The Flying Greek Project

#1 – May 1939 -- (“The Adventures of Phoozy” feature in Movie Comics #2) – Photios is a 20-year old poor Greek immigrant determined to get to Hollywood – by rail until his money runs out, then by hitchhiking, then by riding the rails with the hoboes (10 xp in Fighter).
#2 – June 1939 -- (“Dan Dunn” text feature in Crackajack Funnies #12) – Photios Floros reaches California and boards with an old man named Watson, the night before the man’s son, a thug called “Sweetface” comes home to strangle his old man for inheritance money. Photios avenges the old man and captures his son (60 xp in Fighter).
#3 – July 1939 -- (“Annibelle” feature in Crackajack Funnies #13) – Photios attends Old Man Watson’s funeral and meets his niece, Annibelle, a pretty young woman, an insomniac, and stamp collector. Photios is taken with her and tries to woo her (70 xp in Fighter).
#4 – August 1939 – (“Bunky” feature in Magic Comics #1) – Annibelle Watson inherits her uncle’s house and invites Photios to stay there after hearing what sounds like her uncle haunting the place. It turns out to be a hoodlum friend of Sweetface’s, hiding out in the house. Photios discovers him and turns him in (190 xp in Fighter).
#5 – September 1939 – (“Sweeney & Son” feature in Super Comics #16) – Annibelle’s neighbor, Mr. Sweeney, becomes a rival for her affection. Photios strikes back by showing Annibelle how much better he is with Sweeney’s son, who needs someone to play baseball with (400 xp in Fighter).
#6 – October 1939 – (“Spark O’Leary, Radio Newshawk” feature in Keen Detective Funnies v. 2 #10) – Because of his minor, local celebrity status as a crimefighter, Photios is hired to serve as a radio journalist, reporting on crime (460 xp in Fighter).
#7 – November 1939 – (“Flash Fulton” feature in Smash Comics #4) –“Photos”volunteers to be a war correspondent and goes to Poland, messes with some Nazis (540 xp in Fighter).

#8 –December 1939 – (“Adventures of Patsy” feature in Famous Funnies #65) – “Photos”,still in Poland, learns of a Count Blood, who is putting Polish officials’children into unbreakable hypnotic trances to force their surrender. “Photos” manages to trap and capture the Count (660 xp in Fighter).

#9 – January 1940 – (“Mickey Finn” feature in Feature Comics #27) – “Photos” goes to Greece to check on his Uncle Petros after received a letter saying Petros was in trouble. The problem was that Petros had lost everything to a conman named Michalis.  “Photos” gets some evidence against Michalis and blackmails him into giving Uncle Petros everything back (820 xp in Fighter).

#10 – February 1940 – (“Nickie Norton” feature in Thrilling Comics #1) – While looking for a ride back to the U.S., “Photos” meets and befriends Jim Fulton, inventor of a new submarine.  “Photos” is invited onto the submarine crew and helps defend it from Cortez, a spy on board (960 xp in Fighter).

#11 – March 1940 – (“Speed Centaur” feature in Amazing Mystery Funnies #18) – Upon reaching the U.S., “Photos” meets Nickie Norton, Secret Service agent, through Jim Fulton.  Nickie recruits “Photos” to help him investigate a magic portal, for some reason standing alone and abandoned on the Oklahoma plains, that leads to 13^th century Greece (1,160 xp in Fighter).

#12 – April 1940 – (“Don Winslow” feature in Crackajack Funnies #22) – Nickie uncovers evidence that a spy ring is already aware of the magic portal and sends Photios back to California to work with Don Winslow of the U.S. Navy to find the spy ring (1,400 xp in Fighter). 

#13 – May 1940 – (“Bulletman” feature in Nickel Comics #1) – Photios finds the prize the spies took from 13^th century Greece – the magic Flying Helm of Bellerophon.  Donning it, Photios managed to defeat the spies and their leader, Black Mask (2,000 xp in Fighter – 2^nd level!  And

-380 xp in Superhero).

#14 – June 1940 – (“The Voice” feature in Feature Comics #33) – As The Flying Greek, Photios breaks up a counterfeiting ring (-220 xp in Superhero).  Los Angeles is now his home, having an apartment he rented with money taken from Black Mask.  After eight months away, Annibelle is no longer interested in Photios.

#15 – July 1940 – (“Cliff Cornwall” feature in Flash Comics #7) – The Flying Greek matches wits with the Clue Criminal (-100 xp in Superhero).  Though Photios still does some freelance photography for the Los Angeles newspapers, his life is more about being The Flying Greek now.

#16 – August 1940 – (“ZX-5 Spies in Action” feature in Jumbo Comics #18) – Running low on money, The Flying Greek is eager to take a mission from the Secret Service to root out spy-saboteurs in Ohio (20 xp in Superhero).  During this mission, he learns to draw on the magic of the helmet for remarkable strength.

#17 – September 1940 – (“Doctor Fate” feature in More Fun Comics #59) – The Flying Greek learns the saboteurs were not working for a foreign country, but aliens from outer space.  He meets a landing party of the aliens, learns of their intent to conquer, and is taken prisoner.  But in escaping their ship, damages it and causes it to blow up, taking out the aliens too (480 xp in Superhero).

