chase and apprehend Superman on Earth, but the truth is that Superman is a robot created by Brainiac who has captured the real Superman and is using him to power a planet-scorching weapon. The Titans help (well, mostly just watch) the Vanguard rescue the Man of Steel, and the combined power of the group defeats Brainiac--for now.
Apparently, the comics reading public wasn't all that keen on the Vanguard, because they have only appeared in-story one other time in the DCU (and even then, basically in a cameo).

With the Masters of the Universe movie upon us, it seemed a good time to revisit my series of posts that take a pseudo-scholarly view of the MOTU mythos, as if it were a legend or myth cycle that might be based on real events.

It started here with "Eternian History Revealed."

Then, I delved into [People]-at-Arms with "Eternian Armsmen."

Next, I looked at the "Gods of Eternia."

Finally, I looked into Skeletor's past: "The Search for Skeletor."

My mission: to read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis. This week, I'm looking at the comics that were on stands in the week of June 6, 1985. 

Losers Special #1: With this, the first of the Crisis Specials, I think we hit a new phase of the event. We saw the Losers die in Crisis #3, but this issue gives them more of a sendoff and introduces a lot of readers to the characters, probably--if they bothered to buy the issue. Easy Company and a town of civilians are pinned down by German rockets. Bravo company was supposed to take those out, but they're all dead. The Losers take up the mission. Along the way, they reminisce about their individual pasts, catching the reader up on the characters that originally had solo strips, but were brought together as a team. The Losers take out the emplacement, but they are separated into two groups by smoke. Separately, Sarge and Captain Storm are killed. The smoke clears and Gunner, Pooch, and Johnny Cloud manage to regroup, but then a German plane strafes the area, killing them. The Navajo Johnny Cloud prays to the sky as he dies and sees an image of a Native American deity. Then, something strikes the hill. When Easy arrives, there is no trace of the Losers' bodies.
This story is a better death for a group of war comic characters, but it doesn't fit perfectly with their death as depicted in Crisis. Presumably we're meant to assume they were taken from the battlefield just before death to truly die in Markovia at the hands of shadow demons. But how did they get moved and healed? This story can't take place essentially at the same time as that part of Crisis #3, because Rock and Easy appear in that issue in 1944 Markovia, too. I suppose it's possible this issue was retconned out of existence before it was ever published. This is how they would have died, had not the Crisis occurred transtemporally.

Crisis on Infinite Earths #6: The Monitor's adversary gets a name this issue (Well, two, since the Psycho-Pirate just calls him "Monitor."): The Anti-Monitor. He gives the whining Psycho-Pirate enough power to control the emotions of the populaces of multiple Earths. Pirate starts pushing the peoples of Earth-S, X, and 4 to suicide in the anti-matter wave. 
Meanwhile, the Monitor's satellite is falling apart. The heroes scramble to save themselves while Alex gets read to attempt to bring the other surviving Earths into the Netherverse. Harbinger knocks him out and takes on the risk herself. Disparate groups of heroes (somehow, it's not clear) are transported to the 3 battleground Earths where they are forced to contend with the mind-controlled heroes of those worlds. Black Canary is wearing her new costume here that we haven't seen before outside of her Who's Who entry. 
In the Anti-Monitor's base, the Psycho-Pirate suffers feedback, and he loses control of the Earths' people. Harbinger manages to link Earths S, X, and 4 with the merging Earths 1 and 2 in the Netherverse, but she burns out her power, leaving her just Lyra. On Earth-2, a new Wildcat debuts and a group of villains mysteriously disappear. On Earth-1, Brainiac scoops up Luthor from and tells him he has a plan...

DC Comics Presents #85: This is the first of two Alan Moore Superman stories this month. Here he teams him up with Swamp Thing with Veitch and Williamson on art. A patch of still-surviving fungus from Krypton known as the bloodmorel infects Superman causing hallucinations and overheating. It will eventually lead to death from overexertion, and the Last Son of Krypton seems powerless in his delirious state to do anything about it. Trying to get away from people, Clark luckily encounters the Swamp Thing, who manages to link Superman to the Green through the remaining fungus. Immersed in cool calm, Superman is able to sleep and when he awakes the fever is broken. He returns to his life, unaware of the help of Swamp Thing.

Fury of Firestorm #39: Conway and Kayanan/Chen finish up the Weasel story from last issue. Firestorm manages to escape Weasel's death trap but can't capture the villain. Ronnie does some sleuthing and figures out that the connection of the people killed and those attacked is that they were all at Standford in the 60s. Even knowing that, Stein still can't figure who the Weasel might be. The Weasel attacks again and Firestorm manages to best him this time. The villain is unmasked as John Monroe...some guy nobody remembers. Ronnie heads back to New York and graduation.

Justice League of America #242: Conway and Tuska/Machlan continue the story from last issue. Aquaman finds Mera, and they make up surprisingly easily. Meanwhile, the rest of the League splits up and blunders around the Canadian woods like teens in a slasher film and get taken out by Amazo. There's even a ridiculous sequence that seems perhaps a riff on a similar scene in Temple of Doom where Elongated Man just keeps talking utterly oblivious to Gypsy dealing with an irritated grizzly bear behind him. In the end, Amazo throws most of the League in a deep hole and covers it with a Boulder.
There's a MASK preview insert "Assault on Mount Mayhem" in this issue, Superman, and Tales of the Teen Titans as well, but I don't have a copy of it.

Tales of the Teen Titans #57: Cyborg's surgery is a success, and he's more human appearing than ever. He's sent to rehab and meets a tough physical therapist who I feel like should be named Sarah Potential Love Interest unless I'm totally misreading Wolfman's intentions. Meanwhile, the other Titans are hanging out at the pool then doing a little training, oddly unconcerned that the Fatal Five are out there with a new member the Titans failed to stop them from busting out of prison. 
That new member is Jinx, an Indian sorceress from who only speaks Urdu until Psimon gives her telepathic language lessons. The Fatal Five come for Cyborg's doctor, and grab him too, not recognizing the hero with his makeover. They want the scientist to awaken Neutron. Cyborg sabotages Neutron's containment vessel to a degree, causing an explosion they we are assured didn't hurt the guy inside. All the strain causes his new plastic veneers to start melting down, though.
Later. Psimon interrupts a press conference by the Major to demand ransom from the city, boasting the Fatal Five now has Neutron on its side.

