The History of Venture Comics!

[FrivYeti]

The Randomizers:
Background 2, 1, 3 [Options: Blank Slate, Criminal, Performer, Military, Academic, Upper Class]
Power Source 10, 8, 3 [Options: Genetic, Powered Suit, Tech Upgrades, Supernatural, Cursed, Unknown]
Archetype 5, 4, 6 [Options: Blaster, Close Quarters, Armored, Elemental, Robot/Cyborg, Sorcerer]
Personality 1, 2, 6 [Options: Lone Wolf, Natural Leader, Impulsive, Distant, Stalwart, Fast-Talking]

Captain Bolt

Real Name: Captain Ian Blake, First Appearance: Venture Into The Unknown #5, May 1958
Background: Military, Power Source: Powered Suit, Archetype: Blaster
Personality: Distant, Principles: Dependence, Electromagnetism

Status Dice: Green d10, Yellow d8, Red d8. Health: 28 [Green 28-22, Yellow 21-11, Red 10-1]
Qualities: Ranged Combat d10, Leadership d8, Alertness d8, War Veteran d8
Powers: Power Suit d10, Electricity d10, Flight d8, Part Detachment d8, Vitality d6

Green Abilities:

• Environmental Systems (I): Reduce energy damage you take by 1 while you are in the Green Zone, 2 while in the Yellow zone, and 3 while in the Red zone.
• Shock Gauntlets [A]: Attack using Electricity. Hinder using your Min die.
• Press the Charge [A]: Attack using Power Suit. If you Attacked or Hindered that target in your previous turn, use your Max die in this Attack.
• Principle of Electromagnetism [A]: Overcome a challenge involving electromagnetism and use your Max die. You and your allies gain a hero point.
• Principle of Dependence [A]: Overcome in a situation that your exosuit was specifically designed for. Use your Max die. You and your allies gain a hero point.

Yellow Abilities:

• Swarm Punch [A]: Attack up to three different targets using Part Detachment. Apply your Max die to one, your Mid die to another, and your Min die to the third. If you roll doubles, take a minor twist or take irreducible damage equal to that die.
• Charge Up [A]: Boost yourself using Power Suit. Use your Min+Mid dice. That bonus is persistent and exclusive.
• Lead By Example [A]: Attack using Power Suit. Use your Max die. If you choose another hero to go next, Boost that hero using your Mid die.

Red Abilities

• Electromagnetic Blast [A]: Attack multiple targets using Power Suit, using your Max+Min dice. If you roll doubles, take a minor twist or energy damage equal to your Mid die.
• Explosive Detachment [A]: Use Part Detachment to create a number of d6 minions equal to your Mid die. Choose the one same basic action that they each perform. They all act at the start of your turn.

Out

• Boost an ally by rolling your single Red status die.

With the success of Skybreaker, the makers of Venture Comics started looking for their next big break. Inspired by the success of the Freedom Four, they set about designing their own team of heroes, a group of four patriotic defenders of liberty. In their zeal to copy the success of the Freedom Four, the editors leaned on the writers to echo some of their powers and backgrounds, especially the inclusion of a patriotic military officer in a powered suit to show support for the troops, but also demanded that he be highly distinct from Bunker. Faced with an impossible challenge, the writers leaned into it, and produced Captain Bolt.

First Lieutenant Ian Blake had been a Korean war hero, a skilled pilot who suffered a serious spinal injury while flying a rescue operation for an American retreat. Honourably discharged, he was approached a few years later to take part in a highly secret experimental program to create an electromagnetic flight suit. The experiment was a mixed success; the suit was too complex for most pilots to manage, and of the candidates, only Blake was able to make effective use of it. Promoted and reinstated as the leader of a new team of government-funded heroes, he became Captain Bolt, leader of the Vanguards! His ‘electromagnetic’ suit allowed him to fire off and remote control sections of his armor, manipulate electrical currents, and whatever else the writers thought electromagnetism should be able to accomplish in the moment.