#18 – October 1940 – (“Patty O’Day” feature in Wonderworld Comics #18) – The Flying Greek hunts down Professor Grant, the Bridge Destroyer (560 xp in Superhero).

#19 – November 1940 – (“Zoro” feature in Master Comics #8) – The Flying Greek pursues the Pearl of Porra from a crime syndicate (1,560 xp in Superhero).

#20 – December 1940 – (“Yank Wilson” feature in Fantastic Comics #13) – The Flying Greek is challenged by Nazi Count von Heindorff to a series of challenges designed to distract FG from the sabotage work of his spy ring (1,800 xp in Superhero – 2^nd level Fighter/2^nd level Superhero!).

#21 – January 1941 – (“Lena Pry” feature in Crack Comics #9) – Lena Pry, a gossip columnist, ferrets out FG’s true identity and starts following him around for scoops (1,900 xp in Superhero).

#22 – February 1941 – (“Hop Harrigan’s History of American Aviation” feature in All-American Comics #23) – Hanging out an airfield between adventures, sharing stories with aviators and with a growing appreciation for aviation, Photios decides to pursue a pilot’s license in addition to being able to magically fly (2,000 xp in Superhero).

#23 – March 1941 – (“Lynx” feature in Mystery Men Comics #20) – FG takes on the Lynx’s foe, the Rook (2,120 xp in Superhero).

#24 – April 1941 – (“Bringing Up Father” feature in King Comics #60) – Photios’ father moves here from Greece and, needing a place to stay, crashes with Photios (2,220 xp in Superhero).

#25 – May 1941 – (text piece in Wonderworld Comics #25) – when a plane piloted by a new buddy of his crashes, FG flies off in search of the wreckage to search for survivors (2,320 xp in Superhero).

#26 – June 1941 – (“Green Mask” feature from Green Mask #5) – FG has to deal with yet another spy ring, but this time complicated by both Lena Pry and his father getting involved (2,760 xp in Superhero).

#27 – July 1941 – (“Lightning” feature from Jumbo Comics #29) – FG receives a call from a Major Larkin, representing the U.S. Armed Forces.  The Air Corps in particular wants to know if FG’s ability to fly can be duplicated (mistakenly assuming it is hi-tech) and ask to examine his helmet.  FG goes to Washington to show off the helmet in person and promises to help when the time comes (2,860 xp in Superhero).

Top 10 New Comic Books

I recently got some comic books cheap through the mail from a collector getting rid of his collection, plus some cheap at the Gail Borden Library comic book convention.  In fact, I acquired enough to do another top 10 new comic books list!  Of course the “new” part is only relative to my owning them…

1. The Power of Shazam! #10 (12/95) – Oh yeah!  I was only four issues away from having a complete collection of this title for the past 14 years – and now I’ve got them all!  This gem was hard to wait for, the missing chapter in the big first year story arc, with the never-before-or-after told origin story of the wizard Shazam in it!  Woo!

2. Kirby Genesis #2 (2011) – This title was on my radar two years ago, but two things stopped me from getting it then: a) I’d already mostly retired from buying new comic books and b) Alex Ross projects disappoint me more often than not because of their dark pessimism.  None of which is on display here because Kurt Busiek wrote it.  Kurt understands more than most comic book authors how to be reverential to Kirby’s properties and he makes me care about every one of them…even if the plot is an awful slow build…

3. Doctor Who #10 (10/2011) – Other than the Star Trek/Doctor Who crossover, I didn’t know IDW even had an ongoing Doctor Who comic book until I saw this, again, two years too late.  It’s great because I can now see “new” adventures with Amy and Rory long after they left the show.  I’ve never heard of Tony Lee, but he writes well.

4. Kirby Genesis #4 (2011) – I already raved about Kurt, and it’s nice that this issue seems to have more panels of Alex Ross art, but even the main artist, Jack Herbert, is really good. 

5. Doctor Who #11 (11/2011) – Can’t say the same about the art here, though.  Matthew Smith tries really hard to be Mike Mignola and largely fails.  His Matt Smith looks right because Matt Smith himself has exaggerated features, but he makes Amy Pond look ugly and that should be against the law.

6. Kirby Genesis #3 (2011) – Kind of a slow issue compared to 2 and 4…did I mention the plot builds really slow?  But I’m still excited!

7. Archie & Friends #140 (4/2010) – You know, every Free Comic Book Day, I’m pleasantly surprised by the Archie entry, but I can never bring myself to start collecting them.  And it’s not like they save their best stuff for the free book because this was a regular issue (pretty reasonably priced at $2.50 too). It’s a fairly complex 23-page story about Jughead and the girlfriend he almost had once.  It’s nice that Jughead’s parents are real characters and not just around to be the butt of jokes, like I remember Archie comics being like when I was growing up.  And it’s inked by Marvel veteran Al Milgrom!

8. Danger Girl #1 (1/2012) – Yeah, it’s cheesy, but this sexier send-up of James Bond is a lot of fun and I’m glad to see IDW revived it.  I own six of these Danger Girl comics now.  Chris Madden is no J. Scott Campbell, but it still looks good and maybe Chris was able to make deadlines. 