Vigilante #22: Wolfman/Kupperberg and Smith/Maygar continue the story from last issue with Nightwing and Chase in a running fight across multiple locations, each saying tough guy things to each other and demanding the other stand down. Meanwhile, a guy with a heroin addiction sets out to commit a burglary on condo with no one home and winds up, through a series of bad breaks and worse choices, killing 3 people with a stolen pistol and causing a police car to wreck. He ends up out of bullets and executed on a rooftop by the Vigilante. When that makes the TV news, Nightwing and Chase overhear it and both realize that Chase isn't the current killer vigilante. Chase hadn't even known for certain. Nightwing leaves agreeing to hold off his hunt for the other vigilante so Chase (who feels responsible for inspiring the guy) can handle it, which given the murders and Chase's mental state seems a bit irresponsible. but bro code and all that. 

The old road east from Ervessos to Grancazarel skirts the northern edge of the Madding Plains, but no major roads pass through the heart of it. The Madding Plains are the only place where the frensy flowers grow and when those flowers bloom, madness reigns.
The flowers with colors reminiscent of dancing flames have a pollen that can intoxicate most humanoids. In low doses it is consumed recreationally in honey or alcoholic beverages, particularly popular in Mayura. When it is breathed in a concentrated form or for an extended period, individuals can enter an enter a state of ecstatic mania. Those that seek out this experience repeatedly are called Madders.
Madders eke out a meager living on the plains, foraging edible plants and stealing the eggs of the flightless owu (and sometimes getting killed or injured) for sustenance, but when the blooming of flowers peak, they in the heart of the area for a raucous festival. On some years they stay there, but on others the revelers breakup into smaller bands that rove wider region becoming a nuisance and sometimes a danger.
Halflings are the other group which live in the plains. Of all the mortal peoples, they alone seem immune to the frensy flowers powerful effects. They do much of the collecting of the honey made from the flowers and brew the mead made from it. The Madders can sometimes be an impediment to this, but the halflings don't let this deter them from their chosen livelihood.
More than merely an economic endeavor, the halflings view the harvesting and brewing as a sacred duty to a god that did not abandon the Earth with the others but instead sleeps (perhaps sleeping off a hangover) beneath the plain. Bok, as they name him, is the god of intoxication and the brewer's art. They depict him as halfling-like in stature, with an un-halfing-like girth (Parsulan halflings are un-Hobbitishly thin) and shaggy-fetlocked, cloven hooves.

In the Berlaith region of the content of Parsulan, there is a magical body of water known as the Prismatic Lake. The reason for the name is obvious: clear as it is (and its waters as remarkable pellucid), they are tinted with a rainbow of colors. The reason for the lake's unusual appearance is the naturally occurring manastones that are embedded in its depths that leak arcane energy into the water.

The lake covers nearly 40 acres and is near circular. Scholars believe it was formed by the unlikely interaction of a shadow cyst emergence causing a collapse into an underground space beneath, possibly an attenuated dungeon root. The heart of the cyst was lost, causing it to burst, but the resultant magical release altered the landscape.

However, it came to be the Prismatic Lake draws wizards and other adventurers hoping to harvest the manastones within. It's not an easy task, given the strange effects the magical energies can have on divers in addition to the problem of working the stones free underwater. Monsters are also attracted to the stones, so they pose another danger.

A (somewhat) easier target for adventurers out to make quick coin is catching the lake's fish. Several highly unusual varieties live there, each with magical properties. Alchemists and magical researchers will pay handsomely for specimens, particularly alive. Would-be fishers should beware: many of the fish are dangerous due to the same magical properties that make them sought after.

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I read the comics on sale on May 30, 1985.
The "Meanwhile..." feature this month mentions work continuing on new Batman project that isn't named but is clearly Dark Knight Returns. There's also discussion of a Matt Wagner project that is the forthcoming Demon limited series from the following year. Interestingly, there's also mention of a Jason's Quest revival that never came to fruition.


Detective Comics #552: Moench and Janson pick up the Black Mask story from this month's Batman. Black Mask recruits more members into his gang and takes more deadly reprisals against people he feels have wronged him, which are mostly newly installed Janus execs. He also has Circe, the model who jilted Sionis when his fortunes turned, kidnapped and subjects her to a diluted portion of the cosmetic. After that torture, he gives her an ultimatum: join him or get the full treatment. Circe accepts a mask without the tainted cosmetic in it. Batman figures out Sionis is Black Mask just as the False Face Society, but he can't find out where his hideout is or what his ultimate plans are.
Cavalieri and Moore/Patterson have Green Arrow and Black Canary facing a rash of tenement fires, arsons that Arrow believes were committed by the owners for the insurance and redevelopment. The meat of the story, though, is about what happens when Black Canary confronts a fire-throwing super-villain arsonist, Bonfire, and the Canary is strangely frozen with fear. After her rescue, she later tells Ollie that she had a strange episode of deja vu while in the blaze. Later, she's looking through her scrapbook at old pictures of her mother, the first Black Canary, and she's struck by a revelation.

Action Comics #570: The first story by Kupperberg and Schaffenberger/Hunt has a Superboy vibe, except that it has Jim Olsen as its focus instead of some random Smallville kid. A blast of cosmic energy splits off Jim's inflated ego into a super-villain who calls himself Alter Ego. The bit of mystery here isn't in Alter Ego's identity. Superman figures that out early on. Rather it's in how Jim got split and how to fix it.
The second story by Boldman and Bender/Marcos is more "humorous" than the first. One might say "silly," even. After saving a man's life, Superman accepts the guys invitation to dinner for beef bourguignon, but then stays and stays, making a complete annoyance of himself. This could have easily turned to horror as having a super-powered bore for a house guest might in real life, but once the man blows his top at the super-freeloader, Superman drops the act and reveals the truth: the man had been infected by some alien something or other in the initial incident and only making him angry could cure him. 
I mention the "stuck in the past" nature of this era of Superman a lot but should also point out this isn't inertia or ossification. Superman was different at points in the 70s ("Kryptonite No More," and all that). Superman was different just a few years prior with stories by Wein and Starlin and Wolfman. This was a choice editorial made.

Ambush Bug #3: Giffen, Fleming, and Oksner deliver their funniest issue yet, provided you like silly, absurdist humor goofing on silly DC characters of the past. It's actually kind of clever, structurally, we get vignettes in text and comic form uncovering what happened to a lot of obscure and best forgotten in the estimation of Fleming and Giffen DC characters like Egg Fu, The Green Team, and Binky. It's also sneakily taking a swipe at Crisis on Infinite Earths and the rationale for it, as all of the segments point to a mysterious woman being involved in their disappearances or deaths. In the end, we find out who is responsible: Jonni DC, Continuity Cop. Just as she confesses, she's blasted by Darkseid for the recurring "next issue, a fight with Darkseid" gag.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #34: Kupperberg and Duursema get Arion and Chian back to the City of the Golden Gate and into the business of selecting a new king. In Atlantis, that's done by a council of wizards presided over by Arion. These days the wizards have only the barest magic except Arion, but still tradition. There's one scheming wizard up to no good, though, and he disrupts the proceedings and gets Arion trapped by shadow bat things. Meanwhile, Wyynde is reunited by Mara. He finally returns her affections in a leering sort of way which puts her off. Apparently, having a dog head for a while changes a guy! Who isn't put off by the new Wyynde is the princess and potential successor to the king, T'Galla. She and Wyynde get along quite well to the irritation of Mara.

