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

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Jabroniville
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The Golden Age Human Bomb

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE HUMAN BOMB I (Roy Lincoln)
Created By:
Paul Gustavson
First Appearance: Police Comics #1 (Aug. 1941)
Role: Golden Age Hero, Exploding Guy
Group Affiliations: The Freedom Fighters, The All-Star Squadron
PL 10 (99)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 3 (+5)
Expertise (Science) 4 (+8)
Expertise (History) 4 (+8)
Expertise (Military) 2 (+6)
Intimidation 4 (+6)
Perception 2 (+4)

Advantages:
Improved Critical (Explosive Punch), Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"27-QRX-Given Powers"
"Explosive Blast" Damage 10 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (20) -- [21]
  • AE: "Explosive Punch" Damage 10 (Extras: Penetrating 4) (14)
Immunity 1 (Aging) (Flaws: Limited to Half-Effect) [0.5]
Features 1: May Increase Damage Area to 60 feet ith HP Spent [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Explosive Punch +8 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Explosive Blast +10 Area (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +4, Fortitude +5, Will +6

Complications:
Accident (Explosions)- Roy must always wear "Fibro-Wax" (formerly Asbestos) gloves in order to not cause explosions every time he touches something.

Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 19--9.5 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 22.5 / Defenses: 10 (99)

-The Human Bomb shares an issue of origin with both Plastic Man and The Phantom Lady. He's got your typical origin involving Super-Science, Nazi Spies, a dead father (at the hands of said spies) and ingesting a formula to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. The chemical formula ended up giving Roy Lincoln the ability to create explosions from his hands- for which he always needed to be wearing Asbestos Gloves (later "Fibro-Wax"), lest he blow up everything around him. This kind of a side-effect is actually rather Silver/Bronze Agey, though that doesn't prevent Roy from having one of the worst costumes ever- basically a big lead suit. Eventually he was able to resort to just wearing the gloves, no longer needing the entire suit, but his visual look remained. Despite being rather goofy, the Human Bomb lasted for six years and 58 issues of Police Comics, even getting a Comic Relief sidekick in Hustace Throckmorton (who acquired a lesser version of Roy's powers, but centered in his feet, after a blood transfusion from Roy), then by the Bombardiers, a trio of youths.

-The Crisis left him without a home, but he showed up in the 1970s Freedom Fighters book, and reappeared in Damage's book in the '90s as a frail old man. He then showed up with the JSA in the 2000s, largely hidden behind his suit so you couldn't tell how old he was (he helped out in the fight against Imperiex). He was one of the Freedom Fighters killed by the Secret Society, but also got the only "Good Showing" of the crew- when he saw Phantom Lady get impaled upon Deathstroke's sword, Roy went NUTS, tearing off his containment suit and blowing C-league villain Doctor Polaris to smithereens. In response, Bizarro, commenting on the "pretty lights", beat Roy Lincoln to death with his bare hands, smashing him to a pulp. Roy's one of those guys who's just TOO odd for his own good these days; you'd think that he'd wear something other than a 1940s-style lead suit after all those years, but I guess no writer ever cared much about him enough to call for a redesign. Like, no other hero in comics looks THAT plain.

-Roy Lincoln is a lot like Damage, in that he focuses on omnidirectional Power Blasts instead of accuracy or well-roundedness or any of that. He's a plain, simple brawler who can blow up real nice, but lacks versatility or strong defenses.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Spectre! Steel I-II! Quality Comics- Uncle Sam!)

Post by greycrusader »

In most of his appearances after the Freedom Fighters comic ended, the Human Bomb was shown to have REALLY potent regeneration, the idea being his body can re-form from blowing up, so minor injuries heal almost instantly. This might just translate as Impervious Toughness, since he seems to just ignore a lot of bullets and blows. Note that he traded several punches with BIZARRO before finally succumbing to injuries.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Spectre! Steel I-II! Quality Comics- Uncle Sam!)

Post by Tattooedman »

greycrusader wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 1:18 am In most of his appearances after the Freedom Fighters comic ended, the Human Bomb was shown to have REALLY potent regeneration, the idea being his body can re-form from blowing up, so minor injuries heal almost instantly. This might just translate as Impervious Toughness, since he seems to just ignore a lot of bullets and blows. Note that he traded several punches with BIZARRO before finally succumbing to injuries.
I'd almost consider giving him a mixture of both powers personally. It makes a fair amount of sense given his showings in the comics. Just my 2 cents.
Jabroniville wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 11:45 pm
LOl- "The Tattooed Man"? What kind of ABSOLUTE DILDO would refer to himself as "The Tattooed Man" :P!?!
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Re: The Golden Age Human Bomb

Post by Sidney369 »

Jabroniville wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 1:03 am Image
I got William Messner-Loebs to sign my Who's Who entry.

