Among The Spider-Verse

As I think I've said before, while I've always liked Spider-Man, he's never been my favorite Comic Book character. He's definitely cool - great costume, interesting and unusual power set - but Spidey's down-to-earth-everyman nature, the very thing that makes him so popular, just didn't excite me. I was always more attracted to the larger-than-life cosmic adventure type characters, with my favorite comic books being Green Lantern and The Legion of Superheroes.

This all changed with the creation of Miles Morales and the Spider-Verse. In both cases, I'm talking about the Marvel Comic Books here, with Miles' first appearance in 2011 and writer Dan Slott's Spider-verse storyline that ran in The Amazing Spider-Man and throughout several tie-ins in 2014 through 2015.

Something about the character of Miles grabbed him in a way Peter Parker never did and honestly, I can't really say exactly what it was. Maybe it was getting in on the 'ground floor'; I saw his character emerge just as the rest of comicdom did. We was Spider-Man, a Spider-Man, instantly familiar yet very different and definitely his own character.

With the Spider-Verse, well my love of that concept is likely unsurprising to any whose been on this blog for any length of time. I am fascinated by the idea of a Multiverse and the concept of Alternate Realities. Making Spider-Man the key to a saga about Parallel Universes was really engaging. 

In between these new additions to the Marvel Comics milieu, Margaret Weis Productions published the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game. In a demo of the game run at my friendly local game store I actually got to play Spider-Man and it gave me a new appreciation for the character. He was a fun character to play, to be for a time. Maybe I thought, he's more fun to read about and explore than I'd thought.

Fast forward to 2018 and the groundbreaking Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and my mind was blown. The movie was incredible, both narratively and visually. Absolutely incredible. With the recent release of the film's sequel, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, I was completely brought back to that moment of WOW I had seeing the first Spider-Verse movie. 

Over the decades, I have run and played a lot of Superhero RPGs and in a few of them we've had some variation of the character of Spider-Man. Now I'm not talking about someone simply playing Spidey in a game of, say, Marvel Super Heroes or Marvel Heroic. I'm talking about a PC designed to be an alternate version of the Spider-Man character. Between Alternate Earth one-shots and campaigns, a Champions campaign visiting a Parallel Marvel world, and a homage to the Spider-Verse films themselves, it turns out I've encountered quite a few Spider-Men. Spider-Mans? Spider-People?

Follow me on an RPG tour of the characters I've seen that dwell...Among The Spider-Verse.

Armored-Man (Peter Parker of Earth-GC82092)

Art by Midjourney AI and modified by me in Photostudio.

Secret Origin: Armored-Man was a pre-generated PC created by Villains & Vigilantes Gamemaster Mark Olsen for a two session run at the Gen Con Gaming Convention in 1992. The players chose their characters by blind pick and a young man got this one and ran with it. The Player created the character's backstory and I came up with the name when my own character, in-game, referred to him as 'The Amazing Armored-Man'. 

Peter Parker, a science prodigy and inventor, missed the infamous science exhibit where he would have been bitten by a Radioactive Spider when he was almost hit by a car! That car belonged to billionaire industrialist Tony Stark of Stark Industries. One thing led to another and Stark took on Parker as a intern, then an employee, and eventually a close confidant and friend. Parker helped perfect the 'Iron Man' Class Battlesuit that Stark was planning on selling to SHIELD. Unfortunately Stark never got the chance, as an attack of industrial sabotage left Tony Stark dead and destroyed the Iron Man Prototype. Only...it didn't. 

While Stark was indeed murdered, Parker managed to escape the burning facility using the Battlesuit and proceeded to track down and defeat the saboteurs. He turned the criminals over to SHIELD but kept the survival of the Iron Man Armor out of the report. It would turn out that Tony's will left a large portion of the company to Peter and the younger man continued to work on the suit in a hidden workshop below Stark Industries Headquarters. Sometime later, Uatu the Watcher would assemble a team of secret superbeings on this Earth to thwart the threat of a malfunctioning artifact known as The Cosmic Sphere. Parker was among the chosen and used his most updated suit for the adventure. Never intending to become a 'superhero' Parker simply introduced himself to his fellow adventurers by his real name. He received the name 'Armored-Man' from fellow hero Superguard.

The armor had many impressive abilities such as Repulsor/Tractor Ray Emitters, Super Strength, Computer Enhanced Senses, and made the wearer nearly-invincible to physical harm. One of its most clever features were the repulsor jets in the boots that enabled the user to fly but could also be reversed so as to pull things to him or him to things. As a result, Armored-Man could 'attach' himself to surfaces by tractor beams and walk on walls! 

The Black Spider (King T'Challa of Wakanda of Earth-71966-M)

Illustration by Me based on illustrations by Frank Cho

Secret Origin: The Black Spider, along with The Golden Age Spider Man (see below), was a PC created for a Superhero One-Shot I ran soon after seeing Into The Spider-verse titled 'Spiderpocalypse!'. This particular character was the creation of my good friend Arthur, a member of 'Dan's Group' with whom I run Star Trek Adventures and play our Hogwarts homebrew. Arthur's idea was to pose and answer the question, 'What if Wakanda's founding was tied not to the Cat God/Goddess Bast but instead the Spider God Anansi?'