All-Star Squadron #48: Mike Harris takes over as artist. This is his first work for the Big Two. He goes on to do a fair amount of work at Marvel in the '90s on grittier titles like The 'Nam, The Punisher, and Cops: The Job. Here, the All-Stars travel to the UK, meeting the Blackhawks on the way. Churchill wants them to find the Shining Knight who disappeared investigated something at the site of Camelot. The All-Stars find Shining Knight in the company of other Arthurian characters who turn out to robots. Our heroes are captured, and they learn that Dr. Fate's old enemy, Wotan, is behind it all.

World's Finest #318: Cavalieri and Delbo/Alcala bring back Sonik who had his debut and only appearance to date back in issue 310. Beyond that the issue is very much of its era. Lilanne Stern is now on RTV. There's a wealthy popstar named Marlon Monroe (a Michael Jackson stand-in) who is menaced by robots made by one of his staff, and a boy in a bubble with an immunodeficiency syndrome someone may be trying to kill. Superman and Batman are on the case though, and everything works out in the end.

Tales of the Legion #326: We start the reprint era this month, so I won't be reviewing this title anymore, but I wanted to note it. 

V #7: Newell steps in as writer, and we an issue that focuses solely on Julie as she goes back to her now empty hometown, trying to get some time to herself to go to terms with everything that has happened. A mother and father get mentioned and the implication is that perhaps both are dead due to the Visitors, though based on the V wiki, this appears to be new material. Anyway, she's followed by an assassin that has the appearance of a high school friend, but when a Visitor patrol attacks them, the assassin seems to have a change of heart and saves her life. The issue is rather ambiguous on several points, which was perhaps Newell's intention.

The latest Kickstarter from the Merry Mushmen is XNOO #1, a 276 page "aperiodical" fantasy comics anthology. It features work by several rpg and comic artists, among them James West, Stefan Poag, and Jason Sholtis. Of interest to readers here, it also features the debut of the Land of Azurth comic "The Runaway Shadow" written by me and featuring art by comics veteran Mike Kazaleh. There's also great stuff by artists like Alexey Gorboot. Kennon James and Tim Molloy, and more!

In addition to the comics stories, it's filled out with articles by the likes of James Maliszewski and myself on related topics. My text piece is on comics adaptations of literary Sword & Sorcery characters.

You're going to want to check it out.

Head over to Kickstarter now to be notified on launch tomorrow.

 One idea for my new campaign I'm working on that I'm borrowing from the Japanese rpg Sword World (or at least its unofficial translations into English) are Local Experience Tables. These show up in some of the setting books and are just random tables of events themed to varying degrees to specific locales. They don't typically provide any mechanical benefit (though I could see it in limited situations), but they are still potentially useful, and they certainly provide a roleplaying hook.

Here's one I came up with for Salvage:

Salvage and the Field of the Fallen Colossi

Roll

Experience

1

Swindle. You either suckered someone or got suckered.

2

Dust Up. You were involved in a violent altercation.

3

Busted. You were once down and out.

4

Scarred but Smarter. You got caught in a trap in a colossi, but now you know better.

5

New Part. A part of your body is Magitech.

6

Poisonville. You once lived in a pretty toxic area.

7

Bad Blood. You made an enemy, and someone is still after you.

8

Took a Bullet. You’ve been shot before and have the scar to prove it.

9

Lost Mine. You believe you know the location of treasure.

10

Tech Friends. You have a friend that is a construct or otherwise Magitech.

And here's one that covers the region outside the major cities:

General

Roll

Experience

1

Courier. You once delivered a sealed letter to an important person.

2

Marshlander. You’ve spent a good deal of time in the marshes.

3

Mad Season. You’ve experienced the mad ecstasy brought on by exposure to the pollen of the irrsin flowers in the scrublands

4

Rail journey. You’ve traveled by train.

5

Runaway Construct. You had a dangerous encounter with a magitech construct.

6

Under Strange Stars. You were once lost in the Stargazer’s Garden.

7

Fantastic fishing. You have fished in the Prismatic Lake

8

Captive. You were once captured by a Fomori (humanoid) raiding party.

9

Birthing. You witnessed a Mothernode produce a Mek.

10

Searcher. You are looking or have looked for a friend or relative lost in Berlaith.

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I read the comics on sale on May 23, 1985.

Batman and the Outsiders #23: Barr and Davis send most of the Outsiders to the Gotham Zoo where Rex and Sapphire have a tense meeting with Simon Stagg over their wedding plans. A group of armed men attack, and the Outsiders have to deal with the chaos they cause. In the aftermath, it's revealed the attack was cover for the attempted assassination of Stagg orchestrated by his assistant. After Rex saves his life, Stagg warms on the idea of the hero marrying his daughter.
Meanwhile, Halo is in the city by herself and encounters a friendly hippie guy in a van who calls himself Brother Abraham. Meanwhile, he offers her a place stay and drives her to a secluded commune called Eden.

Blue Devil #15: Truly the DCU most be overrun with geniuses because an inventor on the level of Cassidy just winds up doing special effects and theme park animatronics. In this issue, as Blue Devil contends with Verner's Vanquisher (Verner's chaffeur that he had empower by scientists as a superhero), the two fight a King Kong-esque robot running amuck that Cassidy made for the studio tour. The process that created the Vanquisher seems to have made him mentally unstable, and he kidnaps Marla with whom he's infatuated.

Green Lantern #191: Engelhart and Staton/Patterson reveal the Predators identity at last, and it is certainly unexpected. After Hal's discover of Carol's perfume lingering in the Predator's hideout, he also finds the reporter's videotape showing the meeting between Green Arrow, Black Canary, Carol, and himself, that on one else involved with seems to remember. Hal calls Ollie, Dinah, and John Stewart, but no one's home, so he heads to Carol's place and shows her. Even with the reveal, I'm still not sure why the Predator doesn't want them to remember this, but luckily, I don't have to think about that long, because the Predator shows up and kidnaps Carol. He takes her to his old theater hide out. Powerless Hal suits up for battle and confronts the villain. He gives a good showing, but he can't stop the Predator from playing the old organ (something Carol thinks is important). When he does, Carol declares her love for the Predator, as he does for her. Then they merge into one being: Star Sapphire!

