The History of Venture Comics!

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

@FrivYeti

That’s a fair summary, but I’d have three counter-arguments.

The first one got me curious, but I’m going to take the results of that curiosity off a new thread to minimize derailment.

@FrivYeti

The second is that rolling a single d8 instead of a spread means that the Berserkers are far more likely to be on the high or low end, and being on the high end doesn’t help their defense.

I don’t understand why not. It could completely block an Attack they might otherwise have to save against, or significantly reduce even a strong Max die Attack to the point where saving is possible. In an ideal world someone will burn that big defend with a throwaway Attack, but the PCs only have so many actions to use, and they might very well be outnumbered by Morbloxians if the GM took a couple of groups of them as easy elements filling medium slots using the trade-in rules without thinking about the likely impact.

A group with a sweeper Attack will burn off all the Defends at once even with just one damage, but not every team has those despite how important they are - and unless they’re played dumb, a hero who does that will become the berserkers’ prime target the next round.

@FrivYeti

It only takes a single 1-pt Defend to put them in a position where they’re getting battered.

Sure, same goes for just flubbing an easy save. The smaller your dice are the more likely extremes become - but once they degrade the first time, they’re never getting a one again, since that built in +1 comes into play. d6+1 is pretty close to just being a d8 with a higher floor and lower ceiling, so they’re almost getting their first hit for free.

They are much more likely to get smashed for 12 damage and lose out on their d4 step than an actual d8 would be, though, so it’s not truly equivalent when big numbers are flying around.

@FrivYeti

And the third is that they’re pretty Hinder-vulnerable. Since they’re using the result of the Attack to Defend, a Hinder hits both numbers at the same time.

Granted, but the same is true of any bonuses they’re picking up from allies or the environment. If it’s nothing but Morbloxians that’s not much of an issue (they aren’t likely to Boost much, if ever) but any kind of mod is doing double duty. Might be kind of a wash here unless the PCs are leaning hard into Hinder abilities or the villains just aren’t getting bonuses from anywhere.

[FrivYeti]

@Chief_Lackey_Rich

I don’t understand why not. It could completely block an Attack they might otherwise have to save against, or significantly reduce even a strong Max die Attack to the point where saving is possible. In an ideal world someone will burn that big defend with a throwaway Attack, but the PCs only have so many actions to use, and they might very well be outnumbered by Morbloxians if the GM took a couple of groups of them as easy elements filling medium slots using the trade-in rules without thinking about the likely impact.

Ah, what I meant by that was: If your Defend is higher than the Attack it’s Defending against, it doesn’t matter how much higher it is. If it’s lower than the Attack, it matters a lot.

The result of that is that over a few hits, Attack will beat Defend if they’re both using the same dice, even though the median result doesn’t care.

As far as the easy elements thing - frankly, that’s going to be true for most lieutenants. Stacking up d8 lieutenants is a really good way to wreck any group that doesn’t have the tools to fight them, especially if they outnumber the heroes; the Berserkers just use a slightly different set of tools. Six Battalion Commanders pretty much make their troops nigh-invulnerable and astonishingly deadly while also having enough counter-attack damage to potentially drop a hero outright who tries to sweep them.

I think “don’t ever have more than two of a given lieutenant ability, because ability stacking becomes a problem” is a pretty good rule in general.

edit Oh, and minor detail:

@Chief_Lackey_Rich

Sure, same goes for just flubbing an easy save. The smaller your dice are the more likely extremes become - but once they degrade the first time, they’re never getting a one again, since that built in +1 comes into play. d6+1 is pretty close to just being a d8 with a higher floor and lower ceiling, so they’re almost getting their first hit for free.

Saves aren’t actions, and the +1 is only for actions, not all rolls, so a d6 Berserker isn’t getting +1 to its damage saves. The bonus will apply to the Defend, but not to any follow-ups.

[FrivYeti]

Rick Wilson

Real Name: Rick Wilson**, First Appearance:** Covert Tactics #20, September 1941
Lieutenant Type: Ally
Die Size: d10
Relation: Romantic, Approach: Mental

Traits:

• Tactical: When Rick Attacks, he also Boosts an ally with the result.
• Foreign Intel: As an action, Rick can activate a minor environment twist in the current zone, choosing its target.
• Danger Magnet: A villain can take an Overcome to place Rick in Danger. While in Danger, Rick cannot take actions until someone else succeeds at an Overcome to save him.

