The History of Venture Comics!

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

If you wanted to be deep (definitely not in Silver Age, but maybe later) the widow (or any similar “I want someone dead back” request) could be played more straight, with Retriever trying some mad science thing, failing, and having an epiphany that moves its kludged accidental AI forward toward real personhood, for good or ill.

Indira and Trevor (or their alter egos, anyway) are developing into a fine anime couple. The kind where the audience spends all season yelling “just kiss already!” and then gets a cliffhanger in the last episode that never gets resolved because there’s no second season.

[TakeWalker]

Imagine my surprise at seeing the villain name, going, “Oh, they’re gonna want to change that, there’s already a character called that,” and then realizing it’s your own character >_< ignore me lol

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

It’s even the original image for him, but one of the readers on the site it was first posted to threw together the more Golden Age design on Hero Creator and this one got repurposed for Silver Age. Everyone’s favorite rubber robot.

[FrivYeti]

Randomizers:
Approach: 2, 1, 4 [Options: Relentless, Skilled, Prideful, Underpowered, Bully, Disruptive]
Archetype: 8, 1, 1 [Options: Predator, Inventor, Inhibitor, Loner, Domain]
Upgrade: 10, 1, 12 [Options: Mook Squad, Calming Aura, Brainwashing Zone]
Mastery: 10, 11, 3 [Options: Conquest, Total Chaos, Unfathomable]

Dr. Roach

Real Name: Perry Planetta, First Appearance: Covert Tactics Vol. 2 #8, Oct 1962
Approach: Underpowered, Archetype: Domain
Upgrade: Brainwashing Zone, Mastery: Conquest

Status Dice: Based on environment minions, lieutenants, and challenges. 3+: d10, 1-2: d8, 0: d6. Health: 45+5H (Ultimate 55+5H)

Qualities: Science d10, Ranged Combat d10, Stealth d8, Fitness d8, Imposing d8, Swarm Tactics d8
Powers: Insect Control d10, Electricity d8, Vitality d6

Abilities:

• Swarm Like Locusts [A]: Remove any number of environment-created bonuses. For each bonus removed, you may Attack one target using your Mid die, using a different bonus against each.
• Ants In Your Pants [A]: Hinder multiple targets using Science and use your Max die. If you roll doubles, also Attack each target with your Mid die.
• Entomophobia [A]: Activate one of the environment’s twists in its current zone or one zone closer to red.
• Mass Panic [A]: Roll any number of environment minion dice. Attack every target in the scene (other than yourself) with those dice. Remove those minions.
• Can’t Crush A Roach [R]: When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Fitness die. Deal that much damage to another target.
• (U) Panic Electro-Generator [A]: While the scene is in the Green zone, all heroes’ uality dice at d8 or above are reduced one size. In the Yellow zone, all heroes’ quality dice at d10 or above are reduced two die sizes. In the Red zone, all heroes’ quality dice are treated as if they are d4.

Heroes may remove this ability with three Overcome successes. If a hero takes a minor twist, the hero must lose access to a quality entirely until this ability is removed. If a hero is knocked out while this ability is active, you may create a new minion using the hero’s highest power die to represent the panicking version of that hero.

• (U) Master of Conquest (I): As long as you are in command of your own forces, automatically succeed at an Overcome involving seizing an area or capturing civilians.

Common Scene Elements:

• An environment featuring people freaking out about all the bugs, with challenges to deal with panicking civilians, uncontrolled environment minions, and bonuses to insect-based tactics and attacks.
• Swarms of insects under Dr. Roach’s control: d6 Minions. When they Attack or Hinder they apply half the result, rounding down, to a second nearby target.
• Shockroachs, Dr. Roach’s mercenary shock troops: d8 Minions who are immune to electrical damage and Hinders due to their insulated suits (which also protect them from their patron’s Panic Electro-Generator.

The early run of Covert Tactics was a mixture of successful extractions and operations in which it became clear that their target did not want to be saved and had to be fought. But in their first year, none of their targets proved to be odder than the Shockroach.

