Jab’s Builds! (Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef! Sweetums! Gonzo!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wildcat I-III! Hourman I-III! The Sandman!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Davies wrote: Fri Apr 08, 2022 11:45 pm ... exploding whip?
Like, the tip of the whip sets off huge explosions. Which sounds like an IMMENSELY bad idea (made worse by the fact that Terrific didn't tell him what it could do; Graves & Lightning were tossed across the room when it unexpectedly erupted).
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wildcat I-III! Hourman I-III! The Sandman!)

Post by Davies »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Apr 09, 2022 5:32 am
Davies wrote: Fri Apr 08, 2022 11:45 pm ... exploding whip?
Like, the tip of the whip sets off huge explosions. Which sounds like an IMMENSELY bad idea (made worse by the fact that Terrific didn't tell him what it could do; Graves & Lightning were tossed across the room when it unexpectedly erupted).
... silly me, thinking that the thermonuclear explosive arrow was as dumb as weapon design could possibly get. :roll:
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wildcat! Hourman! The Sandman! Mr. Terrific!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Okay, I knew I wasn't crazy. When the Spirit King was revived when Hal Jordan attempted to give up the Spectre's mission of vengeance, they re-told the story of how Mr. Terrific died:

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The Spirit King later possesses Jay in modern times and attempts to kill Michael Holt, but the JSA are there to stop him. So it looks like Geoff Johns & Don Kramer modified the original story to be more personal and harsh to Jay.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wildcat! Hourman! The Sandman! Mr. Terrific!)

Post by Ken »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Apr 09, 2022 4:45 am
Ken wrote: Sat Apr 09, 2022 4:23 am
Jabroniville wrote: Sat Apr 09, 2022 2:41 am he was unceremoniously killed off in 1979, seven years after his last appearance! Found strangled and floating in water, it was discovered that the villainous Spirit King had possessed Jay "Flash" Garrick and forced him to strangle Terry. Jay was guilt-ridden but immediately forgiven by his peers (including the Spectre), and Terry was thus gone for good.
Jab... you need to find a better source for your story summaries.

Terry was found in space, outside of the JLA satellite, and strangled. It was the Spirit-King-controlling-Jay that caused an explosion, a hull breach of the satellite that was supposed to hide the strangulation. But the Spirit King states quite clearly that he used his own two hands, not Jay's, to strangle Mt. T. Spirit King was trying to get revenge on both Flash and Mr. T. Kill Terry, and have Jay be blamed for it.


I’ve read a comic that summed it up and I remember Jay being made to do it. That might be a retcon. The DC Wiki sums it up as:

Terrific retired as a superhero and became an English literature teacher at Gateway University. There he discovered an old enemy, the Spirit King, stealing a device from the campus laboratory. He resumed his identity of Mr. Terrific to hunt down Spirit King. Spirit King got the jump on Mr. Terrific, strangling him to death. At the time he was using Jay Garrick's body which was under his control [2]. The Justice Society of America pledged to bring King to justice and avenge Mr. Terrific, but it would be many years before they were given the opportunity.
Jabroniville wrote: Sat Apr 09, 2022 6:25 am Okay, I knew I wasn't crazy. When the Spirit King was revived when Hal Jordan attempted to give up the Spectre's mission of vengeance, they re-told the story of how Mr. Terrific died:

Image
Image
Image

The Spirit King later possesses Jay in modern times and attempts to kill Michael Holt, but the JSA are there to stop him. So it looks like Geoff Johns & Don Kramer modified the original story to be more personal and harsh to Jay.
Doesn't explain "the floating in the water" ;)

Still, it means I need to go back and re-read some of the later parts of the 1999-2006 JSA series. Granted, I have all 6 volumes of Crisis on Multiple Earths lying around this place, so it's no wonder the original version of the story is what's in my memory. My JSA comics are all in storage.

