The History of Venture Comics!

[FrivYeti]

Randomizers:
Approach: 8, 9, 3 [Options: Prideful, Mastermind, Specialized, Generalist, Tactician, Leech]
Archetype: 3, 3, 10 [Options: Bruiser, Overlord, Squad, Invader]
Upgrade: 12, 10, 8 [Options: Quality Upgrade, Calming Aura, Brainwashing Zone]
Mastery: 6, 3, 5 [Options: Conquest, Mad Science, Mercenary]

Leading Man

Real Name: Trent Hudon, First Appearance: Skybreaker Stories #99, August 1966
Approach: Mastermind, Archetype: Squad
Upgrade: Calming Aura, Mastery: Mercenary

Status Dice: No allied lieutenants: d6. 1-3 allied lieutenants: d8. 4+ allied lieutenants: d10. Health: 25+5H
Qualities: Acrobatics d10, Alertness d8, Technology d8, Fitness d8, Criminal Underworld d8, Star Quality d8
Powers: Gadgets d12, Agility d10, Awareness d8

Abilities:

• Spotlight On Me [A]: Attack using Acrobatics. Use your Max die. Defend all nearby allies with your Mid+Min dice until the start of your next turn.
• Follow the Script [A]: Boost yourself using Star Quality and use your Max die. Either make that bonus persistent and exclusive, or Boost yourself again using your Min+Mid dice.
• Improvise [R]: When Attacked, Boost yourself using the Attacker’s Max die.
• Only As Good As My Team (I): Increase damage you deal by the number of nearby non-minion allies.

Common Scene Elements:

• Live Set: An unsuspecting urban environment that Leading Man and his crew have filled with ‘exciting’ effects, unsuspecting civilians hired as ‘extras’, and confused law enforcement.
• Production Crew: Four d8 lieutenants. When taking their expertise action, they roll twice and take the better result. Director: Boost. Cameras: Defend. Effects: Attack. Publicity: Hinder.
• Gophers. D6 minions. As a reaction, a gopher can redirect an attack from a member of the Production Crew to themselves.

As the 1960s wore on, Skybreaker’s foes became increasingly flamboyant, and diverged into two broad pools - foes who were tangentially connected to his Celtic mythological heritage, and super-criminals who used absurd gimmicks to commit mundane crimes. Many of the latter were not highly successful, but one particularly enduring but low-tier villain was the Leading Man.

Trent Hudon was a struggling actor whose career had never really taken off. One day, while watching the police watch his film set pretend to rob a bank, he hit on a brilliant idea - why not use his acting skills to fake movie shoots, and then commit real robberies? He quickly assembled a team of fellow film professionals who were equally frustrated in their movie careers, and they became the Production Crew, career criminals who used their film-making experience to commit super-crimes. As the crew’s Leading Man, Hudon was flashy and flamboyant, having his Costumer disguise him and his team so that the police couldn’t find them, and using dangerous special effects, stunts, and decoys to win the idea.

At first, Hudon was fairly popular. The concept was ridiculous, and Skybreaker having to wade through a fake film set to catch a bank robber meant that his first struggle with the Production Crew sold well. As a result, a more stories about the Leading Man and his team came out across the late 1960s and early 1970s, facing off not only against Skybreaker but Flatfoot, Greenheart, and even one memorable jaunt against the Drifter. But at their root, the Production Crew had a problem - they had no bigger goal, no grand ideology, no proper personality clashes that could elevate them to be a renowned villain team. A few attempts were made to broaden Hudon’s range, or to attach a new member to his team who could hook them into larger stories, but those ended up falling flat; the goofy nature of the team was what had made them popular, and trying to make them more serious just made them less interesting.

The Production Crew never actually went away, but as the comics of the 1980s became grimmer and more extreme, they faded to a punchline; a minor gang of antagonists who would serve as an opener, or be used as a decoy by the real villain of the piece. Ultimately, the Leading Man and his team were folded into the Red Herring’s operations, and Trent Hudon was reduced to being a minor support to a villain who was doing his shtick better than him.

Behind the Scenes

I have made a slight modification to make Leading Man’s status die be based on his lieutenants, instead of fellow villains. I think it fits his style better and it’s a nominal shift; he needs his full Production Crew around to act at full strength, but can hold the d8 for a while.

Leading Man is another character who could have been a proper second-stringer if his stories had caught hold a little bit more. The basic concept is entertaining - more of a Mysterio than an Ambuscade, to use other comics as reference. But it’s not a surprise that he never managed to get a story that defined him, and with the Red Herring around doing the whole “pretend a situation is another situation” thing so definitionally as time goes on, it’s also not a surprise that he eventually makes an offer to the Production Crew and they join his team. Better fate than all the D-List villains who ended up dead!