A scientist hired by the small central Asian nation of Juristan, Perry Planetta was instructed to develop a device that could command the brains of civilians in order to help suppress a series of populist uprisings, in the hopes that the reigning dictator could retain power. When Perry found that his device wasn’t able to control anything more complicated than an insect, he rolled with it, took control of the nation’s insects, and promptly installed himself as the new President for Life. Entering the area to save him, Covert Tactics immediately found themselves in a fight for their lives against swarms of insects, Anti-Revolutionary guards, and the low-power fear waves rippling through the countryside, rendering the populace afraid to fight back. These challenges weren’t enough to actually stop the heroes, however, and by the end of the issue Planetta was overthrown and power restored to the people.

This wasn’t the end of Dr. Roach, however. His dreams of owning his own country had been whetted, and he continued to appear on a regular basis, attacking tiny island nations or out of the way towns and holding them hostage as he declared a new age of Science and Reason! Each time, he had a new method to control his insect minions and a new squad of mercenary troops, and each time he was summarily defeated by Covert Tactics and either jailed or forced to flee with nothing more than the clothes on his back.

Behind the Scenes

One drawback of only writing up one or two villains for each hero is that I feel obliged to write their dramatic opposites, the Lex Luthors and Doctor Dooms of the setting. There’s less room for those villains who are both very enduring and entirely goofy. So I had to include at least one in the Silver Age; I’m hoping to get a few more in as we work through the second half of our villains.

Anyway, this guy dresses like a giant bug and uses electronic waves to control insects and somehow makes that part of plans to take over cities and he expects you to treat him very seriously because he is a proper scientist thank you very much. And to be fair, I would not want to be covered in insects, so there’s that. The gritty reboot of this weirdo is probably going to be kind of horrific, although it would also be funny if he just never gets a gritty reboot, and even in the Iron Age is just kind of miffed at the idea that he might be horrifying.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

Pretty sure Doc Roach (you know he’s going to wind up being called that) there is using the Skilled approach, not Underpowered. You’re also missing a Domain ability, it’s one of the oddballs that gives you three instead of two.

There’s got to be a tongue-in-cheek story down the road where the fine people of Juristan come to the heroes asking for help locating Doc. They aren’t holding a grudge, they actually want to invite him back and offer him a position as Minister of Pest Control. Turns out their most valuable crops are being eaten as fast as they grow them and the current regime’s best idea for a fix is to install a supervillain as a cabinet minister. Do the heroes try to talk them out of it? Does Doc take them up on the offer? How do both the heroes and Doc feel when the pests turn out to be the product of an expensive genetic engineering process? What do the heroes do when they discover the “valuable crops” are the kind that make a certain white powder and the pests were part of a very, very dark gray operation by the US government to cut off the supply at the source? Does Doc Roach wind up on the side of the angels for once, or does he sign a deal with an agency that doesn’t officially exist for backing to take over Juristan as dictator again, with the proviso that he keeps the drug trade out of the territory and maybe do a little consulting work on optimizing deployment of similar covert insectile bioweaponry?

There’s a cynical late-Reagan Era story for you, and one that could lead to the horrific reboot of Doc Roach.

[Thunderbird]

I don’t know if you’re just going for alliteration with the name, or if there’s supposed to be any implied nationality or reference there. Perry doesn’t sound very central Asian, unless it’s been Westernized. Then again, you did say he’s a scientist for hire. The first Planetta I found Googling was an Austrian Nazi.

Given the bug motif, I personally would have gone with Gregory Samson or the like. Maybe first name Franz if you wanted him to be European and not too on the nose. Still a really cool character! Good job!

[FrivYeti]

@Chief_Lackey_Rich

Pretty sure Doc Roach (you know he’s going to wind up being called that) there is using the Skilled approach, not Underpowered. You’re also missing a Domain ability, it’s one of the oddballs that gives you three instead of two.

He is indeed Skilled; I swapped him and forgot to adjust the title. Thanks. And I’ll go and give him another ability shortly.

I do a lot of adjustments on these characters, editing becomes an issue!

And boy, that does sound like a great Iron Age story for him!

@Thunderbird

don’t know if you’re just going for alliteration with the name, or if there’s supposed to be any implied nationality or reference there. Perry doesn’t sound very central Asian, unless it’s been Westernized. Then again, you did say he’s a scientist for hire. The first Planetta I found Googling was an Austrian Nazi.

