The History of Venture Comics!

[FrivYeti]

Princess Skorni

Real Name: Skorni Var Kellis Shanaar Reginant Fres III, First Appearance: Vanguards! #23, September 1960

Lieutenant Type: Enemy
Die Size: d12
Motive: Destruction, Approach: Physical

Traits:

• Sticky Punch: When Princess Skorna Attacks a nearby target, she also Hinders them with the result.

The Vanguards’ primary foes in their early years were members of the Jotari Authority and their minions, but they also tangled with human scientists misusing dimensional science and with other enemies that they encountered while searching nearby dimensions for signs of Jotari incursions. One of the earliest of these enemies, and one who would prove to be surprisingly resilient, was Princess Skorni of Shanaar.

Shanaar was a pocket dimension near Earth, populated by an alien race also called the Shanaar. The Shanaar were ruled over by the cruel Princess Skorni, the latest in a long line of powered rulers with insectoid abilities. In her case, the Princess could create spiderlike webbing that she used to climb walls, ensnare foes, and beat the snot out of them with her incredible strength. She ruled by fear, living large off the production of her people, and when she discovered that the dimensional damage being caused by the Jotari had opened a path to Earth, she was quick to send her minions to start pillaging. This proved to be a disastrous mistake; the Vanguards responded quickly, chasing the Shanaar warriors back to their home, and then engaged with and defeated the Princess directly, overthrowing her and helping Shanaari rebels establish a democratic government for their small planet.

Escaping execution for her crimes, Princess Skorni managed to make her own way to Earth, where she vowed retribution against the Vanguards, against her ungrateful people, against the society that had created the idea of democracy – which she viewed as a personal affront – and generally against the universe for making someone as beautiful and powerful as her suffer. Skorni didn’t have any particular means of taking her revenge, however; she was powerful, but without a nation behind her she knew she was no match for the Vanguards. So instead, she just started doing odd jobs for Earth’s villains, delighting in taking part in any plot that would make the Vanguards suffer and get a few of the luxuries that she missed from her time ruling.

Ultimately, Princess Skorni founded the Malefactors, a team of villains who were more interested in wrecking havoc than making money. Their exact membership varied; both Princess Skorni and Mr. Murk were consistent members, joined by a rotating cast of two or three other villains. They would fight against a variety of heroes, depending on their personal vendettas at the time.

Behind the Scenes:

The early 1960s introduced a lot of alien dictators with ridiculous names that were just english words with a few letters changed. Skorni jumps into that, with the twist that she loses her kingdom almost instantly and spends the entire rest of comics history being very mad about how she used to be royalty and now she’s not and it’s not fair and she will break your face open until she feels better.

The addition of the Malefactors is a small piece; I’ll probably mention them from time to time, but they’re a small-time group that’s just important enough to be known to folks without having many big plots. It also gives me a chance to bring back Mr. Murk, and open up Skorni to fight people other than the Vanguards.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

@FrivYeti

against the society that had created the idea of democracy – which she viewed as a personal affront

I’m trying decide what that means to a 1960s comic writer. I mean sure, it’s probably the United States, but are there stories where she’s really angry with anti-royalist France or smashing things up in Athens, Greece because some bullpen genius remembered a bit of their grade school history?

[unfortunateSD]

This is a bit unrelated, but did Rick Wilson ever become an agent of AEGIS during the Bronze Age, perhaps reviving the old “Agent Apollo” title"? I ask because while AEGIS is the main antagonist of Covert Tactics and Earthwatch, we don’t actually get to learn about any of the characters making up the organization. I would imagine they would have analogues to Nick Fury, or even Maria Hill. With a Venture-like twist, of course.

Also, does the Champions of Truth’s headquarters have a name? I assume it does, but I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere.

[FrivYeti]

@Chief_Lackey_Rich

I’m trying decide what that means to a 1960s comic writer. I mean sure, it’s probably the United States, but are there stories where she’s really angry with anti-royalist France or smashing things up in Athens, Greece because some bullpen genius remembered a bit of their grade school history?

Yeah, it’s just “the US”. I don’t think there are any stories in which she’s specifically angry at Greece, although there are probably later stories in which heroes needle her about her general lack of knowledge about Earth history and her assumption that the first democracy she encountered invented the idea.