9. The Power of Shazam! #42 (9/98) – The story, as I understand it, is that Mike Carlin was ready to pull the plug on this great comic book with issue #41, but he made writer Jerry Ordway a Faustian offer.  Mike would kick loyal, long-term Shazam artist Peter Krause off the book and let Jerry have six more issues if Jerry took over the art chores.  Jerry must have wrestled with his conscience and lost on this one and it shows in the darker feel of the book for the last six issues.  BUT, this issue still has lots of nice touches, like the deft characterization of Bill Clinton, as well as lots of stuff about Billy, Mary, and Freddy just being really likable young people, growing up and doing stuff.

10. The Power of Shazam! #45 (1/99) – In addition to getting dark, things were also getting really rushed in these last few issues.  A big Black Adam storyline was being told in about half the space it would have had at the old pacing, and is hurt by it.  What could have been an epic Black Adam vs. Orion of the New Gods battle lasts just a page.  Such a waste, Mike Carlin…

The Sam O'Shea Project

Like the Clyde Beatty Project, this post will supplement an article in the next issue of The Trophy Case zine, vol. 2 no. 5.

 

#1 -- December 1938 – (“Phantom” in Feature Book #20) – Sam O’Shea is vacationing from college in Qatar when he spies pearl pirates and jumps right in to thwart them. While fighting the pirates in their lair, Sam finds a magic crystal that transports him back in time (710 xp in Fighter).
#2 -- January 1939 – (“Magic Crystal of History” feature in More Fun Comics #39) – Sam finds himself in Qatar in 1588, then under the control of the Ottoman Empire. After one month of adjusting to his new life, the magic expires and Sam is returned to the present (730 xp in
Fighter) .
#3 -- February 1939 – (“Salesman Sam” feature in The Funnies #29) – Sam tries to readjust to life in the present, getting a door-to-door salesman job to help make ends meet, but still craves adventure (740 xp in Fighter).
#4 -- March 1939 – (“Slim and Tubby” feature in Feature Funnies #18) – With graduation approaching, Sam helps a guy nicknamed “Tubby” on his research paper and Tubby becomes his sidekick (860 xp in Fighter)