Given the bug motif, I personally would have gone with Gregory Samson or the like. Maybe first name Franz if you wanted him to be European and not too on the nose. Still a really cool character! Good job!

Periplaneta is the scientific name for one of the largest families of cockroaches, which is where the name comes from; it’s a silly cockroach pun. Dr. Roach is indeed white and American; he was not a local of Juristan.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

@FrivYeti

I do a lot of adjustments on these characters, editing becomes an issue!

Hoo boy, do I know that feeling.

[Thunderbird]

@FrivYeti

Periplaneta is the scientific name for one of the largest families of cockroaches

Oh, I didn’t think to put the two together. polite applause

And the Shockroach is just chef’s kiss!

[TakeWalker]

There is nothing not to love about this guy. XD

I hope his gritty reboot goes the Shin Kamen Rider route.

[FrivYeti]

Randomizers:
Approach: 6, 5, 1 [Options: Relentless, Bully, Disruptive, Focused, Generalist]
Archetype: 2, 1, 2 [Options: Predator, Inventor, Bruiser, Guerilla, Legion]
Upgrade: 9, 10, 2 [Options: Defense Shield, Calming Aura, Hardier Minions]
Mastery: 1, 2, 4 [Options: Annihilation, Behind the Curtain, Enforced Order]

Poison Pen

Real Name: Penny Sterling, First Appearance: Wondrous Tales #18, August 1963
Approach: Disruptive, Archetype: Legion
Upgrade: Calming Aura, Mastery: Behind the Curtain

Status Dice: 9+ minions d4, 5-8 minions d6, 3-4 minions d8, 1-2 minions d10, No minions d12. Health: 15+5H (Upgraded 25+5H)

Qualities: Insight d10, Technology d8, Finesse d8, Industrial Espionage d8
Powers: Robotics d10, Presence d10, Agility d8, Awareness d8

Abilities:

• Sow Chaos [A]: Hinder multiple targets using Insight. You and any nearby allies Defend using your Max die.
• Sabotage [A]: Attack multiple targets using Technology. Use your Min die. Hinder each target with your Max die. If one of those targets rolls doubles on their next turn, they take damage equal to the penalty.
• Deploy Pen Pal [A]: Add two minions of size equal to one die size lower than your current status.
• Decoy Pen Pal [R]: When you are Attacked or Hindered by a non-Psychic effect, create a minion of a size equal to your current die type and redirect the effect to them. You may move elsewhere in the scene.
• Crossed Feeds (I): Whenever multiple Legion minions all take the same action against the same target, you must roll all of their dice at the same time and use the lowest rolling die amongst them for each minion’s result on that action.
• (U) In Plain Sight (I): The heroes act as being in the Green zone for status die, access to abilities, and for the purposes of all abilities. Heroes may remove this ability with three Overcome successes. If a hero takes a minor twist, you may use a reaction to Hinder them by rolling your single Presence die.
• (U) Master Behind the Curtain (I): As long as you are not directly involved in the fray and are using your influence indirectly, automatically succeed at an Overcome to manipulate a situation.

Common Scene Elements:

• A high-tech lab or business office in the throes of chaos.
• Challenges related to the things that Pen is here to steal.
• Wiltman and Chambers, Private Eyes. A pair of D8 Environmental Lieutenants with the following ability: When you take damage, before rolling to save, halve the damage (rounding up) and apply the other half as a Hinder against you.

The Drifter’s first few supervillains were fairly direct criminals and mad scientists, intent on wrecking havoc and frustrated and confused by their coincidental failures. But it wasn’t long into his tenure that the writers of Venture Comics decided to dial things up, creating a level of chaos that would make it difficult for him to save the day while staying anonymous. The result was Poison Pen.

Penny Sterling was a brilliant roboticist whose work was stolen from her by local business magnate Howard McPherson. Vowing revenge, Penny developed even more advanced robots, sending robotic infiltrators into McPherson Industries to ruin the company and steal back her technology. As it happened, McPherson quickly became aware of something going wrong, and ‘brilliant’ detectives Wiltman and Chambers arrived to try and suss out the saboteurs just as the Drifter started working there as a janitor.