Hudon and his team also don’t have extended lifespans, so presumably if a Production Crew appears post-timeskip, it’ll have new members – although immediately after saying that, I want a story somewhere of the original Production Crew, all in their mid-sixties, doing One Last Job for retirement…

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

@FrivYeti

I have made a slight modification to make Leading Man’s status die be based on his lieutenants, instead of fellow villains. I think it fits his style better and it’s a nominal shift; he needs his full Production Crew around to act at full strength, but can hold the d8 for a while.

If anything he’s probably a bit more fragile status-wise, since d8 lieutenants are fairly brittle. OTOH, the minions will protect them as long as they last, so maybe not.

Oh, and I think that’s “gofer” not “gopher” - some dictionaries accept both for “errand person” but the original “gofer” spelling still seems to be preferred. It’s confusing enough that some gophers are tortoises instead of furry mammals without them also bringing you coffee.

@FrivYeti

Ultimately, the Leading Man and his team were folded into the Red Herring’s operations, and Trent Hudon was reduced to being a minor support to a villain who was doing his shtick better than him.

Yeah, I was thinking this group was a prime target for some vigilante to slaughter the way Marvel did for so many of their D-listers. Winding up as part of Red’s crew seems like a best possible outcome for them.

@FrivYeti

Hudon and his team also don’t have extended lifespans, so presumably if a Production Crew appears post-timeskip, it’ll have new members – although immediately after saying that, I want a story somewhere of the original Production Crew, all in their mid-sixties, doing One Last Job for retirement…

And ideally framing their unauthorized replacements for the heist. Teach them young whipper-snappers about infringing on their act.

I dig the overall concept, and so did Hollywood. I can think of at least a couple of episodes of old 50s and 60s TV shows that used fake film shoots to cover real thefts, and there were probably more. My own take on the “phony filming” trope was the Camera Crew, but they were pretending to be news reporters and were all part of slow-burn plan to wreck the heroes’ reputations at the behest of a bigger organization. Could probably adapt the Production Crew and Leading Man to play at being a more conventional news team that just happens to show up for a heist where the loot mysteriously vanishes even when the robbers get caught…

[FrivYeti]

@Chief_Lackey_Rich

If anything he’s probably a bit more fragile status-wise, since d8 lieutenants are fairly brittle. OTOH, the minions will protect them as long as they last, so maybe not.

He’s also got Spotlight On Me to Defend his crew, so players will have to pick their moment to down them, or else get them further away from him.

@Chief_Lackey_Rich

And ideally framing their unauthorized replacements for the heist. Teach them young whipper-snappers about infringing on their act.

Oh, I like that. That definitely has to be the plot, right? Probably a Starshadow plot where she accidentally befriends one of the replacements and then has to help them out, only to discover that they really are a supervillain afterwards.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

@FrivYeti

He’s also got Spotlight On Me to Defend his crew, so players will have to pick their moment to down them, or else get them further away from him.

True, although his own Health makes it hard to sustain the beating he’ll draw for doing that. I suppose Cameras can Defend him efficiently in return - and there are enough bonuses floating around from Leading Man and the Director to improve Defend actions even further. Just have to watch out for those no-Defense/Reactions/Penalties abilities cutting through all the defensive tech.

[FrivYeti]

The Randomizers:
Background 9, 7, 5 [Options: Academic, Law Enforcement, Tragic, Adventurer, Interstellar, Created]
Power Source 7, 7, 9 [Options: Relic, Radiation, Alien, Cosmos, Extradimensional]
Archetype 5, 3, 3 [Options: Physical Powerhouse, Blaster, Close Quarters Combatant, Flyer, Transporter]
Personality 8, 1, 5 [Options: Lone Wolf, Sarcastic, Distant, Fast talking, Inquisitive, Analytical]

The Myth-Makers
Jester and Sage

Real Names: Shyrin sutu-Rel and Tium sutu-Pak, First Appearance: Myth-Makers of Jotarus #1, March 1968
Background: Interstellar, Power Source: Extradimensional, Archetype: Close Quarters Combatant
Personality: Sarcastic, Principles: Duo, Exorcism

Status Dice: Green d8, Yellow d8, Red d10. Health: 34 [Green 34-26, Yellow 25-13, Red 12-1]
Qualities: Conviction d12, Close Combat d12, Otherworldly Lore d6, Banter d6, Jotari Twins d8
Powers: Telepathy d10, Duplication d8, Presence d6, Strength d6

Green Abilities:

• Mental Alignment [A]: Boost yourself using Telepathy. That bonus is persistent and exclusive. Damage dealt using that bonus is all Cosmic.
• Cover Each Other [A]: Defend using Close Combat. Attack using your Min die.
• Read Your Foe [A]: Attack one target using Telepathy. Attack a second target using your Min die.
• Split Up [A]: Take any two basic actions using Duplication, each using your Min die.
• Principle of the Duo [A]: Overcome when the two of you are able to work in tandem to solve a problem. Use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.
• Principle of Exorcism [A]: Overcome entities or elements from another dimension and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.