@unfortunateSD

This is a bit unrelated, but did Rick Wilson ever become an agent of AEGIS during the Bronze Age, perhaps reviving the old “Agent Apollo” title"? I ask because while AEGIS is the main antagonist of Covert Tactics and Earthwatch, we don’t actually get to learn about any of the characters making up the organization. I would imagine they would have analogues to Nick Fury, or even Maria Hill. With a Venture-like twist, of course.

Ooh, you beat me to it!

Rick Wilson doesn’t join AEGIS, but his son, Rick Wilson Jr. is indeed Agent Apollo of AEGIS in the 1980s, serving initially as Madame Liberty’s ally in the agency, and later as her information line (before being briefly mind controlled into becoming a bad guy and then freed.) He’ll probably be one of the Iron Age supporting cast.

As for the leadership, that’s one I’m still figuring out how to include in the storyline. AEGIS is run by Mount Olympus, a set of three directors who take the codenames Director Zeus, Director Poseidon, and Director Hades (regardless of gender). Some of them are defeated during the run, only to be replaced; I think Hades ascends to become Zeus for the endgame stories, and at least one early director is killed by the other two for developing morals. I didn’t get around to writing them up initially because I wanted to do the evil Vanguards instead, so I may write them up as supporting characters if I have room; AEGIS covers enough Iron Age ground that they should probably be there, and there’s a good chance that someone tries to revive them for a bit in the Plutonium Age, too.

@unfortunateSD

Also, does the Champions of Truth’s headquarters have a name? I assume it does, but I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere.

Champions Citadel. Literally the only place that I named it was in the fall of the Champions of Freedom; because the Champions didn’t initially have a headquarters, I missed naming it when they reformed at the end of the 60s. It’s one of the things I’ll be adding to the book writeups.

[FrivYeti]

Runemaster

Real Name: Carl O’Malley, First Appearance: Skybreaker Stories #42, November 1961

Type: Villain
Die Size: d8
Motive: Power, Approach: Otherworldly

Traits:

• Command Runes [A]: Boost using your sole status die. Apply the bonus to yourself and to all nearby supernatural minions.
• Broken Seal [R]: When you would roll a damage save, you may instead summon a number of D8 Imp minions equal to the result. If you do, destroy Runemaster.

With the successes of both Greenheart and Wonderer displaying an appetite for magical heroes, Glenn Cochrane decided that the time was right to start re-introducing magical enemies to the pages of Skybreaker Stories. His first attempt, a riff on Celtic mythology by the name of Spearmaiden Scathach, wasn’t particularly popular and convinced Cochrane to rely less directly on Celtic mythology for the time being. Instead, he decided to lean on thematics, and introduced the villainous Runemaster.

Carl O’Malley was a famous historian obsessed with ancient myths and legends, and who believed that there was truth behind the rumors of otherworldly beings and fae mysteries. One day, a mysterious caller guided him to a set of old scrolls hidden away in the depths of the Grovedale History Museum, on which were inscribed summoning rituals said to call up spirits of the changing seasons. With these scrolls as a guide, O’Malley tattooed a series of potent runes into his own skin, and then called on them to summon these spirits to serve him.

The spirits that O’Malley called forth were dangerous, violent, and cruel; remnants of an ancient war between the seasons, sealed away for the protection of the world. To O’Malley, however, they were proof of his correctness. When he tried to demonstrate them to the world, they rampaged, and he took this as proof of his own power and glory. Unfortunately for him, Skybreaker quickly responded, and during their ensuing battle, a cast from the hero’s spear which had been aimed to avoid hurting his foe too badly instead drew a long line of blood down one arm, disrupting the runes and setting the mystical creatures free. As O’Malley collapsed, Skybreaker had to fight a horde of dangerous spirits in order to save the city.

Runemaster learned nothing from this. Escaping from prison using an undamaged rune hidden under his tongue, he began to give himself new tattoos, determined to summon ever-more-powerful demons and spirits. The runes in his flesh gave him total control over the monstrosities he summoned – unless he was injured, in which case they would shatter and unleash his latest horror on the world. He always blamed Skybreaker for stopping him, rather than understanding his own role in his downfall, and would continue to search for magical power at the expense of those around him for years to come.