Captain Bolt provided a few new approaches for the writers of Venture Comics. As a patriotic war hero who was also one of the war wounded, he allowed Venture to thread the needle between supporting the military and touching on the horrors of war. Dependent on his power suit to walk, Bolt’s suit became a potential weakness for enemies to exploit as well as a powerful tool. Captain Bolt also continued a Venture Comics tradition of moderately secret identities; his military backers and teammates knew who he was, but the classified nature of the project meant that even his family wasn’t allowed to know his secret, believing that he was working on training projects for new air force pilots.

As leader of the Vanguards, Captain Bolt would fight criminals, super-scientists, and a terrible new threat from another world…

Behind the Scenes

So we’re starting up our team. A Military Power Suit character was a bit of a challenge, in that I wanted to make it noticeably distinct from Bunker. I love the idea of a Part Detachment character in a power suit, and if I’d gotten different Archetype options I might have leaned into that further, but Blaster and leaning into electromagnetism works, too.

This guy also has tremendous Bronze Age opportunities once writers with actual experience with disability and mobility aids get hold of him.

[fjur]

@FrivYeti

and whatever else the writers thought electromagnetism should be able to accomplish in the moment.

Perfect. : D

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

Perfect indeed. As the saying goes, the (comic book) science checks out.

The character concept in general has lots of potential going forward, and is pretty distinct from both Bunker (who’s a freak by IRL comic standards - he’s closer to Marvel’s New Universe Spitfire than anything) and Iron Man. More of a whiff of Absolute Zero if anyone, what with the impossible comic book science thing and reliance on the suit to deal with a medical condition as such a big features.

Inevitably reminds me of the obscure 90s TV show M.A.N.T.I.S., which also had a partially paralyzed protagonist who relied on his suit for mobility.

[FrivYeti]

The Randomizers:
Background 6, 7, 8 [Options: Upper Class, Law Enforcement, Struggling, Medical, Interstellar, Retired]
Power Source 8, 5, 6 [Options: Mystical, Nature, Relic, Tech Upgrades, Cursed, Alien]
Archetype 9, 10, 5 [Options: Blaster, Elemental Manipulator, Robot/Cyborg, Minion-Maker, Wild Card, Divided]
Personality 2, 10, 6 [Options: Natural Leader, Distant, Fast Talking, Alluring, Nurturing, Cheerful]

Doctor Cosmos

Real Name: Diane Shulman, First Appearance: Venture Into The Unknown #5, May 1958
Background: Medical, Power Source: Relic, Archetype: Elemental Manipulator
Personality: Cheerful, Principles: Whispers, Exorcism

Status Dice: Green d10, Yellow d8, Red d8. Health: 30 [Green 30-23, Yellow 22-12, Red 11-1]
Qualities: Medicine d10, Conviction d10, Finesse d8, Science d6, Alertness d6, Dimensional Receiver d8
Powers: Cosmic d10, Absorption d10, Intuition d8, Flight d6

Green Abilities:

• Commune [A]: Boost yourself using Cosmic. That bonus is persistent and exclusive.
• Cosmic Shield [A]: Defend using Cosmic. Use your Max die. Boost using your Min die.
• Energy Drain [A]: Hinder using Absorption. Attack using your Min die. If you are in the Red zone, you may apply the penalty to any number of nearby targets.
• 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 your allies gain a Hero Point.
• Principle of Exorcism [A]: Overcome entities or elements from another dimension and use your Max die. You and your allies gain a Hero Point.

Yellow Abilities:

• Cosmic Alignment (I): If you would take Cosmic damage, reduce that damage to 0 and Recover that amount of Health instead.
• Triage [A]: Attack using Cosmic. Use your Min die. Take damage equal to your Mid die, and one nearby ally Recovers Health equal to your Max die.
• Right Place, Right Time [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

• Cosmic Eruption [A]: Attack using Cosmic. Use your Max+Mid dice.
• Battlefield Medicine (I): When taking any action using Medicine, you may reroll your Min die before determining effects.

Out

• Boost an ally by rolling your single Absorption die.

The second member of the Vanguards was Doctor Cosmos, created as a foil and alternate to Captain Bolt. Diane Shulman was a civilian doctor who was working one day when a badly burned man was brought in clutching a mysterious glowing red orb. When she tried to take it from him so that she could work, the orb merged with her, showing her visions of another world and granting her access to the fabric of the dimensions! The military responded not long afterwards, and upon discovering that the alien orb was bonded to Diane, formally requested that she join them in protecting the Earth from extraterrestrial invasion. She was uncertain at first, but was too curious about the nature of this new reality to say no.