#5 -- April 1939 – (“Apple Mary and Dennie” feature in Crackajack Funnies #10) – Emboldened by his lack of chances after they graduate, Sam asks out Mary Dennie, who says yes and becomes his girlfriend (1,000 xp in Fighter)
#6 -- May 1939 – (“Abbie and Slats” feature in Comics on Parade #14) – Tubby makes a joke about too-serious cop O’Kelly and winds up with a huge fine. Sam and Mary manage to smooth things over with O’Kelly and convince him to drop the charge (1,250 xp in Fighter).
#7 -- June 1939 – (“Pete the Tramp” feature in Ace Comics #27) – Sam, Mary, and Tubby try to protect Pete the Tramp from O’Kelly, even if it means being late for their graduation ceremony (1,560 xp in Fighter).
#8 -- July 1939 – (“Archie O’ Toole” feature in Feature Comics #22) – Mary gets a job at the local orphanage, where Archie O’Toole, a boy convinced he’s really a king, leads a protest. Sam comes in to help Mary diplomatically restore peace (1,680 xp in Fighter).
#9 -- August 1939 – (“Chuck Dawson” feature in Action Comics #15) – Sam has to use fighting skills he hasn’t needed for a long time when “Killer” Keefe develops an interest in Mary (1,840 xp in Fighter).
#10 -- September 1939 – (“Sandman” feature in Adventure Comics #42) – When the Sandman goes looking to protect old service buddies from a murderer, he encounters Sam because Sam’s father “Happy” recently died (from natural causes, it turns out, unrelated to the murders). Sam
aides the Sandman in catching the killer, “Teeter” Sneed, and becomes interested in becoming a vigilante. (2,000 xp in Fighter – 2nd level!)
#11 -- October 1939 – (“Mortimer Mum” feature in Feature Comics #24) – Tubby, whose real name is Mortimer, decides to play detective and find out who in his community helped the Sandman last month and stumbles onto Sam’s secret, which Tubby agrees to keep silent about (2.110 xp in Fighter).
#12 -- November 1939 – (“Ray Powers, Eagle Scout” feature in Famous Funnies #64) – Sam, a longtime Eagle Scout himself, becomes a den leader for cub scouts while trying to decide how best to go about becoming a hero (2,150 xp in Fighter).
#13 -- December 1939 – (“Charlie Chan” feature in Feature Comics #26) – Sam tries to apprentice himself to Charlie Chan when the famous detective comes to town and does succeed in helping the detective (2,210 xp in Fighter).
#14 -- January 1940 – (“Tarzan” feature in Crackajack Funnies #19) – Sam and Tubby are asked to accompany a group of Eagle Scouts on safari to Africa. A gorilla attack separates Sam and Tubby from the scouts, but Sam and Tubby eventually find the scouts, being protected by a
group of lost Boer warriors (2,380 xp in Fighter).
#15 -- February 1940 – (“The Gay Thirties” feature in Famous Funnies #67) – Sam is still on safari in the Congo. He has the magic crystal with him, that he’s always carried, and is staring into it while daydreaming about the past when it activates again. This time, Sam is transported to 1931 to observe the Pende Revolt against the French Colonialists, but doesn’t get to stay long enough to make a difference (2,400 xp in Fighter).
#16 -- March 1940 – (“Camilla” feature in Jungle Comics #30) – Sam returned to the present only to find Tubby and the Eagle Scouts captured again.  He tracks them to a hidden empire ruled by the She-like Camilla.  Her fancy for Sam allows him to safely sneak out Tubby and the others to freedom (2,560 xp in Fighter).
#17 – April 1940 – (“Masked Pilot” feature in Popular Comics #50) –Sam, et al. are on their way back to the States by plane, but the plane is actually being piloted by foreign spies taking them to
Mexico.  Sam leads an uprising onboard and takes over the plane, then is forced to land it (2,740 xp in Fighter).
#18 – May 1940 – (“Danny Dash, Globe Trotter” feature in War Comics #2) – The plane landed in Mexico, where Sam, et al. are stranded on the night that the “gray hordes from the center of the Earth” rise up to raid (orcs?) (2,900 xp in Fighter).
#19 – June 1940 – (“Planet Patrol” feature in Silver Streak Comics #5) – Sam has become a local leader in the defense of Mexico against the gray hordes.  From captured hordelings, Sam learns that they have come to the surface expecting to meet allies there.  The allies show up from space – The Toad Men of Titan (lizard men?) (3,060 xp in Fighter).
#20 – July 1940 – (“Flying Trio” feature in Crash Comics Adventures #3) – Sam decides it’s time to get Tubby and the boys out of Mexico, so he commandeers a 1912 Bristol Coanda monoplane and flies them all back home (and keeps the plane) (4,010 xp – 3rd level Fighter!).
#21 – August 1940 – (“Dr. Dekkar” feature in Prize Comics #6) – After being a terrible boyfriend for 11 months, Sam goes looking for Mary and finds Dr. Dekkar has turned her into a tiger-woman in his first step in creating a race of animal-men.  Sam saves Mary (4,160 xp in
Fighter).
#22 – September 1940 – (“Babe Bunting” feature in Famous Funnies #73) – While Mary is slowly losing her tiger-like abilities, she takes an interest in playing baseball and disguises herself as a man to play.  Sam realizes he had lost interest in pursuing Mary during his
adventures, but is impressed enough to fall for her all over again (4,180 xp in Fighter).
#23 – October 1940 – (“Blast Bennett” feature in Weird Comics #7) – Sam and Mary start dating again as soon as Mary’s facial hair goes away (though she still has a 9” tail!).  The fakir Karnak comes to town on Halloween, falls for Mary, and tries to claim her as his bride.  Sam intervenes (4,360 xp in Fighter).
#24 – November 1940 – (“Lone Eagle” feature in Thrilling Comics #10) – Sam and Mary go flying around the country in his Bristol Coanda.  In Virginia, a robber named Rossi tries to steal the plane from them.  Sam intervenes (4,440 xp in Fighter).

#25 – December 1940 – (“Wizard” feature in Shield-Wizard Comics #2) – After a long dormancy, the magic crystal reactivates, transporting Sam to 1812 Colonial America.  This time, he is able to hold Mary’s hand and bring her along.  They both intervene, on the side of the Colonialists (4,660 xp in Fighter).

My Newest Comic Books

On vacation to Evansville, Megan and I blew $11 on the dollar bins at our favorite Indiana comic book store, Comic Quest.  The 10 best were these:

1. Tom Strong's Terrific Tales #5 (2003).  My only issue of this spin-off anthology, Alan Moore still had his usual creative energy and the unusually positive attitude he reserved only for Tom Strong, in the lead story.  One of the back-up features is by the comic master Sergio Aragones.  Alan Weiss turned in some bizarrely sub-par (for him, way ahead of lots of other artists) art for the third feature.

2.  Silver Surfer #1 (1987).  Despite my deep respect for Steve Englehart as a writer, I had avoided most of the early issues of this title because of the Marshall Rogers artwork.  I'm still no fan, but the writing was worth it, all these years later.  Sadly, this issue is mildew damaged, so after it's scanned it will get tossed.

3.  The Wild Wild West #4 (1989).  I had the first issue before, now I have the end of the story and am just missing the middle.  Millennium was one of the best small presses circa 1990 and it's a shame they disappeared as soon as they did.

4.  Way of the Rat #3 (2002).  My third favorite Crossgen title. It's smart, funny, and pretty with great Jeff Johnson art, but with all the splash pages and double splash pages, the story moved agonizingly slow for a martial arts action story.

5.  Way of the Rat #2 (2002).  Sadly, I only realized after I bought this that I already own a copy in one of Crossgen's reprint anthologies.

6.  X-Men and Alpha Flight #2 (1985).  Chris Claremont's take on writing Alpha Flight was spot-on and makes me wish he had taken over for Byrne instead of Bill Mantlo back in the day (as good as Mantlo was, he just didn't have a good grasp of Alpha Flight).  Oh, and there's some X-Men in it too.