Infinity, Inc. #17: The Thomases and McFarlane/DeZuniga introduce the rest of Mr. Bones crew, and they are an odd bunch. I don't know quite what to think about Thomas and DeZuniga creating Arak as a historical S&S hero then doing a modern, minor villain that bears his name but is unrelated presumably other than being Native American. Does him calling himself (or someone else naming him) Arak suggest that the original Arak is a well-known historical figure in the DC Universe? 
Anyway, Fury finds herself prisoner of this team who call themselves Helix. They want to ransom her for millions from Carter Hall. Hector tries to rescue her but gets defeated.

New Teen Titans #11: Wolfman and García-López/Tanghal continue the story from last issue. After sleeping on it, Joe is still weirded out by the mutated bug people, and I mean, who wouldn't be? He and Kole get the other Titans and they head out to the mansion where we follow the familiar pattern to this title of our heroes getting captured so they can talk with the villain while he puts them in one trap, then they escape and end up in another, then they escape and the bad guy is neutralized in some way. In this case, Weathers and his mutant followers (including his own grasshopper mutant wife) expose themselves to a gas that turns them completely into bugs so they can survive the nuclear devastation he's sure is coming, and they let the Titans go. Other than following the typical Titans formula, this story is just weird. With its Hellstrom Chronicle vibe and schlocky mutants, it feels like something from a 70s Marvel comic, or done a different way, one of DC's now-defunct horror/sci-fi anthologies.

Sgt. Rock #403: The main story by Kanigher/Catan involves Rock and an Italian resistance fighter pursuing a German officer guilty of war crimes to a church in Terza, Italy, where the officer has asked for sanctuary--and Pope Pius XII. This story is another one that has that weird story beat that comes up on occasion where Rock seems to really want to capture a German officer (it's always an officer) to make him stand trial instead of killing him. And this is after the guy just shot the Pope. Rock's hesitancy leads to the resistance fighter getting shot. Rock then pursues the Nazi into the church's bell tower where in the scuffle, the German gets knocked out of the tower by the bell and falls to his death.
The second story is the first publication of Tom McWeeney, who will go on to do a lot of work in the 90s, particularly at Wildstorm. This goofy story is not a career high point, though, and would have made more sense in Weird War Tales, if anywhere. Soldiers die and are burnt to a crisp on a deserted battlefield. Is it nuclear war or at least are they caught in a nuclear test? No, it's a pizza in the oven and they're...anchovies? 

Saga of Swamp Thing #39: Moore and Bissette/Totleben continue the story with Swamp Thing walking into the reservoir covering Rosewood to deal with the vampires. The vampires aren't a threat to him, that is until the next generation is born. The survivor of the brood is an inhuman monster that rends Swamp Things body apart. That doesn't stop Swamp Thing, though. He just moves through the Green and becomes a whole hillside of vegetation. He moves and diverts the water of the reservoir into the river again (likely flooding places downstream, but anyway...) and the vampires die in moving water. Before all that, the parents of the boys who went missing come to Rosewood, and one of them is killed by their own vampire son, but the rest escape. Constantine tells Swamp Thing he didn't take care of things quick enough. Now word will get out, and people will believe in vampires. That's what the enemy he's trying to defeat needs. Constantine tells Swampie to meet him in Maine.

Warlord #95: I reviewed this issue here.

Talent Showcase #18: The editorial reiterates the reason for the name change and tells us that the next issue will be the last. This issue is a weird mix of sci-fi stories done by established pros (Bruce Jones, Shawn McManus, and Dan Adkins) sometimes with the assistance of relative newcomers that could have been anthology book inventor stories from a few years ago. Then there are several short, humor cartoons, and even a text piece by John Constanza. The only complete newcomer story is a superhero humor piece with everything but the lettering done by Kerry Callen, who will go on mostly to work for Mad.

Who's Who #6: We're into the D's and we get Darkseid, the Demon, DeSaad, Doctor Bedlam, and the Deep Six courtesy of their creator, Jack Kirby. Atari Force is well represented with Dark Destroyer and Dart by José Luis García-López. García-López also does Deadman, perhaps because he's the artist on the limited series that will be published at the end of '85. Amethyst's Dark Opal also shows up with art by his original artists, Colon. Marshall Rogers renders Deadshot who will become more prominent in the next few years. Deimos shows up from Warlord, courtesy of Grell. The then-recent Demolition Team is here, courtesy of their co-creator, Dave Gibbons. There are, of course, a lot of "Doctors." Giffen and Mahlstedt give us Doctor Fate instead of whoever's drawing All-Star Squadron this month.

There are a lot of opinions about setting in rpgs and how much is the right amount or too much. Consequently, a lot has been written about it by a lot of people, me included. As readers of this blog likely know, I am pro-setting, in the sense that I personally like thinking of and writing about them, but one might also have intuited that I enjoy them as a player or GM. They are a major part of what gets me into a game, a fundamental part of supporting imagining the game world. I realize there are people who like their settings merely implied or at the least as light as possible, and that's their right, but to me that would reduce an rpg to the same sorts of pleasure I might get from a board or arcade game, and that would not have been enough to sustain my longterm interest.

As I have been working on the setting for my new campaign, I've talked with my players for the first time about how I feel about GM creation vs. player creation of setting material. It's not that it was a secret before, but it never game up in an explicit way. My personal observation is that while most players don't want to be given a lot of homework to play a game, they also don't tend to be told impromptu to imagine things for a world. A framework to inspire their character creation tends to be what most of my players are looking for, though how much they intend to flesh things out varies.

Encouraging this sort of engagement, though, means that the world is a bit out of focus until we get into the playing of it. I can have thought of a lot of things, but a lot of details I have in mind stay flexible on until the players get their hands on them. In the end, the worlds winds up being a collaborative process even if it mostly starts in my mind.

Here's an example. In creating Azurth, I clearly called out that despite a number of animal people in the setting, there were no cat people. Now, the fact that I noted that and didn't mention a whole list of other animal people that would never appeared in Azurth was meant to suggest "something's going on here." And it was. 

However, my friend Jim, in creating his bard Kully missed that. Jim did a very flavorful, brief character write-up, nailing the Ozian sort of vibe. The only problem was he mentioned Kully encountering a Cat Man at a pivotal moment.

I could have suggest a change to that detail and in some circumstances, I might have. Here though, because I had already intended something to be going on with that point, I used what Jim came up with. I told him that Kully had had that encounter, which was odd because there aren't supposed to be Cat-folk in Azurth, and so no one believes him. Jim was creating a little mystery in his characters backstory, which wound up tying into a minor mystery of the entire setting. Kully's backstory became setting material supporting a future reveal that at least one player was going to care out.

Not all instances of a player's view of the world and my own having a discrepency turn out so serendipitously, but I think it's worth looking for those opportunities and leaving things just a little fuzzy to facilitate those clarifications.

