Urth (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese

Urth
aka Dwight Godd

Prowess 5
Coordination 3
Strength 8
Intellect 3
Awareness 5
Willpower 4

Stamina 12

Powers
Urth can transform himself into an alemental body. In his normal form, reduce all attributes to 3 and Stamina to 6.

*Detection (Pollution) 7
*Element Control (Earth) 8 (Extras: Damage Resistance, Blast, Flight, Burrowing)

Specialties
Leadership, Science

Qualities
*Champion of Mother Nature
*Slowly losing his humanity
*Devoted husband and father

Background

The Urth 4 series featured the adventures of a team of elementals created when Ms. Mystic was injured and called upon the Earth to help her. In response, the Earth gives Dwight Good, Kelly Kane, Baron Cotter, and Dennis Swan the powers of the four elements. At first calling themselves the Elementalists, they later choose the name Urth 4. The members of Urth 4 are Fyre, Watr, Ayre, and Urth. Urth 4 are charged by the Earth to protect the environment from those who would harm it. The stories in their four issue series had Urth 4 facing off against strip mining companies, a garbage monster, and pollution from an automobile plant.

Urth has a different personality when in his superhero form – he speaks in old-fashioned language (“‘Tis a tragedy that befalls us!”) and seems to be losing his humanity as time passes. He is said to be the most powerful member of the team and often takes the lead in the field.

The Curse of Being So Far Ahead…

Posted on by Barry Reese

So I write fast. Back in my fanfiction days (yep, I used to write fanfic), that wasn’t a real problem but now… it sorta is. I mean, I’m usually years ahead of my publisher. Look at this way: I’ve written a novel called Omnium Gatherum, four volumes of Straw-Man stories, and three Dark Society novels… none of which any of you will see for god know’s how long. By the time they see print, they’ll be way in my rear-view mirror and it’s hard to get excited about it… or to feel that I’m doing good things now when nobody but my editor will read them for years.

It’s frustrating.

That’s not even counting when I contribute to anthologies that are never published because other writers never turn in their stories! It almost makes me want to do the self-publishing thing just to get these stories out there.

Dark Angel (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese

Dark Angel
aka Shevaun Haldane

Prowess 4
Coordination 4
Strength 3
Intellect 6
Awareness 4
Willpower 7

Stamina 10

Powers
1. Shevaun’s costume is actually part of the Fabric of the Universe. It is bonded to her on a molecular level and may not be removed, however she is able to store it in a pocket dimension and call it to her when needed. The costume has become a part of her and grants her the following powers:
*Flight 8
*Phasing 7
*Telepathy 7 (Extra: Mental Blast)
*Mystic Blasts 8 (Extra: These bolts ignore body armor but not force fields)
*Force Field 7
*Cosmic Awareness 10
*Dimensional Travel 8 (Extra: Thanks to her experience in doing so, she may access the Realm of Dead Superheroes automatically)
*Time Control – Travel 10 (Limit: Tiring)
*Absorption – Magical Energy 7 (Limit: Energy absorbed in this fashion is actually sent through the void which is her costume and arrives in a sub-dimension contained therein. She tries to avoid doing this too often as it can cause harm to the sentient races that live in the sub-dimension)

2. Armor – Comprised of a number of metallic devices which are attached to the Fabric that she wears, the armor provides no additional defensive bonuses. It does, however, help regulate her power flow and prevents her from accidentally using too much energy. Towards the end of the series, Shevaun dispensed with wearing the armor at all, preferring to trust her own instincts when using her powers. Without the armor, all powers gain the Limit: Burnout.

3. Graviton Phase Blaster – Blast 9, Time Control 8 (Can speed up time for a target or slow it down)

4. Gadgets 5

Specialties
Mental Resistance (+1 bonus), Occult – Hi-Tech Mysticism (Expert +2 bonus), Science (+1 bonus), Technology (Expert +2 bonus), Weapons – Guns (+1 bonus)

Qualities
Hunted by Mys-Tech
Earth’s Mistress of Hi-Tech Mysticism
Can call upon the Realm of Dead Superheroes for help

Background

Daughter of Mys-Tech board member Ranulph Haldane, Shevaun found herself orphaned after her father was killed by the demon Mephisto, who had granted Ranulph and the other Mys-Tech board members immortality in exchange for meeting certain quotas with regards to souls sent to Hell. When Ranulph attempted to circumvent this agreement, Mephisto slew the man while Shevaun watched from afar.