7.  What's New?  The Collected Adventures of Phil and Dixie #1 (1991).  Marked down from $5.95 to a buck, with no mildew damage?  What a find!  Phil Foglio's early work from Dragon magazine is still a treat, though I chuckled more than guffawed re-reading them.  Plus, a bonus "origin story" for Phil and Dixie.

8.  Terra Obscura Volume Two #1 (2004).  Alan Moore's positive attitude towards his ABC heroes is slipping, but there is still some fun here, mostly thanks to the villainous Clock who is most free of metatext.

9.  The World Below #1 (1999).  Nice-looking and imaginative, yet surprisingly somehow blase tale about uninteresting explorers in a Pellucidar-like underworld populated by weird stuff instead of people.

10.  Wulf the Barbarian #1 (1975).  An Atlas Comic in a dollar bin?  Literally worth reading for its historical value alone, this Conan rip-off offers little but the early work of Larry Hama and Klaus Janson, neither creator yet at their creative peak.  

Rpol H&H Campaign - pt. 34

[Continuing from here and concluding the first scenario of the first online Hideouts & Hoodlums campaign.]

Dice headed out.  He scanned the surrounding area to check if anything useful had been dropped by the cultists or anybody else in the chaos, hoping to at least salvage a little bit of a profit from this whole fiasco.  He wasn’t going out of his way to search, though; the priority was to get out of the danger zone.

About three minutes later he stopped short.  "Hey, what did he mean 'not human'?"

In separate groups, Gandor the Great, the Daoist, Alpha-Woman, and eventually even Dice Morgan carried their fallen comrades a safe distance from the temple.  So, it was from a safe distance that they observed the terrific explosion as the top floor of the temple went up in a huge fireball.  Dice, who did not find any loot while running through Roostertown, felt cheated of the chance to loot the temple later.

Within the next five minutes, the last of the shooting died away and only smoke rose from Roostertown and the Temple of the Rooster God.  Just then, the man Alpha-Woman carried regained consciousness and weakly identified himself as Agent Rudy Malefor, one of the three missing FBI agents they had came here to rescue. 

A minute after that, an autogyro rose above the ruins of the temple and flew away, heading east.

Soon thereafter, Captain Liberty, the Mountain Man, and Silver Scorpion all regained consciousness too.  Within the next half-hour, the two groups discovered each other's presence in the forest and the heroes were all reunited, except for Sewer Rat.

Morale was low amongst the heroes, with many seeing their narrow escape as little better than failure.  Gandor the Great stepped away from the gathering of heroes, turned and faced them. "So, we only saved one man out of three and lost a man in the process,” he said to everyone.  “And most of us only survived by the skin of our teeth.  But didn't we all get into this business knowing the risks?  We'll recover from this mission, wiser, more experienced, and ready to do better next time.  And I think we should all seriously consider working together from now on.  Individually, we each could have stayed a bit player on the stage of crime fighting, but I've seen a lot of potential in all of you and know that we can have a huge role in crime fighting if we stick together.  What do you say?  Should we try this again as a team?  As a tribute to Sewer Rat, if nothing else?"

Just then, Sewer Rat turned up, wearing his furry wet suit and weird-looking rat mask again.  He looked more disheveled than ever and was limping, like most of them were.  "Boy, it was hard finding my stuff in the wreckage," he said, "but I managed!"

Everyone shared stories about what happened to them on their adventure after people were separated, but the Daoist interrupted the Mountain Man and Silver Scorpion as they were in the middle of describing their last battle.  "Excuse me," he said, "but we stiw’ need to contact the FBI."

Some strategies were discussed, but eventually the plan decided on was to return to Highland Township and see where a radio might have been hidden that allowed the cultists in town to contact the temple so quickly after their initial arrival.  The tricky part was marching back to town faster than the returning villagers, while being careful to circle around them too.  No one wanted to do it, as everyone was in terrible shape and most everyone needed hospitalization soon too, but there seemed to be little other choice after Sewer Rat explained the condition of the temple after the big explosion.  Everyone was going to be abandoning Roostertown for the real town now.

Silver Scorpion had been thinking about Gandor’s speech and finally responded to it. "Yes, what a great idea!" she enthused. "As a team we can tackle much bigger crimes than we could alone.  I, for one, was starting to get a bit tired of handling petty crooks anyway," she confided, "there is so much more to do!  Sure…maybe we didn't quite accomplish *everything* we tried with the Rooster Cult, but I say it wasn’t bad for a first try. We can only get better, am I right? Who's with us?" she asked, beaming proudly.

But enthusiasm was slow in coming from the rest as they spent the rest of the day on the long march back to Highland.  It was a horribly grueling, endurance-testing march that no one was hoping to ever repeat, but they all returned without incident that night and found the town hall abandoned.  Inside, after breaking in, they did find a radio and used it to contact the FBI.

Afterward, Dice scratched his head.  "So, did we win or what?  What happened to those two yahoos that didn't make it?"