Yellow Abilities:

• Double Team [A]: Attack using Duplication. Use your Max die. Hinder that target with your Mid die. Hinder yourself with your Min die.
• Headache [A]: Attack multiple targets using Telepathy. Then, take irreducible damage equal to the number of targets hit.
• Head to Head [A]: Attack using Conviction. Ignore all penalties on this Attack, ignore any Defend actions, and it cannot be affected by Reactions.

Red Abilities

• And Then There Was One (I): Once per issue, if you would go to 0 Health, roll Duplication + Conviction + Red zone die. Your Health becomes that number.
• Not So Fast [R]: When an opponent Attacks, you may become the target of that Attack and Defend by rolling your single Close Combat die.

Out

• Hinder an opponent by rolling your single Conviction die.

Principle of the Duo
During Roleplaying: You are two people who are so in sync that it is as though you are one. You can take action in two places at once.
Minor Twist: What do you disagree with each other about?
Major Twist: Which of you is out of action, and why?

In the aftermath of Dimensional Devastation in 1968, two new comics were launched to replace The Reactors and Cryptic Trails. Of the two, Myth-Makers of Jotarus was by far the more ambitious. Where previous Jotari stories had focused on Partisan, touching lightly on the plight of the common folk through his feeling of responsibility, Myth-Makers instead focused on two young Jotari commoners who were swept up in the chaos of the Empress of Ash in their first issue, and whose latent psychic powers were triggered by her overwhelming presence. In her absence, the two were left with an incredible psychic connection to one another, along with general powers of telepathy and a sensitivity to dimensional disturbances.

Shyrin sutu-Rel was Jester, a laughing symbol of hope for oppressed commoners. Her family had been in service to the Jotu-Rel family for centuries, and she had watched her parents slave away for crumbs. Tium sutu-Pak was Sage, a laborer for the Jotu-Pak family who had taught himself to read and become a teacher for his community, and now could use his link to Shyrin to instruct people with complex knowledge in minutes. With Jotari society in crisis, the two stepped up to protect their homes from stranger dimensional creatures and aristocratic enemies trying to reinforce the Jotari Authority.

The Myth-Makers were the wedge of revolution, a pair of strangers fighting against an authoritarian regime, with occasional help from their allies in the Vanguards and on Earth. They also, as it turned out, were far too weird for the tail end of the 1960s. Fans weren’t sure what to make of a comics story that didn’t include a single human perspective, and attempts to detail Jotari society within the strictures of the Comics Code were devastatingly uneven. Within six issues, it was clear the the comic was failing, and it was ultimately cancelled after Issue #10, replaced by Dark Rivers. Jester and Sage would continue to make occasional appearances in issues of Vanguards, and would return as supporting characters in 2017’s House of Jotu-Kal, but the concept of a Jotari-focused comic would wither on the vine for the next fifty years.

Behind the Scenes

I just keep making stranger and stranger things.

This one was a simple challenge - “can I build a two-person character using SCRPG rules”? And honestly, I think the answer is yes. The Principle lets them split up, their quality die and Duplication die lets them gang up, and their abilities are flavoured as a pair of mind-linked psychics taking actions in concert with each other. This is another build that uses an early Boost to buff up Min-die actions as the scene goes on, which seemed like a good way to fluff how they interact.

They’re also another story that might have been a lot more succesful if they’d come out ten or twenty years later, but the basic concept just didn’t quite work. The two would probably have been better served as part of a larger Jotari team, operating out of Earth and into their homeland.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

Heck, ten issues is a good run for such an exotic concept - although I’m not sure another ten years would have helped any. Look at Shade the Changing Man from 1977. Equally weird and centered on extradimensional rather than space aliens, and even Ditko on art and plot couldn’t get it to a 9th issue. Devil Dinosaur with Kirby behind it got nine issues, all in 1978 - and that was with a dinosaur on every single cover!

Interesting concept for doing an “equals” duo, and seems to work fine mechanically. Might be a little hard to envision in situations where they get separated outside of an action scene, but of course the telepathy means they know when one is in trouble.

I was thinking about a different way to approach the duo idea using a new Archetype, but that would have been more of an uneven hero-sidekick pairing, kind of like a Minion-Maker but one that has a single lieutenant as a junior partner. Never went beynd random musings about it, though.

[TakeWalker]

I’ll never get “can’t understand a thing because no humans”. Alien perspectives are so cool!

[FrivYeti]

@Chief_Lackey_Rich

Heck, ten issues is a good run for such an exotic concept - although I’m not sure another ten years would have helped any.

I was more thinking that ten or twenty years later, Venture would have launched them as a limited-run six-issue series, which would have been weird enough to get some attention, then had them pop up in a few people’s books, and then made a decision about whether to keep them as recurring limited-run folks or build a larger book around them as the core.