Doctor Cosmos often acted as the conscience of the Vanguards, speaking up when she saw injustices being committed. Her newfound cosmic awareness gave her impossible insights into dimensional rifts and dangers, which was critical when dealing with the team’s Jotari foes - the same aliens who had constructed the orb that had bonded with her. She also monitored the vitals of the team’s other three members, each of whom had their own reasons to need medical support, acting as an official doctor who knew all of their classified needs.

Behind the Scenes

I’m stretching the nature of Relic a bit, which is good because this makes three of the four Relic-users I can have for this phase. I really wanted someone with a healing Ability, and I’ve already done a Medical/Alien character, so using Relic seemed like a good plan, and then I picked up Elemental Manipulator and suddenly instead of burning herself out to save others, she just turned into a Cosmic healing spigot in Yellow. Good for her!

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

@FrivYeti

I’m stretching the nature of Relic a bit,

Header fluff text on Relic is “An object (or collection of objects) of mystical significance either grants you powers or altered you to give you powers.” Not seeing how a mysterious alien cosmic-awareness orb granting you powers doesn’t fit that “altered you” bit. Unless it’s the mystic thing bothering you, in which case I invoke the “any sufficiently advanced tech is indistinguishable from magic” clause - and point at Deadline, whose stolen gadget that wound up with Chokepoint was more mystic than hard science.

Rock-solid healer ability combo as always. Assume you skipped on taking the actual Eruption Red ability for variety, since it’s usually seen in this kind of Recovery build.

[FrivYeti]

@Chief_Lackey_Rich

Unless it’s the mystic thing bothering you, in which case I invoke the “any sufficiently advanced tech is indistinguishable from magic” clause

Yeah, that’s essentially the uncertainty, and yeah, I ultimately decided to go ahead with it for the reasons you outlined!

And yes, I avoided Eruption because it seemed a bit too good for her, and I wanted to give a bit more variety to the doctor instead.

[FrivYeti]

Mr. Infinity

Real Name: Reggie Zhang, First Appearance: Venture Into The Unknown #5, May 1958
Background: Struggling, Power Source: Experimentation, Archetype: Speedster
Personality: Impulsive, Principles: Everyman, Speed

Status Dice: Green d6, Yellow d8, Red d10. Health: 32 [Green 32-25, Yellow 24-12, Red 11-1]
Qualities: Insight d10, Close Combat d8, Finesse d8, Investigation d8, Alertness d6, Winsome Smile d8
Powers: Intangibility d10, Speed d10, Awareness d8, Vitality d6

Green Abilities:

• Unstoppable (I): At the start of your turn, remove a penalty on yourself.
• Disrupt [A]: Attack multiple targets using Speed. Use your Min die. Hinder each target equal to your Mid die.
• Race Through [A]: Attack using Intangibility. Defend yourself using your Min die.
• Principle of the Everyman [A]: Overcome when using a bonus made by another hero and use your Max die. You and your allies gain a Hero Point.
• Principle of Speed (I): When you successfully Overcome, you may end up anywhere in the current environment. You and your allies gain a Hero Point.

Yellow Abilities:

• Flickering Form [A]: Boost yourself using Intangibility. Use your Max die. That bonus is persistent and exclusive.
• Evasive Trick[R]: When a nearby hero in the Yellow or Red zone would take damage, Defend against that damage by rolling your single Agility die, then redirect any remaining damage to a nearby minion of your choice.
• Up Close And Personal [A]: Attack using Close Combat. Use your Max die. If you roll doubles, use Max+Min instead.

Red Abilities

• The Right Words At The Right Moment [A]: Hinder using Insight. Use your Max+Min dice. Boost yourself or an ally with your Mid die.
• Out of Phase [A]: Defend using Intangibility with your Max+Mid dice against all Attacks against you until your next turn.

Out

• The hero who goes directly after you may take 1 damage to reroll their dice pool.