The Bombardiers were adults, with at least one older than Roy, making them an oddity in the Golden Age. He met ex-con Montague "Curley" McGurk and physically unfit Swordo the sword swallower when all three of them were rejected from military service (Roy was "too valuable to risk in active service", possibly because he was more needed as a scientist, but whether a hero's identity was generally know or not tended to be iffy back then). The three of them were forcibly recruited by a female pilot named Red Rogers to rescue her brother from a Tokio (sic) prison camp. Roy gave the three of them capsules which gave them the same powers as him, and they rescued the brother and other P.O.W.s. However, Gustavson left the book and they weren't seen again.
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Never ever use them without permission. Only Villains do that.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Spectre! Steel I-II! Quality Comics- Uncle Sam!)

Post by Jabroniville »

greycrusader wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 1:18 am In most of his appearances after the Freedom Fighters comic ended, the Human Bomb was shown to have REALLY potent regeneration, the idea being his body can re-form from blowing up, so minor injuries heal almost instantly. This might just translate as Impervious Toughness, since he seems to just ignore a lot of bullets and blows. Note that he traded several punches with BIZARRO before finally succumbing to injuries.
Looking at it, it seems like a bunch of unanswered punches. Durability seems unlisted among his powers anywhere.
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Re: Uncle Sam

Post by Ares »

Jabroniville wrote: Wed May 04, 2022 7:02 pm Image
Good grief, Uncle Sam is swole. Never saw that coming.

Uncle Sam is definitely a unique character, but one that can really lead to the kind of jingoistic nonsense people assume Captain America is about. And it is kind of weird that Sam is the only spirit of a nation given form, but it might have been cool to do some world building and either give other nations similar characters, or make up a reason for it.

Part of me wonders if DC didn't miss an opportunity when they acquired the Fawcett, Quality and Charlton heroes. Earth-1 and Earth-2 were both pretty robust with heroes, while Earth-X, Earth-S and Earth-4 all seemed relatively small by comparison. This makes sense given both Earth-1 and Earth-2 had room to grow over the years, while Fawcett and Quality ended in the 50s and Charlton didn't have that long a run. In retrospect, it might have been fun to place the Fawcett, Quality and Charlton heroes all on the same Earth, as someone like Uncle Sam definitely fits in better with a more magic centric setting like Fawcett. The Bridwell/Newton run of Shazam actually brought Kid Eternity over to Earth-S and made him Captain Marvel Jr.'s brother, and actually worked out really well. So having the Marvels Family, their allies and the Freedom Fighters and their allies all fighting in WWII, then the Marvels get put in time out, so that some of the other Quality and Charlton heroes take over for a while until the Marvels return, with some new heroes in the present like Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, the Question, etc. Could have been fun, and was a basis for that Earth Liberty project that . . . I REALLY need to get back to.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Spectre! Steel I-II! Quality Comics- Uncle Sam!)

Post by Ares »

In a way, I kind of dig the old school bomb suit for the Human Bomb. It isn't style-ized, but it does have a very distinct look to it, and it actually kind of makes sense for a 40s hero without access to a super science lab to just work with what he had. It's interesting in that he's one of the first 'containment suit' heroes, given his power comes with a major limitation. It'd actually be kind of neat to see it get slightly stylized over the years, becoming more form fitting but still basically just being a superheroic version of a bomb suit.

And yeah, that Freedom Fighter revival was pretty bad. Despite some interesting art, it was just trying WAY too hard and got way too stupid.

In a Post-Crisis Universe, the best way to handle things would have been to have all of America's superheroes unite under the All-Star Squadron, but since having that big a team can be complicated, especially with the need for teamwork and the like, the All-Stars were frequently sub-divided into smaller teams who could develop personal tactics with each other, while the larger heroes would have general team tactics they would train in so everyone was at least a little good at working with each other, while the smaller squads would be dynomite together.

So maybe the Seven Soldiers of Victory were actually used for Nazi occupied territories since all of them were normal humans and wouldn't fall under the Spear of Destiny. I also would have

Likewise, the Freedom Fighters might have been folks fighting on the front lines with the troops, and it's possible that Sam's presence actually shielded the team from the Spear's influence.

The Blackhawks likewise can fight with no fear of falling under the Spear's influence.