Madame Liberty was not alone in her fight against evil. She quickly developed a supporting cast of fellow Resistance members and local civilians who would feed her information, help her in her missions, and provide her with social interactions and problems to deal with. Most of these characters were relatively short-lived, appearing only occasionally or vanishing after a year or two, but the most enduring was Rick Wilson, American super-spy.

Rick Wilson was introduced in Madame Liberty’s third appearance, before the United States had even formally entered war against Germany. He was an undercover agent who had been inserted into France shortly before war broke out, with the goal of preparing for the possibility of Nazi conquest. His mission was only to observe the situation and feed intel back to the American government, but who was quickly overwhelmed by the scope of German atrocities. Taking matters into his own hands, he defied orders in order to sabotage an arms shipment intended for a second Blitz, only to be captured after succeeding. Madame Liberty learned of his capture and intervened, saving him before he could be interrogated, and the dashing spy quickly aligned his cause with hers, providing her with foreign support for her fight.

Rick and Marianne were partners both on-mission and romantically, quickly falling in love and taking part in romantic dinners and strolls when they weren’t busy punching Nazis. Although Rick didn’t have any powers, he was a stalwart ally, impressed by his girlfriend’s abilities and always ready to have her back. Although he wasn’t officially allowed to help her, his superiors often quietly sent him information that they knew would be valuable to Madame Liberty, and when America finally entered the war formally, he was able to provide her not only with his skills as a spy but with support in the form of smuggled weapons, intelligence, and a cadre of fellow operatives to help bring freedom to France.

As a character, Rick proved decently popular, although he also sparked a certain amount of dismay in more conservative circles. A square-jawed secret agent openly deferring to a foreign woman wasn’t what they had in mind when they wanted more American war stories. But despite this, Rick and Marianne’s relationship remained strong, with him frequently taking on the role of damsel in distress for her to save, then turning around and lending a hand in critical moments.

Behind the Scenes:

Speaking of supporting cast, say hello to Definitely Not Steve Trevor.

I mentioned ages ago that Rick Wilson is a supporting cast member who sticks around for the entirety of Venture Comics, with his son and grand-daughter gradually becoming major characters as well. Because of that, it only made sense to write him up properly, discuss a little bit about his motives, and make it explicit that he went to Berlin with Madame Liberty after the end of the war.

Rick is a bit of a multi-purpose ally, but for the purposes of this I’m tagging him as mental. He mostly uses his brains and spy skills to get things done; he can shoot or punch, but those aren’t his primary skill sets.

I think that of the Golden Age heroes, only Madame Liberty and Flatfoot have much in the way of a supporting cast that persists into the 1960s. There are, of course, two more allies to come, and I spent some time thinking about them, but as it stands it made sense that the early ones were people I’d already mentioned.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

@FrivYeti

Ah, what I meant by that was: If your Defend is higher than the Attack it’s Defending against, it doesn’t matter how much higher it is. If it’s lower than the Attack, it matters a lot.

Oh right, I see the reasoning now.

@FrivYeti

I think “don’t ever have more than two of a given lieutenant ability, because ability stacking becomes a problem” is a pretty good rule in general.

A good rule of thumb. You also need to be careful about the effects of rounding H/2 in general, which winds up being pretty harsh with smaller groups IME.

@FrivYeti

Saves aren’t actions, and the +1 is only for actions, not all rolls, so a d6 Berserker isn’t getting +1 to its damage saves. The bonus will apply to the Defend, but not to any follow-ups.

Oop, I misread the ability there. That does balance them out a fair bit.

@FrivYeti

Speaking of supporting cast, say hello to Definitely Not Steve Trevor.

Hi Steve! I’m glad your image is larger over here than on the purple site, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out that was a camera you were holding.

Environment manipulators are always fun, at least in restrained numbers. Supporting cast and bystanders who have explicit rules for getting into trouble are nice too, saves the GM having to remember that villains can and should do that sort of thing now and then.

[TakeWalker]

@FrivYeti

Speaking of supporting cast, say hello to Definitely Not Steve Trevor.