Thank you.
The Justice Society of America pledged to bring King to justice and avenge Mr. Terrific, but it would be many years before they were given the opportunity.
We saw Mr. Terrific in a cameo at the end of the Justice society story in issue 465 of Adventure Comics, leaving for the JLA/JSA meeting. The revived All-Star Comics had been a victim of the "DC Implosion", but between stories that were already written and drawn, and being near the cut-off line, the JSA stories continued in Adventure which was back to being an anthology book.

#466 ended up being the final issue of Adventure in this format; and the background plot was the JSA going to Terry's funeral, but the main plot was Huntress telling Power Girl about the JSA's "last case" in 1951, a then-new flashback tale; the one which ends with the JSA in front of HUAC. Adventure #467 was the first issue of it being the Starman (Prince Gavyn)/Plastic Man book. I'd like to think that if the JSA series had been allowed to continue, we'd have seen the JSA hunt down the Spirit King instead.

Then in "The Spectre" vol. 3 #54, from 1997, we see John Ostrander's take on the take down of the Spirit King by the JSA. It's told in flashback, and it is said to be happening shortly after Justice League of America #172. It was drawn by Tom Mandrake, which meant using Mandrake for the Spectre/Spirit King/Mr. Terrific flashbacks in JSA #60-62 was a nice touch.

"The Spectre" vol. 3 #54 was also the first appearance of Michael Holt/Mr. Terrific II.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wildcat! Hourman! The Sandman! Mr. Terrific!)

Post by Jabroniville »

So here's where I re-post my age-old reviews of the JSA series, which I called "JSA Rundowns". Most of these were written 10+ years ago, I bet, haha. (or longer! I caught myself using the word "gay" as a pejorative, for god's sake!)

The JSA Run-Down:

-The JSA comic book series is probably one of my favourite runs of any book ever. I figured I've re-read the thing a dozen times by now, so I may as well do a series of reviews, based off of each trade. It's mostly just me loving on my favourite characters, and bitching about things that bug me.

"JSA: Justice Be Done" (#1-5, JSA Secret Files)- written by James Robinson & David S. Goyer, art by Scott Benefiel, Stephen Sadowski & Derec Aucoin
JSA line-up: Sandy Hawkins (aka Sand), Wildcat I, Sentinel (Alan Scott), Starman (Jack Knight), Hawkgirl (Kendra Saunders), Hourman III (the android one), Atom-Smasher (renamed Nuklon), Star-Spangled Kid II, The Flash (Jay Garrick), Black Canary II, Hippolyta

-It's still weird to read this one after all this time. I mean, this is TEN YEARS AGO (now like 20) now these books were written, and though the inherent point of the book (the Golden Age of heroes returning, helping the new generation) is the same, it feels very odd. Part of it's the line-up: four of them would be gone shortly, replaced by clear writer's favourites.

-The whole thing starts off with Wesley Dodds, the Golden Age Sandman, having a career resurgence thanks to Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" series, "Sandman Mystery Theatre" and other nifty stuff, finally biting the bullet, dying to protect the identity of the new Fate-Child. Offing yet another aged Golden Ager leaves the remaining group (Wildcat, Hippolyta- now given a history with the JSA after a REALLY complicated backstory since she's now officially the first Wonder Woman, Sentinel- Alan Scott in his 'there is only ONE Green Lantern now' edict identity, and the Jay Garrick Flash) to tell the children of the last generation about it, and they have a big meeting for a funeral.

-Since I never read Robinson's Starman series, Jack & Ted Knight have always been kind of unknowns to me, but Jack's "I don't wear tights" thing has always seemed so Iron Age. Sandy Hawkins, the Golden Age sidekick of Wesley, gets reintroduced after being a non-entity for YEARS (he was basically a one-note Bucky ripoff way back when), immediately being set up as this smart and cool guy out of suspended animation. I guess you could call it "Catman-ing" him because the two writers here are obviously huge fans (much bigger than Johns when he took over later), though he predates the Catman re-push by several years.

