The Web – DC Red Circle (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese

The Web
AKA John Raymond

Prowess 4
Coordination 4
Strength 6
Intellect 4
Awareness 4
Willpower 5

Stamina 11

Powers
*WEB Suit – All of John’s powers are derived from his hi-tech apparatus. His version of the WEB suit is identical to those used by the WEB Hosts with the exception that he is able to shut down their suits whenever he deems necessary. His suit provides him with the following abilities:

  • Ability Boost 2 – the suit increases the user’s Strength by 2. Without it, John’s Strength is 4 and his Stamina is reduced to 9.
  • Flight 6
  • Damage Resistance 5
  • Onboard GPS Navigation Unit
  • Goggles protect John’s eyes during flight and also offers Resistance 4 against Dazzle attacks
  • Social Media Presence – John’s activities are automatically streamed to various social media accounts whenever he wears the suit. He is also able to communicate with his WEB Hosts via a private Twitter network.
  • Gadgets 4
  • Web Lair – John has a hi-tech lair that contains computers capable of aiding him in his investigations. Whenever John uses the Lair, his +1 bonus for Investigation is boosted to +2.

Specialties
Aerial Combat, Athletics (Expert +2 bonus), Business, Investigation (increases to +2 when using the Web Lair), Martial Arts, Technology, Wrestling

Qualities
*Doesn’t Play Well With Others
*Wants to help those with nowhere else to turn
*Trying to be a better man

Background

In DC’s Red Circle revival, John Raymond is a spoiled, slacker, womanizer, fancying himself a socialite. His brother David, a social worker, has distanced himself from his family, choosing to help the poorer as a social worker. Despite their differences, John always admired David. John was made the heir of the family fortune by his father, who reasoned that John’s cold, privileged mindset would make him a better businessman. John, who believed his brother to be the better man and rightful heir, decided to balance business needs with humanitarian goals. To those ends, John maintained his profile as a spoiled socialite while using part of his five-billion dollar fortune to set up a superpowered persona as the Web, a common-people superhero who derived his name from the World Wide Web. John also anonymously funded the development of an advanced supercomputer to select the most urgent or worthy of numerous requests for help submitted his website summontheweb.com.

John later discovers that David has fallen in debt to loan sharks, who later murder David. David explains with his last breath that he didn’t want to ask John for help because he was too proud. David’s death causes John to reevaluate his activities as the Web, and decides that he will no longer aid those who have the resources to help themselves, or who have friends and family they can turn to. Instead, the Web will assist only those who have no one else to turn to. The first beneficiary of his “new deal” is Lieutenant Joseph Higgins, stationed in Afghanistan and looking for his missing father. However, waiting for the Web reply, Higgins is grievously wounded while in a mission, and saved by an experimental warsuit: by the time the Web reviews the email, and gives him a positive reply, Higgins has become The Shield, a superhero on his own and a potential ally in John’s quest.

John eventually discovers that the man responsible for David’s murder is a renowned scientist named Dr. Archer, who is using his knowledge of chemistry to create addictive recreational drugs which he then distributes through violent street gangs. Unable to hold off Archer and fight him actively alone the Web resorts, like the previous Impact Comics character, to turn the Web identity into an organization of equally empowered crime fighters, a small army of Web Hosts, receiving functional copies of his suit in exchange for enacting justice in his name. After a brief period of unrests and anarchy, Oracle and Batgirl offer an upgrade to the Web Hosts, in exchange for them pledging alliance to the Justice League of America rather than acting independently and thinning their number to expel the more rambunctious and rebellious members. The Web Hosts now receive their powers from a cloud computing server in the Web Lair, making the Web able to shut their suits down remotely. Furthermore, every suit is fitted with an access to Twitterati (the DCU equivalent of Twitter featured in the Final Crisis: Dance miniseries), granting the Host a private social network to use for personal interactions and crimefighting as well, and John Raymond himself, as the current administrator, a permanent link to his Hosts and simple supporters (and a spyware implanted program to gain Oracle absolute control over the aptly named Interweb).

