Well, the A-to-Z challenge starts in a little oer a week. I did not participate last year; I was too depressed over the lack of a job. this year I work full-time and am willing and able to participate. Go figure.
In 2011, I concentrated on Fantasy RPGs, specifically Swords & Wizardry and original D&D. I was considering that but I'm leaning more toward Comic RPGs like Villains and Vigilantes, Champions, Mutants and Masterminds 3e/DC Adventures. On the other hand, I've also been toying around with thoughts for a Dangerous Journeys/Mythus campaign set in Avillonia (aka the British Isles). Of course, I might throw out a complete curve ball and write on a native Dreamlands campaign for Call of Cthulhu. We'll see. I have a week to ponder some more.
Showing posts with label Champions RPG. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Champions RPG. Show all posts
22 March 2013
08 September 2010
My Top 10 Comics #4: Spider Smash!!!
Chello!
Well, I'm running behind..as usual. Teaching, Labor Day, acolyte training...life never seems to stop, does it?
But, anyway, here we're up to #4. The choices are starting to get harder!! Well, today a bit of whimsy, I guess. Let's go with Web of Spiderman #70.
This issue is part two of a two-part story. The cover alone is terrific! "Spider smash!" indeed! It's also representative of the craziness that is Peter Parker's life and indicative of a more subtle and profound change in the Spidey comics.
In the 1990s, Peter's life would get very complicated. It was like the writers at Marvel decided that nothing good could happen to Peter. Oh, there were bad things prior to this time [cf. Gwen Stacy, 1st app of the Punisher (gunning for Spidey)], but mostly his life wasn't the parody that it would become in the movies. He has some good times and some bad times; things always seemed to even out in the end.
Things would get worse. Venom and Carnage wanting Pete dead, MJ "dying" and then returning only to separate from Peter, selling his marriage to the Devil...the new Spidey just couldn't catch a break. Things seem to be more on the minus side of teh balance sheet--it's all in the red. Poor Peter.
By itself, this is a great storythat links all the way back to Fantastic Four #51 with its villain. It's all just plain out FUN. Spidey pulling off the Bruce Banner signature move of getting angry and big and green. You have to read it to get it.
Well, I'm running behind..as usual. Teaching, Labor Day, acolyte training...life never seems to stop, does it?
But, anyway, here we're up to #4. The choices are starting to get harder!! Well, today a bit of whimsy, I guess. Let's go with Web of Spiderman #70.
This issue is part two of a two-part story. The cover alone is terrific! "Spider smash!" indeed! It's also representative of the craziness that is Peter Parker's life and indicative of a more subtle and profound change in the Spidey comics.
In the 1990s, Peter's life would get very complicated. It was like the writers at Marvel decided that nothing good could happen to Peter. Oh, there were bad things prior to this time [cf. Gwen Stacy, 1st app of the Punisher (gunning for Spidey)], but mostly his life wasn't the parody that it would become in the movies. He has some good times and some bad times; things always seemed to even out in the end.
Things would get worse. Venom and Carnage wanting Pete dead, MJ "dying" and then returning only to separate from Peter, selling his marriage to the Devil...the new Spidey just couldn't catch a break. Things seem to be more on the minus side of teh balance sheet--it's all in the red. Poor Peter.
By itself, this is a great storythat links all the way back to Fantastic Four #51 with its villain. It's all just plain out FUN. Spidey pulling off the Bruce Banner signature move of getting angry and big and green. You have to read it to get it.
30 August 2010
My Top 10 Comics #3: Enter the Batman!!!
Well, are we up to #3 already? Excellent!
Number 3 has a special place in my heart; it's Detective Comics #450, August, 1975.
Why is a pretty mediocre issue in my top ten? Well, glad you asked. That's because it's the first comic I ever bought myself.
It was summer and my grandmother took me to the grocery store with her. Next door to the grocery was a drug store (Louis-Morgan, to be precise, on the corner of Marshall Ave. and Alpine, Longview, TX). She gave me a quarter and told me to "go and buy a funny book." Really? All by myself? Cool! (I was only 5!)
Well, I went in and looked and saw...Batman! Now, even as kid, Supes was my favorite, but Bats was "ok." (As I got older and more "mature," Bats would win out. The circle is now complete and I'm more of a Supes fan these days. )
Well, I went to the counter where a teenage girl was working to pay for my "funny book." "26 cents," she said, after ringing it up.
26? I only had a quarter (sales tax was beyond me at the time). I must have looked crestfallen, because she laughed and said that the quarter would be fine. Ecstatic, I took my purchase outside to read on the curb while granny finished shopping.