King T'Challa is the ruler of the highly advanced African nation of Wakanda, a hidden utopia gifted with the blessings of Anansi, the Akan Trickster God of knowledge, stories, and wisdom. These gifts manifest in the form of massive deposits of Vibranium and a Heart-Shaped Herb that grants T'Challa the powers of 'The Black Spider'. The mantle of The Black Spider is a hereditary position passed down from the first kings of Wakanda onward to T'Challa in the modern day. The Black Spider, through a potion made from the Heart-Shaped Herb and Spider Venom, possess powers such as Super Strength, Super Agility, Super Leaping, a Danger Sense, and a number of Trickster abilities such as Merging into Shadows, Moving Silently, and an amazing ability to Disguise his voice and appearance out of costume. 

Speaking of his costume, The Black Spider's suit is a wonder of Wakandan technology. Lightweight and as flexible as cloth, the costume has Vibranium mesh and is highly resistant to attacks by kinetic/concussive force. The suit allows The Black Spider to Cling to Surfaces, generate Webs, and gives him retractable Claws in the fingertips of his gloves. 

Captain Spider (Steven 'Steve' Parker of Earth-BL2001-M)

Like the Action Figure he is based on,

I made him out of cut and pasted images

and repainted parts.

Secret Origin: Sometime around 2005, maybe earlier, I lived in NYC's Chinatown and everyday I would pass a particular store on my way to work. It sold bootleg and knock-off products - bags, shoes, toys, etc.. One day I saw this Action Figure...it had Spider-Man's head, painted blue, atop the body of a Captain America figure in inverted colors. A white spider sticker was placed on his chest as well as the center of a miscolored shield. Every day I would look at it and wonder, 'Who is this supposed to be?"

In my minds-eye this wasn't a bootleg figure but a toy representing the most popular hero of some Parallel Earth. He was, um, Captain Spider! I told my then wife about it and said, "It's only $5. If it's still there Friday, I'm buying it."

Selina, in her typical psychic fashion replied, "It might be gone." Gone? Who would buy something like that other then me? Fast forward to Friday and as you probably guessed, it was no longer there. Never saw it again. I like to think it wasn't purchased but rather it shifted back to its own dimension. 

My idea is that on Earth-BL2001-M, during the Second World War, a young army man named Steve Parker volunteered for an experiment to create the USA's first Super Soldier. A secret serum and some vita-rays later and...nothing. Nothing happened. The project was a failure...or so they thought! Some days later Parker is bitten by a spider and its venom reacted strangly with the serum in his blood. He becomes Captain Spider, the American Arachnid! The Star-Spangled Spider-Man! Give those Ratzis hell Spidey!

I got the chance to play a version of Captain Spider in our ol' Kapow! campaign with a new secret identity and slightly different backstory. 

Interesting, this independently devised backstory is remarkably similar to the one for my friend Leo's Golden Age Spider Man. (See below). 

Creepy Crawler (Eugene Enfield of Earth-WC871-M / Challengers Earth-Mu WC1)

Based on a Spider-Man illustration by Dave Williams

Secret Origin: Creepy Crawler appeared as an NPC in my friend William Corpening's long running Champions campaign 'The Age of Champions'. My specific encounter with him was in our 'Age of Chaos' era of the campaign. During a multi-part adventure titled, 'The Dark Trinity Event' (or something like that), our Champions campaign world - Champions Earth-Wilcox Charlie-1 - encountered the heroes and villains of two Parallel Earths: The DC Comics world of Champion League Earth-Delta Ceti-WC1 and the Marvel themed Challengers Earth-Mu-WC1. During this adventure, the big bads of three different Earths tried to merge their worlds and absorb the life energy of all those killed in the process of doing so.

Will likely created Creepy Crawler as a background element, a touch of local color to remind the players the universe they were interacting with was a Marvel type of universe. After all, a Marvel-like setting absolutely needs a Spider-Man. Of course with Will Corpening, nothing is incidental. No character is just an extra. Everyone you meet has a story, personality, and a reason to be there. 

At one point in the game my street level alternate character The New Yorker found himself on Challengers Earth-Mu-1 and saw a gaggle of six sinister supervillains beating up on one young hero. After falling about 20 feet onto the pavement from an aerial battle with one opponent, the black clad super-teen wasn't moving and New Yorker ran to his aid. Removing his mask, New Yorker found out he was 'just a kid', albeit one with some weird superpowers.

After a quick reassurance to the boy that everything would be alright, The New Yorker turned his attention to the six bad guys. By 'attention' I mean brass knuckles, a crow bar, hitting one with a car (driven not thrown) and a lot of face punching. I mean A LOT. Thanks to an upgrade/assist from a Champion League Earth-DC-1 hero named Fusion, the otherwise outclassed New Yorker unloaded a Yankee Stadium worth of payback on Creepy Crawler's assailants, forcing the still conscious ones to retreat. New Yorker than took the kid, who revealed his first name to be Eugene, to a nearby hospital. New Yorker waited while the doctors got to work even though Crisis on Three Earths was going on outside. The New Yorker was kind of a joke character but after this I, and the rest of the gaming group, starting treating him more seriously and with respect. 

Eugene Enfield was a sickly orphan kid from Staten Island who was raised by his Aunt and Uncle after his parents' mysterious disappearance. A genius fascinated by all things that crawled, skittered, slithered, and squirmed, Eugene collected and studied the biology of bugs, lizards, snakes, worms, and especially spiders. By the age of sixteen, Eugene was taking college courses in biochemistry, genetics, and hoped to develop a way to change his own medical conditions using the amazing advantages he'd found within the critters he loved that so many others considered icky. 