With the help of his new hosts and his supporters the Web finally tracks down Dr. Archer, finally handing him down to the police with enough proof to get him put on trial. However Alice, girlfriend of the late David, warns John of another hidden instigator behind Archer’s actions, the mysterious Deuces Wilde.

When a technological-savvy villain, Doctor Zadar, manages to mainline the remote link, effectively capturing and controlling the entire Web Hosts population, Raymond meets Kim Brand, the current incarnation of the Flygirl, in this continuity no longer empowered by a magic ring but a former Web Host wearing an enhanced, illegally modified and souped-up Web Host suit with greater proficiency. Raymond enlists her for the rescue mission, offering her the enhanced suit in exchange, this time as her personal property.

Raymond handles the crisis selflessly, deliberately risking his life to keep Fly Girl out of harm, but highlighting his lack of teamplay abilities: however, he manages to impress the U.S. Army to warrant for Kim and himself an induction into the newly formed Mighty Crusaders, along with The Comet, Inferno, The Shield and War Eagle.

Nightveil (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese

Nightveil
aka Laura Wright

Prowess 4
Coordination 5
Strength 3
Intellect 5
Awareness 6
Willpower 6

Stamina 9

Powers
*Magic 6 (Nightveil has mastered the following spells and can cast them without using the Performance Limit: Telepathy, Blast, Astral Projection, Illusion, Binding, Healing, Alteration Ray)
*Immortality 1
*Cloak of Darkness: The Cloak boosts the magical power of whomever wears it by +4, allowing her to use her Magic power at level 10. It also provides its wearer with Flight 5, Damage Resistance 3, and Cosmic Awareness (Mystic Threats) 7.

Specialties
Athletics, Investigation, Mental Resistance (Expert +2 bonus), Occult (Expert +2 bonus), Weapons – Handguns (Expert +2 bonus)

Qualities
*Mistress of the Mystic Arts.
*Mentored by Azagoth.
*Sometimes comes off as cold or even creepy to others.

Background

The sorceress of the Femforce, Nightveil is a delightfully sexy and creepy character. She’s very potent and usually displays a cooler head than some of her teammates. Nightveil operated as the Blue Bulleteer for years before gaining her magic, so she’s quite capable of Batman-type sleuthing.

Laura Wright, the daughter of Senator Thomas Wright of Florida, was born in Washington, D.C., to a household accustomed to the trappings of power. As a 21-year old debutante, she began a romantic relationship with Dan Barton, a government operative during World War II who fought a covert battle against the Nazi’s as “The Black Commando.” Dan was teaching Laura the tricks of his trade in order that she could be his professional, as well as personal, partner when Laura received word that Dan had been killed in a mission. Resolving herself to carry on in his stead, Laura continued to train and donned the crimefighting persona of the Blue Bulleteer. Her agility and expertise with the nickel-plated .45’s on her hips made her a thorn in the side of the Nazi’s for the remainder of the war and led to her becoming a founding member of the Femforce.

After the war, Laura continued to fight crime as the Blue Bulleteer but over time her prowess faded and eventually she found herself with her back to the wall, her bullets spent, as the kind of thugs she had spent a career defeating closed in for the kill. It was then that Azagoth, a powerful sorceror from another dimension, intervened and saved her life. Azagoth offered to teach her the intricacies of spellcasting and a gratified Laura Wright agreed to become his pupil. She spent years in a pocket dimension of Limbo learning the mental discipline required to manipulate magical energies and, when her training was nearly complete, Azagoth gave her the mystic Cloak of Darkness, a legendary power source, as a gift. Armed with her new powers of sorcery, Laura returned to this world and began her crusade against the wrongs of the world anew as Nightveil. Rejoining her former compatriots in the Femforce, Nightveil is most likely the most powerful entity on this planet. However, her great power has come at a cost to her humanity.