I Do Not Know Who That Is Or Why You Would Even Mention Them :V

[FrivYeti]

Sluagh

First Appearance: Cryptic Trails #31, October 1941

Lieutenant Type: Enemy
Die Size: d8
Motive: Destruction, Approach: Magical

Traits:

• Hidden Mischief: When Sluagh Hinders, apply the result to multiple nearby targets.
• Cloak of Night: When Sluagh Defends, she may Defend both herself and one nearby target.
• Light-shy: When in direct light, takes -2 penalty to all rolls.

While most of Skybreaker’s early foes were people who were tempted by Fomorian promises or corrupted by their dark magic, there were a handful of directly magical foes that he was forced to deal with. The most powerful Fomorians were all trapped in the Dark Sea, but once the Huntsman established that it was possible for the lesser powerful ones to slip through the cracks in their bindings, others began to appear. The most common and pernicious of these enemies was Sluagh, a dark whisperer and mischief-maker who served several of Skybreaker’s more dangerous enemies.

Sluagh was not a human, and never had been. It wasn’t even entirely clear if she was a single being, or a species who retained each other’s memories; she would often seem to be struck down, only to appear again. The truth was that this was more a reflection of the attitude that the various writers of Cryptic Trails had than a pre-determined fact; Slaugh was interesting, and she was an easy approach to give a human Fomorian power, so she would be used without much care for how she’d been left behind in a previous issue. She lurked in the shadows, playing tricks on mortals to fill them with frustration and anger, then approached them to offer power to get revenge on the people they deemed responsible. Once her target was filled with Fomorian power, she would stay nearby, helping them to accomplish their goals and making life difficult for their enemies. Her mastery over the shadows and fae nature allowed her to slip unseen between the cracks of the world, and while she wasn’t much of a fighter, she was a very accomplished meddler.

Even after Skybreaker killed her for the first time, Sluagh seemed to be as much amused by him as offended. She would give her all to try to stop him, but she didn’t care much for the people that she was offering power to, and on a few occasions even betrayed them and helped Skybreaker kill them after they became overly domineering towards her. She served the Fomorians, but she had no loyalty to them, or to their release – only to her ongoing desire to spread chaos and misery among the mortals she both loved and sneered at.

Behind the Scenes:

When I got ‘magical’ for a Skybreaker enemy, I figured it was a good chance to introduce a proper fae being. The Huntsman looks at this relationship from the other side, but Sluagh just likes to fuck with people. In later years, she probably actually helps to keep Balor contained at least once, because if the world is drawn into the Dark Sea she won’t be able to keep messing with it, but she’s still bound to the Fomorians and has to be careful how much she pushes. They expect a certain amount of backstabbing from each other, but it can still get you killed.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

Suitably malicious. Going to hate heroes with Radiant powers.

[FrivYeti]

Night Bird

First Appearance: Champions of Truth #5, August 1943
Lieutenant Type: Enemy
Die Size: d8
Motive: Obedience, Approach: Technological

Traits:

• Night Owl: When Night Bird strikes from surprise, she gets +2 to Attack or Hinder.
• Rybadium Plate: Night Bird has +1 to damage saves.

By 1943, Cryptic Trails was becoming overloaded with superheroes – Skybreaker and Cormorant, the Steward, and Greenheart were now all popular heroes featuring exclusively in the title, and the line didn’t have any space left for anything else. Venture’s editorial team decided to debut an eighth title, which would provide focus for Greenheart and the Steward to expand while allowing Skybreaker to remain the headliner of Cryptic Trails.

The result was Champions of Truth. Launching in April, every issue featured either the Steward or Greenheart as its main story, and most issues contained a small backup story for whichever hero wasn’t featured. These expanded stories allowed the two to begin building up more supporting cast members and recurring foes, and one of the first that the Steward faced would be the Deadly Night Bird!

Night Bird had been a simple owl living in the woods, until she was acquired by an alien scientist looking to run experiments on Earth, away from the prying eyes of galactic society. The scientist uplifted the owl into a humanoid form, equipping her with technological wings and gear and assigning her to guard his lab, but died in an accident not long after. Still obedient to his memory, Night Bird began to protect the surrounding woods, attacking any human who came near. After she killed a hiker, the Steward learned that something was amiss and investigated, only to be attacked himself. Ultimately, he realized that he was dealing with a dedicated animal in alien form, and sealed off the lab so that Night Bird could live in peace without being a threat to others.