One night, while working in his home lab, a burglar broke into his family's house. His Aunt and Uncle confronted the crook who panicked and shot his Aunt. As she began to fade away right in his Uncle's arms, Eugene injected himself with an as yet untested serum that rapidly re-wrote his DNA, turning him into a hideous but powerful superbeing. While he managed to quickly and easily defeat the criminal, his appearance terrified his Uncle and Eugene was forced to run from the house with burglar in tow. Eventually he left the baddie webbed to a lamppost in a nearby town while he hid in a heavily wooded area where he tried to control his monstrous transformation. Eugene ended up passing out and waking the next morning seemingly back to normal. He returned home to discover his Aunt had gone to the hospital and his Uncle in dire straights. Believing Eugene had been kidnapped by either the burglar or the monster from the night before, his Uncle shed tears of joy upon seeing him. Then and there Eugene decided to use his new capabilities to protect the weak, defend the innocent, and scare the living crap out of the criminal element. 

Creepy Crawler is and very much isn't Spider-Man. His powers are similar: Super Strength, Super Agility, Wall Crawling, and Webs (which are biologically generated like Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man) but also near invisible Camouflage, Multi-Faceted Eyes, a Paralyzing Venomous Bite, Regeneration, and more. In some ways he's more like DC's Animal Man but limited to a group of thematic creatures. Changing abilities too quickly or too often under duress or stress causes Eugene to physically mutate, exhibiting such traits as insect eyes, lizard-like skin, and suction cup growths on his hands and feet for example. His largely black costume is designed to hide his appearance as much as possible.

That said, he sometimes purposely shows his lower face and mouth, takes off a glove, or something similar to reveal his frightening appearance when it manifests. In this way he is more akin to Batman, using fear to intimidate lesser opponents so he doesn't have to fight and hurt them. 

The Golden Age Spider Man (Benjamin 'Ben' Parker of Earth-82817)

Art by Kitbash and Modification n Photostudio 

Secret Origin: The Golden Age Spider Man, along with The Black Spider (see above), was a PC created for a Superhero One-Shot I ran soon after seeing Into The Spider-verse titled 'Spiderpocalypse!'. The character was created by my pal Leo, a member of both 'Dan's Group' and my Sunday Night Group. He plays First Officer and Chief Science Officer Mr. Solok in Star Trek Adventures, The Paladin in our Champions campaign, and as Arimus Bonaventure in our Hogwarts homebrew.

Daily Bugle reporter John Jonah Jameson and photographer Benjamin 'Ben' Parker were on assignment in Europe covering the activities of the Allies greatest heroes, none other than Captain America and The Invaders, during the height of the Second World War. A surprise attack on the Invaders left Jameson dead and Parker badly injured. In the instant an explosive device shattered their camp, Ben Parker flung himself to knock Captain America clear of danger, saving the First Avenger but at the cost of being fatally wounded and the loss of the life of Parker's long time friend J. Jonah Jameson. Captain America insisted on a blood transfusion to help save Parker, even though that might have unexpected consequences given the Super Soldier Serum in Cap's veins. Luckily, Parker lived and there were no unusual side effects. At least not right away...

Weeks later on a mission in a jungle environment, Parker was bitten by a venomous spider while tagging along with Capt. America and his team, continuing his role as wartime photographer. The spider bite reacted with the Super Soldier Serum giving Parker spectacular spider-like abilities! After a crash training course and the development of 'Web-Shooter' Pistols and a colorful costume, Ben joined the Invaders as Spider Man. 

[The Golden Age] Spider Man has the same suite of superpowers as the typical Spidey, though he seems physically stronger but slightly less agile. His pistol-like Web-Shooters can fire 'Web Bullets' that explode into a large web upon impact or he can hold the trigger to fire a long stream (for spraying or swinging for example). 

The Spider-Man (Eugene 'Flash' Thompson of Earth-AD6163-M)

Art by Midjourney AI and modified by Me in Photostudio

Secret Origin: This variant of Spidey was the creation of my friend Daniel Grant and myself as part of the backstory for his version of the Prowler [his PC in our 'What If?' Marvel Super Heroes campaign, The Sentinels.]. Dan knew he wanted to create a heroic Prowler and needed both an antagonist and a motivation for his character to become a costumed vigilante and fight crime. It only made sense, given the fact that Marvel Comics' Prowler is part of Spider-Man's rogue's gallery, to make Spider-Man the arch-enemy of Dan's character.

In the midst of bullying his classmate Peter Parker, high school jock Eugene 'Flash' Thompson was bitten by a radioactive spider on a field trip to a science exhibit, developing amazing superpowers such a Super Strength, Super Agility, a Danger Sense, and the ability to Cling to any surface. Flash intimidates Parker, a brilliant young scientist, forcing him to make Thompson a colorful costume and Web-shooters. With his new look and abilities, Thompson enters an Open Match Challenge to wrestle the Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. Not only does Flash win as 'The Spider-Man' but a TV producer offers to make him a star. Moments later The Spider-Man thwarts a criminal trying to steal the profits from the wrestling match. Within a very short time, The Spider-Man is a media sensation!