-Heh, always fun to see Courtney Whitmore being a huge brat back in the day, though the artist is drawing her WAY bustier than is normal. She's still acting more mature than her "Stars & STRIPE" run, which was actually going on right at this time, giving a kind of odd sense of continuity, since the maturity level of the two series is so INSANELY different. Oh hey, it's the Android Hourman, aka that guy that no writers liked by Grant Morrison, so he gets shelved quickly. I'm sorry, but Vision & Red Tornado were enough. ANOTHER android whining about wanting to be human in a comic super-hero team is just lame, and everyone knew it.

-Nuklon gives up the stupid mohawk and shit and gets reborn as Atom-Smasher. Oh, and there's a new Hawkgirl, trying to act the sexpot, even though I'm not sure if ANYONE ever bought it. The goofy mask and short hair have always been deal breakers for me.

-Hah, nobodies Kid Eternity & Fate get offed within panels, so casually it's hilarious. I don't think ANYBODY cried for those two hyper-dated 90s-looking losers.

-Something that always bugged me: Courtney says in a recent JSA issue that she "Got sick in the girl's room" when someone murdered Wesley Dodds, and yet she forced herself up by the bootstraps and caught the killer anyways. But I'm just not seeing that here- she's the 'plucky teen sidekick who stows aboard', showing no signs of distress, and she seems to barely know Wes. Small continuity thing, I know, but it just feels odd that Continuity Porn guys like Johns would make that error.

-Hey, it's Scarab, that guy who only showed up twice to help out, and then never again! What's HIS deal?

-Cute bit with Atom-Smasher & Star-Spangled Kid, as they bond a bit while she whines about not being let into the meeting, and he says he 'might' tell her later. Al's comment about Sandy "Buying his way into the super-hero business" seems rather mean and out-of-nowhere, since it didn't come up later. I guess they were trying to paint Sandy as a kind of dork who made good or something. God Jack Knight is annoying, though. All his snide dialogue and pop culture bits- is that how he acted in "Starman"? That's a beloved series, but I can't help but disliking the guy. "Bambino" indeed.

-The teams split up to find the possible Fate-children to show some action, but eventual recurring foe Mordru shows up to steal the baby away and kick their asses. They chase him to Fate's tower, where ANOTHER ass-beating awaits them, in one of the more well-written and shown major super-power fights in recent memory, in that it lasts most of the issue and features LOTS of insane magic feats from the villain, showing how hard this battle's going to be. Reading this issue on the stands is what convinced me to collect this entire series. Courtney, being Plucky Teen Sidekick, gets to save the day, running inside Fate's Amulet, given us the new Doctor Fate.

-The big Fate/Mordru stand-off is bad-ass as well, giving us Magic vs. Magic in a NON-boring way (something almost every comic book writer fails at), as they discuss the properties of magic and various spells and all that. Fate turns out to be Hector Hall, whose backstory is so confusing (ah, comics...) that I had to re-read it like six times to make sense of it. It'd get even worse later on, but for now, he's just the reborn son of Hawkman & Hawkgirl, who had no soul way back when, but through some crap with the Dreaming (never read Sandman, can't help you there) he ended up back. Fate finally defeats Mordru after he tries to put on the vestments, which wrap him up and take him away.

-Someone finally decides to restart the old JS of A, with all the guys who helped out (minus Scarab) as members, with Hippolyta in reserve status. Sand becomes the new chairman, because of his apparently awesome job leading them against Mordru.

-And then we get a funny little AssPull, as Sandy turns to sand and disappears into the earth's core, and hey, he's a SUPER-POWERFUL GEOKINETIC NOW, because everyone knows that a third guy with human-level stats and fancy gear on this team would suck! I guess it makes sense because of his time as a sand-being and all, but it's just such OBVIOUS 'oh hey let's give him a power so he won't suck' that it always bothered me. He schools that loser Geomancer (a small-time villain) and meets the new Mr. Terrific (before he became a Geoff Johns favourite). At least he got a new costume, so he isn't wearing that lame green turtleneck anymore.