The Fawcett heroes (Ibis, Bulletman, Bulletgirl, Mr. Scarlet, Pinky, Minute Man, Spy Smasher) could have been doing their own thing, possibly working on anti-espionage stuff thanks to Spy Smasher and also dealing with SS magical shenanigans.

The Justice Society is the big team that gets the big assignments and most of the publicity.

Stuff like that.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Spectre! Steel I-II! Quality Comics- Uncle Sam!)

Post by greycrusader »

Jabroniville wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 1:52 am
greycrusader wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 1:18 am In most of his appearances after the Freedom Fighters comic ended, the Human Bomb was shown to have REALLY potent regeneration, the idea being his body can re-form from blowing up, so minor injuries heal almost instantly. This might just translate as Impervious Toughness, since he seems to just ignore a lot of bullets and blows. Note that he traded several punches with BIZARRO before finally succumbing to injuries.
Looking at it, it seems like a bunch of unanswered punches. Durability seems unlisted among his powers anywhere.
It was displayed in the Multiversity: Mastermen one-shot and the spin-off series with the Freedom Fighters, and also the Elseworlds: Golden Age, where the Human Bomb took on Dynaman, both where Roy Lincoln battled Nazi Supermanalogues. Of course, those are both alternate world versions, so who really knows?
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Re: Uncle Sam

Post by Ken »

Ares wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 2:13 amUncle Sam definitely fits in better with a more magic centric setting like Fawcett.
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The 2000s Human Bomb

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE HUMAN BOMB II (Andy Franklin)
Created By:
Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray & Dan Jurgens
First Appearance: Crisis Aftermath: The Battle For Blüdhaven #1 (June 2006)
Role: Exploding Guy
Group Affiliations: The Freedom Fighters, Primal Force

-The new Uncle Sam series replaced the Human Bomb with Andy Franklin, who gained powers when Bludhaven was destroyed by the dropping of Chemo onto the city. He had some classic Morrison-esque stuff like "a drop of his sweat could level Manhattan" and a "throwing fingernail which explodes" trick that was also done by Morrison's Marvel Boy. He is depicted as highly emotional, and offended that his teammates refer to him as a "freak"- he is nonetheless the most moral of the team. The Nu52 also uses a Human Bomb- Michael Taylor, a Marine who got a 4-Issue Mini-Series I've never heard of.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Spectre! Steel I-II! Quality Comics- Uncle Sam!)

Post by Ken »

"Some days you just can't get rid of a Bomb." - Batman, "Batman" 1966.
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The Golden Age Phantom Lady

Post by Jabroniville »

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If only I could find a reason... or two... why this character stuck in people's memories while so many others faded away.

THE PHANTOM LADY I (Sandra Knight)
Created By:
The Iger & Eisner Studio, Arthur Peddy
First Appearance: Police Comics #1 (Aug. 1941)
Role: The Original Miss Fanservice, Bondage Lady, Lady Spy, Invisible Girl
Group Affiliations: The Freedom Fighters, The All-Star Squadron
PL 7 (112)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+8)
Athletics 6 (+8)
Deception 4 (+7, +12 Attractive)
Expertise (Spy) 5 (+8)
Insight 3 (+6)
Investigation 7 (+10)
Perception 3 (+6)
Persuasion 2 (+5, +10 Attractive)
Sleight of Hand 3 (+8)
Stealth 4 (+8)
Technology 1 (+4)

Advantages:
Attractive 2, Daze (Deception), Defensive Roll, Fascination (Deception), Grab Finesse, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Trip, Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Black Light Projector- Now Internalized"
Concealment 2 (Visuals) [4]

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +3 (+4 D.Roll), Fortitude +5, Will +6

Complications:
Relationship (Iron Munro)- Though she had a generic Fiancee Character in the '40s, she married Iron Munro. They drifted apart after the war (with her hunting her abducted unborn fetus, which she never found- Baron Blitzkrieg had stolen it).

Total: Abilities: 66 / Skills: 42--21 / Advantages: 10 / Powers: 4 / Defenses: 11 (112)

The Phantom Lady- The Ultimate "Good Girl Art" Super-Heroine:
-The Phantom Lady is probably the only character in comic book history to be published by SIX different companies- debuting in 1941 for Quality Comics, she was the debutante daughter of a U.S. Senator who fought crime in a sexy costume (explained as a distraction for her male foes... which to be fair would probably TOTALLY WORK) using a "black light projector" in her car to blind her foes, or make her invisible. Her fiance sometimes helped her out, and she lasted about 23 issues. Curiously, after this point, Quality loses the rights and they move to Fox Feature Syndicate, as the artist studio that created her believed they owned her. The Fox version was even MORE full of what was called "Good Girl Art" (now just called Fanservice, after the anime term), featuring GIGA-cleavage and plenty of stories involving bondage, drawn by pinup artist Matt Baker. Covers typically involved her being tied up or burst free from bonds, huge breasts on display. Her costume went from yellow to red & blue at this point (DC would later mostly keep it yellow). Recurring villains included the woman-killing serial killer The Subway Slayer and the Killer Clown.