While the editors of Venture Comics were leery of imitating either Legacy or the Wraith for their new superhero team, the much more recently-introduced Tachyon’s speedster abilities were of interest, and the writers were instructed to include someone fast on the team for comedy purposes. They reluctantly leaned into it, creating Mr. Infinity.

Reggie Zhang was a struggling college dropout who enlisted in the military to support his elderly parents. His keen eye and instinctive courage and kindness caught the eye of an official when he got in a fight protecting a fellow recruit, and he was offered a chance to take part in high-paying equipment experiments rather than having to become an infantry grunt. He leaped at the chance, but the experiments were interrupted by a Jotari attack when the dimensional energies the scientists were experimenting with accidentally opened a portal to their alien realm, fusing Reggie’s equipment with his body and transforming him! Able to pass through matter and rapid-skip across vast distances, Reggie had become Mr. Infinity, a cosmic-charged speedster who could get past any obstacle.

As Mr. Infinity, Reggie was the team’s firebrand, a friendly but impulsive young man who was the first to charge into danger to help others and the last to leave. He also acted as the team’s social glue, recognizing his friends’ personalities and helping them to understand each other, and while he was an incorrigible romantic, he was never portrayed as a playboy. The classified nature of his work meant that Reggie couldn’t tell his parents what he did, which often created social stress and plots in which they expected him for various important family events which he had to miss due to alien invasions or rampaging robots, but he was a character who always smiled through his problems.

Behind the Scenes

I was not initially planning to have two characters on the team who aped Freedom Five members, and I almost went Shadow instead to have an insubstantial character who literally faded into the background, but the idea of someone who really leans into the “so fast he can clip through walls” aesthetic was too good to pass up. Reggie is a little bit Flash and a little bit Human Torch, but I like the idea that the young guy of the group is actually the one who’s best at social awareness and understanding.

Mechanically, Principle of the Everyman is strong in this group; Reggie can take advantage of Captain Bolt’s Lead By Example to Overcome almost anything, or can make use of Doctor Cosmos’s Cosmic Shield to jump out from cover and solve problems… and our last character can also Boost his Overcomes effectively, as we’ll see tomorrow.

And of course, he’s the Silver Age’s first non-white superhero for Venture Comics. Compared to the real world, Mr. Infinity is a couple of years behind Jimmy Woo, but he’s also going to be more high-profile.

[FrivYeti]

The Randomizers:
Background 7, 9, 6 [Options: Upper Class, Law Enforcement, Tragic, Medical, Retired, Created]
Power Source 6, 6, 7 [Options: Nature, Relic, Artificial Being, Cursed, Cosmos]
Archetype 1, 8, 2 [Options: Speedster, Shadow, Powerhouse, Flyer, Elemental Manipulator, Robot/Cyborg]
Personality 6, 6, 6 [Options: Distant, Nurturing, Cheerful]

Partisan

Real Name: Gyleb Jotu-Kal, First Appearance: Venture Into The Unknown #5, May 1958
Background: Upper Class, Power Source: Cosmos, Archetype: Physical Powerhouse
Personality: Nurturing, Principles: Defector (Underworld), Strength

Status Dice: Green d6, Yellow d6, Red d12. Health: 34 [Green 34-26, Yellow 25-13, Red 12-1]
Qualities: Fitness d10, Close Combat d8, Banter d8, Jotari Prince d8
Powers: Strength d10, Size Control d10, Telepathy d10, Intuition d8, Vitality d8

Green Abilities:

• Extradimensional Flesh (I): Reduce any physical or energy damage you take by 1 while you are in the Green zone, 2 while in the Yellow zone, and 3 while in the Red zone.
• Display of Strength [R]: When you eliminate a minion with an Attack using Strength, Recover Health equal to your Min die.
• Principle of the Defector [A]: Overcome a problem related to knowledge of the Jotari or using your Jotari contacts and use your Max die. You and your allies gain a Hero Point.
• Principle of Strength [A]: Overcome using brute force and use your Max die. You and your allies gain a Hero Point.

Yellow Abilities:

• Smash [A]: Attack using Close Combat and use your Max die.
• Telepathic Organization [A]: Attack using Telepathy. Boost all nearby heroes taking Attack or Overcome actions using your Min die until your next turn.
• Grab and Toss [A]: Boost or Hinder using Size Control and apply that mod to multiple close targets.