On the other hand, I know for a fact that we’ve got another attempt at the concept in 2017 (Houses of Jotu-Kal) which also gets kneecapped, so they might just be unlucky!

@TakeWalker

I’ll never get “can’t understand a thing because no humans”. Alien perspectives are so cool!

I agree in concept, but boy, comics don’t seem to like them! All the popular alien superhero stories either have the alien on Earth, or have at least one core viewpoint human in space.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

@TakeWalker

I’ll never get “can’t understand a thing because no humans”. Alien perspectives are so cool!

At the same time, an alien perspective with no human one to compare it to is much harder to pull off. It can be done, but even a token human presence as a non-POV character (eg Tully in CJ Cherryh’s Chanur novels) makes things a fair bit easier for the average reader.

If you want a really good example of how to compare and contrast human and nonhuman viewpoints, take five or ten minutes and go read “Playing Games” over in the current issue of Freelance Traveller. Possibly the best fiction piece I’ve seen out of that e-zine.

@FrivYeti

I was more thinking that ten or twenty years later, Venture would have launched them as a limited-run six-issue series, which would have been weird enough to get some attention, then had them pop up in a few people’s books, and then made a decision about whether to keep them as recurring limited-run folks or build a larger book around them as the core.

Twenty years is long enough for generational change, which would also make nostalgia a factor. As the comics industry has discovered, there’s quite a lot of money to be had from the nostalgia of aging readers.

[Sea-Envy]

the post time skip Production crew should be Leading Lady
Trent Hudon had a daughter raised to be just as good (bad) as her father
all the entitled celebutante and self-destructing former child star memes
Trent Hudon might be a D-List supervillain in the hero world and the meta publishing world but if his daughter makes it to C-List then he created a dynasty and the comic writer who created him will see their work referenced often.

[FrivYeti]

Ooh, also a solid choice. Now I’ll have to think about it - although it would be pretty funny if Trent and his daughter were fighting over who got to have Production Crew status, using their respective teams as pawns. Hmm… have to think about it.

The Randomizers:
Background 7, 3, 1 [Options: Blank Slate, Performer, Military, Law Enforcement, Struggling, Unremarkable]
Power Source 6, 5, 2 [Options: Training, Mystical, Nature, Relic, Powered Suit, Supernatural]
Archetype 6, 7, 4 [Options: Marksman, Close Quarters Combat, Armored, Robot/Cyborg, Sorcerer, Transporter]
Personality 7, 1, 8 [Options: Lone Wolf, Stalwart, Fast Talking, Inquisitive, Jovial]

Power Flower

Real Name: Summer Sanchez, First Appearance: Power Flower #1, April 1968
Background: Performer, Power Source: Relic, Archetype: Marksman
Personality: Jovial, Principles: Detective, Ambition

Status Dice: Green d6, Yellow d8, Red d12. Health: 34 [Green 34-26, Yellow 25-13, Red 12-1]
Qualities: Creativity d10, Investigation d10, Banter d8, Acrobatics d6, My Own Manager d8
Powers: Intuition d10, Suggestion d10, Voice of an Angel d10, Illusions d6

Green Abilities:

• Start the Music [A]: Boost yourself using Intuition. That bonus is persistent and exclusive.
• High Note [A]: Attack using Voice of an Angel. Ignore all penalties on this Attack, ignore any Defend actions, and it cannot be affected by Reactions.
• Song and Dance [A]: Attack two different targets using Creativity, one target using your Mid die and the other your Min die.
• Principle of Whispers [A]: Overcome against a challenge that involves information that you have no real way of knowing and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.
• Principle of the Detective [A]: Overcome to learn hidden information and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.

Yellow Abilities:

• Siren’s Call [A]: Hinder using Suggestion. Also Recover Health equal to your Min die.
• Highs and Lows [A]: Attack using Creativity. Boost another hero using your Max die.
• Hardboiled Musician [A]: Attack or Overcome using Investigation on an environmental target, using your Max+Min dice. If you roll doubles, take a minor twist.
• Distracting Antics [R]: When another hero in the Yellow or Red zone would take damage, you may Defend them by rolling your single Intuition die.

Red Abilities

• Swan Song [A]: Attack using Swan Song and at least one bonus. Use your Max+Mid+Min dice. Destroy all of your bonuses, adding each of them to this Attack first, even if they are exclusive.
• Final Solo [A]: Boost using Creativity and use your Max die. Defend against all Attack against you using your Mid die until your next turn. Note your Min die result: as a Reaction, until your next turn, you may Hinder an attacker using that result.

Out

• Defend an ally by rolling your single Creativity die.

The second comic launched in the aftermath of Dimensional Devastation was a much more successful one, although it ultimately suffered the same fate as its fellow. Where Myth Makers had focused on Jotari issues, this comic was set in Santa Juanita, designed to look at how the aftermath of an alien invasion affected the city and its people. Mossby made the decision to keep the title “topical”, and chose the character of Power Flower from his staff submissions.