As the Chief Researcher for Mys-Tech, and the most accomplished Techno-Wizard on the board, Ranulph made sure that his daughter’s education in the art of Hi-Tech Mysticism was second to none. Though he kept secret from her the details of Mys-Tech’s connections to Shevaun, she felt responsible for the evil her father and his friends committed and swore that she would see Mys-Tech destroyed.

This vow was made possible by the intervention of a being known as Dark Angel, the Angel of Death. This being appeared before Shevaun and donated a fragment of the Fabric of the Universe, which attached itself to her flesh and became her costume. Contact with such a powerful element of the universe opened her mind to new possibilities and granted her enormous cosmic powers. As Hell’s Angel, Shevaun battled the forces of Mys-Tech for many months, gaining tutelage under Prof. Xavier’s X-Men and forming a close friendship with Betsy Braddock. She frequently adventured alongside a Guide from the spirit realm at this time and spent a good deal going to and from the Realm of Dead Superheroes where she sometimes gained aid.

Eventually, Shevaun came to the conclusion that Dark Angel had manipulated her and not told her certain details of her powers intentionally. As a result, she abandoned the name he had given her (Hell’s Angel) and chose Dark Angel instead. Why she’d choose the Angel of Death’s name as her own when she was, in fact, angry at the being is open to debate – the real life explanation, however is a bit easier to understand: Marvel Comics was threatened with a lawsuit from the Hell’s Angels motorcycle organization and they elected to simply rename Shevaun.

Regardless, Shevaun aided several other heroes in defeating Mys-Tech during the so-called Mys-Tech Wars and then proceeded to aid Death’s Head II in repelling the destruction of Earth. She still lives in her father’s castle in Darkmoor, England and continues to protect the Earth from threats both magical and technological.

Blackwing (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese

Blackwing
aka Charley Bullock

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

Stamina 8

Powers
*Costume – Damage Resistance 2, Gliding 4
*Utility Belt – Gadgets 3

Specialties
Aerial Combat (+1 bonus), Athletics (+1 bonus), Investigation (+1 bonus), Law (Expert +2 bonus), Martial Arts (Expert +2 bonus), Stealth (+1 bonus), Technology (+1 bonus)

Qualities
*Wants to inspire others
*Trained by Wildcat

Background

This DC Comics character appeared in 1981, and was seen but briefly. He existed on Earth-Two.This means that in his world, Batman had been a Golden Age  hero who had since grown old and retired. His daughter the Huntress (Helena Wayne) had succeeded Bruce as a vigilante.

This continuity ceased to exist with the Crisis on Infinite Earths but it could be intriguing to have another version of Blackwing exist somewhere in the multiverse.

Charley Bullock grew up as a kid on the streets of Gotham City. He was searching for a direction in life in a city where the Batman was seemingly everywhere. During his teenage years, he met Ted “Wildcat” Grant, and the two subdued some local troublemakers.

Ted, as is usual for him, invited Charley to join him at his new gym, and became his unofficial mentor. This, along with growing up watching the exploits of Gotham’s premier crime fighter in his early years, greatly impressed young Charley.

These influences gave Charley’s life a purpose : helping the less fortunate. The clincher came when Charley defended a local store owner from some extorting thugs. When the owner asked Charley what could be done, particularly without Batman, it all clicked for the young man.

Attending law school, he was soon accepted as a junior partner (and top-notch researcher) to the law firm of Cranston, Grayson and Wayne. Here, he met Helena Wayne and, soon, would come into contact with the Huntress.

When the criminal named Karnage broke into the office, looking for Charley’s boss Arthur Cranston, this motivated him to pursue even loftier goals. When a shopkeeper that Charley knew was attacked by gang members of the crime boss named the Boa, Charley proceeded to make a costume and a whole new life as the costumed crusader known as Blackwing.

Unfortunately, his first (and only recorded) case proved unsuccessful. One thug ripped his glider harness with his belt and Bullock was taken captive by the Boa’s gang. However, he later freed the Huntress from the deadly embrace of one of Boa’s snakes, and had the presence of mind to record evidence that could be used against the Boa and his men.