The Drifter quickly identified the robot duplicates, using his abilities to foil their attempts at sabotage, quietly led Wiltman and Chambers to proof of McPherson’s thefts, and simultaneously revealed Sterling and prevented her from destroying the company and putting its employees out of work. Both Sterling and McPherson ended up in jail… except that at the end of the issue it was revealed that the Penny who had been arrested was, herself, a robot duplicate!

This began the saga of Poison Pen. Poison Pen would build robots, infiltrating businesses, homes, and events with the goal of stealing riches and bringing ruin to successful individuals who might or might not deserve it. The Drifter would come across her and have to untangle her schemes. The pair did not meet directly; Poison Pen was well aware that someone was messing with her, but not whom, and the Drifter knew exactly who she was but was so busy dealing with her robotic plants that he could never quite catch her. It became something of a game for them both; since Poison Pen’s plans didn’t threaten lives, only livelihoods, it was easier for the Drifter to treat them as puzzles to be solved, and Poison Pen would leave him letters praising his skills and vowing revenge in the same breath.

Poison Pen also went toe to toe with other heroes, facing off against Madame Liberty, Flatfoot, the Vanguards and Covert Tactics, always one step ahead and ready to escape at a moment’s notice. She worked with other villains from time to time, particularly preferring to hire bruisers (or the Red Herring, a perennial favourite ally) to cover her schemes.

Behind the Scenes

Legion is an interesting Archetype to use well, and I wanted someone who didn’t just duplicate themselves, and then I thought about Doombots and everything else kind of came together. Poison Pen is a less lethal villain for the Silver Age, one part Chameleon and one part Vulture. She’s pretty hard to take down with physical damage, because physical damage reveals that you just punched a robot, but her actual legion minions aren’t that hard to fight - unless she covers for them with her abilities.

[Sea-Envy]

you included the link to the RPG.Net forum. Not a problem just the first time you did it and it might have been a mitsake

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

“Ships that pass in the night” nemeses is an amusing concept.

Sabotage ought to an action ability rather than a reaction, FWIW.

That build highlights one of the serious issues with Legion archetypes and that “Decoy Pen Pal” reaction. The design decision to make it trigger against physical damage only added to the usual dreadful Legion base Health makes it hard to use against a team that has decent non-physical damage output, or even worse Attacks that negate reactions and Defends like the CQC archetype’s Precise Strike. We had a villain with a similar ability setup get taken out in one round with a four-hero team in Green, and there really wasn’t any luck involved. A team boost, multiple HP bonuses, a couple of Max die energy Attacks and a Precise Strike and her 35 Health just evaporated. Pretty convinced Legion ought to be +5 Health at least rather than -5, and that reaction needs to be broader, and the archetype might even deserve a third real ability choice (which probably got nixed because it would make four with the “minion incompetence” drawback).

[FrivYeti]

Edits have been fixed!

You have actually given me an idea; it would make sense for Legion to have a reaction that’s a stronger defense, but doesn’t have the infinite capability to produce duplicates. Let me see…

Decoy [R]: When you are Attacked or Hindered by a non-[Element or Psychic] effect, create a minion of a size equal to your current die type and redirect the effect to them. You may move elsewhere in the scene.

This is stronger, because it affects a much wider swath and lets you run away while still having a vulnerability, but weaker because the minion immediately gets hit and you can’t just spam it endlessly.

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

I like it (more mobility is always good) but…

@FrivYeti

of a size one equal to your current die type

…either the “one” is extraneous, or the “equal” was supposed to be something else (less?). I’m guessing the first is the case.

[FrivYeti]

@FrivYeti

When you are Attacked or Hindered by a non-[Element or Psychic] effect, create a minion of a size one equal to your current die type and redirect the effect to them. You may move elsewhere in the scene.

Yep, it was originally “one die size smaller” and then I decided it didn’t need that limitation, so I adjusted it and left the ‘one’ in. Fixed.