Mistress Crescendo (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese

Prowess 2
Coordination 4
Strength 3
Intellect 5
Awareness 4
Willpower 7

Stamina 10

Powers
*Energy Blast 8
*ESP 8
*Force Field 8
*Illusion 7
*Immortality 4
*Teleportation 8

Specialties
Leadership (Expert +2 bonus), Military – Tactics (Expert +2 bonus)

Qualities
“I will not allow you to steal that which is rightfully mine!”
Absolutely loathes the Visigoths
“You fear me? Then it is as it should be!”

Background

Very little is known about Crescendo’s past. She is a former Egyptian queen who was deposed by the Visigoths. Upon discovering that Aric of Dacia (aka X-O Manowar) was the last surviving Visigoth, she set out to destroy the company he owned (Orb Industries) and kill everyone that he was close to. This led her to murder Aric’s closest friends (Randy Cartier and Ken Clarkson), destroy Orb headquarters, and set Aric on the run.

Eventually, she discovered a portal between her universe and another. Teaming with Baron Zemo and several other villains from that world, she unsuccessfully sought to rewrite reality. Her scheme was foiled by the combined efforts of X-O Manowar and Iron Man.

Crescendo is mostly a blank slate and you can easily add or subtract details as needed. She is very powerful, immortal, and beautiful in a Bart Sears/Andy Smith-illustrated kind of way. She has armored footsoldiers and an adviser named Augur.

Ravenus (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese

Ravenus
aka Dr. Raven

Prowess 2
Coordination 3
Strength 3
Intellect 5
Awareness 4
Willpower 3

Stamina 6

Powers
*Energy Absorption 7 (Extra: Blast; Limit: Constant – Ravenus feels like he is starving the longer he goes without absorbing energy)
*Radiation Suit – Life Support 2 (internal oxygen supply and radiation resistance), Damage Resistance 4

Specialties
Science

Qualities
“Incredible! I’ve become some sort of… parasite!”
“Help?! I’m not the one in need of help, you pathetic little twit!”
Desperate for new and more powerful ‘energy highs’

Background

Ravenus is not a complicated man. A scientist that came into contact with some of Solar’s energy particles, he was transformed into a parasite in constant need to absorb energy. He didn’t give Solar much of a fight, given the fact that Solar is able to produce incalculable levels of energy while Ravenus has a limit — in their first battle, Solar simply overwhelmed him with more energy than Ravenus could handle. Later, Ravenus teamed up with Doctor Eclipse in another attempt to defeat Solar but once again, he failed miserably. As is, Ravenus might provide a minor threat to most hero groups but he’d probably be much more dangerous if paired with other villains.

When is too far… too far?

Posted on by Barry Reese

I keep most of my New Pulp writing in the PG-13 range but I’ve been known to cross “the line” on occasion… some of you may remember when Sun Koh mutilated a rapist in an old Peregrine story, for instance. And my novel Rabbit Heart is basically a study in excess! Whenever I thought that I might be pushing the envelope too far in that book, I went ahead and tore it open.

But when is it *really* too far? In The Adventures of Lilith Volume One, I decided to depict some extreme violence and sexual situations – it felt right for that particular story but not everyone agreed. One reviewer, in fact, said that I should pull it off the market and tone it down before re-releasing it!

I’ve kept hardcore sex and violence out of Lazarus Gray but there’s an element of subjectivity there, as with all artistic endeavors. When I wrote The Damned Thing, there was a scene early on that involved oral sex. To be honest, I’d forgotten about it by the time it saw print — it was just a brief character moment and believe it or not, not every scene sticks in the mind of the person who wrote it (I write a lot of scenes…). So when it came out, I had a reader who went on and on about that scene and how much it disturbed them. I didn’t even remember what they were talking about! See, for them, that was shocking and extremely memorable. For me, it was no big deal. So you never know how folks will respond.