-In this incarnation, the character was used as an example by Dr. Fredric Wertham for his infamous Seduction of the Innocent, as proof that comics were morally-corrupting children- the image of a giant-breasted, pokie-nippled woman attempting to free herself from tight bonds struck a chord with him (he even uses the term "headlights"). Fox went under after 23 issues of Phantom Lady were produced, and Star Publications published another story that Fox had already released earlier... then went out of business itself.

-Sandra's next appearance was at Ajax-Farrel Productions, lasting for only a few months in 1955- Wertham's efforts had by then resulted in her cleavage being covered, and her skirt being turned into shorts (thankfully this would be the last time morally self-righteous people would have any effect on women's costumes in comics!). Farrel went out of business, and Charlton Comics reprinted some of her books, since it now owned AF's assets. I.W. Publications released another couple reprints (unauthorized), making five companies, and then DC finally got the rights to Charlton's stuff, making six. And that's not even counting the companies that made rip-off versions (including the FemForce publishers' "Blue Bulleteer"), inspired by P.L.- the uncrowned Goddess of Lurid 1940s Fanservice. All in all, the character had been published off-and-on for around fourteen years before she disappeared.

DC's Phantom Lady:
-FINALLY, the Phantom Lady was made a part of the Quality-centric Freedom Fighters of Earth-X in 1973 (as their lone female member), despite her having not been part of that company since the 1940s, and gained some real powers. She finally got an origin story, too- she gained a taste for adventure after saving her father's life, and got the Black Light Projector from a family friend. She was part of the short-lived Freedom Fighters book (1976-78), set on Earth-One, and of course when the Earths merged she was just a standard Golden Age heroine. She was later made part of Ted Knight's family (of course two people with the same last name could NEVER be a coincidence), and got a weird backstory involving two retconned kids with Arn "Iron" Munro- one she gave up for adoption (which later became the father of Kate "Manhunter" Spencer), and another that was stolen as a fetus by Baron Blitzkrieg for some stuff that Wikipedia doesn't mention- she never found out what happened to that child. She has since reconnected with some of her "new family" like Kate, and is sort of a retired Elder Stateswoman and a trainer of "Lady Spies". She even outlived her own successor!

The Phantom Lady's Powers:
-The Phantom Lady was a capable fighter, but works best as a spy, thanks to her Invisibility power (which is, as always, ludicrously inexpensive considering it basically lets you surpass your PL limits most of the time, and for only four points!). Her abilities are basically centred around being hot, being a spy, and being invisible. Not that she's bad at any of the three- she's the PERFECT Spy, given her power-set and Skillmonkey-Lite abilities, especially for the Golden Age.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Spectre! Quality Comics- Uncle Sam! The Phantom Lady!)

Post by greycrusader »

I read that AC actually was going to just publish new Phantom Girl comics, since the original character is public domain (all the Quality guys are), but DC threatened to sue anyway, hence Blue Bulleteer.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Spectre! Quality Comics- Uncle Sam! The Phantom Lady!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Oh neat- found an old summation of the New Mutants series: https://www.therealgentlemenofleisure.c ... tants.html

Sadly, I discovered this site a bit late (2017 or so) and by then they were already doing X-Force books from the late stage of my initial fandom (soon before I'd stopped reading), and so I never really tracked them. It's a long-time review site for the X-Books and seems to have a decent amount of Patreon money, though. Just kinda too bad it has a very small "fan responses" bit, as it loses any kind of community.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Spectre! Quality Comics- Uncle Sam! The Phantom Lady!)

Post by Ares »

greycrusader wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 4:15 pm I read that AC actually was going to just publish new Phantom Girl comics, since the original character is public domain (all the Quality guys are), but DC threatened to sue anyway, hence Blue Bulleteer.
AC apparently planned on using a lot of older heroes, such as the Charlton characters and the Marvel Family, but DC beat them to it, so they had to make do with various stand-ins for the heroes they wanted. They did have their fun with heroes that did fall into the public domain, and I've got to say, even though it's mostly known for the fanservice, AC comics has it's own superhero setting that was pretty fun and developed. There's legit fun characters there.

That said, the fact that said fun characters are very fan-service-y doesn't hurt things:

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"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

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