Red Abilities

• Titanic Form [A]: Choose three basic actions. Use Size Control in your pool and take one action with your Max die, a different action with your Mid die, and a third action with your Min die.
• Mental Twining [A]: Attack using Telepathy. Use your Max+Mid+Min dice. Take a major twist.
• Interpose [R]: When an opponent Attacks, you may become the target of that Attack and Defend by rolling your single Fitness die.

Out

• Boost an ally by rolling your single Fitness die.

While all of the Vanguards were popular, it was their final member that catapulted the team to the top of Venture Comics’ sales. Gyleb Jotu-Kal was a prince of the Jotari Authority, an extradimensional empire that ruled over a dozen dimensions, and a secret rebel against the rigid authority of the cosmically-powered Jotari High Families. When he learned that the Jotari were planning to invade a thirteenth world that had recently begun dimensional experiments on a Jotari Cosmic Probe, he and a small band of rebels defected, racing to warn the Earth of the danger that faced them.

In Venture Into the Unknown #5, Gyleb made dimensional contact with Doctor Cosmos, and Earth’s heroes were on-hand when he and a few of his friends punched through the dimensional barrier with a Jotari war force in hot pursuit. After a brief period of confusion, the heroes joined forces with Gyleb to drive the Authority off, and the alien prince requested asylum from the U.S. government. After some consternation, Gyleb and his fellow rebels were accepted as refugees, and Gyleb joined the newly-formed Vanguards to help explain their dimensional technology and serve on the front lines against Jotari incursions, taking on the callsign of Partisan.

The Jotari allowed Venture Comics to make thinly-veiled references to the Soviet Union, with Gyleb serving as a tool to humanize the species and open up the door to undercover stories in which he returned home to gather information and funnel American support to Jotari rebels. His existence was heavily classified by the government to avoid a panic, and he was forced to disguise himself when in public, but his ultimate goal was always to free his people from the Authority and institute a democratic revolution.

The combination of military support, democratic fervour, and cosmic issues proved popular, and Vanguards! was launched in November, instantly shooting up to the top of Venture Comics’ lines. The Vanguards began to appear in other stories, crossing over with existing comics, including a popular storyline in 1960 in which Partisan deliberately approached Madame Liberty for her expertise in fighting against oppressive regimes.

Behind the Scenes

I wanted an upper class alien, basically.

Gyleb is a little bit Martian Manhunter and a little bit New Gods, but mostly he’s here to be a surprise link between the various dimensional experiments and military backing that the other three heroes represent. I started planning him basically as soon as I got Doctor Cosmos’s background, and I think I like how he turned out. The “Underworld” Principle adapts perfectly to a defector who still has contacts in his old government, and Gyleb also gets to be the team muscle, smashing his way through problems when he’s not telepathically organizing his allies.

I don’t want the Jotari to all have superpowers, so we have a situation in which only a few of them are cosmically-empowered. I think that in the early Silver Age, at least, this isn’t deeply examined, aside from saying “the High Families have powers and the other Jotari don’t”; later, there may be some political questions about how and why this happened, and whether powers are being deliberately withheld from the populace to control them.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

Interesting team. Did any of the members get a solo book during the Silver Age, or were they mostly a group with (I’m sure, given their book’s popularity) guest appearances (solo or as a quartet) elsewhere?

[FrivYeti]

None of the Vanguards get solo books in the Silver Age (at least, I don’t think so, I haven’t filled in the whole timeline yet) but they definitely have crossovers where only one of them shows up to help another hero (especially in a book that will be revealed shortly), and I expect some of them have solo stories in Venture into Mystery or Celestial Travels from time to time.