[FrivYeti]

Randomizers:
Approach: 6, 8, 7 [Options: Disruptive, Focused, Mastermind, Creator, Ninja, Adaptive*]*
Archetype: 1, 5, 5 [Options: Predator, Indomitable, Overlord, Squad*]*
Upgrade: 4, 11, 8 [Options: Villainous Vehicle, Quality Upgrade II, Power Dampening Field*]*
Mastery: 10, 3, 5 [Options: Behind the Curtain, Mad Science, Total Chaos*]*

Animaster

Real Name: Neville Davenport, First Appearance: Liberty’s Dream #8, January 1964
Approach: Creator, Archetype: Overlord
Upgrade: Quality Upgrade, Mastery: Mad Science

Status Dice: 9+ minions: d12. 5-8 minions: d10. 3-4 minions: d8. 1-2 minions: d6. 0 minions: d4. Health: 30+5H (Upgraded 50+5H)

Qualities: Magical Lore d10, Imposing d8, Science d8, Creativity d8, Genteel Monster d8
Powers: Transmutation d10, Weather d8, Presence d8, Awareness d6

Abilities:

• Spark Life [A]: Use Transmutation to create a lieutenant of the same die size as your Max die.
• Wake Wisps [A]: Use Weather to create a number of minions equal to the value of your Max die. The starting die size for those minions is the same as the size of your Min die.
• For The Father [A]: Boost using Imposing for all your minions until the start of your next turn.
• Explosive Force [R]: When one of your minions is destroyed, roll its die and deal damage equal to that roll to another target.
• (U) Genius Creator (I): Increase all of your Quality dice except “Genteel Monster” by one size.
• (U) Master of Mad Science (I): As long as you have access to materials, you can automatically succeed when Overcoming a challenge by using scientific principles and inventions.

Common Scene Elements:

• The Bright Guard. A squad of (H) D8 minions who get +1 to saves against elemental damage.
• Malforms. (H-1) D10 environment minions who get +1 to Attacks but -1 to saves; they may be hostile or allies depending on the situation.
• Anima Township. A 1950s-style town environment filled with elemental magic.

Many of Reverie’s early supervillains were thinly veiled statements about equality and prejudice, although most took care to have enough layers removed to avoid any overt dismissal. But one of these villains, entirely unintended, would go on to become a major recurring character and location for a wide variety of characters following his initial, relatively minor appearance.

Neville Davenport was the child of an industrial magnate whose aptitude for business was minimal, although he was a talented chemist and artist. Neville believed that his failing business was the result of the modern mindset, that humanity was weaker and more indolent than they had been. His disgruntlement drew the attention of Unseelie fae, who offered him the power to create his own, superior society by imbuing mystical power into raw elements.

Neville took the gift and ran with it, using his scientific knowledge to experiment with his new magical powers. He carved out a space in the Underhill, and began to develop new living beings - rocky earthkin, flickering flamekin, the short-lived skykin and the flowing seakin, then advancing to fashion people out of lightning, ice and snow, and more, inserting each into his new elemental hierarchy. Neville dubbed himself the Animaster, and his new society his Animates, and planned to perfect his society and then raise an army to reclaim and purify the United States.

Reverie found Neville when some of his Animates fled from his tyrannical rule and were mistaken for monsters by the small town they reached. She saved them from a mob, and then listened to their story, returning to the Underhill to confront the Animaster. Joining forces with the Malforms, a group of Animates made from multiple elements who the Animaster had discarded as failed experiments, she helped the people of Anima rise up, fighting the Animaster directly and forcing him to flee with a handful of loyalists.

Unlike other such individuals, however, the Animaster would return. Convinced that he could solve the fundamental ‘flaw’ of rebellion, he would create a new Animate village, adjusting its societal parameters or making slight changes to the people he was giving life to, seeking out powerful magical sources to supplement his creative powers and looking for ley lines to tap to give birth to a new army. Sometimes, he would create an army with no free will at all, which would be destroyed by the heroes he set it against. Once, his attempt to create Animate fanatics led to his minions turning on him as a filthy meat-blood and casting him out, and forcing him to join forces with Skybreaker to stop the rampaging zealots.

The Animaster presented himself as a polite, cultured man, but he was at root an envious, cruel, and arrogant soul whose ruin was always in his own works. The Unseelie never demanded the due for the gifts they had offered - Neville’s own despair and self-ruination was all the price they had ever intended for him to pay, with the harm he inflicted on others a pleasant side effect.

Behind the Scenes

Everyone loves an extremely heavy-handed metaphor for racism and segregation under an extremely thin layer of “it’s fantasy, it’s just goofs”. Obviously, otherwise the X-Men wouldn’t exist.