But there are times when even I know that I might be going into territory that would be best left undisturbed. I’ve mentioned before that I started writing a sequel to Rabbit Heart — it was going to be titled Starstruck. In fact, I wrote about 12,000 words on it, meaning it’s about 20% complete. But even as I was writing the opening scenes of Starstruck, I knew that this probably couldn’t see print. Despite how far I’d gone with Rabbit Heart, I went a lot further into the disturbing territory with just the first 12,000 words on Starstruck. There is at least one scene in there that I think would be hard for people to get out of their heads when they thought of me… and I’m not quite sure I want to go there.

Nobody’s read Starstruck – not even people who’ve really begged & pleaded! I’ve thought about finishing it but it’s so dark and if I didn’t publish it, what would be the point? I’ve considered completing it and then sticking it in a box with a note to say that it could be published after I was dead & gone but then I’d miss the perverse pleasure of seeing people freak out!

On the other hand, I don’t want to tone the story down, either. If I’m going to write disgusting smut then by God, I’m going to write disgusting smut!

Anyway, I think that I’ll continue staying on the PG-13 path for most of my New Pulp work – I often try to craft stories that will appeal to adolescent boys the way that classic pulp did me when I was that age. A little titillation is fine but I try not to veer too far into adult territory. Of course, sometimes the characters demand their course of action (like Sun Koh did in that Peregrine story) and often what I consider PG-13 isn’t what someone else would. In fact, I had one lady tell me she’d never let her 15 year old son read my books because they contained too many “demonic” elements.

However, with the more modern parts of my shared universe, it seems right to up the ante when it comes to violence, language, and sexual content. When writing in the ‘golden age’ of pulp, I want to mostly stay within the classic confines but that’s not true of the modern or future-set stories.

In the end, the work puts whatever restrictions on itself that feel appropriate. When I’m writing The Peregrine, there’s a certain feeling to the world that lets me know the basic parameters, even if I sometimes bump against the guard rails.

Deathmate (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese

Deathmate
aka Kay McHenry

Prowess 5
Coordination 5
Strength 7
Intellect 4
Awareness 8
Willpower 5

Stamina 12

Powers
During her original existence, Kay was able to commune with the Earth and call upon it for assistance. This gave her the equivalent of Magic – Geomancy 8. Since being reborn as Deathmate, she no longer possesses this ability.

In her current state, she has a wide variety of nanite-based powers:
*Regeneration 8
*Flight 7
*Interface 8
*Detection – Nanites 9
*Damage Resistance 7
*Extrasensory Perception 7
*Invisibility 7
*Weapon Transformation – Blast or Strike 7
*Life Support 10

Specialties
These specialities were part of Kay’s former life — as Deathmate, it’s unknown if she would have access to either of these:
Occult (Expert +2), Performance – Public Speaking

Qualities
Former Geomancer
What have I become?
Nanite Entity

Background

Kay McHenry was a spokeswoman for Zorn Capital, an enterprise run by Elliot Zorn. After she accidently overheard a conversation between Zorn and representatives of The One Percent, she was taken captive. Afraid she had heard too much and was a liability, members of The One Percent put her in a sea container and dumped her into the water.

While in the container, Kay was visited by Mother Nature, who made her the new Geomancer. She freed herself from the container, breaking up a conflict that was about to break out between Immortal brother’s Gilad Anni-Padda (The Eternal Warrior) and Aram Anni-Padda (Armstrong).

Kay fought alongside a number of heroes and saved the world on multiple occasions. Eventually, however, she was killed in action and hailed as a martyr by the remaining superheroes on Earth.

Unbeknownst to everyone however, P.R.S, under orders from director Kozol, had exhumed her body from its resting place in order to study her unique physiological makeup as a Geomancer. They found she was a perfect match for a brand new nanite program which had to be shelved due to lack of proper receptacles who could host them, having hatched a scheme with which the faceless weapons contractor would take america then the world by storm; they subjected her to special artificial island facility created to task and perfect their latest killing machine.