[FrivYeti]

The Randomizers:
Background 8, 1, 2 [Options: Blank Slate, Criminal, Performer, Struggling, Tragic, Unremarkable]
Power Source 9, 2, 4 [Options: Training, Experimentation, Nature, Radiation, Supernatural, Cursed]
Archetype 9, 4, 2 [Options: Shadow, Marksman, Close Quarters Combatant, Elemental Manipulator, Sorcerer, Psychic]
Personality 2, 5, 3 [Options: Natural Leader, Impulsive, Sarcastic, Stalwart, Fast Talking]

Greenheart (II)

Real Name: Val Turner, First Appearance: Venture Into The Unknown #16, Apr 1959
Background: Blank Slate, Power Source: Nature, Archetype: Psychic
Personality: Sarcastic, Principles: Equality, Flora

Status Dice: Green d8, Yellow d8, Red d10. Health: 30 [Green 30-23, Yellow 22-12, Red 11-1]
Qualities: Close Combat d10, Creativity d8, Imposing d8, Wilderness Expert d8
Powers: Plant Control d10, Animal Control d10, Remote Viewing d8, Strength d8, Presence d8

Green Abilities:

• Grasping Vines [A]: Hinder using Plants. Use your Max die. You may split that penalty across multiple nearby targets.
• Allies of Nature [A]: Boost using Remote Viewing. Apply that bonus to all hero Attack and Overcome actions until the start of your next turn.
• Bestial Instincts [R]: After rolling during your turn, you may take 1 irreducible damage to reroll your entire die pool.
• Principle of Equality [A]: Overcome to protect the rights of the underprivileged and use your Max die. You and your allies gain a Hero Point.
• Principle of Flora [A]: Overcome with the aid of local flora and use your Max die. You and your allies gain a Hero Point.

Yellow Abilities:

• Animal Friend [A]: Gain a d8 minion. It takes its turn before yours, but goes away at the end of the scene. You may only have one such minion at a time.
• Power of the Green [R]: When you defeat a minion, roll that minion’s die and Boost yourself using that roll to create a bonus for your next action.
• Through the Cracks [A]: Overcome using Remote Viewing and use your Max+Min dice. You do not have to be physically present in the area you are Overcoming.
• Nature’s Swarm [A]: Attack multiple targets using Animal Control and use your Min die.

Red Abilities

• Eruption of Green [A]: Hinder any number of targets in the scene using Plant Control. Use your Max+Min dice. If you roll doubles, also Attack each target using your Mid die.
• Subsumed in the Pack (I): When you use an ability action, you may also perform any one basic action using your Mid die on the same roll.

Out

• Hinder an opponent by rolling your single Imposing die.

Having successfully introduced a new Skybreaker and developed a team of superheroes, and with a variety of unsuccessful or minor breaks under their belts, the Venture Comics team decided to take another crack at re-introducing a Golden Age hero to their lineup. Their hero of choice was the perennial favorite, Greenheart. Having taken four years away after a few false starts, Venture Comics decided to go to the heart of the character, stripping away some of the mythology in favor of a back to the basics approach that upheld the character’s style.

While hiking in the woods near the Grovedale Dam, a group of young women were held up by a group of criminals who had escaped from the nearby prison. Before anything bad could happen, the woods themselves came alive, the plants tying up the criminals, and a woman dressed in green emerged from the underbrush before vanishing into the night. One of the girls, Ginnie Turner, became curious about this mysterious figure, and began to explore the woods at night. When she was attacked by a wild wolf, the stranger returned, calming the beast and saving Ginnie.

The woman introduced herself as Val. She had no memory of her life or her origins, and claimed to be “Of the Green”, but was curious about Ginnie and her life. Ginnie brought her back to her college, introducing her as her distant cousin Val Taylor, and began to introduce her to modern life. Val was curious and forthright, with a tremendous ability to command plants and animals and an unbending willingness to intervene to help others; soon, Ginnie made her a costume to disguise herself and fight crime as Greenheart!

It was deeply unclear whether Greenheart was the same Valeria Tertia from the Golden Age, with her past a mystery that the writers had no interest in exploring, instead using her lack of memories to introduce her to the world fresh, fighting against super-criminals and, as time went on, magical or alien foes. Greenheart also returned a feminist slant to her stories, although these were initially subtle to avoid public pressure. As public support for second-wave feminism grew, Greenheart became more outspoken, and while the character’s popularity was limited at first, she made an increasing number of appearances in both Venture into the Unknown and becoming a member of the soon-to-be-established Champions of Truth in 1961, before finally heading a new title, Into the Green, in 1963.