Behind the Scenes

And here we are, full circle! Runemaster is another lieutenant that I largely didn’t use randomizers for, because I knew what I was creating - the early lieutenant version of Scarspreader. Now we have his start and his finish, in reverse.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

Oh, that guy. A rare lieutenant who kind of hopes someone tries to one-shot him with massive damage so he can roll a bigger die for a last spiteful Broken Seal minion summoning. Not so impressive if you wait till you’re at a d4 to use it.

[FrivYeti]

Technically, as GM you could trigger Broken Seal off a 2-damage hit just to really surprise your players. Runemaster doesn’t have to fail the roll, the GM just makes the choice before rolling.

I’d probably usually do it once Runemaster was at d6, the next time a medium hit was coming his way. Doing it right away seems silly, but waiting until d4 isn’t too impressive.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

True. Might be a good choice when you get one of those “villains betray each other” situations and he gets attacked by a supposed ally, or even when the environment randomly bites him and it feels dramatically appropriate to replace him with some minions.

The way it’s worded he gets all his mods applied too, so if the players are familiar with his tricks they could chuck some penalties on before trying for a finisher attack to reduce the number of minions that appear. Or more interestingly, he could save up some bonuses (from ally or environment Boosts or Command Runes) instead of spending them to make his eventual explosion that much worse.

Neat mechanical interactions across the board.

[fjur]

Nice.

Hmm, both Runemaster’s bio and his Command Runes action imply that he is frequently assisted by daemonic minions even before he’s incapacitated by Broken Seal. He lacks any ability that lets him summon minions while staying active, so I assume those would just be scene elements present from the beginning of the scene?

[FrivYeti]

Yep. As a rule, Runemaster’s summoning rituals are much too slow to be reflected in an action scene.

If I was using him as the core enemy, I’d include him plus 1-2 lieutenants to reach H/2 as one scene element, a set of demonic minions as a second scene element, and then an environment and a set of challenges to round things out. If he’s working with a bigger threat, it would probably just be him and 1-2 lieutenants.

[FrivYeti]

Apropos of nothing, as I fill out details in Venture Comics: the Classic Years, I’m often finding that I need to add a paragraph to someone’s writeup to make it cover a reasonable portion of a page. This is leading to me randomly creating various stories from the Golden and Silver Age or bringing in conversations we’ve had in these threads, such as the following two passages:

The Retriever would prove to be a dangerous threat and perennial thorn in Flatfoot’s side, but with its new objectives and independence it began to appear in other stories, particularly Covert Tactics and The Reactors, serving whatever super-science villains it was able to find. In a few rare instances, it would attempt to accomplish a task for heroes, usually in the middle of a chaotic situation, and it once saved a building full of endangered civilians on behalf of the Champions of Truth. In one notable instance, the Retriever even approached an ordinary young boy and demanded a task; when the boy asked for ice cream, the Retriever promptly left and stole an entire ice cream truck, creating havoc as it carried it back to the delighted and slightly terrified child before vanishing once again.

Vortex was also briefly hired by the Dread Dynasty; Dauphin de Sabre recognized her capabilities and presented her with ‘proof’ that her lineage extended back to the Empress Wu Zetian, then hired her to provide combat training to other members of the Dynasty. The mercenary was scornful of the fake genealogy, but she respected de Sabre’s bank account and was willing to masquerade as a noblewoman for a sizeable paycheck. Ultimately, their alliance broke down when Madame Liberty embarrassed de Sabre, proving that the lineage he’d produced was a fake and implying that he had done so knowingly; backed into a corner, he immediately blamed Vortex for the deceit and ‘banished’ her from his court.

[FrivYeti]

Aspen

Real Name: Awwooo, First Appearance: Into the Green #1, March 1963

Lieutenant Type: Ally
Die Size: d12
Relation: Fan, Approach: Raw Power

Traits:

• Child of the Green: Aspen has +1 to all actions in woodlands and -1 to all actions in urban environments.
• Fight or Flight: Aspen has -2 to damage saves and flees the scene if reduced below a d8 status die.