While at first she was a remorseless agant of the P.R.S., Bloodshot was later able to reach her dormant personality and restore it. Horrifed by what she had become, she slaughtered her handlers. She then assisted in saving the world from a nanite plague before vanishing — it is unknown if she will eventually return as friend or foe.

War-Monger (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese

War-Monger
Vexana Anni-Padda

Prowess 6
Coordination 6
Strength 7
Intellect 4
Awareness 4
Willpower 6

Stamina 13

Powers
*Immortality 8
*Dense Flesh – Damage Resistance 5
*War Axe 4
*Emotion Control 8 (Limit: Induces Anger only)

Specialties
Athletics (Expert +2 bonus), Leadership, Linguistics (Expert +2 bonus), Martial Arts (Master +3 bonus), Medicine – First Aid (+1 bonus), Mental Resistance (Expert +2 bonus), Sleight of Hand, Stealth (Expert +2 bonus), Weapons (Master +3 bonus), Wrestling (Expert +2 bonus)

Qualities
*In ancient Mesopotamia, the Akkadians called her “Tibûtu”, a word with a few different meanings (swarm, arousal, and war), all of which tended to happen when War-Monger was around.
*War-Monger has a sarcastic, irritable personality, prone to swearing and mocking her opponents.
*The black sheep of the Immortal Family

Background

Vexana was born in the ancient city of Ur, as the youngest of 4 siblings. She was the only girl, as well as being much younger than her brothers. By the time she was a young girl, her brothers Ivar, Gilad, and Aram were respected warriors. Because she was younger, and a little harsh and cruel for a child her age, her brothers didn’t interact with her much. When the trio returned home from a quest to find a mysterious Boon as a duo instead of a trio, with Gilad on his deathbed, Vexana fled the city in tears. While fleeing, she discovered a place of power, the home of dark death cults dedicated to ending life. Being in such a place of power, and her heritage as an Anni-Padda, was all that saved her when the Boon was opened. A massive explosion occurred, a Great Cataclysm, that killed all life in Ur and the surrounding areas. Even Vexana died, but the dark spirits unleashed from the Boon sensed her heritage and woke her before she could pass on. This gave the young girl immortality, as well as the ability to control and manipulate emotions.

Vexana didn’t know the true reason behind her survival. When she returned home, she found everyone else dead, and being a child, began to blame herself. If she was the only one alive, could she have been the cause? So she fled Ur, walking the devastated land alone. Later, because of her guilt, she let herself forget Ur and her family, and convinced herself she was born around 1900 BCE, supposedly after a demon forced itself on her mother.

Calling herself the War-Monger, Vexana has claimed to have sparked almost every major world conflict in history, opposed only by different incarnations of Unity. Because she was seemingly unable to be killed, Unity would find ways to contain or isolate War-Monger, but she always returned. In the modern era, the current incarnation of Unity once again managed to stop her schemes. Because she feeds and feeds off of human conflict, the immovable psiot Anchor sacrificed himself to pin her at the bottom of the ocean, as far away from humanity as possible though she was later found and made her way back to the surface.

Alloy (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese

Alloy
aka Paul Bouvier & Shanhara

Prowess 5
Coordination 5
Strength 7
Intellect 4
Awareness 5
Willpower 5

Stamina 12

Powers
*Blast (100 MGHz pulsed ion beams) 8
*Dazzle (blinding light) 6
*Flight 7 (Extra: Spaceflight)
*Interface 5
*Life Support 10
*Immortality 2
*Regeneration 4
*Damage Resistance 6
*Stretching 5

Specialties
Aerial Combat (+1 bonus), Athletics (Expert +2 bonus), Martial Arts (Expert +2 bonus), Military (Expert +2 bonus), Weapons – Guns (Expert +2 bonus)