The tale as it's told in Mayura (a city, it should be said, that never chooses truth over a good story) is that an aged, latter-day Wizard-Kings, Mordrey, upon his death split his kingdom among his children. For reasons known only to himself, he bequeathed rulership of his capital to his most unassertive son. While Mordrey had seen fit to place powerful wards upon city so that no one of his blood could rule if they took the city by force, the timid Prince despaired that one or another of his grasping and ambitious siblings would find some indirect means kill him and take the prize. Fearing any day might be his last, he threw himself into pleasures to live life to the fullest. He began spending his inherited fortune on distractions. Entertainers and artists flocked to the city to partake of his largesse.

The prince died young and without an heir, though not at the hands of his siblings but as a result of his sybaritic pursuits. By then, he had inadvertently placed the city on the course it holds to this day, passing through the end of the Age of Magitech, the Demon War, and the darkness that followed, largely unchanged, if not unscathed. 

It is true that, despite popular depictions (often popularized by the troubadours and theater troupes of Mayura, itself), a city of its size and importance must have citizenry beyond artists and performers. Of course, there are craftsmen, merchants, beggars, and servants. But how many artisans are only supporting themselves until the quality of their verse is recognized and rewarded? How many moneylenders or soldiers are perhaps actors researching a role? 

Mayura is still a monarchy technically, though its ruler is not of the line of Mordrey. Instead, a grand, annual, nonlethal fighting tournament held at the Aristeion colosseum used to select who will serve as the ceremonial ruler for the next year and a day. Competitors are drawn from all over Parsulan, and the event is bolstered by matches and demonstrations by the professional gladiators in the arena's training schools. The Mayura citizenry feel that having such a formidable and dynamic public representative helps deter otherwise bellicose neighbors. They also appreciate the coin brought in by the spectators to the competition.

The work of running Mayura is done by an elected council of citizens interested in that sort of drudgery. The actual ruling in the sense of setting a course for the city's future is currently done by an unelected former dancer, the Lady Petalutha. The paramour of a former four-term King, Petalutha has parleyed her celebrity into a position of real power, and no one sense has been willing to brave public disapproval to make her give it up. By all accounts, however, she is a capable leader, bolstering Mayura military, leading to a quelling of the coastal pirates, and pushing for trade deals that have benefited her city. She is not well liked by the old nobility who control the lands around the city-state, however, who would prefer a more tractable head of state.

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at comics that were published on May 16, 1985.

Batman #386: This was the subject of the last recorded but to date unreleased episode of The Bronze Age Book Club and an episode I am fond of. Moench and Mandrake set out to create a new major Batman villain, and they are more successful here than Moench's attempt with Nocturna and Night-Slayer at least to the extent that Black Mask continues to appear and has even been in a movie.
We're introduced to Roman Sionis scion of a wealthy family and subject of childhood trauma in parallel to Bruce Wayne. After his company releases a poorly tested cosmetic that has horrible potential side effects, Sionis is ruined and snaps, becoming the masked crime boss Black Mask and contesting with Batman as the head of the False Face Society of Gotham. Black Mask uses his toxic cosmetic to kill his enemies, and Bruce Wayne is his next target.

Jemm, Son of Saturn #12: Potter and Colan/MacLeod bring the series to an end, if not a definitive one. The Red Saturnians storm the one remaining ship of the White Saturnians and Synn, grieving the death of her lover, distractedly agrees to end hostilities, but in no way indicates a willingness to make peace with Jemm. In fact, Jemm's own people are still ambivalent about his actions. He flies to Earth to save Luther from the Kamah, the last belligerent Koolar. His fight with her is sort of perfunctory, but its decisive. Meanwhile, Lincoln and Crazy Eddie find Bouncer still alive in the rubble. They offer him to come with them to find a place to live and he agrees. They reunite with Luther along the way, but not before the boy and his alien friend say their goodbyes. Jemm returns to his people even if they are not yet ready to embrace him.

Amethyst #8: I have this issue, but I didn't remember anything about its contents. Mishkin/Cohn and new artistic team Jurgens/Kesel (though we're told Colon will return to the title he co-created next issue) finish the Fire Jade arc. After her identity is revealed to Princess Emerald, Fire Jade attacks, but Prince Garnet appeals to her, and she hesitates, allowing Amethyst to take out the demonic creature commanding her. Then, what's left of Lady Emerald in Fire Jade, sacrifices herself to stop the grim reaper from taking Citrina. It's doesn't have the old woman, but it does give her enough time to pass on custody of Gemworld to Amethyst before dying.
Meanwhile, Prince Topaz and Lady Sapphire are caught in a storm and seek refuge in an isolated city which is under the leadership of White Opal, brother to evil overlord.


Arak Son of Thunder #47: Arak and friends are in a harbor in China and Arak is unsettled by all the dragonboats given the beef he's got with the Serpent. Seemingly confirming his suspicion, a real dragon attacks some ships and Arak dives in to save a woman, but Arak himself is knocked out. He's rescued by his old ally Haakon who is in China possessing as a Byzantine ambassador as part of a scheme. After all that, Valda and Arak get some time alone, but then Mu-Lan attacks, and it isn't the Disney version!

Flash #348: After seeing the footage Frye recorded, the Flash believes Reverse Flash is back. He tells Cecile, who starts an investigation of her own. Meanwhile, Reverse Flash keeps taking down the Rogues, and some in the police force wonder if the Flash is responsible.
While all this is going on, the jury in the Flash's trial deliberates. They are deadlocked until Nathan Newbury steps in. Contrary to my expectations, he actually seems to be trying to help the Flash. He uses a device to show the jury what really happened: that the Flash is Barry Allen and so had a good motive reason to murder use lethal force to stop Reverse Flash. They jury members are all going to vote for acquittal, but then Reverse Flash appears in the strange realm Newberry has taken them to and somehow possesses him. He then uses Newberry's power to make the jury vote unanimously "guilty."

Legion of Super-Heroes #12: Levitz and Lightle/Mahlstedt send Timber Wolf and Karate Kid's Sensei to Lythyl, a planet like a combination of a deadly martial arts tournament and a bondage club, to fulfill a request from their dead friend. Things get bad enough that some other Legionnaires have to come to the rescue, but they managed to rescue a boy named Myg.

Omega Men #29: Klein and McManus/Mitchell continue the Omegans' trying to get out of the Psions' research station. Their benefactor, the mysterious Artin, through robot minions requires them to complete a task on their way out. The Omega Men penetrate the Psion temple of the Four Questions with Kalista projecting an image of the Psion leader Malthus. In the end, the identity of Artin is revealed, and its Primus, only he doesn't look like the Primus we've known.