In all seriousness, this is mostly one part Southern Confederate and one part High Evolutionary, who was introduced in the real world about a year later than this guy appears in Venture Comics. When I got a Creator/Overlord I spent a bit of time mulling over what sort of minion he would create, and “rebellious elemental townsfolk” became a whole thing, and now we have pockets of a new type of person. Maybe one of them will appear as a hero in the future, who knows?

[Chief_Lackey_Rich]

@FrivYeti

When I got a Creator/Overlord I spent a bit of time mulling over what sort of minion he would create, and “rebellious elemental townsfolk” became a whole thing, and now we have pockets of a new type of person.

Got some potential, to be sure. They’re also clearly an enslaved and abused minority but Venture can plausibly tell the censors they’re just pure fiction and not stand-ins for anyone at all.

@FrivYeti

The Unseelie never demanded the due for the gifts they had offered - Neville’s own despair and self-ruination was all the price they had ever intended for him to pay, with the harm he inflicted on others a pleasant side effect.

Reminds me of an old short story where the Devil offers to fulfill some guy’s dearest wish, and when the man asks what the price will be (expecting to lose his soul) Old Nick just laughs and says it’s a freebie, since the fellow is already so awful he’s damned and his wish is so selfish and hateful it’ll be worth the trouble of granting ten thousand-fold.

[FrivYeti]

Randomizers:
Approach: 10, 2, 5 [Options: Skilled, Bully, Focused, Overpowered, Tactician, Adaptive]
Archetype: 5, 2, 2 [Options: Inventor, Guerrilla, Indomitable, Formidable, Legion]
Upgrade: 8, 1, 3 [Options: Mook Squad, Group Fighter, Quality Upgrade II]
Mastery: 11, 6, 8 [Options: Mercenary, Profitability, Unfathomable]

Vortex

Real Name: Huang Zhi, First Appearance: Madame Liberty #279, March 1965
Approach: Tactician, Archetype: Guerrilla
Upgrade: Group Fighter, Mastery: Mercenary

Status Dice: 4+ Engaged Opponents: d10. 2-3 Engaged Opponents: d8. 0-1 Engaged Opponents: d6. Health: 35+5H (Upgraded 55+5H)

Qualities: Close Combat d10, Leadership d8, Alertness d6, Professional Assassin d8
Powers: Wind d8, Flight d8, Vitality d6, Deduction d6

Abilities:

• Extreme Gusts [A]: Attack multiple close targets using Close Combat. Hinder each target using your Min die.
• Flanking [A]: Make a basic action using Close Combat and use your Max die. One nearby ally also makes the same basic action as their reaction.
• In The Mix [R]: Defend against an attack by rolling your single status die. Deal that much damage to a different nearby target.
• Lead by Example (I): As long as you have at least one nearby ally, you may reroll all 1s on your dice.
• (U) Follow-Up (I): When you take an action that lets you make an Attack, also make an Attack using your Mid die.
• (U) Master Mercenary (I): If you have been given a contract to perform a specific task, automatically succeed at an Overcome in a situation where the difference is getting paid and not getting paid.

Common Scene Elements:

• The Cold Wind. Vortex’s current team of (H/2) D10 lieutenants with no special abilities.
• A Facility At Risk. An environment representing the location that Vortex has been hired to either attack or defend.
• Another Supervillain. Vortex rarely works alone.

During the 1960s, Madame Liberty primarily remained a European hero, fighting against both real and fantastical conquerors in the form of Soviet spies, the Dark Dynasty, various would-be conquerors and mad scientists and a few alien invaders of various stripes. However, for a brief and extraordinarily ill-considered period beginning in February 1965, she travelled to Vietnam to protect South Vietnam from Chinese communist saboteurs operating out of the North. The disastrous optics of a white French woman telling the Vietnamese how to resist foreign invaders was lost on the writers at the time, but the growing opposition to the war was not; in August of the same year she quietly returned to Europe and resumed dealing with her previous problems.

However, while Madame Liberty’s time in Vietnam was never referenced again, one of her opponents was. Vortex, also known as Huang Zhi, was a mercenary loosely affiliated with the Chinese government, who had gained command over wind as a result of undefined scientific experiments, and who deployed to Vietnam to act as a dark mirror to Madame Liberty, bringing her crack team of mercenaries and training local guerrillas under the command of a local super-scientist villain. She identified Madame Liberty and defeated her in combat, but was ultimately defeated when some of the young conscripts she was training helped Madame Liberty escape and destroy the facility out of which she was operating.