Summer Sanchez was a young psychedelic rock musician in Santa Juanita who was on her way home from a gig when the city shook with a massive earthquake, and the mountain at its heart crumbled inwards. Summer happened to be near the epicentre of destruction as the ship in the heart of the mountain folded itself into dimensional space, and found herself crashing into a cavern opened by the blast. There, she found an ancient crystal talisman, which responded to her voice and transformed her into a superhuman being! Using the talisman, Summer could tune her voice into a powerful weapon, weave auditory and mild visual illusions, and even manipulate minds. She took on the name Power Flower, and began to protect the city now that its previous heroes had left.

As Power Flower, Summer was both a musician and a detective, investigating mysteries, dealing with the aftermath of alien technology loose in the city, and trying to juggle her crime-fighting with her music career. The comic also included a strain of romance, with Summer’s potential boyfriend Gerry frequently under threat from new supervillains. At first, the combination was highly successful, and Venture thought they had a hit on their hands. However, by late 1969, the bloom was off the rose. The musical shtick that Power Flower used was already starting to fade, and the romance angle, initially exciting, had begun to fade. Like Myth Makers, the writers of Power Flower struggled to keep the comic within the bounds of Code, unable to dial up the romance, introduce political or police corruption, or delve into more serious subject matters.

Ironically, the ultimate decision that killed Power Flower was that she wasn’t dark enough. The things she was investigating seemed to call for a less whimsical hero, and her star was fading. The comic was cancelled at Issue #30 in 1970, and its elements were retooled to create Half-Life. Fallout picked up the villains Power Flower had been investigating and gave them more bite, leading to the dawn of the Bronze Age.

Summer herself made a few appearances in Fallout as a supporting character, then vanished. In 1992, she returned in a five-issue limited series that reimagined her as a techno-inspired character, with hopes of being spun out into a larger series in the next few years; the collapse of the speculation market in 1994 put an end to that plan, and to her major appearances in Venture Comics.

Behind the Scenes

One way for superheroes to fail is to jump on a trend way too late. Power Flower is doing something that Marvel would do decades later with Dazzler - trying to grab a musical trend to get the attention of the youth, just as that trend peaks. She’s one of the more successful D-Listers, but she’s a little too all over the place to quite find a niche, and she ends up getting displaced by the Bronze Age. If she’d held on, we might have had Fly Boy and Power Flower instead of Flatfoot and Fly Boy; I could imagine the two of them fighting The Man together.

Mechanically, she’s using her voice as a signature weapon, which I just think is neat, and combining “detective” and “musician” for some truly odd capabilities. I’d play her in a reboot!

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

@FrivYeti

…combining “detective” and “musician” for some truly odd capabilities…

I can’t help but think of Hanna-Barbera cartoons like Josie & the Pussycats, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kids and of course the seminal masterpiece of the genre, Jabberjaw. Perhaps what Power Flower really needed was a band.

@FrivYeti

Power Flower is doing something that Marvel would do decades later with Dazzler - trying to grab a musical trend to get the attention of the youth, just as that trend peaks. She’s one of the more successful D-Listers, but she’s a little too all over the place to quite find a niche, and she ends up getting displaced by the Bronze Age.

Dazzler was absurdly successful at first for what it was, so it’s hardly surprising that doing a similar thing with during the era of psychedelic rock was going to work for a while. Power Flower embraced being a superhero more than Alison ever did during her solo title’s run, though. A full rundown of Dazzler’s glory days makes for a fascinating and baffling read as you increasingly find yourself wondering who was buying the book?

Power Flower seems like the kind of character of who’d get an edgy deconstructive reboot in the 90s or 2000s by some big-name Vertigo writer. Perhaps it’s better to fade away than face that fate.

Or perhaps some lunatic could do a “changing genres” vid for her like the Josie and the Pussycats one.

@FrivYeti

Ooh, also a solid choice. Now I’ll have to think about it - although it would be pretty funny if Trent and his daughter were fighting over who got to have Production Crew status, using their respective teams as pawns. Hmm… have to think about it.

Maybe have father and daughter end their contest the same way the villains of Trading Places did - the loser paying the winner a dollar for winning a bet that’s getting both crews beaten up and sent to jail? They’re both kind of narcissistic sociopaths at the end of the day, right?

[FrivYeti]

My conception of the character is that Leading Man is loyal to his crew; he’s a narcissist, but he wouldn’t have Only As Good As My Team if he didn’t like the team, and even his Spotlight move protects the rest of the crew by drawing attention. The feel his mechanics gave me is that he and his team are actually a tight-knit crew that can trust each other.

Anyone who’s not on the team is fair game of course.