In 1963, Venture Comics was able to acquire additional shelf space for their publications, and began to expand past eight titles. One of the first new titles added was a solo title for the increasingly popular Greenheart, Into the Green. This title allowed Venture into the Unknown to return to showcasing new characters and crossovers, and gave room for a new team to develop Greenheart’s supporting cast and characters. Writer Alan Victor and artist Sarah Burke set about developing Grovedale, bringing in some minor side characters from Skybreaker Stories to reinforce the idea that the two heroes were operating in the same city, and continued to expand Greenheart’s mystical side with new heroes and villains. Along the way, they created a popular companion to the heroine, Aspen.

Greenheart encountered Aspen in the first issue of her new title, when discovering traces of a massive beast in the woods near Grovedale. At first, it seemed that the beast was a threat to the city – a huge antlered wolf, able to move through thick underbrush without a trace and vanish again. But the wolf was not the threat. He was fleeing from Doctor Freak, who intended to capture it and extract its powers for his own purposes, and had come to Grovedale following traces of a champion of the Green who might save him.

Recognizing who the true villain was, Greenheart was able to save the creature from Doctor Freak; in the confusion of the battle, Ginnie wandered into the line of fire trying to help and the wolf was injured saving her life. Val and Ginnie nursed him back to health, and Ginnie decided to name him Aspen, after the trees she had first seen him in. Aspen seemed to like the name, and began to respond to it.

From that point on, Aspen was a recurring feature in Greenheart’s adventures. The wolf had some means of moving from any forest in the world to any other, and could bring Greenheart with him when he sensed danger elsewhere. He typically stayed in the woods, but sometimes descended into the city when things were particularly dangerous. Greenheart’s animal communion allowed the two to communicate; Aspen wasn’t much smarter than a regular animal, but that was plenty smart to make his decisions known. When things got particularly bad he tended to run away, but he would always return to lend a paw again, and there were more than a few issues that opened with either Val, Ginnie, or both just hanging around and playing with their massive forest pup before they were called away by the actual problem of the next issue.

Behind the Scenes:

Hee! Woof woof!

I wanted some Greenheart support for the 60s; we have her mundane sidekick, but Ginnie doesn’t do much active help so much as get in trouble and need saving. I had planned for something more law enforcement, but then I got a d12 and a Fan as options and I started to think about what would be a fan or student of Greenheart who’s that powerful - and it’s a giant magic woodwolf.

Aspen is a classic animal companion, but because he stays in the woods generally he can just kind of appear and vanish whenever it’s appropriate. He’s probably around a bit more often than Krypto or Ace the Bathound, but not as often as Lockheed or Old Lace.

[TakeWalker]

what a cool take on a super pet

[Sea-Envy]

Are you going to point out any retcon additions to the publishing eras?
“This is a Golden Age hero with all the campy fun that goes with it, and they fought in WWII alongside all the other Golden Age heroes” - first appearance 2003.
GrimDark McEdgeLord died in the 90’s but he is back from the dead in 2020- first appearance 2020
I have not read it but apparently there was a Star Girl story where they reveal that ALL the Golden Age heroes had kid sidekicks not just the half dozen we know about. Why don’t we remember the others???

The “lost generation” of 70’s heroes from Marvel was also neat.

[Sea-Envy]

Friv would you ever want/be able to run a game set in the Venture universe at Gen Con or any other large con in the American Midwest region?
I may have made a character tied into your lore.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

@Sea-Envy

I have not read it but apparently there was a Star Girl story where they reveal that ALL the Golden Age heroes had kid sidekicks not just the half dozen we know about. Why don’t we remember the others???

It was part of the New Golden Age crossover event, and involves convoluted time travel nonsense that drags in the DC 1,000,000 Hourman, Rip Hunter and the Time Masters, and a rather silly villain called the Childminder, tangled up in a plot to save the sidekicks from Doctor Manhatten screwing around with continuity that goes awry and eventually results in the new “Golden Age” sidekicks winding up in the modern day in Stargirl’s timeline. Stargirl: Lost Children was a (relatively isolated) subplot of the larger event, which also restored a bunch of adult “lost heroes” that had been in temporal storage for various reasons. No idea if any of it is going to stick for long now that it’s done (ran from 2022 to late 2024), it’s built on a foundation of sand and could be erased in another event without warning.