As a skilled mercenary with a useful power set, Vortex was too interesting to leave behind, and over the course of the Silver Age she would make more appearances, now in Europe as a mercenary for hire either as a raider or bodyguard for various other villains. She trained Soviet spies, protected doomsday devices, kidnapped politicians to hold for ransom and even worked for high-end bank robbers if the price was right. She was captured a few times, only to be broken out of jail by her next clients; usually, she was able to escape if a contract went awry. One-on-one, Madame Liberty could fight her, but she had a knack for using her powers to put Madame Liberty’s allies in harm’s way and take advantage of the confusion to escape.

Behind the Scenes

Tactician is one of the three Approaches that hasn’t shown up yet, so I had to include it. From there, everything else on the options just slotted into place for a fairly traditional villain that we haven’t seen a lot of in this publishing company - evil mercenary what is good at fighting. Red Herring creates distractions, Retriever gets you what you need, but Vortex is here to beat people up and to train people to beat people up.

Tactician and Guerrilla are a lot of fun to combine, because they encourage you to get stuck in with several enemies right next to a few allies in one gigantic melee. Group Fighter just dials that up (although notably, the extra attack doesn’t actually have to go to a new person; you can just really wail on someone.

And as for the Vietnam thing… it just seemed like something that was going to get addressed by the character whose whole thing is fighting empires, and probably was not going to get addressed well, so I tossed it in. I suspect the Venture Comics editors thought she was going to stay there long enough for Vietnam to be “freed”, which was definitely going to happen by the end of the year, and then events continued and they backed off, but they couldn’t say why they were backing off for Comics Code reasons so they just sort of brushed it all under the carpet.

[FrivYeti]

Randomizers:
Approach: 4, 8, 8 [Options: Underpowered, Mastermind, Tactician, Dampening, Ancient*]*
Archetype: 1, 3, 3 [Options: Predator, Bruiser, Guerrilla, Overlord, Fragile*]*
Upgrade: 6, 10, 2 [Options: Hardier Minions, Power Upgrade II, Calming Aura*]*
Mastery: 5, 3, 1 [Options: Annihilation, Conquest, Mad Science*]*

Amorta, Empress of Ash

Real Name: Amorta, First Appearance: Vanguards #108, November 1967
Approach: Ancient, Archetype: Overlord
Upgrade: Calming Aura, Mastery: Annihilation

Status Dice: 9+ minions: d12. 5-8 minions: d10. 3-4 minions: d8. 1-2 minions: d6. 0 minions: d4. Health: 45+5H (Upgraded 55+5H)

Qualities: Magical Lore d12, Leadership d12, Close Combat d10, Alertness d8, Flames Incarnate d8
Powers: Fire d12, Suggestion d10, Strength d10, Teleportation d8

Abilities:

• Consume From Within [A]: Hinder using Suggestion against multiple targets and use your Max die. Attack each using your Mid+Min dice.
• Immortal Perfection [A]: Take a basic action using Magical Lore and use your Max die.
• Ignite The World [A]: Use Magical Lore to create a number of minions equal to the value of your Max die. The starting die size for those minions is the same as the size of your Min die.
• Burn Bright [R]: Reroll any number of minion saves against the same Attack.
• (U) Hypnotic Flames (I): The heroes act as being in the Green zone for status die, access to abilities, and for the purposes of all abilities. Heroes may remove this ability with three Overcome successes. If a hero takes a minor twist, you may use a reaction to Hinder them by rolling your single Suggestion die.
• (U) Master of Annihilation (I): If you can cause massive collateral damage without regard for casualties, automatically succeed at an Overcome where a show of overwhelming force can solve the problem.

Common Scene Elements:

• Dimensional Devastation: An environment in which reality itself is burning and the fires of passion run amok.
• Burning Courtiers. A group of d10 Minions who step down whenever they roll their maximum on an action.
• Enflamed Civilians. d8 environment minions caught up in some act of destructive but glorious purpose, ignoring the demons in their midst.