Review: A pretty kick-ass start to the series, letting us know all the main characters, making most of them likeable (Hawkgirl & Jack seem like turds, though), playing them off of each other, giving a MAJOR villain to fight, well-written magic stuff (a rarity for the power that's really just pulling stuff out of your ass). The art's acceptable, but not great, which is an unfortunate issue that would plague the series for almost the entirety of it's length, as they kept getting new art teams for years and years, with no set standard.
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Mister Terrific (Michael Holt)

Post by Jabroniville »

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MISTER TERRIFIC II (Michael Holt)
Created By:
John Ostrander & Tom Mandrake
First Appearance: The Spectre #54 (June 1997)
Role: Super-Polymath, Tech-Guy
Group Affiliations: The Justice Society of America, Checkmate
PL 9 (249)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 5 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 8 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+13)
Athletics 8 (+11)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+13)
Expertise (Science) 10 (+16)
Expertise (Business) 2 (+10)
Expertise (Law) 2 (+10)
Expertise (Current Events) 5 (+13)
Expertise (History) 5 (+13)
Insight 2 (+5)
Intimidation 4 (+6)
Investigation 4 (+7)
Perception 2 (+5, +13 Visor)
Technology 11 (+17)
Treatment 4 (+12)
Vehicles 1 (+6)

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Beginner's Luck, Benefit 3 (Wealth), Eidetic Memory, Evasion, Fast Grab, Fearless, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Inventor, Jack-Of-All-Trades, Languages 3 (Several), Leadership, Minions 24 (4 T-Spheres), Move-By Action, Power Attack, Precise Attack (Close/Concealment), Ranged Attack 4, Skill Mastery 2 (Technology, Science), Takedown, Ultimate Science Skill, Ultimate Technology Skill

Advantages:
"Non-Removable Nanotech T-Visor"
Enhanced Skills: Perception 8 (+13) [4]
Features 1: Quick Change [1]

Concealment (All Senses) 10 (Extras: Continuous) (Flaws: Limited to Machines) [20]
Communication 3 (Electronic) [12]
Senses 4 (Infravision, Darkvision 2, Communication Link- T-Spheres) [4]
Remote Sensing (Vision & Hearing) 8 (Flaws: Medium- T-Spheres) [16]

"Super-Polymath"
Quickness 4: Flaws: Limited to Assessing Information [2]

Offense:
Unarmed +13 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Initiative +10

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +13 (DC 23), Toughness +5, Fortitude +7, Will +8

Complications:
Responsibility (Atheist)- Michael has trouble believing in things like reincarnation and souls. He could not hear the voice of Gog, a wannabe God on Earth, due to his lack of faith.
Responsibility (Fair Play)- Michael is community-oriented, specifically focusing on inner-city youth.
Relationship (Dr. Mid-Nite)- The two are close friends, despite differences in opinion regarding religion.
Reputation (Cold Fish)- Michael does not act out emotionally alot, which leaves people unfamiliar with the man that he's a "cold fish" and lacks emotions period.
Relationship (Paula Holt- Late Wife)- His wife's death weighs heavily on Mr. Terrific's mind, after all these years.

Total: Abilities: 84 / Skills: 70--35 / Advantages: 56 / Powers: 59 / Defenses: 16 (249)

T-SPHERES
PL 8 (90)- Minion Rank 6
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA -- AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 0 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE -- AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE --

Skills:
None

Advantages:
Close Attack 4, Improved Initiative

Advantages:
Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]
Senses 8 (Analytical Sight 2, Radius Vision, Infravision, Darkvision 2, Direction Sense, Communication Link- Mr. Terrific) [8]
Flight 4 (30 mph) [8]
Protection 4 [4]

Features 1: May Speak For Mr. Terrific While He Is Too Weak to Speak [1]
"Datalink" Communication (Electronic) 3 [12]

"Tiny Size" Shrinking 8 (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [17]
(-2 Strength & Speed, +4 Defenses, +8 Stealth, -8 Intimidation)