I’ve read the trades through the library and don’t recommend them for purchase. It’s just more of the same “DC messing with its own continuity” crap that started with the first Crisis and snowballed endlessly from there.

[FrivYeti]

@Sea-Envy

Are you going to point out any retcon additions to the publishing eras?

There have been a couple of those - the secret history of the Champions of Yesterday sealing away Uruk (part of the Aquila/Greyheart storyline in the mid-70s), the backstory of Scion and the Penitent in the late 70s, and the return of Cormorant in the 90s were all retcon history moments. There will probably be room for another one in the Plutonium Age supports.

@Sea-Envy

Friv would you ever want/be able to run a game set in the Venture universe at Gen Con or any other large con in the American Midwest region?
I may have made a character tied into your lore.

Unfortunately, I can’t see it happening any time soon, for triple reasons. Health concerns mean that getting on a plane is something I only do for fairly serious occasions these days, and also mean that I can’t attend any convention that isn’t doing a full slate of masking and air purifiers. And most conventions, including Gen Con, just don’t do that. On top of that, the current state of American politics leaves me pretty leery of coming into the country. I would definitely have to leave my spouse behind, since they’re trans and it’s just straight-up not safe for them to come through a federally-controlled airport.

I may be able to run a game at an online convention, though; I ran a game of Yazeba’s for Flights of Fancy in 2023, although I couldn’t hit the 2024 convention because of work conflicts.

[FrivYeti]

sorry for the lack of update yesterday; it was a holiday here in BC, and I was mobile-only for most of the day. So for Monday’s update on Tuesday, let’s meet…

Gunrunner

Real Name: Jerid sutu-Wethen**, First Appearance:** The Reactors #16, May 1963

Lieutenant Type: Enemy
Die Size: d10
Motive: Wealth, Approach: Otherworldly

Traits:

• Pristine Equipment: As long as Gunrunner’s status die is a d10, he has +1 to all actions.
• Countermeasures: When Gunrunner Defends, treat the result as a Boost for himself.
• Suit Breach: When Gunrunner fails a damage save, step his status die down twice.

As the self-appointed defenders of Santa Juanita, the Reactors had to deal with a variety of opponents. Many of their enemies had some sort of knowledge of the alien ship the Reactors were protecting, others had been attracted by the dimensional ripples that had been created in the battle to protect it, and some were just the ordinary criminals of the city, gaining powers or technology from the ongoing chaos. Many of the latter had a single source for their newfound technology: the mysterious masked man known as the Gunrunner.

Jerid sutu-Wethen had been a soldier of the Jotari Authority, a commoner with a very mild ability to telepathically link to technology, an ability that he largely concealed from his superiors for fear of being thrown into more dangerous situations. When his strike team came to Earth to seize the spaceship under Santa Juanita, Jerid immediately fell in love with the city; even under siege, it seemed a beautiful place free of the strictures of his home. He slipped away in the chaos, using his powers to disable his beacon and convincing the Authority that he was dead.

Unfortunately for the people of Santa Juanita, Jerid’s distaste for his homeworld did not translate to being a good person, and he soon found that to enjoy the fruits of his new home, he would need currency, and lots of it. This was a simple problem with a simple solution: Jerid used his old connections to gather weapons from the Authority, then put on an image projector to disguise himself as a human and sold those weapons to local gangs in Santa Juanita. He took the money and used it to live a life of ease, without much concern for the harm that it would cause. At worst, he figured that making Earth a bit more chaotic would keep the Authority off his back.

Fission and Wavelength quickly realized that the criminals they were fighting were using alien technology, and they tracked down Gunrunner and broke up his operation. But the Jotari villain was undaunted; he retreated, established a new base of operations, and returned to begin outfitting new gangs. He kept his head down, avoiding giving weapons to high-profile supervillains, and his disdain for nations in general meant that he preferred to avoid supplying tech to places like Granlavia or the United States, but he popped up frequently in the middle of various arms deals, criminal plots, and operations by the Reactors, Covert Tactics, or even the Vanguards themselves. He was apprehended a few times, but he usually had a piece of information up his sleeve that he could trade for freedom.