The owl-lady, however, was too popular to leave alone, and soon Night Bird was loose again, stalking prey through the streets of an unnamed city. This time, it transpired that she was working to gather specimens for another alien race, who wanted samples of different sorts of humans; the Steward was forced to fight her again, with her stealth and low cunning pitted against his science and cosmic might. This would prove to be a common thread in their encounters; Night Bird was not very intelligent, but she was crafty, and she looked for masters who reminded her of her long-dead scientist. Fierce and vicious, she was a ruthless killer who often evaded the Steward, working for faraway masters who she would never meet, or joining forces with a larger threat such as Mr. Ferris, who would ‘pay’ her by repairing her gear or providing her with samples for other masters.

Behind the Scenes:

Uplifted animal-lady is a little bit weird, but it’s the 40s, a lot of things are weird! We’re not that far off from the real world’s “Hi, I’m Giganta, I’m a gorilla that a scientist turned into a lady because why not.”

I think that after Champions of Truth is cancelled, Night Bird makes a few minor appearances in Flatfoot stories, then starts popping up against the Vanguards or Covert Tactics in the 60s. She’s a simple character with a neat design, so she’s likely to appear on villain teams more than as a solo foe.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

Yeah, not even a year before Giganta’s first appearance. Hootie here is less weird, if anything - the first Giganta story had her trying to overthrow civilization with an army of cavemen.

[FrivYeti]

Mr. Murk

Real Name: Fabian Banks, First Appearance: Champions of Truth #9, January 1944

Lieutenant Type: Enemy
Die Size: d10
Motive: Malice, Approach: Raw Power

Traits:

• Dark Day: As an action, Mr. Murk may create a Field of Fog challenge.
• Field of Fog: While this challenge is active, it applies a -2 Persistent/Exclusive penalty to all targets present due to poor visibility. While in the Field of Fog, Mr. Murk is immune to visibility-based penalties.

While the Steward’s early adventures in Champions of Truth were highly successful, many of the first foes that Greenheart faced were more forgettable. Because of her explorations of society, many of her early enemies were simple gangsters, hired toughs working for corrupt businessmen, or disposable Nazi spies along with the occasional champion from True Rome seeking to defeat her and ‘prove’ that she wasn’t meant to have her powers. In 1944, as Champions of Truth took off, its writers began to explore using opponents with strange powers, who would serve as direct threats to her capabilities. Mr. Murk was the first of these foes to be unveiled, and one of the most enduring.

Fabian Banks was a burglar who believed that the world owed him, and stole from anyone that he saw as having a happier life than his own – as much to punish them for their success as because of any need on his part. One foggy night, he was sneaking out of an apartment when he slipped on a wet patch and plummeted into a mist-filled ravine. The fog was so thick that it slowed his fall, seeping into his wounds and filling him. He gained the ability to create fog, pouring it out of his skin to fill an area, and with his new powers he began to terrorize the city as the dreadful Mr. Murk!

Mr. Murk stole money, of course, but he wasn’t after money. His goals didn’t change when he gained new powers – he wanted people scared, and he wanted them to lose what was valuable to them. Unlike many of Greenheart’s other foes, he wasn’t a killer; he hurt a lot of people, but he was generally more of a petty criminal with awesome powers at his disposal. While inside his fog clouds, his awareness stretched to cover every droplet of water, letting him know exactly where his victims and pursuers were, and when he set himself against Greenheart he would work to outmaneuver her in dangerous situations, hoping to lure her into traps and obstacles rather than face her directly.

Mr. Murk didn’t have grand ambitions or monstrous plans, but he was a persistent and malicious foe who let writers stretch Greenheart’s abilities without making her look foolish. When she could actually corner him, she could defeat him fairly easily, and he was often beaten and sent to jail, but he always managed to find a way to escape and resume his reigns of minor terror, either alone or as part of various small groups of villains.

Behind the Scenes:

Okay, so I technically got two linked abilities, and they were “multi-target Hinder” and “special Boost or Hinder effect” so I combined them into “create a challenge”. Sometimes you’ve got to be flexible.