Illusion 4 (Visuals, Hearing) (12) -- [15]
  • AE: "Lights On" Environment 1 (Light) (2)
  • AE: "Electrical Zapper" Damage 8 (Feats: Reach 2) (Flaws: Unreliable -2- One Shot) (4)
  • AE: "Explosion" Damage 8 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (Flaws: Fatal -2) (4)

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Zapper +4 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Explosion +8 Area (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +4, Fortitude --, Will --

Total: Abilities: -26 / Skills: 00--0 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 95 / Defenses: 16 (90)


Mr. Terrific- The GOOD Legacy Character:
-Like Terry Sloane, Michael Holt was a Renaissance Man who excelled at everything, yet was contemplating suicide. However, his particular cause of depression was the death of his wife Paula, killed by a drunk driver. Despondent, he planned on ending it all, but was inspired by The Spectre (then Hal Jordan), who told him the story of Terry Sloane. Inspired, Michael became the NEW Mister Terrific, putting on a less-garish (but still kinda weird) outfit. As a super-genius, he became a handy member of the JSA on their second modern-day adventure (after their successful return), and quickly became a favourite character of eventual head writer Geoff Johns, who soon pushed Michael into the Chairman position (despite him not actually applying for it)- he completely overshadowed Sand, and many other "early" members of the team.

-In so doing, Johns basically was responsible for DC's single highest-profile black character (at least until John Stewart became the TV Green Lantern, or Cyborg got a push from TV & movies), which is a pretty big deal, especially since he doesn't suffer from any of the stereotypes or goofy history many characters have- he also avoids being a too-perfect Paragon of Perfection (a trait negatively-effecting many minority characters) because he suffers numerous personal maladies- such as his "cold fish" personality and his lack of belief in souls (despite the DC Universe being a pretty-clear reflection of the idea that such things exist- he's even an ATHEIST, in a world where he's met ACTUAL ANGELS). However, he's ALSO one of the only atheists you'll find in fiction who ISN'T a giant ass about it! It actually creates a series of interesting discussion points- a very neat character, all things considered.

Mr. Terrific- Classic Team Leader:
-In any case, Terrific doesn't actually get up to the biggest stuff on his own, since as team leader he's kind of central in every major JSA story anyways, and as a good team leader, he has a less "extreme" personality than most of the rest. He's instead quiet, determined and intelligent, not prone to wild mood swings or a slave to his character flaws like many good "team book" characters are. Many battles are won thanks to his strategic mind, he makes good friends with Dr. Mid-Nite (also very stoic and self-assured), and leads the team through Infinite Crisis, Blackest Night and other things. His difficulty in accepting the concept of souls leads to a good talk with Jay Garrick, and when Hawkman brusquely declares himself the new JSA leader so they can fight Black Adam in Khandaq, Terrific is good-natured enough to give him the benefit of the doubt thanks to his experience, and realization that it's a crisis situation and they don't need a leadership squabble at the same time. He also becomes the "White King" of Checkmate in Greg Rucka's Checkmate book, somehow doing double-duty on two squads, but I don't think anybody ever read that book.

-Aaaaaaaaaand unfortunately the DC reboot circa the "New 52" just axed him permanently. DC foolishly released *52* books all at the same time, dooming any without a good enough core concept to an early cancellation- the new Mister Terrific book was one of DC's six lowest-selling books. Despite putting him in a relationship with POWER GIRL of all characters, it failed along with Static (another potentially high-profile book about a black hero), and was cancelled with the eighth issue, which sees him dumped into the Earth-2 book so he can still be around. That was pretty well the last time the character ever mattered, as the JSA hasn't been a proper "thing" since.

Mr. Terrific's Abilities:
-Mister Terrific ends up becoming VERY, VERY EXPENSIVE, largely-thanks to his status as a Polymath, Athlete and Technology Guy, giving him TONS of points on Skills & Advantages, and a big pile of stuff rendering him unable to be detected by machines (OMACs can't even see him, etc.), and a communication thing with his numerous T-Spheres, handy little devices that are generally Remote Sensing repositories, but are also decently-strong (a few are able to carry Terrific around) and have a few low-key abilities that can hurt Terrific's enemies. Mr. Terrific himself is a handy guy in a scrap, but no battlefield operative- DCA overrates him a bit, as all he's ever really done is brawl with Kobra for a bit- he's even stated that he has YET to knock Ted "Wildcat" Grant on his ass in their sparring matches, despite Michael's expertise. He's PL 8 on offense, PL 9 on defense.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Tue Aug 01, 2023 7:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wildcat! Hourman! The Sandman! Mr. Terrific!)