"I think it was just one that made it out alive, the FBI agent we came back with,” the Mountain Man said.
"I’ve also been thinking about what Gandor said, that if we are to act together then some of us need to, in fact, act together. Our first attempt was, in part, stymied by foolish and selfish aggressiveness."  The Mountain Man looked somehow smaller after giving such a long speech, like the effort had weathered his features.

Silver Scorpion's eye narrow slightly at Mountain Man's phrase of 'foolish selfish aggressiveness'.  Since when was aggressiveness a sin, she wondered.  Heroes are simply those who take action!  But she kept her thoughts to herself.

It turned out, Sewer Rat had salvaged more than his own possessions in the wreckage of the temple.  He had, through sheer luck, found everyone’s personal possessions and acquired trophies that had been taken from them when they were captured.

The people of Highland Township returned in small groups, quietly and sheepishly.  The Heroes on watch duty that night as the group camped out in town hall observed lights slowly appearing in the once-abandoned homes closest to the main street.

By morning, the FBI were there in Highland Township and Agent Fletcher himself appeared at town hall to meet them.  “Great to see you all made it out alive!” he said, as if that had been in doubt when he sent them.  “And thank you for saving Rudy.  If not for you, he might have been killed when we moved in, if not sooner.”

Agent Malefor, who was still there, added, “It’s a shame we missed so many of the leaders and a real shame that we missed the Ultra-Humanite.  That fiend has been at the top of our most wanted list since he – I mean she – tried to wipe out Cleveland with a plague back in December.  And this is for you lot,” he said for the heroes’ benefit.  “I talked to Fletcher by radio last night about the IRS agents who supposedly showed up at the temple earlier.  He checked into it and the IRS was never involved in this.  Those guys in the jeeps had to have been working for the Ultra-Humanite, maybe as part of a backup plan she had all along in case the deal for the temple fell through.”

After noticing the hasty bandages binding some seriously nasty wounds on most of the Heroes, Fletcher said, “We can give you all lifts back to Duluth and get you checked into the hospital there.  We’ll look after your own vehicles until you’re released.  We’ll dock the cost of your care out of your pay for the mission, but we can also keep an eye on things there and make sure no one on staff gives away your secret identities, if you want to keep them.  Whether you want your names in the papers is up to you.  The FBI is going to let what happened in Highland be public knowledge."

None of them were particularly bothered about if their identities were made public.  After all, as Silver Scorpion later said, if this was going to be a full-time gig then they did not even need to keep their mundane identities anymore.  Or at least that last part was true for Silver.

Silver Scorpion did call her boss, Dirk, though, concerned that he would be worried sick about her.  She filled him in on the general details and explained the fact that she was recuperating in a hospital at the moment.

The rest of the first half of May was spent with everyone convalescing in St. Luke’s, Duluth’s premier hospital.  Everyone’s rooms were close by each other and their proximity allowed all the heroes to socialize with each other over the next two weeks, and comfort each other before and after surgery to have bullets removed and wounds sewed shut.  Agent Rudy Malefor was there too and became, officially, their FBI liaison.  It was Rudy who informed Dice that his criminal record had been wiped clean.  “Keep your nose clean,” he said, “and stay with this crowd.  It looks like they’ll be good for you.”

The Clyde Beatty Project

This will be explained better in the next issue of The Trophy Case, but the project was to randomly roll a comic book character's history, taking from published stories on a monthly basis, then building a narrative to link those stories and assigning guesstimated experience points to the hero, as if a Hideouts & Hoodlums character.  I'm quite pleased with how the first effort turned out and would gladly read a comic book like this.