Behind the Scenes:

There are a few types of weapons dealers in Venture Comics, but Gunrunner is filling the Intergang niche; handing out big weapons to small-time villains in order to fund a personal lifestyle, with no particular ideology or drive to build the things himself. He’s moderately dangerous, and probably opens a fight with a Defend/Boost to keep himself safe and set up for future punching, but if you get one good hit in against him he pretty much falls apart.

In the 70s, I expect he gets absorbed into the new gang that Half-Life has to deal with, as one of their prime suppliers.

[FrivYeti]

Red Minotaur

Real Name: Dylan Taurus, First Appearance: Wondrous Adventures #34, Dec 1964

Lieutenant Type: Enemy
Die Size: d10
Motive: Need, Approach: Physical

Traits:

• Charge: Red Minotaur has +1 to Attack when the scene tracker is Yellow and +2 when it is Red.
• Unfettered: When Red Minotaur is Hindered, he may Attack the target who Hindered him as a reaction.
• Heart of Fire: Red Minotaur has -2 to damage saves against Cold or Water damage.

Many of the Wonderer’s foes were supervillains who had access to some sort of magical power, often one that would have a very rough connection to a mythological figure. Many of these enemies were ultimately relegated to D-List status, lacking the personality and flair to endure. The Red Minotaur had no such problems.

Dylan Taurus was a small-time crook who acted as muscle for the Company. When he was roundly trounced by the Wonderer one day, he went in search of a power that could help him stand toe-to-toe with the djinn’s magical might. He discovered the Mask of Asterios, an artifact that legend said gave the wearer incredible strength and durability, igniting a flame of conflict within them that would win any battle. Dylan liked the sound of that, and immediately put the mask on and came back for a second round as the mighty Red Minotaur! As their fight raged, Red Minotaur grew stronger and stronger, smashing through Wonderer’s attempts to restrain him. Finally, Wonderer realized that the flame burning within his foe wasn’t merely a metaphor; a mystical fire was empowering Red Minotaur, and when Wonderer summoned a storm and doused Red Minotaur with water, he was able to extinguish it and send his foe to prison.

Unfortunately for both Wonderer and Dylan, that wasn’t the end of it. The Mask of Asterios could not be removed as long as Dylan lived, trapping him as the Red Minotaur forever. Worse, Dylan’s need for food had been replaced by a need for conflict; without a measure of violence and confrontation in his life, the flame within him would flicker and die. Upon breaking out of prison, the Red Minotaur returned to work, now motivated not by a desire for money but the twin need for battle and the rush that he gained from it. This led him to become a very effective lieutenant for a number of villains in the criminal underworld; he was big, strong, direct, and just smart enough to know his limits, making him the perfect foil to slow a hero down.

Despite his penchant for violence, Red Minotaur wasn’t a killer. If one of his combat-capable opponents was hurt or killed fighting him directly, he wouldn’t shed a tear, but he didn’t like targeting civilians and he didn’t like plans that would lead to widespread devastation. On a few occasions, he’d take a break in the middle of a fight to let heroes evacuate civilians or even intervene to save them himself, only to wade back in as soon as the coast was clear. He also gloried in fights, and would happily compliment his foes during battle and take his losses with good grace. As long as he felt that the fight had been a good one, that was all that mattered.

Behind the Scenes:

Every superhero setting needs a couple villains who are just nature’s jobber - big, tough, and fun, with a straightforward theme and style and no chance of ever getting redeemed because he enjoys villainy too much.

Red Minotaur does double-duty for that, and for adding another colour-themed character to the set. Thanks to the Virtuosos of the Void, that naming convention is pretty rare in Sentinels; I’ve tried to fill a handful into the Silver Age for Venture.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

I wonder if he can “feed” on a good video game (once they’re invented) in a pinch? When his employer needs him to keep a low profile he’s can only spar with henchmen just so long before the accidental injuries get out of hand. Having him loafing around the break room playing Street Fighter seems like the next best thing.

Going to be a problem if he decides to sneak out to the local arcade in search of new scoreboards to stick his initials on, though.