Oh, maybe that’s it. Maybe Leading Lady isn’t loyal to her team in the same way, and her father is trying to teach her a lesson in picking people who have your back, not just people who are good at their jobs. And doing it in a way that gives his team the retirement he feels they deserve. Hell, maybe he does give himself up at the end, letting both his daughter and his team escape and taking the fame of being the Leading Man from jail as a consolation prize.

I’ve got time to think about it.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

@FrivYeti

Hell, maybe he does give himself up at the end, letting both his daughter and his team escape and taking the fame of being the Leading Man from jail as a consolation prize.

Throw in the surprise last-minute reveal of a case of Incurable Fatal Disease Syndrome for dad and you’ve got a story worthy of the Telenovellaverse.

[FrivYeti]

Randomizers:
Approach: 6, 1, 7 [Options: Relentless, Disruptive, Focused, Mastermind, Creator]
Archetype: 4, 8, 5 [Options: Guerilla, Indomitable, Inhibitor, Loner, Thief, Invader]
Upgrade: 3, 9, 6 [Options: Group Fighter, Power Upgrade II, Defense Shield]
Mastery: 2, 9, 5 [Options: Behind the Curtain, Mad Science, Superiority]

Sparkplug

Real Name: Verona Casey, First Appearance: The Fearless Flatfoot #28, Oct 1969
Approach: Focused, Archetype: Loner
Upgrade: Power Upgrade II, Mastery: Mad Science

Status Dice: 3+ Other Villains: d6. 1-2 Other Villains: d8. No Other Villains: d10. Health: 25+5H (Upgraded 45+5H)
Qualities: Technology d10, Conviction d8, Observe From Safety d8
Powers: Robotics d12, Intuition d8

Abilities:

• Eek! [A]: Defend yourself using Robotics. This Defend lasts until your next turn. If an Attack deals more damage than the Defend’s value, end the Defend and Attack the attacker equal to the Defend.
• Bomb Bot [A]: Attack one target using Robotics. Use your Max die. That target cannot Defend or use reactions against this Attack. Attack multiple other nearby targets using your Min die.
• Sneak Attack [A]: Hinder one target using Intuition. Use your Max die. Attack that target using your Mid die.
• Interference Beam [A]: Hinder multiple targets using Technology. Recover Health equal to the number of targets Hindered this way.
• My Babies! [R]: When a non-minion ally in this scene is defeated, roll your single Conviction die as a Boost for yourself.
• (U) Action Technologist (I): Upgrade your Intuition to d10. As long as you have no nearby allies in the scene, increase all damage you deal by 1 and reduce all damage you take by 1.
• (U) Master of Mad Science (I): As long as you have access to materials, you can automatically succeed when Overcoming a challenge by using scientific principles and inventions.

Common Scene Elements:

• The Usurpers: Up to three other villains, all of whom are robots created by Sparkplug.
• Repair Drones. D8 minions. Repair drones can sacrifice themselves as an action to roll their die, treating it as both a Boost and Recover for another robot.
• Reclamation Engine. A multi-stage challenge that creates two new robot minions in each environment phase as long as it remains in play.

In the aftermath of the death and rebirth of Flatfoot, new villains arrived on the scene to challenge the android avenger. One villain who was clearly intended to become Flatfoot’s major nemesis, but who simply failed to take root, was the mysterious inventor known as Sparkplug.

Verona Casey was a brilliant inventor who studied the work of Flatfoot’s original creator, and became convinced that she could do better. When he died, she set about creating a new robot defender of Ferrisville that would replace him - only to have a new Flatfoot emerge and take the spotlight. Verona became convinced that only by proving her robots superior to this new entry would she be able to stand proud. Putting her considerable genius to the task, she built a new robot, which she called Usurper-1, and set it the task of publicly defeating and destroying Flatfoot!

This did not work. Usurper-1 was stronger, but Flatfoot was smarter, and successfully defeated the robot. So Verona, as the supervillain Sparkplug, began creating more Usurpers, attacking Flatfoot again and again to prove herself the best roboticist in the world. She fought against the Champions of Truth, building robot duplicates of each Champion to challenge them. She fought Fly Boy when she mistakenly believed him to be a robot. She had one obsession, and she was not going to back down.

Like many D-Listers, Sparkplug appeared intermittently but consistently throughout the history of Venture Comics. Unfortunately, with each appearance her menace was a little bit less. Her robots were defeated more and more easily, and she became less of a threat and more of a joke. By the end of the Plutonium Age she was primarily an afterthought; someone to build a robot to be an annoyance in the opening of a Champions of Truth story. She was almost picked to become a new member of Earthwatch, but this plan was interrupted by the Passing the Torch event, and she hasn’t made an appearance since then.

Behind the Scenes

There are a lot of supervillains who exist primarily because they think a hero upstaged them, and this one fits the mold. Sparkplug does one thing and only one thing - she builds robots, she sends them out to fight superheroes, and then she gets really, really mad when they inevitably explode.