Frankenstein’s Monster…

Posted on by Barry Reese

Frankenstein’s Monster was, of course first seen in Mary Shelley’s classic. In the Reese Unlimited universe, he ended up frozen, entering a state of suspended animation. He remained in this state from the 18th century until 1943, when he was revived by the villainous Doctor Satan. Satan promised to heal the monster’s scarred visage but he actually used him to locate a hidden land called Vorium. In my universe, he was described as, “…nearly eight feet tall, with translucent yellow skin that barely hid the veins and muscles underneath. The stranger had watery, glowing eyes, flowing black hair, dark-tinged lips and white teeth. Birthed quite literally from death itself, the sorrowful monster had no name other than ‘the Creature.’”

After being betrayed by Satan, the creature ended up meeting Max Davies, the Peregrine. They agreed to work alongside one another to prevent Satan from stealing Vorium’s power sources. After they succeeded at this, the creature decided to adopt the name Vincent for himself.

In 1944, the Peregrine organized a strike force composed of Revenant, Frankenstein’s Monster, Catalyst and Esper. The group was known as The Claws of the Peregrine and they took part in two notable adventures in this year: a battle against the diabolical Mr. Dee and then later against an alliance between Doctor Satan and the Warlike Manchu.

In 1946, a pair of villains named Samuel Garibaldi [aka Rainman] and Dr. Gottlieb Hochmuller united — the Claws of the Peregrine teamed up with several other heroes to put a stop to them.

After this adventure, we don’t know what became of Vincent… not until he made a brief appearance in 2024! At that point, the sensitive giant was seen alongside Nature Boy, Nature Girl, Jennifer Black, the Peregrine, and Fear Devil in helping to rescue a catpured Dark Society. Will we eventually discover what happened in the missing 80 years, between 1946 and 2024? And what happens after that? Will he end up becoming a Dark Society member?

Only time will tell.

Our header image is by George Sellas. The one at the bottom is by Will Meugniot.

Pulp Factory Awards

Posted on by Barry Reese

The nominations were officially unveiled last night and, once again, none of my works made the final list. I’ve talked at length about the way the process is slanted in certain directions so I don’t see the need to do it again but it’s still a bit disappointing — I’d hoped a few folks would nominate one of the Lazarus Gray releases from last year so our 20th anniversary ‘celebration’ would have had something to celebrate but I’ve increasingly realized that while my books have their hardcore fans, those fans are not WRITERS and the nomination process is almost entirely comprised of fellow writers.

Motormouth (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese

MOTORMOUTH
AKA Harley Davis

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

Stamina 7

Powers
*MOPED technology: Dimensional Travel 8, Energy Detection 4, Danger Sense 4
*Sonic Scream – Blast 7 (Extra: By humming at a low pitch, Motormouth can use ultrasound to see through solid objects)

Specialties
Athletics (+1 bonus), Sleight of Hand (+1 bonus), Stealth (+1 bonus)

Qualities
*”#$&* you!”
*Best friends with Killpower
*Mys-Tech Sucks!

Background

Harley was orphaned at age 11 and grew up as part of a gang that lived in the East End of London. They lived by foraging and stealing what they needed to survive. Her incredibly foul language earned her the nick-name Motormouth. When she was seventeen Harley was discovered by Laarson, an agent of Mys-Tech, the shadowy organisation. Harley was a candidate for his M.O.P.E.D (Mind Operated PErsonal Dematerialization) technology. This allowed people to jump between alternate realities. The MOPED unit was disguised as the pair of training shoes, which Harley found and tried on.

At the same time, Laarson was being executed by Mys-Tech’s Techno-Wizards and agents were sent to find the MOPED units. In order to save her and the units, Laarson’s subordinates activated the technology and sent her to another universe.

While still on the run from Mys-Tech, Harley was sent to a future where the world was covered in shopping malls. It was here she purchased a Soni-Muta 500 Unit, a microchip that allowed her to mentally tune into any radio station she wanted. This would later give her her sonic scream. Harley returned to her own universe and was capture and put to work by Mys-Tech. She escaped after a mission to Tokyo, Japan. She had to make a random jump and ended up on a planet named Tekron. Killpower, an agent of Mys-Tech was sent to find her.

Unable to escape him, Harley reasoned with the agent instead. Mentally little more than a small child, Killpower was intrigued by Harley and has since been her partner. Harley was then badly injured on Tekron when a stray bullet hit her in the throat, Killpower used her Soni-Muta 500 and the MOPED technology to cure her. This not only gave her the aforementioned sonic scream, she could now travel between universes without the aid of technology. Killpower joined her in fleeing from Mys-Tech.