Red Tornado #2: Busiek and Infantino/McLaughlin continue on from last issue in pretty much the same mode. The Construct gloats while civilians reject Tornado even as it helps them, and Superman shows up to enforce that the JLA meant their prohibition of Tornado's heroics by tearing the android limb from limb. He self-repairs but in the end he's had enough and says he's never going to help humans again. The Construct takes control of electronic devices across the globe. T.O. Morrow figures out the Construct is behind all this and begins formulating a plan to fight back.

Star Trek #16: We get a new writer this issue, L.B. Kellogg, with a same artistic team. This story is less like a TOS episode and more like something we would have gotten in a later series. Sulu, Uhura, and Bryce go on an undercover mission in a capture ship to make contact with a dilithium smuggler on a space station who happens to be an old flame of Uhura's. Meanwhile, Kirk and the Excelsior discover the mining is being done by slave labor. Uhura and Sulu take down her old lover, putting an end to slave trading and illegal mining, and Kirk promises to relocate the aquatic native species whose environment has become untenable.

Superman #410: Bates and Swan/Williamson give us another one of those action-free puzzle stories so common to Superman comics in the era. Superman stops a satellite falling toward Hawaii by kicking it into a volcano, but after Clark Kent writes the story evidence goes forward that it didn't happen, and Clark's fired in disgrace after (as Superman) he's forced deny being the source of the story to keep Earth's trust in Superman. It's all a hoax contrived by Lex Luthor in a plot to take down Superman, but how it plays out we'll have to see next issue.

Faceless Howl is an adventure from Kabuki Kaiser for the rules lite, dark Sword & Sorcery system Many Sought Adventure, but is easily useable with any D&Dish system with a bit of work and a lot of other systems as well given it isn't a rules heavy adventure.  I received a review copy of the pdf. I don't do a lot of reviews here, but previous publications from Kaiser have received praise from quarters I trust so I wanted to check it out.

The adventure involves "malign entities of pure oblivion" known as the Faceless who are devourers of information and have been drawn to an ancient repository. Not only is this bad for said repository, but it's also bad for the townsfolk of the neighboring of Bec de Corbin ("Raven's Beak") who have their identities and knowledge eaten by the Faceless, turning them (eventually) into Howlers. Complicating matters (if they were already complicated enough) are the Ragshadows, who are subterranean evil, fairy-tale-ish goblin sort of creatures who opportunistically operate alongside the Faceless to steal physical physical valuables.

That's the set up. The adventure is broken into two parts not counting getting the PCs involved: the village and figuring out what's going on, then a crawl through the repository. There's a clock to ensure the situation escalates. The presentation is fairly terse with prose that is informal, generally evocative and occasionally staccato delivery.

It's style and the overall graphic design place it in the tradition of things like Mörk Borg and the sort of NSR/OSR stuff you find on itch. Like those sorts of publications, it values brevity but supplies you with random tables and other necessary tools, and atmosphere, but expects the GM to bring it to life. Beyond aesthetic, this isn't standard, D&D fantasy either, so people looking for that find not find it's weird, horror sort of approach to their taste. 

For me, though, Faceless Howl, is the sort of adventure I tend to look for when I don't have any other particular thing in mind. It isn't particularly combat heavy, and its atmosphere and bit of mystery is the sort of thing that intrigues my players. Its brevity would make it easier to reskin to make it fit whatever setting I'm running at the moment.

If that sort of stuff sounds appealing to you, you should check it out. It's available on drivethu.

Art by Guy Wurley
The ramshackle boomtown called Salvage by its inhabitants and the Scrapyard by outsiders is built amid the fallen combatants of an ancient battle. The colossi are named for their color. Red Knight lies on its back, reaching for a sword that is out of reach. Blue Knight fell forward. Its weapon is long gone, but one hand is raised. The plains have made half-hearted attempts to reclaim the giants, and the knives of time have marked them, but they remain, tempting those interested in making a quick fortune or simply curious about their enigma. The colossi are unusual treasure troves, or above ground mines, made as they are from rare materials and magitechnologies unreproducible in the current age. 
All the prospectors, adventurers, scholars, and thieves looking to claim their own piece of the colossi, and the merchants, dealers, entertainers, and bandits looking to get rich off them, crowd into haphazard buildings constructed along and amid the fallen giants. It's a dangerous place. There is no law in Salvage and plenty of desperate characters. Guns are more common that elsewhere given the relative abundance of both artificers and the raw magitech materials.
The danger isn't just from the inhabitants. There are caustic fluids, poison gases, and other environmental hazards to be sure, but also the colossi are not as dead as they appear. They haven't moved in ages, but not all of their internal parts have been stilled like their limbs. Component constructs, perhaps something like immune system elements, sometimes react violently to scavengers crawling through a colossus's insides. Some grow independent and feral and prowl outside the bodies as if their look for prey or raw materials to affect repairs.

My mission: to read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis. This week, I'm looking at the comics that were on stands in the week of May 9, 1985. 

Warlord Annual #4: This was the first Warlord Annual I bought off the stands, because it has a map of Skartaris in it, which will appear again in Who's Who. I reviewed this issue here.

Atari Force #20: Baron and Bareto/Villagran give the Martin Champion and by extension the rest of the Atari Force their day in court on New Earth. Thanks to Morphea and Targg the court gets a good look at the malevolence of the Destroyer through his psychic residue. Though they are exonerated, there are still powerful forces in New Earth society arrayed against them, so Champion and friends choose to use a device to jump to a new universe to see what else is out there. There's also another humorous Hukka story by Fleming/Giffen/Kesel.
Helfer tells us in the editorial that Atari Force isn't getting canceled because of sales (it's a middling seller) but because it was decided this was the right ending for the characters. I have to say, I'm a little skeptical. I buy it's middle of the pack on sales, but it is a licensed book. Surely a middling wholly DC owned book would be better for the company than having a publishing slot taken up by a licensed book? I do think, though, that the creative teams they've put on the book couldn't figure out anything more to do with the characters. Conway's later issues and Baron's entire run have mostly relied on them being on the ship but not encountering much interesting. No "strange new worlds and civilizations" here. The only mystery is why they didn't have anyone would better ideas, particularly when they were giving the book great artists?

Crisis on Infinite Earths #5: Wolfman and Perez/Ordway open with the Antimatter a bit confused. He thought he destroyed Earth-One and Two, but he hasn't gotten the victory he should have gotten. He lets Psycho-Pirate play the Flash while he investigates. Earth-One and Two have sort of merged and different eras in time are bleeding over. Harbinger and Alexander Luthor assemble a group of heroes to explain what is happening: the Monitor gave his life to power a transfer of the Earths to a netherverse to hide them from his Adversary, but now they now are trying to occupy the same space which will destroy them anyway. The only choice is to re-integrate them as a single universe as it was in the beginning.
We get a lot of cameos, and Travis Morgan, the Warlord, even gets some dialogue. 
The Adversary adapts to these developments, though. He takes control of Red Tornado (In a limited series on sale now! Or then, I mean.) and transforms the android for his own purposes. Flash briefly breaks free of the Psycho-Pirate, and we get a glimpse of the shadowy Adversary's face, and he names himself as the Monitor, though he doesn't look like the Monitor we have seen.