Post by catsi563 »

I remember when Batman met the new JSA he was mentally assessing each of them and other then Jay, Michael Holt was the one he basically in his Batman way had nothing but good things to say about including a blurb about how his buying of Holts company was some of the best money hed ever spent
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wildcat! Hourman! The Sandman! Mr. Terrific!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Yeah, he even figured “… maybe I DON’T need to investigate him further” when he found out about the death of Holt’s wife.
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Re: The Golden Age Wildcat

Post by brothersale »

Jabroniville wrote: Thu Apr 07, 2022 10:22 pm
brothersale wrote: Thu Apr 07, 2022 1:48 am
Jabroniville wrote: Mon Apr 04, 2022 9:25 pm WILDCAT I (Ted Grant)- Golden Age

Complications:
I would also suggest that an additional complication would be Royal Bloodline: Ted Grant is distantly related to the English Royal family.

Its minor but it comes into efect when dealing with James "Jim" Craddock aka the Gentleman Ghost
I think that’s a Complication of Craddock’s, not Ted’s.
true but its also not a power and its just something that may influence the character, like alot of the complications do to some effect, it would be more an acknowledgement of that
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wildcat! Hourman! The Sandman! Mr. Terrific!)

Post by Sidney369 »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Apr 09, 2022 6:25 am
The Spirit King later possesses Jay in modern times and attempts to kill Michael Holt, but the JSA are there to stop him. So it looks like Geoff Johns & Don Kramer modified the original story to be more personal and harsh to Jay.
No surprises there. Under Johns pen, Barry "Dullest Man Alive" Allen is the only person worthy of being called the Flash.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wildcat! Hourman! The Sandman! Mr. Terrific!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Sidney369 wrote: Sun Apr 10, 2022 1:14 am
Jabroniville wrote: Sat Apr 09, 2022 6:25 am
The Spirit King later possesses Jay in modern times and attempts to kill Michael Holt, but the JSA are there to stop him. So it looks like Geoff Johns & Don Kramer modified the original story to be more personal and harsh to Jay.
No surprises there. Under Johns pen, Barry "Dullest Man Alive" Allen is the only person worthy of being called the Flash.
They make sure that Jay is blameless- Alan even says willpower wouldn’t have made a difference. This time around, Jay actually fought himself.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wildcat! Hourman! The Sandman! Mr. Terrific!)

Post by EternalPhoenix »

Jabroniville wrote: Sun Apr 10, 2022 4:03 am
Sidney369 wrote: Sun Apr 10, 2022 1:14 am
Jabroniville wrote: Sat Apr 09, 2022 6:25 am
The Spirit King later possesses Jay in modern times and attempts to kill Michael Holt, but the JSA are there to stop him. So it looks like Geoff Johns & Don Kramer modified the original story to be more personal and harsh to Jay.
No surprises there. Under Johns pen, Barry "Dullest Man Alive" Allen is the only person worthy of being called the Flash.
They make sure that Jay is blameless- Alan even says willpower wouldn’t have made a difference. This time around, Jay actually fought himself.
Yeah, but it's Jay. It's not going to make him feel any better about it.
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Judomaster (Rip Jagger)

Post by Jabroniville »

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JUDOMASTER I (Hadley "Rip" Jagger)
Created By:
Joe Gill & Frank McLaughlin
First Appearance: Special War Series #4 (Nov. 1965)
Role: Martial Artist Hero, Retcon WWII Hero
Group Affiliations: The All-Star Squadron, The U.S. Army, L.A.W.
PL 9 (137)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 11 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 9 (+15)
Athletics 9 (+13)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 3 (+14)
Deception 2 (+5)
Expertise (Soldier) 5 (+7)
Insight 2 (+5)
Investigation 3 (+6)
Perception 4 (+7)