Across the infinite dimensions, in the mists of time, four realms rose to devour their neighbours. In the Dark Sea sat Balor, King of Ruin, whose eye broke down the world as waves erode the shores. Urak, the Prince of Rot, consumed his realm and made it of himself. The Unspoken, Sovereign of Secrets, smothered truth, hope, and even the bonds between people, devouring its own name. And in the vast Realm of Cinders, the Empress of Ash watched as he people danced and loved and warred, burning themselves to nothing for her amusement only to re-ignite and begin the dance again.

All of these realms are lost, sealed from the world. But the key has been found, and the flames will dance anew…

By 1967, Venture Comics had to acknowledge that not all of their titles were succeeding. Despite a temporary bump in sales with the introduction of Nucleon, Reactors was back in their rut and struggling to turn a profit. Celestial Travels was similarly struggling, with readers finding that Neutrino’s story seemed basically done. Sitting down and putting their heads together, the editors agreed that it was time to pull the trigger, one way or another - either those titles needed to fold, or their stories needed something big. They decided to do both.

Dimensional Devastation was the first major crossover event in Venture Comics history, a massive eight-part story taking place over the course of three months across Celestial Travels, Reactors, and Vanguards! starting in November 1967 and running through January 1968. In the leadup to the event, all three comics began to have information seeded in them - as Neutrino finally approached Earth, he found aliens fleeing the sector out of fear of the return of an ancient threat that had wiped out most of the surrounding civilizations, the Vanguards discovered a new “Cult of Conquest” spreading among the Jotari, preaching the glorious of violence and passionate war, and Ignition became more and more active fighting the Reactors, as she used information she had gathered to prepare to activate their dimensional vessel without their knowledge.

Events culminated in the crossover; Neutrino’s ship was captured by Jotari cultists, who used it to warp to their home. It was revealed that the Jotari Chaplain of Conquest was working in alliance with Ignition, both followers of the same mysterious “Empress” whose dimensional realm had been locked thousands of years ago by the ship in Santa Juanita. In the third issue, Ignition and the Chaplain successfully activated the ship, and the Empress of Ash emerged into the Jotari capital, immediately overwhelming the populace and declaring her intention to transform the Jotari Empire into a burning sword that would strike at the heart of every dimension!

The next five issues contained the desperate struggle to stop the Empress from reaching Earth, at a terrible cost to the Jotari homeworld. The Vanguards, Neutrino, and the Reactors joined forces, fighting the Cult at every turn, but their own passions were turned against them, capturing them in the Empress’s will. Ultimately, it was Ignition who saved them. As she watched the Jotari world burn, Fission was able to reach her. He discovered her true identity, revealed his own, and showed her that the flames she worshipped were going to consume everything; in the climax of the crossover she reversed the mechanisms allowing the Empress to manifest, buying critical moments for the team to defeat the terrible force and return her to her burning realm. Ignition was believed to be slain in the conflagration, her body burning to ash in seconds.

This was the end of the crossover, but not of the Empress. She would remain a distant antagonist to the Vanguards for the next few years, acting through her remaining Jotari pawns as she sought a new key to her locks. Her power was vast and dreadful, but it was also something that could be drawn abstractly and applied through mental effects, allowing the writers of Venture Comics to avoid the more horrific physicality that had ended their prior cosmic threats.

Behind the Scenes

It’s the big one!

I’ve been working on this pretty much since I invented Ignition, although I had intended to wait a couple more villains and introduce her right at the end of the age. But I got Ancient, and who knows when that’ll happen again, so here we are! The Empress of Ash is the unifying force behind a few supernatural threats that have been dormant since the Golden Age, and which may return as we hit the Bronze Age and the Code loosens up; for now, she’s a terrible force that’s also really, really, straightforward.

She’s also absolutely devastating. If she starts the scene with a minion group as a scene element, she has a really good chance of creating a large number of d12 minions on the first turn, and she can protect those minions from getting quickly wiped out with her reaction. She has an immensely powerful way to hurt and stymie opponents by turning their passions against them, and in her upgraded form she locks heroes down by pulling them into her dancing flames. Ancient is a nightmare, do not toy with it.

Overlord is now the first archetype to not be available if rolled up for the remainder of the phase. Hopefully that won’t be too rough a restriction.