Fury of Firestorm #38: Conway and Kayanan/Akin/Garvey have Stein arriving at Vandermeer University in Pittsburgh to start a new position only to find the campus afraid and under siege due to mysterious and vicious killings of facility members. Stein is in danger of becoming the next victim as he is attacked by the Weasel in his apartment. The Weasel keeps ranting about once he kills Stein, he'll be out of danger. Ronnie is out for a date with Doreen where Cliff accuses him of cheating, thanks to his uncharacteristically good grade on a test, when he is summoned to form Firestorm.
Thanks to poor vision and bumbling, both Stein and Raymond are captured by the Weasel and put in a deathtrap with molten steel about to pour on them.

Jonni Thunder #4: Thomases and Giordano bring this detective story/superhero hybrid to a conclusion. First, Jonni has a confrontation with "Slim" Chance which she only wins by wielding the power of the Thunderbolt without the idol. Then after some uncertainty and romantic tension with Harrison Trump, the rival PI, they are ambushed by Red Nails and her crew. Luckily, Jonni has now figured out that the power is in her, not the statue, which gives her the element of surprising, keeping them alive along enough for Detective Sanchez to swoop in with the police. The series ends with a hope for more Jonni Thunder adventures. We'll see how that goes.

Justice League of America #241: The Tuska/Machlan combination on art doesn't do this issue any favors, but mostly it's tough to get back into the New League after the disruptions. A conversation with Vixen prompts Aquaman to head out without telling anyone to find his estranged wife, Mera. Vibe agrees to let Steel date his daughter then gets a new less garish (slightly) costume. Then the team under J'onzz's leadership heads off to Canada where Amazo is on a rampage. J'onzz splits the party, and he and Dale are almost immediately attacked by the android.

Tales of the Teen Titans #56: Wolfman and Patton/DeCarlo bring Raven and the Fearsome Five (minus 1!) into the story. Agents of Gizmo assault STAR Labs to steal Neutron who has been brought in in a containment capsule. Raven shows up and deals with them ruthlessly, but when she realizes what she's doing, she instead uses her power to heal the patients there. Meanwhile, Gar greets Jericho and his mom at the airport to bury the hatchet, and Cyborg undergoes surgery to replace his obviously mechanical limbs with more natural looking ones. The rest of the Titans deal with an attack by the Fearsome, uh, Four, and are defeated in two engagements. The Fearsome Folks make off with a another encapsulated super-being from Tri-State Prison.

Vigilante #20: Wolfman/Kupperberg and Smith/Maygar reveal that giving up the Vigilante identity may not prove so easy for Chase. The Vigilante is still in the streets, more violent than ever, including killing a cop. Meanwhile, Chase seems like he's having a nervous breakdown as he is tormented by nightmares where he is the Vigilante committing these acts. He wonders if he might somehow have lost his mind and actually be responsible. Nightwing fights with the murderous Vigilante in the streets, but winds up getting thrown off a bridge. Later, he crawls in through Chase's window to confront him.

The Weird Wood of southern Parsulan is an ancient forest infused with potent arcane energies. In halls of Magical Academy at Abraxad, surrounded and protected by the wood, it is labelled as Forbidden and students have been disciplined or even expelled for entering it other than by the proscribed paths. Treasure seekers and adventures from other places sometimes travel the forest, however, but many don't return.

What is known from the reports of those that enter it is that the forest is a place of unusual magical power. At the very least, it alters a visitor's perception of time and distance. The wood is also said to be the abode of strange spirits, beings inhabiting both biological and mechanical forms.

Faerie woodlands are hardly a rarity in Parsulan, but somehow, the Weird Wood has become infected or entwinned with technomagical devices in addition to its natural, elemental powers. Some point to its relative proximity to the Field of Fallen Colossi and suggest some stray, animate portion of the giant combatants may have made its way to the forest. Others argue that given the sheer number of constructs and amount armament debris found there, moss covered or half-buried, it must be the remnant of an assault by a substantial force. Perhaps in times past someone marched against Abraxad, and this is the result? If that is true, then Abraxad would surely have record of it in its extensive libraries, but those remain closed to outsiders.

Whatever their origins, it is these artifacts that draw the scavengers.

The commonly encountered fae of the forest are mostly harmless and appear as small, crude figures or vaguely animal or insect shapes of metal. They seem to mimic biological life in a rough but analogous way to the manner Meks resemble humans. 

The larger, more dangerous entities are harder to describe with certainty. Some appear as beasts with mechanical and biological parts. Others are shifting shapes of churning metal, churning storms of fury and blades.

This post first appeared in 2017, but I think a trotted out back in 2020 as well. The occasion of the double repeat is discovering a post on RPGnet forums about a cool Hellenistic setting by Kenneth Hite I remembered from Supressed Transmission coming to Kickstarter, only to be disappointed to see the post was from 2018 and the projected abandoned...

Historically accurate Aristotle? A social media thread about bad history in historical costume drama caused me to recall an idea I had years ago upon a re-read of Aaron Allston's wonderful Mythic Greece: Age of Heroes. At the time, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys was still in syndication, and while not particularly good, it did suggest the using of Greek Myth and geographic as a backdrop for a fantasy setting that might not otherwise have a lot of the trappings of Greek myth. For the most part, Hercules stuck to the big names, but there's no reason you couldn't get as detailed as Allston's book, but give it a wholly un-Mythic Greece feel.

The changes can be big. Reign: The Conqueror (based on the novel Arekusandā Senki by Hiroshi Aramata) re-imagines the life of Alexander the Great as a sort of science fantasy thing with giant Persian war machines and Pythagorean ninjas. Or, they can be subtle, like Black Sails weaving historical pirates with a sort of prequel to Treasure Island. (The difference I see between this last one and a standard historical setting which would generally tend to insert fictional characters, i.e. the PCs, into history, is the "high concept" of the literary/historical mashup.)

A lesson on Greek myth every week? So I say go ahead and run a Kirby-esque space opera based on the book of Exodus. Recontextualize the War of Roses to have it take place in something like Warring States Japan. Or take the history presented in the Book of Mormon and turn it into a hexcrawl as Jeff Reints did.

Let history be your guide, not your boss.

My mission: to read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis. This week, I'm looking at the comics that were on stands in the week of May 2, 1985. 