Behind the Scenes

Greenheart is back, baby!

I started with Blank Slate because it was new, and then I hit Nature and the idea of a blank slate Greenheart jumped up. This is a very different approach, leaning farther into plant and animal control and less into her personal punching power, but she’s still got good cross-capabilities. A lot of the time, she’ll use her Plant and Animal Control with either Creativity or Imposing, but sometimes she’ll just enhance her combat abilities directly.

I’m trying to figure out exactly when the details about the new Champions of Truth will come up; I’m guessing it’s “once I have enough heroes to fill the team out” which will be… soon? I need to figure out who’s actually going to be members. Will Madame Liberty and Flatfoot join in? Definitely Greenheart and Skybreaker. Probably someone else.

I’m thinking that I am going to do a few divisions to keep myself interested, writing the first ten heroes, then nine villains and a short first-half history of titles, and then the second ten heroes and nine villains along with the height of the Silver Age.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

@FrivYeti

Plant Control d10

@FrivYeti

Allies of Nature [A]: Boost using Plant Control. Apply that bonus to all hero Attack and Overcome actions until the start of your next turn.

@FrivYeti

Eruption of Green [A]: Hinder any number of targets in the scene using Plant Control. Use your Max+Min dice. If you roll doubles, also Attack each target using your Mid die.

MInor editorial point - those are all meant to be “Plants” from the Materials power set, right? Always thought it was odd to stick Animal Control under Psychic while Plants was Material myself, but it does let life-manipulator types access a new set of Red zone abilities.

Nice to (maybe) see Val back in a new form. Wonder if future writers will make her connection to the GA version explicit, perhaps by exploring the Roman mythical side of things? An encounter with the River Styx would be a good way to wind up as a Blank Slate.

[Omegatron]

Aren’t you missing a second green ability from the Psychic archetype? (Also, technically, the green Psychic abilities have to use a Psychic power, which Plants isn’t, but who cares).

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

@Omegatron

(Also, technically, the green Psychic abilities have to use a Psychic power, which Plants isn’t, but who cares).

Maybe it was intended to use Animal Control?

I’d forgotten Psychic got two Greens and two Yellows. That’s pretty strong.

[FrivYeti]

Good points all around; I will have to make a few small adjustments. I totally forgot that the Greens have to be psychic powers; I may just call that my retcon for her instead of boosting her Red die, because I do like her leaning on plant powers a bit more than animal powers.

[FrivYeti]

The Randomizers:
Background 6, 8, 5 [Options: Academic, Upper Class, Struggling, Dynasty, Medical, Interstellar]
Power Source 6, 4, 3 [Options: Genetic, Experimentation, Nature, Relic, Radiation, Tech Upgrades]
Archetype 3, 5, 1 [Options: Speedster, Physical Powerhouse, Marksman, Blaster, Close Quarters, Flyer]
Personality 3, 6, 10 [Options: Impulsive, Distant, Inquisitive, Alluring, Analytical, Cheerful]

Neutrino

Real Name: Scott Griffin, First Appearance: Celestial Travels #250, Nov 1959
Background: Interstellar, Power Source: Radiation, Archetype: Blaster
Personality: Analytical, Principles: Space, Humanity

Status Dice: Green d10, Yellow d8, Red d8. Health: 28 [Green 28-22, Yellow 21-11, Red 10-1]
Qualities: Science d12, Ranged Combat d10, Alertness d8, Deep Space Lore d6
Powers: Nuclear d10, The Aurora Borealis d8, Vitality d6, Inventions d6

Green Abilities:

• Raw Power (I): Whenever you roll a 1 on one or more dice, you may reroll those dice. You must accept the results of the reroll.
• Nuclear Spread [A]: Attack multiple targets using Nuclear. Use your Min die against each.
• Scientific Approach [A]: Attack using Inventions. Ignore all penalties on this Attack, ignore any Defend actions, and it cannot be affected by Reactions.
• Principle of Space [A]: Overcome while in space and use your Max die. You and your allies gain a Hero Point.
• Principle of Humanity [A]: Overcome an alien dilemma using knowledge of human culture and use your Max die. You and your allies gain a Hero Point.