#1- June 1938 -- (“Clyde Beatty”feature in Crackajack Funnies #1) – Clyde Beatty, Daredevil Lion Tamer, is approached by recently orphaned Jimmy Brooder who wants to run away from the circus. Jimmy’s uncle, Bull, initially is fine with handing custody of Jimmy over to Clyde until he learns Jimmy came with money (130 xp in Fighter).
#2- July 1938 -- (“Barney Baxter in the Air” feature in Feature Book #15) –Jimmy shares his money with Clyde and makes his dream of owning a plane come true. They fix up an old 1909 Blériot XI monoplane, but Bull Brooder seeks to discredit Clyde and win Jimmy back for Jimmy’s money. Bull gets Clyde fired from the circus (and, in truth, his new passion for aviation was making him negligent), but his schemes backfire and make Jimmy more loyal to Clyde than ever (940 xp in Fighter).
#3 - August 1938 – (“Lyin’ Lou”feature in Cowboy Comics #14) – Lyin’ Lou, a conman, tricks Clyde out of their plane (960 xp in Fighter).
#4- September 1938 -- (“Hawks of the Seas” feature in Feature Funnies #12) –Clyde and Jimmy take to sailing the Caribbean in a sailboat, only to run afoul of white slavers and have to fight their way to freedom off a freighter (1,200 xp in Fighter).
#5 - October 1938 -- (“Hall of Fame of the Air” in King Comics #31) – Clyde and Jimmy return to the states long enough to see Barney Baxter’s admission into the Hall of Fame of the Air and make his acquaintance and then team-up to give Lyin’ Lou some payback (1,320 xp in Fighter).
#6 - November 1938 -- (“Crimson Avenger” feature in Detective Comics #21) –Clyde and Jimmy decide to tour the country by car, so they hire an Asian chauffeur named Tung. When Clyde decides to investigate rumors of grave robbers nearby, both Jimmy and Tung show up to aid him in fighting the robbers (1,680 xp in Fighter).
#7 - December 1938 – (“Roads of Romance”feature in Comics on Parade #9) – While touring Connecticut, Clyde meets Katharine Hepburn. Fresh off her relationship with Howard Hughes, Katharine was willing to go on a date with Clyde at Jimmy’s request and gave Clyde a kiss! (1,810 xp in Fighter)
#8 - January 1939 – (“Anchors Aweigh!”feature in Adventure Comics #34) – Clyde, Jimmy, and Tung visit New Orleans and learn of the pirate ship El Diablo and recognize it as the slavers they fought before. Eager for a rematch, Clyde gets them all on board a cruise ship, thinking it will make a good target, but Clyde has to commandeer the ship when the pirates turn up at an oil rig in the Gulf, intent on sabotaging it instead, by order of Fang Gow (2,170 xp in Fighter, reaches 2nd level!).
#9 - February 1939 – (“Ripley’s Believe It or Not” feature in Ace Comics #23) –Clyde and company race from Louisiana to New York with further information – a series of sabotages around the country are just a prelude to Fang Gow’s arrival in America. In New York, Clyde & Co. meet Barry O’Neil and Legrand (2,380 xp in Fighter).
#10 - March 1939 – (“Fang Gow of China” feature in Adventure Comics #36) –Clyde, Barry, et al. thwart Fang Gow and his followers from poisoning Manhattan’s water supply with a serum that will turn people into wax. Barry takes the lead against Fang, but Clyde, Jimmy, and Tung acquit themselves well against his followers (2,700 xp in Fighter).
#11 - April 1939 – (“Huck Pshaw” feature in Star Ranger Funnies #17) – Bull Brooder reads about Clyde Beatty in the newspaper and, his jealousy re-stoked, hires cowboy mercenary Huck Pryor to kill Clyde. Luckily, Pryor is all show and no skill. Bull is finally arrested for conspiracy to murder (2,740 xp in Fighter).
#12 – May 1939 – (“Hop Harrigan” feature in All-American Comics #2) – Clyde, Jimmy, and Tung meet Hop Harrigan on the airfield. They help an old-timer at the airfield who leaves Clyde and Jimmy his 1910 Bristol Boxkite biplane (3,790 xp).
#13 – June 1939 – (“Mexicali Rose” feature in Movie Comics #3) – Clyde is hired by a local radio station to broadcast about aviation, but meets a pretty half-Mexican woman named Luana who has come seeking media help in the U.S. against conmen selling oil stock for a nonexistent well on her orphanage’s land in New Mexico. Clyde flies to New Mexico to look in on it, with Tung driving Jimmy behind. Once there, he finds the conmen really do want to drill on the land and have kidnapped two children to try to force the orphanage’s closure. Clyde kicks their butts and wins Luana as a girlfriend (4,150 xp in Fighter, reaches 3rd level!).
#14 – July 1939 – (“Herky” feature in Popular Comics #41) – Clyde, Jimmy, and Tung try to settle down in Albuquerque so Clyde can court Luana. Jimmy befriends a local troublemaker named Herman Gillsy (4,500 xp in Fighter).
#15 – August 1939 – (“D-13” feature in Mystery Men Comics #1) – G-Men come and recruit Clyde and Tung to head to Panama and look for their missing agent, D-13. Clyde and Tung figure out, once there, that they have been sent as bait to lure enemy agents out, but hold their own against the agents and rescue D-13 (4,760 xp in Fighter).
#16 – September 1939 – (“Comic Zoo” feature in Popular Comics #42) – Returning home, Clyde takes Jimmy and Luana to the zoo for the day, only a crazy mother at the zoo thinks Jimmy is her son Rudy. Hijinks ensue (4,970 xp in Fighter).
#17 – October 1939 – (“Seein’ Stars” feature in Ace Comics #31) – Katharine Hepburn comes to Albuquerque looking to see Clyde again. Clyde tries to keep Luana from getting jealous (5,080 xp in Fighter).
#18 – November 1939 – (“Tarzan” feature in Tip Top Comics #43) – Clyde, Jimmy, and Tung go on safari to Africa and encounter Boer nomads. The Boer force the three to come along and help them find their lost settlement. When they find it, though, they find the settlement has been gone for years (5,460 xp in Fighter).
#19 – December 1939 – (“Abdullah” feature in Funny Pages #(33)) – Clyde, Jimmy, and Tung leave their safari to track the destroyers of the Boer settlement, only to find a lost valley of dinosaurs! They mostly just survive encounters by fleeing, but manage to return home with a pterodactyl for a trophy and Clyde finds a magic ring (6,280 xp in Fighter).
#20 – January 1940 – (“Captain Easy” feature in The Funnies #39) – Clyde, Jimmy, and Tung return to the U.S. only to learn that Luana and her father have gone missing in Mexico. The three head off in pursuit and discover Luana and her father are prisoners in a hidden Aztec city. They free the pair and escape (6,810 xp in Fighter).
#21 – February 1940 – (“Rance Keane” feature in Feature Comics #29) – Clyde, Jimmy, Tung, Luana, and her father are slowly making their way north through Mexico. In cowboy country, they stop bandits who have wrecked a train (7,250 xp in Fighter).
#22 – March 1940 – (“Hurricane Kids” feature in Popular Comics #49) – Clyde and the whole gang has to escape Mexico during an earthquake (7,720 xp in Fighter).
#23 – April 1940 – (“Tabu, Wizard of the Jungle” feature in Jungle Comics #4) –No sooner is Clyde back in the U.S. than Tabu teleports him back to Africa to help fight the Bargonan tribe, that breed spotted lions and has taken white prisoners. It is Clyde’s magic ring that allowed Tabu to summon him and Clyde offers to keep the ring (7,850 xp in Fighter).