Death’s Head was hired by Mys-Tech to retrieve Killpower; while the two fought, Motormouth and Tuck, Death’s Head partner, went on a shopping spree on an alien planet. Motormouth and Killpower later planned an attack on Tyburn, a powerful Mys-Tech agent. Harley was able to steal their MOPED unit and nuetralize the tracking devices Mys-Tech had implanted in the duo. Tyburn survived the attack.

When Death’s Head slew the Techno-Wizards, the entire world became threatened. Motormoth was one of the six surrogates who repaired the damage done and restored the wizards. The others who took part in this were mostly powerful mystics such as Doctor Strange; Harley was part of it ‘because they needed six’ and had little part in the actual events. Killpower had been an essential part in the fight against Mys-Tech but did not remember it due to the nature of the events.

Both Motormouth and Killpower were recruited by the Time Guardian to help stop a war on the planet Eopia. The war had been caused by Tyburn and Mys-Tech agents had infiltrated both sides of the war. Motormouth was instrumental in stopping a powerful Mys-Tech agent called Collapser who had captured Killpower, her extra-sensory vision allowed her to see microfractures in his torso which in turn allowed Death’s Head to smash him.

Motormouth and Killpower later met the Hulk. The Hulk literally fell onto their dinner table after a confrontation with the villain Madman. Killpower and Hulk briefly fought, Harley’s foul language was overwhelmed and Madman kidnapped Prince Charles and dropped him off the Big Ben tower.

In the ensuing battle, which involved saving Charles from harm, Harley accidentally knocked down London Bridge. Madman escaped.

Motormouth and Killpower came under the attention of Nigel Orpington-Smythe, leader of the R.C.X. Security footage stills of the two, plus other Marvel UK heroes were shown to Captain Britain as an example of the lawless vigilantism that Smythe sought to control. R.C.X was neutralized before they became a threat to Harley.

Motormouth, like all British super-heroes, was drafted into MI13 during the Skrull invasion of Britain. When Dracula launched an assault on England, Motormouth was injured trying to defend the father of Faiza Hussain.

Stilt-Man (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese

Stilt-Man
aka Wilbur Day

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

Stamina 7

Powers
All of Stilt-Man’s powers come from his battlesuit and related weaponry. Without it, his Strength falls to 3 and his Stamina is reduced to 6. His suit provides the following abilities:

* Damage Resistance 6
* Life Support 1 (internal oxygen supply)
* Growth 5 (Limit: legs only; -1 to defense and tests to hide; +1 bonus to intimidation attempts against smaller opponents)
*Resistance – Binding 9 (Stilt-Man’s armor is protected by an industrial silicone covering with prevents Spider-Man’s webbing or any other adhesives from sticking to it)
*Stun Gas 6
*Kick Attack 7

Note: Stilt-Man’s greatest success came when he nearly defeated Thor using a suit of armor enhanced with secondary adamantium. That set of armor had all the same abilities as above but the Damage Resistance was 8 and Stilt-Man’s Kick Attack was an 8.

Specialties
Technology (Expert + 2 bonus), Aerial/High Elevation Combat (Expert +2 bonus)

Qualities
“I defeated Thor once! I’m serious!”
Considers himself one of DD’s arch-enemies
Would-be crimelord

Background
Most of this comes from Marvel.com:

Wilbur Day was a scientist at Kaxton Labs who stole designs for a hydraulic ramming device from his company out of frustration of his position in his job. He soon invented a battlesuit and tried his hand at petty villainy– looting stores and robbing pedestrians. Later on, he tried suing the company, with Matt Murdock as his attorney, claiming legal ownership of Kaxton’s original design and going so far as to accuse Kaxton of being the Stilt-Man. Eventually, Day was discovered to actually be Stilt-Man. Day, wearing the stilts but not the rest of his armored suit, used an experimental molecular condenser gun, based on another idea of Kaxton’s, to attempt to eliminate Daredevil. But in battling Daredevil, Day himself was struck by the molecular condenser’s ray and shrank seemingly into nothingness.

In fact, when the ray had condensed his matter to a certain point, Day was transported into a limbo-like “microverse”. Months later, Day and his stilts reappeared on Earth at their full size.