Never learning the great lesson of Uncle Ben, Flash Thompson thinks, 'With Great Power Comes No Responsibility'. Flash quickly becomes wealthy, popular, and even more of a jerk then he already was. His popularity is maintained through real and staged crime fighting, talk shows, and endorsing various products. One night, The Spider-Man decides he's 'too busy' to help the police stop a serial burglar in the Bronx who ends up robbing and killing the father of engineering student Hobart 'Hobie' Brown. Brown, a teenage inventor paying for Engineering School with a Window Washer job, decides to expose The Spider-Man for what he is, an attention whore and no hero. Brown creates a special suit and crime-fighting equipment and the ironic identity 'The Prowler'. 

The Prowler's encounter with The Spider-Man reveals the latter's true nature on live television. Additionally the public learns he's been continually blackmailing Peter Parker to keep Parker helping him and not going to the authorities. The fight between Prowler and The Spider-Man begins an ongoing feud between the two, with The Prowler repeatedly embarrassing and thwarting Thompson again and again. The Prowler's activities earn him the attention and respect of the superhero known as The Patriot and eventually a spot on the SHIELD sponsored superteam 'The Sentinels'.

Nowadays when I think about this character I think of a crooked version of DC's Booster Gold.

Spider-Woman (Patricia 'Patty' Parker of Earth-SC9509)

Art by Shunya Yamashita of Kotobukiya, modified by Me in Photostudio

Secret Origin: My criteria for this post was that each character had to be an intentional variant or version of Spider-Man. This one is therefore a special case. This Pre-Generated Player Character was created for a Marvel Super Heroes RPG one-shot at a gaming convention in the Fall of 1995 (If memory serves). It was not intended to be an Alternate Spider-Man but rather the traditional, classic, Earth-616 Peter Parker/Spider-Man you all know and love. Thanks to the jumbled memory of a very creative and entertaining young woman, we got this instead. 

I was hanging out with some friends between events and I happened to overhear a Marvel Super Heroes session occurring at a nearby table. Pre-generated characters were chosen or handed out and after some discussion with a friend of hers, one of the two female players said something like, "it's fine, I'll take Spider-Man. But I want to play a woman."

This confused the GM and he asked her if she wanted to change characters. He quickly looked through his notes and materials for another character but the player said, "No, no. I am playing Spider-Man. A female Spider-Man." At first this clearly irked the GM but he changed his tune after seeing the positive reactions from the other players.

Throughout the rest of the game the female player, let's call her Kate, established the personality of this PC and it was great! She had the character using wisecracking quips volleyed against the villains to hide a lack of assurance and a heap of self doubt. At the same, Kate had a weird view of Spidey's powers. She would pantomime shooting her webs with her hand out, palm down, more like a superhero blasting a ray than the typical way Spider-Man's web-shooting is depicted. She would often suggest her Spider-Woman could fly or glide. When corrected, 'Spider-Man can't fly', she would respond, "OK. Why the 'Web-Wings'?" There were other odds bits: references to her origin, background, and other elements that made me wonder, "Does this person know who Spider-Man is? Or...".

By the end of the game, Kate had made Spider-Woman, who she named Patty Parker, the MVP of the team. She also revealed that she'd never read a comic and really only knew about Spider-Man from the 1967 Animated Cartoon. It also became clear from her description that she was mixing the Spider-Man cartoon with that of Spider-Woman and Web-Woman. Her attempts to reconcile the different stories in her head resulting in this weird gestalt superheroine.

Weird, wild, and absolutely awesome. 

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I hate to end on a sad note but I must acknowledge a massive loss to the Comic Book Community and particularly to Spider-Man; John Romita Sr., the legendary illustrator who took over drawing The Amazing Spider-Man in 1966 from original artist Steve Ditko, passed away at the age of 93 on June 12th according to his son, John Romita Jr. (who is also a well known and celebrated Comic Book artist). 

Rest in Peace.

What Has My Attention

I am quite behind on my RPGaDay 2021 posts, largely (but not completely) because I've been absolutely exhausted lately.

It has been an August of ups and downs business wise. A lot of my clients are away on vacation, while others often find themselves in need of last minute schedule changes or additions. As my job mainly takes place outside, the heat and humidity this Summer has really been rough and I've been feeling pretty drained. Today I slept a good three hours in the middle of the day. I am told this is called a 'nap'. Curious.

In addition, I've been distracted lately with a lot of other things that interest me; specifically things that interest me more than the RPGaDay Challenge has. Yeah, sorry to say this but I'm starting to agree with the comment by Lord Blacksteel that the prompts feel a little generic and just aren't generating much excitement for me. I've started writing a few posts that I have yet to publish and in each case I've gotten bored part way through and moved on to some other activity. My hope is to revisit these, punch them up so they're a little more interesting, and maybe, just maybe, get to the end of of the RPGaDay project this year. 

All that aside, here is what has my attention right now...

Picaresque Roman - A Requiem for Rogues

An Indie Tabletop RPG from Japan, this game covers the genre of Romanticized Crime Drama very popular in both American and Japanese culture. This sort of game could be used to cover things like the John Wick films, Anime such as Baccano and Great Teacher Onizuka, and RPGs like Blades in the Dark (kind of) in the U.S.A. and SATASUPE in Japan.  

I am very excited for this game, as this genre isn't quite as well represented in TRPGs here in the West to the degree it is in the East. In addition, its more Japanese RPGS - and an indie one at that - being translated into English and that is definitely something I've been advocating for. Let's see, what else - Aha! It uses only D6s (as most TRPGs in Japan do), which only makes me smile that much more. 

The Kickstarter for this game goes live on August 24th. Please give a look if you're interested. 

