THE ORB I (Drake Shannon)
Created By: Len Wein, Ross Andru & Don Perlin
First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up #15 (Nov. 1973)
Role: Forgotten '70s Villain
PL 9 (106)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 9 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2
Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+6)
Athletics 4 (+6)
Deception 1 (+5)
Expertise (Stuntman/Carny) 4 (+7)
Intimidation 1 (+5)
Perception 2 (+5)
Stealth 1 (+5)
Technology 1 (+4)
Vehicles 8 (+13) -- (Flaws: Limited to Ground Vehicles)
Advantages:
Equipment 2 (Motorcycle), Favoured Environment (Riding Motorcycle), Ranged Attack 3
Powers:
"Orb Helmet & Stuntman Uniform" (Flaws: Removable) [24]
"Hypnosis" Mind Control 9 (Extras: Area- Visual Perception) (Flaws: Touch Range -2) (27)
- AE: Laser Blast 8 (16)
- AE: "Hand Missiles" Blast 7 (Feats: Indirect 2, Ricochet 2, Homing, Split 2) (21)
-- (30 points)
Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Hypnosis +9 Area (+9 Affliction, DC 19)
Laser Blast +8 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +4
Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +3, Fortitude +4, Will +2
Complications:
Prejudice (Horribly Disfigured)- Drake Shannon badly injured his face after crashing his motorcycle in a race with Crash Simpson. He is horrifying to look at, and must constantly wear a mask or provoke terrible reactions in other people, most of whom will turn away in disgust.
Total: Abilities: 58 / Skills: 24--12 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 24 / Defenses: 6 (106)
-The Orb is a guy I'm familiar with because he appeared in a comic book reprint I own of his Marvel Team-Up debut- he's the old partner of Johnny Blaze's mentor (Crash Simpson), who lost the rights to the motorcycle stunt show Blaze now owned after losing a motorcycle race. Swerving to injure Simpson, Drake Shannon then accidentally crashed himself, but skidded for 25 feet RIGHT ON HIS FACE. His scars were GORY, and fascinated me as a young kid- you just didn't SEE faces like that in comic books at the time! His outfit is part-goofy/part-iconically awesome, so I'm of course a huge fan of it- love the giant eyeball head-thing. He threatened Ghost Rider a couple times (always having some vague link to a vague group called They Who Wield Power- no idea why these powerful guys would want to screw with GHOST RIDER of all people), but was killed by one of Plantman's simuloids in a Hawkeye story (but he later appeared in the background of a Deadline story in The Bar With No Name, and was confirmed as alive by the writer- however, this appears to have been Retconned into having been the first appearance of the second Orb). Naturally, like 8-Ball, his iconic appearance means he's perfect for those "shows up in group shots" scenes.
-The Orb is a simple Bike Show Stuntman with EEEEEEVIL intentions, giving him a Hypnosis power and a basic Energy Blast. He's got that plus some Missiles coming from his fingers, though he's not terribly effective (Johnny Blaze wasn't that tough in the 1970s). But he's kind of unique- though I think there was some Indie Comics character who looked JUST LIKE HIM who came before.