#24 – May 1940 – (“Rio Kid” feature in Thrilling Comics #4) –Clyde returns home to find Tung has taken to dressing like a cowboy and is now known as the Rio Kid. Clyde and Tung/Rio Kid take on rustlers together (7,990 xp in Fighter).

#25 – June 1940 – (“Electro” feature in Marvel Mystery Comics #8) – Bull Brooder, free from jail, steals the controls for Electro, the Marvel of the Age, and sends it to kill Clyde. Clyde is in trouble with a truancy officer for Jimmy never attending school when Electro shows up. Clyde borrows a car and crashes it into Electro, damaging it enough to slow it down before Electro’s agents can find Bull and retrieve the controls (8,190 xp in Fighter, reaches 3^rd level!)

Top 10 Comic Book Acquisitions from the 2013 Free Comic Book Day

I have to say "acquisitions" this year because instead of picking up free comics at my library, I went to Keith's Komix in Schaumburg and picked up some 50-cent comics in the bargain bins in addition to the free ones.  And Keith was extra generous with the free comics, as you'll see below.

10.  Project Superpowers: Chapter Two #0
Selling for a dollar back in 2009, I picked this one up for 50 cents.  I greatly dislike the anti-government focus of the series, but the art is pretty and it's a lot of fun trying to identify all the characters, not all of whom get introductory captions.

9.  Infinity
No, it didn't make my top 10 for the prelude to the latest Thanos snoozefest or the really banal sneak peek at Warren Ellis trying to write the Avengers -- it made the cut for a rare reprint of a Drax the Destroyer adventure from Logan's Run #6 (1977)!

8.  Bongo Comics Free-For-All 2013
Lots of fun, as always, from Bongo.  The best story is "Model Citizen Simpson", but the real treat is the one page filler by Sergio Aragones.

7.  Paul Chadwick's Concrete #5
From the 50-cent bin, I picked up another solid issue of Concrete, though not one of his best.

6.  Classic X-Men #2
From the 50-cent bin...ooo, I got distracted looking at that Art Adams cover art.  Was I writing something?

5.  Avatar: the Last Airbender
Nickelodeon and Dark Horse are putting out some really good stories continuing the Avatar TV series. In this free issue we learn more about Mai than I ever did from the TV show, though I'm confused when and how she broke up with Zuko.  The Star Wars back-up feature is gorgeous, but slight.  The Captain Midnight flashback is pretty good, but the framing device in the present is boring and doesn't bode well for the series.

4.  The Smurfs
No, I'm not suddenly a Smurfs fan!  They still annoy the bejeebers out of me and the Annoying Orange back-up feature is terrible, but the real treat here is a wonderful short called Ariol about an animal-boy (an aardvark?) missing out on real life because he's got his face buried in a comic book.  Ah, if only kids were still like that today, but instead it's now video games!

3.  Kaboom! Summer Blast!
I hate the Adventure Time TV show so I had to force myself to read this, but the "choose your own adventure" concept was original and brilliantly done in comic book form.  I have looked at Kaboom's Peanuts series before and was disappointed, but this little back-up feature of Charlie Brown showing you how to draw Linus packs a surprising amount of character study into its 5 pages.  You learn a lot more about Charlie Brown's obsession with baseball than you learn about drawing Linus!  The return of Herobear should have been the most satisfying feature, as I loved his mini-series a few years back, but this preview is nothing but pretty pictures.  The Regular Show, Garfield, and Ice Age previews are descendingly bad.   

2.  The Tick
I haven't been following the Tick since his cartoon was cancelled, but it's good to see the character still has *ahem* legs.  My favorite part is, of course, the 3-page backup feature "Dewey Decibel System" with the Tick in a library learning about the Internet.  "...You have a phone?" was the funniest line in the whole book.

1.  Kirby Genesis #0
This comic book was selling for a dollar in 2011, but this year Keith was giving his leftover issues away for free.  It is so good, so gorgeous, and so ...awesome in scope, I can't understand how he still had copies to give away!  Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross, and Jackson Herbert build a unified universe for all of Jack Kirby's diverse post-Marvel, post-DC creations.  Now I have to track down all the issues I missed!