Man, oh man. If only someone would translate...Wait! What's this?

Goblin Slayer Tabletop Role Playing Game

Be still my heart! The game I ran for some friends in Japan back in April is coming to the US in February of next year. Next February! For my birthday! WOO-HOO! 

Goblin Slayer, which began as a Light Novel series and was later adapted into an Anime, is a love letter to old school Medieval Fantasy Tabletop RPGs while at the same time depicting a setting with a its own unique character. Gritty, grim, but also fun and full of hope, I highly recommend Goblin Slayer if that's how you like your Fantasy. 

Very excited about this and what it means for the future of Japanese TRPGs in the West. Yen Press is a small, independent but rapidly growing company publishing numerous Light Novel and Manga series from Japan in English here in the US. They have seriously doubled or even tripled how many titles they publish in just the past six months! 

Among the many titles they publish are my absolute favorite Manga Delicious in Dungeon (aka Dungeon Meshi) and of course, the Goblin Slayer Light Novel series. Of special interest to me is that Yen Press is now getting into TRPGs, with a Konosuba: God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! TRPG announced a little while ago and coming out in December of this year. Goblin Slayer will be their second such release.

Where will they go from there?

What if...

Speaking of What If...?

First, it's AWESOME! Do you love Captain Carter? 'Cause I LOVE Captain Carter!

Second, remember that there is an official Marvel TRPG coming and it is specifically called, 'Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game'. The Playtest Rulebook for this game is due in March of next year. That means I have roughly six months to ride the high I am getting from the aforementioned animated series on Disney+ to develop a Marvel Comics Superhero campaign based on an alternate history.

Excelsior! 

The newer trailer for Star Wars: Visions has me even more excited about that series - a series I was already INCREDIBLY excite about. I sense a disturbance in the Force...could it possibly be new Star Wars RPG campaign ideas? 

As mentioned earlier in the month, Ghostbusters: Afterlife is still very much on my mind and I've worked out some alternative Panic/Stress effects (based on the ALIEN RPG) to incorporate into my hybrid Ghostbusters/InSpectres rules. I'll likely reveal more of my ideas and work on the blog after seeing the upcoming film.  

Did I mention Star Trek: Lower Decks is back? No? Well it is! Season 2 of that series started two weeks ago (as of this post) and it has been fantastic. Good enough to renew my desire to run a 'Second Contact' themed Star Trek Adventures campaign? Duh. Of course!

Add to all of this my secret, Post-ALIEN FRONTIER project - similarly nearly 30 years in the making - and honestly, the RPGaDay Challenge just isn't holding my interest. 

That said...I feel like I should at least try to complete it. 

Why? I really hate how I feel when I start a project with the intention of completely it and don't. On that alone, I need to at least give it another go...

Let's see what happens...

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Multiverse Mayhem in The Mighty Marvel Manner!

 Before I move on to discussing the various Japanese Tabletop RPGs that cover the Superhero genre (and thereabouts), I thought I'd share some news on an upcoming American Superhero TRPG that has come to my attention...

MARVEL MULTIVERSE ROLE-PLAYING GAME

Look at that cover! Wow. It has some awesome stuff on it, as well as some things that make me scratch my head a little. 

First, I like the title, Marvel Multiverse. It ties into the upcoming Doctor Strange and The Multiverse of Madness film as well as implying that each campaign you play, that anyone plays, exists somewhere in the infinite dimensions of space and time. Yes! Love it. 

If you read the full article, Matt Forbeck and the games' design team have done my kind of reinforcing of the IP and setting. Their new, original rules for the game are referred to as the D616 System, a homage to the main universe of Marvel Comics being Earth-616. The Attribute stats for a character appear to be Might, Agility, Resilience, Vigilance, Ego, and Logic. Yep, MARVEL and honestly I just did that from memory after reading it only once or twice. Clever on their part. I would say even easier to memorize than FASERIP (I can never remember what all of those letter stand for). 

Lastly, I love that the character in the forefront of the cover is yours. A silhouette that could be any hero but which intrinsically implies you can be the greatest hero Marvel has ever seen. Brilliant! A long way from Marvel Heroic's lack of built-in Character Creation and a mindset of 'Why wouldn't you want to play as Spiderman?". Maybe because I'm an Tabletop RPG gamer? I want to meet Spiderman. I don't want to BE Spiderman. I want to be someone I created and have them save Spiderman!

Now for some...odd choices on the cover and in the write up of the announcement.

First, who the heck is this supposed to be?

Is that supposed to be Thor? Just when I get done praising the designers for brand identity and marketing they gotta go and do dumb stuff like this. Are the art directors and editors working on this new to comics? Even if Thor looks like this now, by the time the book comes out in a year or so he definitely won't look anything like this. Why not draw him to more closely resemble the iconic image of Thor we'd all recognize. Even better, why not illustrate him so he resembles the MCU Thor. That is what is going to sell your game to fans of 'MARVEL the Entertainment Empire' as opposed to those who like Marvel Comics (smaller group) or gaming (waaay smaller group).   

The second thing that bugs me is in the title...Playtest Rulebook. It says the players can get the Playtest Rulebook and effect the shape of things to come as their feedback will be included in the final, complete version of the game due out a year later.

Are you saying...wait...does the Playtest Rulebook cost money? Are we, the fans and consumers, going to need to pay you in order to make your game for you? I know I'm being cynical here but it just sounds like we'd be buying an incomplete game that Marvel is going to complete a year latter using the fans' ideas and then sell then the book again. That may not be what's going on but that's what it sounds like. I could really use some clarification on how this is going to work. 