Sword of Atom Special #2: This issue actually has a July cover date, but there is some discrepancy in the sources regarding when it came out. Anyway, Strnad and Kane are back with another Lost World/Sword & Planet-ish tale. A bird-riding group of raiders called Skul-Riders attack New Morlaidh and kidnap women, including Laethwen. At around the same time, Paul Hoben and Norman Brawler have arrived with an accidentally shrunk Jean, intending to find Atom and get his help to restore her, but she too is kidnapped by the raiders. Atom, Voss, and Paul join forces to track the riders to their city where it turns out a dictator using mind control technology is responsible for the raids as he seeks breeding stock to bolster his cities ranks to realize his dreams of conquest. When his people are freed from control, they kill the tyrant themselves, and our heroes return home. Atom gives Jean and Paul the shrinking belt as he can't use it anymore.
Atom will appear in several issues of Crisis but that's it until 1988.

DC Comics Presents #83: Rozakis is the writer on this team-up of Superman and the Challengers of the Unknown. The artists are a bit of a puzzle: We have both Kirby and Toth, both with inks by Theakston. Toth's work only appears over a couple of pages in a flashback sequence. It seems weird to engage two such celebrated artists in this way, which makes me think the issue as we got it was a "plan B." Anyway, this is Kirby's last major work for DC, though his last actual work (a cover) won't come until after Crisis.
Zo-Mar, a Kryptonian criminal from the pre-Phantom Zone days, escapes from a prison space capsule and infiltrates the Earth with a mystic card that gives him the power of mind control--including those of Superman and the Challengers of the Unknown. It also (handily) keeps him from developing Kryptonian super-powers. Our heroes manage to get the card from him, but then he gains powers! They ultimately use a trick to defeat him and destroy the card. Zo-Mar is sent to the Phantom Zone.

Shadow War of Hawkman #4: The limited series comes to a close just as it seems it was getting started, but Isabella makes it clear at the end that this was merely the first battle in a potentially longer war. We open with several examples of the Absorbacon being used to still secrets from humans, and thus economic and political spoils. The Shadow War is to be an infiltration and covert coup rather than a fledged-fledged invasion.  The Hawks are still in the fight, though. They sneak back onto their own ship, defeat the Thanagarian agents, then destroy the ship so it can't be taken again. They track down the Absorbacon, but fate takes a hand as Rab Mekir, enslaved to the machine, takes his revenge on Fell Andar, leading to his own death. This vanguard defeated, Katar and Shayera can return to their secret IDs and cover lives, but we see there are still Thanagarian deep cover agents on Earth.

Wonder Woman #326: This one has a July cover date, too, though likely released in May. Newell takes over as writer with Heck still on art, and we're back to the stuff that was going in back in issue 316. Wonder Woman follows Keith Griggs and Lauren Haley back to the Central American nation of Tropidor and again encounters the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca. Also, Etta is really angry with Diana for some reason.

V #6: This is another issue with a July cover date. Bates and Infantino/DeZuniga wrap up the whole Meagan arc. The rebellion rescues Meagan, ironically to keep him from blowing up the alien mothership as they fear the severity of reprisals, and they are helped by a scheming faction of Visitor leadership looking to undercut Diana. Unfortunately, Meagan's head-bomb starts to malfunction, so he takes a ship and heads back toward the Mothership on his own. He explodes before he gets there, though, taking out some Visitor fighters and thwarting Diana's plans to recapture him. She remains unaware of the bomb throughout the whole incident. 
On Earth, the Visitor experimentation facility is taken out, and Ham and friends force the lead scientists to inject themselves with their own mutagen.

Mostly discussions about alignment (probably since time immemorial) seem to circle around 3 opens about it: it is just a suggestion for roleplay; it represents cosmic teams of some sort and isn't about character morality; and most commonly its bad and we just ignore it. 

Gareth Hanrahan's The Gutter Prayer suggests to me an interesting tweak to idea 2, one I haven't seen before. I mention previously the saints in that world who were empowered by the gods not due to faith or ideals, but rather due to be somehow psychic compatible with the deity, making passing divine power through them possible. You might say the saints are in alignment with the deity.

So, what if alignment was a bit like that? It does present being on a cosmic team but not a team the character chose, a team that they were born into. This connection would allow the character to speak alignment language and to be recognized as "marked" by that team, perhaps. Characters are free to behave whatever way they want, but they can't (or at least can't easily change) this affinity any more than they could change their bloodtype. It should probably be randomly generated or determined by class, I suppose.

For most characters, a lack of affinity with the ethics of the deity wouldn't be an issue under most circumstances, though for people like clerics and paladins who get more out of the connection, it would matter.

The metaphysical implications for a setting with this would be really interesting, I think. There are a lot of ways it could be operationalized. 

In Southeast Parsulan, the Karkharoth badlands are an inhospitable, monster-haunted region of gullies and ravines between low, barren, red ridges, at times scarred by jagged rock formations like rows of fangs. In a broad canyon surrounding one of a rare oases is the fortress city-state of Kamazot.

The broken and desolate terrain isn't natural but instead due to the folly of man. In the Age of the Wizard Kings, attempts to push the then-fertile lands to even higher yields, coupled with sabotage from rival lands led to disruption of local fae elementals and a wounding of the land. The weakening of the polity made the region vulnerable to raids from the humanoid nations to the north serving to further depopulate the old kingdom.

The Demon War might have thoroughly returned the badlands to wilderness and ruin, but a warlord rose to organize disparate tribal groups and led them to re-occupy Kamazot. The armies unearthed ancient magitech weapons and restored them to the repaired fortress walls. The city they rebuilt developed into an autocracy organized along military lines, which persists to this day. Despite its regimented society, Kamazot has always been opened to outsiders who prove their worth. Even humanoids and those of monstrous ancestry are occasionally accepted into their society. 

It is rare for rulership succession in the city-state to be passed hereditarily. Instead, the clan generals elect an Imperator. The current ruler, Dornon Gundark, is unusual in that he was a clanless outsider who rose through the ranks due to his battle prowess and canny out-maneuvering of rivals at a time when Kamazot had been weakened by poor leadership.  He enjoys both popular support and the loyalty of most of the generals. Those less supportive are kept in line by his command of the Red Hawks, an elite force drawn mostly from those born outside the city and discriminated minorities such as humanoids and Darklings.

 Dornon directs his forces to seek out magitech weapons to add to the state's arsenal. He is very fond of cannons, the bigger the better. He pays handsomely for the recovery of weaponry from ancient ruins and dungeons.

His interests in technology extend beyond weaponry, however. Recently a railroad line was completed linking Kamazot with the Northern Parsulan industrial hubs. The line passes a perilous route through humanoid territory, however, and must employ adventurers and mercenaries both the trains and crews effecting repairs. Another line is planned between Kamazot and the port of Ervessos, but interests in the rival states of the Lightbearer Republic and Grancazarel oppose to close and alliance between those regional powers.