Mr. Murk’s origin story is, of course, completely ridiculous. In later decades, he is probably one of the characters retconned to have Atlantean genes, triggered by his near-deadly fall.

[fjur]

Neat name. Though his real name should clearly be Foggarty Banks.

@FrivYeti

Mr. Murk’s origin story is, of course, completely ridiculous.

I think you mean amazing.

And it looks like you missed the removal of a preliminary name here:

@FrivYeti

Dark Day: As an action, Fogbank may create a Field of Fog challenge.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

Seems like a solid minor villain, with some potential for future complications as the origin of his powers could be tied to some greater threat that comes calling on him to pay for those abilities he’s been exploiting. You didn’t think those came free, did you Mr. Murk?

@FrivYeti

Dark Day: As an action, Fogbank may create a Field of Fog challenge.

That should be Mr. Murk there, right?

[FrivYeti]

Good catch to both of you! Yep, the character started as Fogbank, but it was both not a very good name and not a very 40s name, so it ended up getting revised. Lots of M names in this set.

Foggarty Banks would be an amazing name, but is too goofy for the 40s. Golden Age villains often had names that were references (such as Clayface being named Basil Karlo after Boris Karlov, or Scarecrow being named Dr. Crane after Ichabod Crane), but were very rarely puns. Active pun names were very much a Silver Age phenomenon (and then continued intermittently forever when someone wanted to evoke that feel.)

[FrivYeti]

Madame Mystica

Real Name: Esmerelda (Emmie) Lewis**, First Appearance:** Twilight Carnival #1, May 1945

Lieutenant Type: Ally
Die Size: d10
Relation: Frenemy, Approach: Social

Traits:

• Sharp-Tongued: When Madame Mystica Hinders using her words, she also Boosts a nearby ally with the result.
• In Your Path: When Madame Mystica fails a damage save, she Defends a nearby ally equal to the result rolled.
• Non-Combatant: Madame Mystica cannot Attack.

The final comic launched by Venture Comics in 1945 was Twilight Carnival. While superheroes on the whole were beginning to decline, the pulp-horror heroes of Campfire Terrors were among the most popular titles being published, and Chambers made the decision to split the comic into two titles. The original Campfire Terrors would continue to support the Penitent, along with new stories about people falling prey to dark temptations or the fruits of their own sins, while Twilight Carnival would focus not just on the Midnight Rider, but on her supporting cast. It would in turn feature standalone stories of people crossing paths with the Twilight Carnival, which would give them warnings or help with the monsters that faced them.

Among the colourful cast that was developed for the Carnival was one of Evie Nelson’s best friends, and one of the Midnight Rider’s most fervent detractors, Madame Mystica. Esmerelda Brown was a street rat who’d been adopted by the Carnival, growing up alongside its performers and protectors, and Evie’s oldest friend. She pretended to be a fortune teller much older than her actual years, using her sharp wits, keen understanding of people, and the faintest hint of real divinatory magic to read people’s futures, giving them advice and warning them away from dangerous paths. Emmie learned of Evie’s work as the Midnight Rider in her first appearance, and was horrified. She was convinced that Evie was going to draw down a mystical threat that the Carnival wasn’t equipped to handle, and tried to convince her to give up the work – but when she couldn’t, she set about trying to both protect Evie and prove to the other members of the circus that the Midnight Rider was too dangerous to be allowed to operate. This put her in an awkward position, acting as both Evie’s friend and enemy at the same time. When the chips were down, Madame Mystica could always be counted on to protect her friend, but she would use every dangerous moment as more evidence for her beliefs.

Esmerelda was the most popular of the Carnival’s supporting characters, and was often a viewpoint character in her own right, using her tricks to legitimately help people avoid taking a wrong turn in life. While her magic was almost non-existent and her fighting skills were even worse, she was a steadfast protector of the innocent and a firm friend to Evie – even when she was sure that her friend was on the road to death.

Behind the Scenes:

When I got “Frenemy” as a potential relationship, the wheels started turning, both for the Golden Age and later on. I started with an idea of someone who supported the Midnight Rider but disliked Evie, Flash Thompson-style, but part of the idea of the Rider was that the Carnival all knew who she was. That led me to “wants to protect her from herself”, which in turn leads us to Emmie.