Still and all, I am looking forward to it. I haven't run or played a lot of games set in the Marvel universe, usually preferring my own setting or DC as I was once a huge DC Comics fan. Nowadays however, with the MCU in theaters and on TV, the upcoming What If? animated series and DC doing at terrible job of being DC, I could definitely see myself running another alternate universe Marvel game like I did way back when. 

I'll be following the developments of news of this one closely so check back and stay tuned.

Excelsior!

Now back to Japan...

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Whatever It Takes

A little thing came out in the Superhero genre you might have heard about. I think it's called...

Avengers: Endgame by Michael Change

I will start out by saying I absolutely loved Avengers: Endgame, which is doubly enjoyable for me since I really didn't like its predecessor, Infinity War. 

***

I MIGHT SPOIL THE ENDGAME!

***

Moreover I will definitely be spoiling Avengers: Infinity War, so if you haven't seen that one yet...what is wrong with you? Why are you even here?

Anyway, the issues I have with Infinity War are many but they basically boil down to the film pushing hard on my ability to suspend my disbelief. 

As I may have noted before, I go into most films ready and willing to immerse myself in the story and setting. I try to absorb and process what is happening, why it's happening, and in the case of a known franchise/series, how it works with what I already know about the characters and the universe.

Whereas most people these days seem to enjoy looking for 'plot-holes' and consider everything that isn't clearly broken down for them to be a continuity error, I try to reason out how it makes sense and works given what I've seen and know.

Sometimes however, I can't. Sometimes there are elements that just don't sit right with me. Sure I can excuse them or come up with excuses for them but they just don't work for me as a moviegoer.

Such was the case with Infinity War and I was bothered that the filmmakers made a movie that even I couldn't avoid deconstructing. Basically if the guy who doesn't deconstruct, and doesn't want to deconstruct, has not choice but to deconstruct your film, well then you let him down. 

After watching our heroes be clever and competent for 22 movies over the course of 10 years, they were suddenly immature, inept, poorly organized, and failed to take actions at key moments that I had seen them take before, even within the same motion picture. Other abilities and moves which might have helped were completely ignored. Then it hit me...

The bad guy was going to win. Not because he was more powerful than the heroes or smarter but because that's how the writers wrote it. It felt like I was watching a RPG session where the GM had predetermined the outcome. You know how much I love that. Yeah, I despise it even more in my movies (if that's even possible). 

So the remainder of the movie (a little after the half way mark) I sat wishing I had a remote to fast forward it to the end. Nothing mattered after the realization that the story was going to make (not have or let but make) Thanos succeed. Everything else was a waste of time. 

Worst of all it made glaringly apparent something I had managed to forget up to that point - no one was really going to die either. Spiderman, Black Panther, they had sequels coming out. They were obviously all coming back so damn you Infinity War why couldn't you have made the journey less transparent and predictable?

 Yada yada Thanos snaps, yada yada everyone's dust for now, blah blah is it over yet?

Let's just get to Endgame.

Avengers: Endgame is, for me at least, the superior movie. More than that, it stands on its own as an incredibly enjoyable installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. 

I was really, really impressed that the film was not a mile-a-minute rollercoaster ride throughout. Character development, story beats, and tension (a lost art in modern cinema) were allowed to do their part in the movie, giving the action more meaning and purpose.

Each character got to do something special, even if it was only briefly. We got to know relatively secondary characters such as Ant-Man, War Machine, and Nebula much better, not to mention a chance to shine. 

The forced emotions and hollow drama of Infinity War's telegraphed, meaningless deaths were replaced by real stakes, actual feels, and permanent changes to the make up of the MCU. The ramifications of Infinity War are handled in the second part of its story. The ramifications of Endgame will be felt for years to come. 

One part of particular interest and amusement to me was their explanation of time travel as told to us by Bruce Banner/Professor Hulk. I was beside myself with happiness when he let everyone know it was Back to the Future or Bill and Ted style time travel but rather...wait for it...The Time Travel of 1970s Marvel Comics! OMG how cool! Seriously, if you got confused by any of the time travel bits in this film, it's because you didn't grow up playing with MEGO action figures and comics being 25 to 35 cents.

Well, those are my feelings and thoughts on Endgame. I considered using this post as a springboard to discuss how to end a long-running, successful Supers game with these movies as a framework but I am just not in that headpsace right now. Perhaps in the near future. 

Half the month is already over and there is still many others subjects to address. 

Until then, Avengers Assemble!

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Barking Alien

Hurts Like Heaven

I promised myself that I would remain positive this November and that all my posts would be about things I like. This is definitely about someone I like and someone who created things I like, so that will have to do. 

For you see, what I am about to tell you makes me sad and I do not like it one bit. 

Today I lost yet another of my heroes. 

On this day, the 12th of November, 2018, the world said farewell to Stanley Martin Lieber, better known as Stan Lee. 

Stan Lee - born in New York City, NY - was a creator, writer, editor, publisher and a character as large and as colorful as any he had a part in inventing. Collaborating with such artistic geniuses as Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, Stan helped to create Superhero Comic Book characters known the world over - Spiderman, The Hulk, Thor, Doctor Strange, The X-Men, and many, many more.

Thanks to the popularity of feature films produced by Marvel Entertainment/Disney over the past 10 years, his characters are household names from Hastings to Hong Kong and Toledo to Tokyo. 