Yellow Abilities:

• Gamma Ray Burst [A]: Attack using Nuclear. Hinder the target using your Max die.
• Font of Power [R]: After rolling during your turn, you may take 1 irreducible damage to reroll your entire die pool.
• Bombardment [A]: Attack using the Aurora Borealis. Use your Mid die against each target. Take irreducible damage equal to your Mid die.
• Inner Fusion (I): If you would take Nuclear damage, instead reduce that damage to 0 and Recover that amount of Health.

Red Abilities

• Scientific Prodigy (I): When taking any action using Science, you may reroll your Min die before determining effects.
• Remote Shuttle [A]: Attack multiple targets using the Aurora Borealis. Use your Max die. Hinder each nearby opponent with your Mid die. After using this ability, you and up to two allies may end up anywhere in the scene, even outside of the action.

Out

• Remove a bonus or penalty of your choice.

After twenty years of humming along, occasionally publishing minor superhero stories but largely avoiding the craze, Celestial Travels finally succumbed to the superhero bug in 1959 with the publication of Neutrino! Initially pitched as a general pulpy science-fiction story, Neutrino was genius astronaut Scott Griffin, whose experimental rocket ship not only sent him into orbit, but catapulted him to a faraway star, bathing him in cosmic radiation that charged up his body and gave him superhuman abilities. Scavenging alien technology to upgrade his rocket, the Aurora Borealis, Neutrino began the long journey back to Earth, stopping intergalactic villains and helping innocents along the way, working alongside whichever local heroes he meets.

Neutrino was not intended to take over Celestial Travels, but audiences loved his concept, and by the end of 1960 he was in every issue, usually as the main character but sometimes with a small backup story. He had little interaction with the rest of Venture Comics for some time, due to being in a far-flung corner of the galaxy and theoretically years from Earth, and the writers had little plan to integrate him, but occasionally members of alien species that appeared elsewhere would meet him - including both Uranian soldiers, who caused trouble in attempts to steal his experimental fusion drive, and Xur’Tani scouts who would help him in his fights to protect worlds from alien threats.

Behind the Scenes

A space hero and a nuclear hero, both showing up just in time for the space race! Neutrino is very much a pulp hero in a Silver Age world, introduced to comics around the same time as Green Lantern in our own setting. I expect that at some point in the bronze age he gets back to Earth, but right now he’s just sailing the solar winds and capitalizing on people’s growing fascination with space.

Scott has a unique Esoteric Principle based on a couple of existing one; in this case, I’m calling it the Principle of Humanity, but the more general version is the Principle of the Outsider, which I’m not sure whether I’m allowed to post here so I’m going to err on the side of caution.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

Some serious dice-fixing on this guy.

Also, I am once again struck by the fact that Hero Builder offers quite an array of nifty footwear options. The Silver Age characters have been getting some prime examples.

@FrivYeti

Bombardment [A]: Attack using the Aurora Borealis. Use your Mid die against each target. Take irreducible damage equal to your Mid die.

I think you left out “multiple targets” right after the word Attack, assuming that’s the Yellow
Blaster ability keyed to your Signature Vehicle.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

@FrivYeti

Good points all around; I will have to make a few small adjustments. I totally forgot that the Greens have to be psychic powers; I may just call that my retcon for her instead of boosting her Red die, because I do like her leaning on plant powers a bit more than animal powers.

What about using Remote Viewing? She can “see through the trees” (and the animals/insects/etc.) around her to coordinate her allies’ actions? Assume the other Psychic Green is going to be the dice-fixer?

[FrivYeti]

@Chief_Lackey_Rich

Some serious dice-fixing on this guy.

Yeah, Neutrino is a master of high results. There’s some interesting timing; I believe that since Raw Power doesn’t let you do a second reroll, you can use it after Font of Power and Scientific Prodigy, but not before either. Meanwhile, Font of Power and Scientific Prodigy can be used in any order. It cuts down on special actions, but it’s great for Overcomes. And yeah, there was supposed to be a “multiple targets” in there.

[FrivYeti]

Also, Greenheart is now updated; thanks for the Remote Viewing suggestion!