Esmerelda vanishes along with the rest of the Carnival in 1954, but she’s definitely still around when we go back to the Carnival in the 70s. She’s one of the main people who’s been helping to raise Ophelia after Evie vanishes, and remains a frenemy there - the life of the Midnight Rider killed her best friend, and she doesn’t want her daughter to suffer the same fate, but she can’t exactly stop her.

[FrivYeti]

Number Cruncher

Real Name: Giselle Carnegie, First Appearance: Flatfoot Adventures #56, February 1947

Lieutenant Type: Enemy
Die Size: d6
Motive: Wealth, Approach: Mental

Traits:

• Duck and Cover: When there are bigger threats nearby, Number Cruncher has +2 to Hinder and damage saves.
• Help! Help!: As an action, Number Cruncher can create two d6 “Goon” minions.
• Run The Numbers: When nearby villain targets take actions, they treat any ‘‘1’ rolled as a ‘2’.

The early post-war years were a time of upheaval for many superhero comics, as returning soldiers settled into new jobs and the market for books shifted. Flatfoot Adventures was no different, and its target audience began to shift, with Flatfoot fighting fewer threats to American liberty and more mad scientists and gimmick villains bent on capers and heists. Many flamboyant foes were debuted in this time, only to vanish just as quickly, but one particularly quirky foe was able to make enough of an impact to survive the slowly dwindling popularity of superhero comics: the Number Cruncher!

Giselle Carnegie was a bank manager who was secretly on the payroll of Mr. Ferris, using her mathematical expertise to disguise the fund transfers he used to bankroll his criminal operations. When Flatfoot came sniffing around, she turned her genius to crime – secretly paying criminals to harass and distract the robot, and using her inside information to help Ferris’s boys plan a series of bank robberies that seemed to leave her as a helpless victim. Flatfoot caught on the trail of the mysterious Number Cruncher, but failed to realize that the helpless-seeming bank manager being held by the robbers was, in fact, the mastermind of the whole spree. Fortunately, the robot was able to discern that Giselle was sending coded messages while supposedly tied up, and intervened just in time to prevent her from driving away with the entire take while leaving the crooks to take the fall.

Unmasked, Number Cruncher’s time as an inside woman was over, but she was still a tactical genius, master of crooked accounting, and exceptional recruiter. She would assemble teams of crack criminals supported by disposable mooks, who would be distractions for her real crew’s activities. She continued to work for Mr. Ferris on the side, making sure that her jobs never targeted his operations, but she was also a coward and easily interrogated if a hero could track her down. On several occasions Flatfoot was able to get critical information out of her that helped him bring down one of Ferris’s operations – on the condition that he never reveal who had squawked. Number Cruncher might be a coward, but she wasn’t a fool, and she wasn’t about to be known as someone who would sell Ferris out.

Behind the Scenes:

And here we have a villain largely inspired by Batman getting intel out of the Penguin on what seems like a weekly basis. Number Cruncher runs her own operations, but she’s easy enough to flip for a little while. She’ll always be back, of course. It’s the sort of almost-gimmick (just doing math) that is ridiculous, but kind of works in the late 40s.

D6 lieutenants are weird, of course, which is why I’m not making very many of them. In Number Cruncher’s case, she’s hilariously easy to drop - except that she sticks close to bigger enemies to protect herself, giving her a reasonable chance at avoiding smaller hits, and throws more goons into the situation while hiding under a desk. She does not engage superheroes directly.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

For some reason I get kind of a Tom Petty vibe off the mini.

[FrivYeti]

Jacob Marley

First Appearance: Campfire Terrors #106, December 1947
Lieutenant Type: Ally
Die Size: d8
Relation: Mentor Figure, Approach: Otherworldly

Traits:

• The Moment: When Jacob Marley Boosts or Hinders, he may set the result to a 12. If he does, remove him from the scene.
• Apparition: Jacob Marley cannot Attack or Defend and is immune to physical damage.