More so than any other single individual in the history of comic books, Stan Lee was the name and face most closely associated with that medium. He was a master of promotion and branding before either were really a thing in the modern sense. One could say one of the greatest characters he every created was Stan Lee himself.  At the same time he wasn't just interested in his own image and legacy. He was an advocate for the Comic Book and an unequivocally passionate individual in that regard.

He wasn't perfect. He was Human. Yet there are clearly those who could take lessons from him on how to be a Human being. In 1968, Stan used his comics as a forum to fight bigotry and published the following editorial:

I only met Stan in person once. I was a kid. We didn't really exchange words. I just stared in silent awe. There he was, a living legend, within a few feet of normal, teenage me. I wish I had said something, anything, to let him know how he'd inspired me. 

Well Stan, you did. You inspired me enough to go to art school, to make attempts to break into comics, to write and draw and keep the dream of 'With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility' alive. 

Farewell True Believer. 

Excelsior.

1922-2018

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Barking Alien

Black Cat Come Visit Me

February is Black History Month and what better way to celebrate than going to see a motion picture that embraces and emblazons the beauty, strength, and nuance of African culture and the heroic spirit of the African people?

I am of course talking about...

All kidding aside, this movie is indeed a triumph. It was an excellent film, being both engaging and entertaining. I have to say that it was really refreshing to see this epic after the dismal experience that was Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Black Panther did what many other such films fail to do; It built a world, gave it grandeur, and yet it made the central conflict personal. 

Although ostensibly a Superhero movie, it felt much more like a Fantasy film, albeit one that's really more Science Fantasy. Black Panther's overall feel and aesthetic is closer to Lord of the Rings crossed with a James Bond movie than it is an Avengers/Marvel Superhero flick. I liked that. A lot. It gave it its own identity beyond the Afro-futurism look of its costumes, setting, and technology (although that was perfectly done). 

While the film has both a cool hero and an interesting villain, it has as its best feature an excellent supporting cast. Through the secondary, and even tertiary characters, the Black Panther movie creates a sense that the world within it is real and the people know each other. They have personalities, interests, and desires all their own. They are imperfect, they make mistakes, but they try to do the right thing or what they believe to be the right thing. In some ways this even extends to the the villain, which is what makes him one of the best in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far. 

I can't say enough good things about the movie, so I'd like to change the subject slightly and talk about the films importance. 

Barking Alien, the blog, isn't a place where I normally put forth my personal views on subjects like politics or social issues. Not normally. There have been a number of times over the years where I've bent or broken my own rules and this might be considered one of them by some. So be it. 

For a very long time now we've seen films in which super-powered heroes and the lords of fantastic kingdoms battled the forces of evil to save the world, or even the universe. They have also largely been White. 

Certainly Black Panther isn't the very first Black hero on film. We've seen Blade, Hancock, and Spawn, but none of these have what King T'Challa's movie has. Black Panther has the main character as a rich and powerful individual, surpassing in both wealth and influence such characters as Batman and Iron Man.

T'Challa is a King. He rules a nation. His nation is powerful, beautiful, and more advanced than what we have seen so far on the world of Marvel Cinematic Earth.

T'Challa is not a freak, a wash-out, or man fighting a secret war (well, not exactly). T'Challa is a major part of a much larger universe. He is as big and as important to Marvel films as is Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and Doctor Strange. 

As such Black Panther, both the character and the film, is of significance to the greater mythos he dwells within and to an audience who finally have an A-List Superhero is looks as they do.

Wakanda Forever!

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Barking Alien

P.S.: Post title is a reference to the song 'Black Cat' by David 'Ziggy' Marley.

Heroes for Hire

Have I mentioned how Superhero-y August has been? 'Cause it's been DAMN Superhero-y.

Oops! Real Superheroes don't say damn. 

This month, in addition to all the Supers gaming I've been doing and working on, two Superhero programs came out on two different internet streaming services no less! 

Netflix released Marvel's Defenders, and Amazon Prime released The Tick. Two very different takes on the genre, with - IMHO - two very different executions and results. 

Well's start with...

(WARNING: Possible Spoilers)

Marvel's Defenders is the culmination of the various Netflix series they've produced so far, featuring Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, teaming up together to battle an evil that effects them all, and the city they love.

Um...sort of, but we'll get to that.

Each individual character, and their shows, had their specific strengths, and weaknesses, with some having more than others. 

I really enjoyed The Defenders, but because all the characters were not created equal, or at least written, acted, and produced equally, their flaws really show when they are combined together. In a nutshell, the fact that Daredevil, and Luke Cage are so awesome makes the already weaksauce Iron Fist look even worse by comparison. Jessica Jones is a special case for me, and I will go into her dynamic more as I go on.

Daredevil/Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox)

While the story of Matt Murdock seems to take a time jump, resulting in a bit of viewer disorientation continuity-wise, I found Cox's portrayal of the blind, martial artist vigilante, The Devil of Hell's Kitchen, to be as on-point as ever.

So compelling is Daredevil that he creates one of the key issues with the series. We find Matt Murdock, his enemies, supporting cast, his world, to be the focus of what should have been more of a team/ensemble cast series. 

Although allied with three other individuals, it is his enemies they are fighting (The Hand), his mentor that provides assistance and exposition (Stick), his ex-girlfriend who is the x-factor (Elektra), and even his friends who are the most competent normal people we see (Karen Page is a better detective than any of the cops. Foggy gives some of the best advice, personally, professionally, and for the plot). 