Qualities
Twisted Perception of Reality – Blames Aric for his Death
I’m no longer human!
Dark Mirror of X-O Manowar

Background

Paul Bouvier was a former soldier and special agent of the Department W, a task force of the Canadian Secret Service. He was poisoned by Spider Aliens while he saved the lives of Aric Dacia, Randy Cartier, and Turok. Instead of dying he decided to sacrifice his body to bond with an X-O Manowar Seed and become Pol-Bekhara, a new Good Skin for Aric. Because the Manowar Class Armor was never designed to have a human life create it, Paul never merged correctly with the armor and he managed to gain control over the armor and recreate himself soon after. In his madness, he now blamed Aric for his death, discounting the sacrifice that he himself had made.

After a battle with Aric for control, Aric purged Paul from the armor (depriving it of sentience in the process). As the two were fighting near the remains of Aric’s original armor, Shanhara, Paul was able to merge with the remains and become a new being, Alloy. Because Shanhara was essentially dead, the merger rendered Paul completely insane and he sought out Aric to kill him. After a fierce battle that triggered an avalanche, Aric rose from the snow with Alloy’s severed head. He cast the head aside and departed.

Given that he literally IS the armor, there’s no reason to assume that being decapitated would prevent him from returning.

Alloy appeared to have all the offensive capabilities of a Manowar Armor but as he was comprised of a destroyed armor, he was not stable (physically nor mentally). Alloy also exhibited the ability to flex the metal parts of his arms to increase his physical striking range. Overall, Alloy is not as powerful as X-O… but his insanity can sometimes give him an advantage. Note that he still remembers his training as a mercenary and is thus adept at a number of things that a normal man would not be.

Master Darque (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese

Prowess 3
Coordination 5
Strength 3
Intellect 6
Awareness 8
Willpower 9

Stamina 12

Powers
*Magic – Darque Power 8 (Extras: Blast, Detect – Necromantic/Darque Energy, Alteration Ray, Astral Projection)
*Immortality 3

Specialties
Mental Resistance (Expert +2 bonus), Occult (Master +3 bonus)

Qualities
The Book of Darque – each of his tattoos represent a great evil he has committed and thus are an ongoing tale of his life.
It is my destiny to rule over all.
My beloved sister, my deadliest enemy.

Background

Master Darque is an extremely powerful necromancer who is obsessed with the dark arts. His only goals are to contribute to evil and to gain more power. He has had a run-in with about every hero in the Valiant Universe. He is an albino and has a twin sister named Sandria. He and Sandria have a complicated relationship – they are totally devoted to one another and yet they are the yin to each other’s yang, frequently coming to blows as Darque seeks to destroy the world and Sandria tries to protect it. Should one of them die, the other is fated to do so, as well.

Darque was primarily a foe of Shadowman but he also battled virtually every other hero in the Valiant Universe, particularly Solar and Doctor Mirage.

Lazarus Gray 14

Posted on by Barry Reese

Edits on the 14th volume of Lazarus Gray have been completed! Personally, I think this is one of the strongest volumes in the series — and I guess that I can go ahead and announce that this time Lazarus will be facing one of the greatest criminal minds in all of adventure fiction: Fantômas! If you’re not familiar with this master criminal, he was created by French writers Marcel Allain (1885–1969) and Pierre Souvestre (1874–1914). One of the most popular characters in the history of French crime fiction, Fantômas debuted in 1911 and appeared in a total of 32 volumes written by the two collaborators, then a subsequent 11 volumes written by Allain alone after Souvestre’s death. The character was also the basis of various film, television, and comic book adaptations.

How and why Fantômas comes to Sovereign City will be detailed in the novel, which will feature two major character deaths and the addition of a new member to the Assistance Unlimited team, as well as a new recurring supporting character.

Can’t wait for you guys to read it!