As the overall popularity of superheroes began to wane in the postwar period, the editors of Venture’s less superhero-focused titles re-asserted their independence, finding ways to move their comics a bit further away from a fading market and back to their traditional stomping grounds. Campfire Terrors did this with a new narrative framing mechanic, one that started as a one-off story but evolved to encompass the entire comic within a year.

In December 1947, the comic took a well-worn path with their own version of A Christmas Carol, featuring a corrupt businessman facing ghosts from his own past that terrorized him into recognizing the harm that he’d caused. The story itself would have unremarkable, except for the fact that it was narrated by Jacob Marley himself, stepping in between ghosts and giving background material to the readers when he wasn’t interfering in the tale to push the businessman towards a reckoning with his own flaws.

The unusual blend of narration and interaction caught the eye of readers, and the issue was a smash hit. On a whim, the new editor of Campfire Terrors, Jonas Birch, decided to toss another story up in February with the same theme – Jacob Marley appearing to speak to the readers on the cover of a tale of reckless teenagers disturbing an ancient vampire. Marley manifested within the story as well, giving advice to the teens that ultimately helped them win the day, and in the conclusion of the tale he suggested that you should listen to the voice telling you to be cautious, or you might not be so lucky.

Soon, Marley was the primary narrator of Cryptic Trails, even introducing those stories featuring superheroes like the Penitent or the Midnight Rider. He would lay out the situation to his readers, and narration boxes were written in his voice – and occasionally, he would slip into the narrative itself to provide a word of advice or a grim warning. These interjections were not always successful, but they often proved valuable in a critical moment.

The most notable of these interjections came in a 1951 story in which the Penitent was facing off against the Cult of Urak. As he wrestled with a cultist, the ritual tool he needed to close the portal was knocked out of his hand, and Marley reached out of his narration to toss it back to him. Afterwards, the Penitent offered a “Thank you, Jacob,” and Marley gave him a “You’re Welcome” from within the narration boxes themselves. This led to a few playful interactions in which the Penitent would argue with or contradict Marley’s narration – the only times in the Golden Age that a hero openly broke the fourth wall.

Behind the Scenes:

So, full disclosure: I did not do any randomizers for this one. I knew exactly who and what I wanted as the last Golden Age ally: a fourth-wall breaking ghost narrator who exists to help the story instead of interfering to make things worse. My only regret is that Hero Forge does not currently have any “large chains across the chest” option. I spent some time noodling with the chain spell effect, but couldn’t get it to look functional so I guess he’s been able to get them off by being good.

As it happened, this year we watched What If? season three at the same time as the Will Ferrell / Ryan Reynolds movie Spirited, and the combination of the interfering Watcher and the ghost redeemers combined in my head. Initially I was thinking of having Scrooge himself, but Jacob Marley is a slightly deeper cut, and one that doesn’t get overused to the same degree. He’s usually a pretty small part of any given Christmas Carol adaptation, and I loved the idea of turning him into Venture’s version of Grimm or the Crypt-Keeper. From there, the idea that he is the narration boxes, and occasionally steps out to fix a story with a single meaningful adjustment.

I’ll be inserting notes in the book, but I believe that Marley vanishes with the end of Campfire Terrors and is gone throughout the Silver Age; when Venture starts their Christmas Annuals in the 70s someone digs him up to act as narrator for all of them, and he’s popular enough that he makes it into Dark Rivers as a supporting character as well as acting as narrator for a lot of annuals and one-shots in the Bronze and Iron Ages. From there, he’s just kind of around periodically, supporting different mystical heroes and narrating various comics.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

You’re not fooling me. That’s clearly a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, or a fragment of an underdone potato, More of gravy than the grave about 'im, I say!

[Sea-Envy]

like that Facebook meme regarding losing a trivia contest about the number of ghosts. Marley is never called a ghost in the text. He is an Apparition- different undead creature type different rules and powers, (or as Chief_Lackey_Rich points out simply indigestion)

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

In further Dickens-related comic shenanigans, let me remind everyone that Marvel’s had a D-list supervillain named Humbug for nearly 40 years now. Started off as one of Spider-Man’s roster of comedically-inept baddies, briefly became a Heroes For Hire employee, and then was horribly deconstructed and probably killed for good through a combination of Deadpool and WW Hulk stories.

For most of his career he had technological sonic powers and an obsession with entomology, as you may have predicted.