Constantly re-modifying and improving upon his original stilts and the rest of his battlesuit, the Stilt-Man has fought against the likes of Daredevil, Spider-Man, and Captain America. When given a special duplicate of his suit forged from secondary adamantium by Blastaar, the Stilt-Man even dared to challenge the thunder god Thor. After Thor defeated the Stilt-Man, Day’s Adamantium suit was confiscated and melted down. Day later recovered his own modified Stilt-Man battlesuit.

Subsequently, an incompetent small-time hood named Turk stole Day’s Stilt-Man suit. Turk began using the Stilt-Man suit himself, but Day told Daredevil how to defeat Turk by manipulating the gyroscopes that keep the battlesuit balanced. Turk proved inept at manipulating the stilts, bungled an attempt to kidnap Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Maxine Lavender, and was caught by Daredevil.

Day decided that after this humiliating episode, he had to do something dramatic to regain his reputation as a formidable criminal. Day broke into a Cordco factory and used its automated devices to construct an improved battlesuit within a remarkably short time. Spider-Man learned of the break-in and tackled the Stilt-Man. But when Spider-Man saw that a sonic disruptor Day had activated was about to blast Day himself, Spider-Man took the blast himself to save Day’s life. Moved by Spider-Man’s sacrifice for an enemy, the Stilt-Man gratefully took the unconscious crimefighter to safety, and then left the factory.

The Stilt-Man has often returned to crime, only to be defeated time and again. He once joined fellow villains Owl and Gladiator in an attempt to form a formidable team to take over the operations of the Kingpin, but were defeated by Spider-Man and Daredevil when they were betrayed by their teammate Copperhead to a demonic entity.

The Kingpin’s wife, Vanessa Fisk, offered Day a portion of the criminal empire once owned by the Kingpin, as the crime lord was believed to have died at the time. Day controlled the portion only briefly, as the Owl tried to capture the empire for his own and Day became convinced he should give up his costumed identity and life of crime. He hoped to confess to Matt Murdock, whose secret identity of Daredevil was leaked to the world, but Murdock denied any knowledge of who Day was, and Day left.

The Stilt-Man is one of my favorite “lame” villains – I actually think you could tell some good stories with him as one of the lead villains but from a roleplaying game standpoint, he’s a loser villain that can give lower-level heroes a surprisingly tough time!

A Ki-Gor Review

Posted on by Barry Reese

James Elfers posted a review of The New Adventures of Ki-Gor on Amazon. He gave the book 3 out of 5 stars and titled his review “Just OK Pastiches”. Here’s his review in full:

Despite the author’s contention, he doesn’t really get or understand Ki-Gor. First off, these stories are way too short, without the depth of character and plot of the originals. Secondly and most importantly, he really doesn’t appreciate Helene and does not come close to emulating the sensuousness of the original tales. Helene is not just an exceptionally beautiful and capable woman, she is also a free spirit who got naked regularly in the original stories. Here, she swims with her leopard skin shorts on! Seriously? In the stories, Helene got naked or was rendered naked all the time. Among her adventures in the pulp stories were being stripped and her skin dyed brown by a miscreant to hide her from Ki-Gor and try to pass her off as a native. In another, she was imprisoned naked while an evil villainess donned her leopard skin bikini to impersonate Helene and lay a trap for Ki-Gor. You get the idea. The author comes nowhere near emulating the eroticism of the original adventures. The Ivory Goddess of the first tale should be a lot more sultry. Ki-Gor, despite being a one-woman man, certainly could appreciate female forms that weren’t Helene Vaughn’s. Often, the scheming women Ki-Gor encountered appealed to his ape-man desires, even though he never faltered and fell off the fidelity wagon. The villains in the second story are little more than cardboard cutouts. Yes, they are stereotypes, but a competent author can breathe life into even the hoariest of cliches. This guy either can’t or won’t put in the effort. Are these stories worth reading? Hard to answer. If you have read the best of the original Ki-Gor adventures, these will feel like shallow, by the numbers exercises. If you have not read Ki-Gor and want to get a sense of what the character was all about, these stories are an adequate and just adequate fix. If they make readers seek out the original stories, then this collection has real value. Otherwise, they are simply an amusing, if predictable, time filler.

Sorry you didn’t enjoy the stories to the fullest, James. I’m actually a big fan of Ki-Gor and have read many of the originals. As always with reviving older characters, it’s a measure of trying to emulate what worked in the old stories while blending in my own style. My attempts at doing so worked better for some readers than others. I appreciate the feedback.