Daredevil is also clearly the most interesting combatant to watch in a series with a lot - sorry, A LOT - of fight scenes.

The problem here is we end up with a show that could have been called 'Daredevil and Friends - And also Iron Fist'. Daredevil's cool factor is higher than his co-stars by a good deal - a great deal if you count Iron Fist. 

I am far more jazzed to see a Daredevil Season 3 then I am a Defenders Season 2 and I liked Defenders. I just feel like I liked it for two of the characters and there happened to also be two others for some reason.


Luke Cage (Mike Colter)

I loved the Luke Cage series, warts and all. It wasn't perfect by a long shot but it was good, classic 1970s comics meets modern storytelling and it worked for me. The music, Harlem, they were all characters in the show as interesting and alive as Misty Knight and Cottonmouth. 

The King of Coffee returns here, with his stint in jail behind him, and his desire to help people fully intact. If any of the characters in this series could be called a Superhero, it is Luke Cage. He is the good guy trying to do what's right. He doesn't want to kill the bad guys unless he has no choice and he will not endanger civilians. Honestly, he's almost on the wrong show.

My big disappointment with Luke in this series isn't really with Luke Cage at all. It's the characters around Luke Cage. Claire Temple, 'The Night Nurse' is great, played with real humanity by Rosario Dawson. She could read a computer programming instruction manual and it would seem heart felt and honest. You read that manual girl. Keep it real. 

Everyone else...ehhh. Misty Knight is still not the Misty Knight I was hoping for, though she comes close a few times. Mostly, lazy writing gives her little to do but make you wonder why she hasn't been fired. I was expecting more drama, more...something...between Luke and Jessica Jones. Luke and Danny...ugh. They have just about one moment, maybe two, but the chemistry just isn't quite there. The Danny Rand of Netflix is not ready or worthy to form Power Man and Iron Fist. 


Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter)

OK, I know I am going to get flak for this, but I didn't like the Jessica Jones series. 

My favorite part of it was the villain and Luke Cage.

She's here, in this show, because...because...she had a show on Netflix. I don't feel she served any purpose being there. She had a case that connected to it (thank the writers!) but she didn't believe anything super-normal was going on up to and often after seeing it in action. She wasn't connected to any of the villains personally, didn't have chemistry with Danny (but seriously, who could?), and seemed only roughly aware she'd previously had a relationship with Luke. She did interact well with Matt, which was nice.

I like the actress a lot. I like the comic book version of the character. The Jessica Jones of Netflix is an unlikable person, who isn't a hero, and isn't trying to be. Sorry, but I'm an old school Silver/Bronze Age guy. That's not what I want from my supers. 


Iron Fist (Finn Jones...ugh)

The weakest link in the Marvel Netflix shows is without a doubt the character of Danny Rand, the Iron Fist. He remains the weakest link here as well, as he brings the show down every time we are forced to focus on him as if he is important or something. 

Even if the actor weren't so flat, the character so poorly written, his martial arts so awkward and slow, he would still be the low point of the series. Why? Because everyone is better at what he does than he is. 

Daredevil is a far superior fighter, Luke Cage often seems stronger and Jessica is way smarter. All of them have more emotional range and are more believable in their parts. Even Colleen Wing, who is an odd character in her Netflix incarnation, is more compelling when she emotes. She takes this all personally in a way that you believe, unlike Danny's lip service about his duty to K'un Lun.

Danny, you left, it fell, everyone's dead. You are a loser Danny Rand. Stop saying you're the Immortal Iron Fist to everyone. You're not. You're the latest one, so they're not immortal. You are also REALLY bad at it.

Now, remember how I gushed over the awesomeness of Cox and Matt/Daredevil? Well, the biggest problem with Iron Fist in the Defenders isn't that he sucks (though he does). It's that he sucks at everything Daredevil is great at. This makes Daredevil look cooler than he already is and Iron Fist look even worse. 

The enemy of the series is The Hand. The Hand is the enemy of K'un Lun and the purpose of the Iron Fist is to defeat The Hand. The Hand destroyed K'un Lun and all the monks and their students are now dead. Why then is this a primarily Daredevil driven show?

Why? It's because we like Daredevil and Daredevil is enjoyable to watch. The focal points of this type of series, such as the main villain, the mysterious ally, the history - as I noted before, that's all Daredevil's. 

Side Note: I was really hoping that Stick would reveal the reason he and the Chaste wanted Matt to join them so badly is that they were going to send him to K'un Lun to fight the dragon and take its heart. Basically, why is Daredevil so much better than Iron Fist? Because Matt was supposed to be the Iron Fist. (Hmm. Cool alternate Marvel universe idea - Matt Murdock - The Immortal Iron Fist!).

In conclusion, I'm not the biggest fan of street-level superheroes. As a kid, I never read Daredevil, Punisher, and only read a few Power Man and Iron Fist comics. That said, the two season's of Daredevil and the first season of Luke Cage were so good I got excited for this. As it turned out, I liked, quite a bit. I would have liked it more if they had left out Iron Fist and done a Daredevil and Power Man team-up show. Still and all it was fun, had some cool fight scenes, and I'm interested in seeing more from Marvel Netflix in the future.

Except for Iron Fist. No more Iron Fist.

Boy I don't like [the Netflix version of] that character.

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Barking Alien

Next Up: The TIck!