I still have that comic. It's not as good as the one in the picture, probably fair to good. A lot of my comics didn't survive over the years--they were scribbled in, lost covers, had pictures cut out. But, somehow, this particular one has made it with me, to the army and now in my own home. It's the pride of my collection.
Louis-Morgan Drugs is no more. There are a couple left around East Texas (it was a chain), but that store was tore down in the early 90s to make way for a bigger and better "super market." My grandmother died last year. But I have my memories of her and the comic she gave me a quarter to buy.
Batman's history is practically as long as Supes' or Cap's. I think that the reason I shied away from Bats as a kid is well, Adam West. "Batman '66" was in syndication and West was still voicing Bats in the cartoons. It's not that I dislike West's portrayal; his Bat's is a "Nice Guy" sort of like Supes. The campiness and the hilarity are fun but it's...forced for want of a better word. It wasn't true to the essence and character of the Batman. Michale Keaton is a Nice Guy himself, but his Bats in the 1989 movie mad it clear from the get-go that he wasn't a Nice Guy: "Who are you?!!" "I'm BATMAN!" ~smack~
West portrayal was a result of the Comics Code Authority and the backlash of the anti-violence movements and concern "for the children." Batman became this almost Boy Scout like figure who's job and purpose was to be a role model. That's not the purpose of the Batman. the Batman's job is to strike fear and terror into the hearts of criminals and bring them to justice. If Batman is a role model, it's more because of his refusal to use lethal force. Lately, that has turned into an anti-gun platform (cf., Batman: The Seduction of the Gun), but that's another debate.
The point is that, although West was true to the character as written, that character was not true to the Spirit of the Bat.
But about this issue specifically. The mid 70s was an interesting time for comics. they were trying to get rid of the CCA and tell relevant stories again (there's that 'R-word' again!)--you know things that reflected society as it was like assassinations, drug use, promiscuity, etc. One comic that handled that from DC was Green Lantern-Green Arrow #65.
Number 3 has a special place in my heart; it's Detective Comics #450, August, 1975.
Why is a pretty mediocre issue in my top ten? Well, glad you asked. That's because it's the first comic I ever bought myself.
It was summer and my grandmother took me to the grocery store with her. Next door to the grocery was a drug store (Louis-Morgan, to be precise, on the corner of Marshall Ave. and Alpine, Longview, TX). She gave me a quarter and told me to "go and buy a funny book." Really? All by myself? Cool! (I was only 5!)
Well, I went in and looked and saw...Batman! Now, even as kid, Supes was my favorite, but Bats was "ok." (As I got older and more "mature," Bats would win out. The circle is now complete and I'm more of a Supes fan these days.
)Well, I went to the counter where a teenage girl was working to pay for my "funny book." "26 cents," she said, after ringing it up.
26? I only had a quarter (sales tax was beyond me at the time). I must have looked crestfallen, because she laughed and said that the quarter would be fine. Ecstatic, I took my purchase outside to read on the curb while granny finished shopping.
I still have that comic. It's not as good as the one in the picture, probably fair to good. A lot of my comics didn't survive over the years--they were scribbled in, lost covers, had pictures cut out. But, somehow, this particular one has made it with me, to the army and now in my own home. It's the pride of my collection.
Louis-Morgan Drugs is no more. There are a couple left around East Texas (it was a chain), but that store was tore down in the early 90s to make way for a bigger and better "super market." My grandmother died last year. But I have my memories of her and the comic she gave me a quarter to buy.
Batman's history is practically as long as Supes' or Cap's. I think that the reason I shied away from Bats as a kid is well, Adam West. "Batman '66" was in syndication and West was still voicing Bats in the cartoons. It's not that I dislike West's portrayal; his Bat's is a "Nice Guy" sort of like Supes. The campiness and the hilarity are fun but it's...forced for want of a better word. It wasn't true to the essence and character of the Batman. Michale Keaton is a Nice Guy himself, but his Bats in the 1989 movie mad it clear from the get-go that he wasn't a Nice Guy: "Who are you?!!" "I'm BATMAN!" ~smack~
West portrayal was a result of the Comics Code Authority and the backlash of the anti-violence movements and concern "for the children." Batman became this almost Boy Scout like figure who's job and purpose was to be a role model. That's not the purpose of the Batman. the Batman's job is to strike fear and terror into the hearts of criminals and bring them to justice. If Batman is a role model, it's more because of his refusal to use lethal force. Lately, that has turned into an anti-gun platform (cf., Batman: The Seduction of the Gun), but that's another debate.