I honestly like her a lot, but I’m not surprised that she didn’t quite make the grade. It’s possible that someone looked at this idea, thought, “I can make this better if I dial it up to 11” and created ScaVenger.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

I’m actually surprised she didn’t see more use, popularity be damned. Having a villain who specializes in making duplicates of other supers (hello, Biomancer) is a really handy tool for a writer’s toolbox, and it’s not something ScaVenger really offers. Guessing her copies weren’t very convincing? The old Bionic Woman joke about being able to hear the fembots and other android doubles squeaking when they moved joke all over again?

Mechanically I’d expect her Usurpers to be written up as lieutenants rather than full villains most of the time to keep her status die up while still benefiting from My Babies! Plays into the “her robots are inferior to the originals” thing too.

[FrivYeti]

Ah, yeah, I probably should have been more specific.

Her copies were usually like Amazo; they were really obviously robot duplicates, just with powers mimicking those of the people they’re based on. At best, they’d look as much like the originals as Unity’s bots do.

I set the Usurpers as villains largely because (a) it feels like cheating to include a Loner in a scene where nothing can reduce their status die, and (b) it’s meant to reflect that she’s standing back and not engaging as much, but as her robots get broken she gets angrier and more actively involved. There are probably situations when they’re lieutenants, or when some are lieutenants and some are full villains.

[FrivYeti]

Randomizers:
Approach: 10, 9, 9 [Options: Specialized, Overpowered, Leech, Ancient]
Archetype: 8, 10, 5 [Options: Indomitable, Inhibitor, Squad, Invader, Warden, Legion]
Upgrade: 9, 1, 5 [Options: Mook Squad, Power Upgrade I, Defense Shield]
Mastery: 7, 9, 2 [Options: Behind the Curtain, Mysticism, Superiority]

Master Force

Real Name: Jarek of the Firmament, First Appearance: Vanguards #165, June 1972
Approach: Leech, Archetype: Warden

Upgrade: Power Upgrade I, Mastery: Superiority

Status Dice: Scene Tracker Green: d10. Scene Tracker Yellow: d8. Scene Tracker Red: d6. Health: 35+5H (Upgraded 55+5H)
Qualities: Close Combat d8, Imposing d8, Deep Space Lore d8, Firmament Officer d8
Powers: Cold d10, Presence d8, Radiation d6

Abilities:

• Steal Warmth [A]: Hinder using Cold. Use your Max+Min dice. Boost with your Mid die.
• Hold Fast [A]: Attack using Presence. Use your Max die. Boost with your Min die. This bonus is persistent and exclusive.
• Sound the Alarm (I): At the start of your turn, create a d8 minion. Choose the one basic action it can take. It acts at the start of the environment turn.
• Radioactive Backlash [R]: When a hero in the same location would take an Overcome action, Hinder them with your sole status die and apply the penalty to their Overcome result.
• (U) Master of the Firmament (I): Increase Cold to d12, Presence to d10, and Radiation to d8.
• (U) Master of Superiority (I): As long as you are manifesting effects related to a power you have at d12, automatically succeed at an Overcome involving use of those powers.

Common Scene Elements:

• The Firmament Core: A specialized anti-powered dimensional jail, spawning jailers, fellow prisoners, and challenges that need to be Overcome.
• Firmament Troops: d8 minions. Firmament Troops have +1 to all actions when following orders from a superior officer.
• Furious Inmates: d10 lieutenants. Furious Inmates will attack both heroes and villains, and each have +2 to a particular action when using their powers.

Warden
Suggested Approach Pairings: Adaptive, Disruptive, Tactician

Wardens protect other villains or dangerous situations, pushing themselves to keep things under control before falling just in time for a more serious threat to arise.

Status:
Scene Tracker Green: d10
Scene Tracker Yellow: d8
Scene Tracker Red: d6

Health: +20

Abilities: Choose two of these abilities:

• Backup (I): At the start of your turn, create a d8 minion. Choose the one basic action it can take. It acts at the start of the environment turn.
• Countermeasures [R]: When a hero in the same location would take an Overcome action, Hinder them with your sole status die. Apply the penalty to their Overcome result.
• Headlock [A]: Attack using [power]. Hinder that target using your Max die. That Hinder is persistent and exclusive as long as you are active, but does not apply to actions taken against you.
• The Pieces Fall Into Place [A]: Boost another character using [power]. Use your Max die. You may add one box to any challenge in play.
• Restraining Field [A]: Hinder using [power]. Use your Max die. The penalty applies to all actions taken in your location until the start of your next turn.
• Step In [R]: When a nearby ally would be Attacked, redirect the attack to yourself and Defend against it using your status die.

In 1972, after a few years focusing on the immediate aftermath of Dimensional Devastation, the Vanguards picked up a new lead writer who decided to take advantage of the situation with a new threat, which he hoped would replace the Jotari Authority as the Vanguards’ most prominent foe. That threat was the Firmament, and in their early appearances their face was Master Force, a Uranian general who had left his people in search of a greater purpose.