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Assessment, Chokehold, Defensive Attack, Evasion, Fast Grab, Grab Finesse, Improved Critical (Unarmed) 2, Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Hold, Improved Trip, Instant Up, Move-By Action, Prone Fighting, Seize Initiative, Takedown 2, Teamwork, Uncanny Dodge

Offense:
Unarmed +14 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Initiative +10

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +13 (DC 23), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Fighting the Nazis)

Total: Abilities: 74 / Skills: 38--19 / Advantages: 22 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 12 (137)

-Rip Jagger (... really?) is your classic comic book story of "Mighty Whitey"- the tale of a brave, upstanding young Caucasian hero who goes to a foreign land and immediately becomes better than all of the natives at whatever it is they were doing- in this case he's an American soldier in World War II who ends up in a Pacific Island nation and learns Judo from their chief. This is in a Charlton Comics book from the '60s, making him a bit of a Retroactive Storytelling device- his teen sidekick Tiger was used as the adult trainer for the hero Nightshade in another book, set in modern times. Judomaster's book lasted only about a year, at which point Charlton went out of business and sold its characters to DC Comics.

-Post-Crisis, when Judomaster finally actually appeared, he was added to the All-Star Squadron (though never actually appeared in their stories, as their book was Pre-Crisis). He appeared in an old Who's Who I had, and his cool-looking costume made him an instant favourite of mine- since it was the only DC book I owned that was any good, I actually became QUITE familiar with many of the characters featured- Judomaster, Killer Moth and Kole were among my faves. Jagger himself rarely appeared in comics, though Tiger turned up as a villain in the L.A.W. series that reunited old Charlton acts, and Jagger turned up in Nanda Parbat, retaining his youth there. Judomaster was ultimately killed by Bane in the Battle of Metropolis in Infinite Crisis #7, being one of numerous disposable characters casually wiped out (in a reflection of the last issue of Crisis on Infinite Earths, which also did Spring Cleaning with unwanted characters)- his back was broken by Bane, same as Batman's once was. This actually causes some issues, as an intermediate Judomaster had shown up in 1994, and Rip never met his successor, Sonia Sato.

-I put Judomaster at PL 8.5 mainly because I'm biased because his costume is rad and I liked him as a kid- dude jobbed to Bane in like ONE PANEL :). But he IS called "Judomaster"- they wouldn't call him a MASTER of JUDO if he sucked at it, right? So he's a bit better than your usual Golden Age Non-Powered Hero, but not by a ton.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24695
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Tommy Jagger

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

TOMMY JAGGER
Created By:
Greg Rucka & Jesus Saiz
First Appearance: Checkmate #1 (June 2006)
Role: Legacy Hero
Group Affiliations: Checkmate

-Tommy Jagger was Rip's modern-day son, introduced as an openly gay Checkmate agent, taking his father's codename. He volunteers for a mission involving Bane, his father's killer, in Santa Prisca's election fraud. He resists the urge to avenge his father's death with murder, but manages to defeat Bane in a fight. The Checkmate book only lasts 31 issues, Tommy in half of them, so his impact on comics isn't great. Naturally, Greg Rucka made another gay Legacy Hero, lol. It seems like a large chunk of Tommy's existence was to make up for Rip's untimely, offhand demise in Infinite Crisis.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24695
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Judomaster (The Interim One)

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

JUDOMASTER II (Real Name Unknown)
Created By:
Paul Kupperberg & Michael Collins
First Appearance: Justice League Quarterly #14 (1994)
Role: Legacy Hero

-A strange second Judomaster shows up in Justice League Quarterly, helping some of the other Charlton heroes. The brief revival of Rip Jagger, and Sonia Sato being brought into the main continuity a little bit later, make this guy's status up in limbo.
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