The point is that, although West was true to the character as written, that character was not true to the Spirit of the Bat.
But about this issue specifically. The mid 70s was an interesting time for comics. they were trying to get rid of the CCA and tell relevant stories again (there's that 'R-word' again!)--you know things that reflected society as it was like assassinations, drug use, promiscuity, etc. One comic that handled that from DC was Green Lantern-Green Arrow #65.
That issue didn't make my cut, but it was close. This issue of Detective Comics touches on some of those issues. The antagonist isn't some campy, zany, costumed psychopath. No, Wormwood is a mercenary who kills for money flat out and simple. He's hired to get Batman's cape and cowl. Of course, it's all an elaborate plot by Batman to obtain evidence about the murder of a U.S. Congressman. There's a wonderful shot of Bruce Wayne drinking scotch or brandy while wearing a smoking jacket...he almost looks like a young Hugh Hefner!
This Batman is, in some ways, transitional. Note the elaborate plot to get the evidence: he's pretending to be someone who wants Batman's cape and cowl. But he strikes terror into the Wormwood's heart by disappearing without a trace after the cops put the cuffs on him. "He's not human!" Wormwood shouts.
On a side note, this issue was later adapted for an episode of Batman: The Animated Series as the "Cape and Cowl Conspiracy." There are some minor changes in the story...Wormwood becomes the 'Interrogator' and his look changes although he still doesn't wear a costume. Such is inevitable after 20 years, I guess.
29 August 2010
My Top 10 Comics #2: Captain America! (Do we sense a trend?)
Chello!
Well, for my second choice in my top ten, I have to go with Captain America, March, 1941. By now, you all probably sense that I love the Golden Age. Mostly. Hopefully some of my other posts will prove otherwise.
I say that because in the modern rendition, it looks like Cap has a bit of a struggle on his hands. In the 1941 version, it's clear that der Fuhrer has been PWNED!!!! Heck, he's not even concerned about the Nazi soldiers gunning for him! It's all about Adi.
Well, for my second choice in my top ten, I have to go with Captain America, March, 1941. By now, you all probably sense that I love the Golden Age. Mostly. Hopefully some of my other posts will prove otherwise.
This is in my favorites less because of the story but more because of the cover.Yes, they did redo this one for Captain America Reborn (#2), but the original is sooo Golden Age....smacking Hitler down with a strong right hook. So much more satisfying than choking the bejesus out of him.
I say that because in the modern rendition, it looks like Cap has a bit of a struggle on his hands. In the 1941 version, it's clear that der Fuhrer has been PWNED!!!! Heck, he's not even concerned about the Nazi soldiers gunning for him! It's all about Adi.
Much of what I mentioned about Superman holds true for Cap as well, but even more so. One can divorce the patriotism from Supes fairly easily. This doesn't mean that I like that especially, but it can be done. Cap on the other hand...well, his identity is framed by his patriotism. Supes is an alien from Krypton who grew up in the Midwest; Cap was a frail young New Yorker who wanted to serve his country and fight the Nazi menace. Cap even drapes himself in the colors of the American flag.
When Cap died a couple of years ago, there were people who were ecstatic on the news reports. Basically, some people saw it as putting a dinosaur to rest once and for, questioning whether his "jingoism" was even relevant in a post-9-11 world. Again, I use a magic word: POPPYCOCK!
Cap would be the first to say that just because he is ultra-American, it does not make anyone else's country or patriotism wrong or inferior. Cap embodies the ideal that love of country and
personal sacrifice are laudable goals regardless of where one is from. He embodies this ideal even more so than Supes because Cap doesn't really have any powers. Oh, he's the peak of human conditioning but there is nothing "inhuman" or "superhuman" in his abilities.
I think, for me the scene that best exemplifies this idea is in the Secret Wars series. In issue #1, Wolverine questions why Cap should be the leader of the heroes because, "He's the least of us! He can't do anything!" Thor steps forward, however, and proclaims, "I am a prince of the gods...This man I will follow through the gates of Hades!"
In the same issue, we see Cap's mercy as well. When Doctor Doom is shot down by Kang, Captain America offers to help Doom. Doom of course refuses, but that does not make Cap's offer any less sincere or noble.
One final thought for the day. Last year,over on YouTube, Just Some Random Guy did a tribute to Cap for the Fourth of July. [I seem to be referencing his work quite a bit; what can I say? He (and Random Gal!) are brilliant!] I'm going to leave you with that for now, True Believers. Excelsior!
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