The Firmament were an interdimensional body of alien species who had come to the decision that dimensional travel was dangerous, and should be restricted to the ‘worthy’ in order to prevent dangerous forces from invading. After lengthy observation, they had determined that both Earth and Jotarus were threats to that order, whose rash actions had nearly precipitated the destruction of a dozen dimensions. Thus, Master Force diverted the Vanguards’ next dimensional jaunt, putting them on trial for attempted genocide!

The trial was a farce and the Vanguards were immediately sentenced to two centuries’ imprisonment in the Firmament Core, a prison meant to hold interdimensional travellers. Unfortunately for Master Force, the Vanguards were used to fighting against totalitarian authorities, and promptly broke out, destroying the mechanisms that he used to maintain the systems and escaping. He swore that he would re-capture these ‘escaped felons’, and became a thorn in their side.

Despite the best of intentions, however, the Firmament never really became a threat worthy of the Vanguards. Master Force himself made a few more appearances, and a handful of other Firmament enemies would appear over the next decade, sometimes as enemies of the Vanguards and sometimes working with them against Amorta or Urak, but Venture writers outside of Vanguards didn’t want to stop using dimensional travel or foes, which meant that the Firmament’s actions became increasingly disjointed - especially with Celestial Travellers establishing that dimensional travel was how the galaxy got around, while refusing to have the Firmament appear in their stories. Ultimately, the Firmament faded out with the cancellation of Vanguards in 1982, and Master Force and the Firmament Core were destroyed by the Scion of Silence in 1984, explicitly destroying the organization as part of the Sovereign’s plans. In the reboot that followed, they were shuffled off-stage, and while a few of their former members appeared as minor villains, neither Major Force nor the organization as a whole ever returned.

Behind the Scenes

One little fluke of the original villains system is that I didn’t really write any villains or stories for the Vanguards in the 70s; there was the brief return of Ignition, Hyperstar stopping by, and finally the comic’s cancellation just before the end of the age. So I thought I’d slide in the storyline that took up a chunk of their time and ultimately failed, helping to sideline the team and leading to their revamp in the Iron Age as pawns of villainy.

The Firmament is also an early casualty of the growing fights between the Champions and Super-Science desks. If the desks were cooperating, they might have become a bigger threat to the Champions of Truth and the Celestial Travellers, allowing them to grow into a proper part of the universe, but the desks aren’t talking.

Master Force himself is our first Warden! In this case he’s a literally warden, but the archetype is actually broader than that, covering any sort of defensive villain who gets weaker as the scene progresses. There’s some overlap between Warden and Domain, but Warden doesn’t actually require an environment. They work just as well in a scene that uses a lot of built-in challenges or Overcomes, making the heroes’ lives more difficult and sort of demanding to be taken down first.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

@FrivYeti

Headlock [A]: Attack using [power]. Hinder that target using your Max die. That penalty is persistent and exclusive as long as you are active, but does not apply to actions taken against you.

Minor phraseology correction there.

@FrivYeti

The Pieces Fall Into Place [A]: Boost another character using [power]. Use your Max die. You may add one box to any challenge in play.

I really wish Domain villains had some challenge manipulation like this. It’s an interesting design space to work with.

@FrivYeti

…Master Force, a Uranian general…

Wow, a Uranian? That’s a callback to the early days of this thread. When’s the last time one of them showed up, the Golden Age? It’s like having some Ovoids crop up in Marvel.

@FrivYeti

Venture writers outside of Vanguards didn’t want to stop using dimensional travel or foes, which meant that the Firmament’s actions became increasingly disjointed - especially with Celestial Travellers establishing that dimensional travel was how the galaxy got around, while refusing to have the Firmament appear in their stories.

I can’t imagine many creators being keen on having something as useful as “dimensional shenangians” removed from their toolbox. Even a full on push from editorial would struggle to keep that tamped down, a few peer writers sure couldn’t swing it.

[FrivYeti]

@Chief_Lackey_Rich

Wow, a Uranian? That’s a callback to the early days of this thread. When’s the last time one of them showed up, the Golden Age? It’s like having some Ovoids crop up in Marvel.

I mentioned them in passing in a couple of the Silver Age entries, I think? They were probably moderately active in the early Silver Age, faded out a lot as it went on, and by the 1970s they’re one of the minor species hanging around, with Trake himself popping up every once in a while - I bet they get a World-Maggot story where Trake has to work with his ancient enemies to save his world, for example. There’s probably some storyline in the late 70s or early 80s that “clarifies” that they’re not actually from our Solar System, and they’re only called “Uranian” because of their radioactive natures, which helps slough off the “Uranus” jokes that accompany them (possibly the same one as the World-Maggot story, actually!)