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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The Phantom Lady (Dee Tyler)

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE PHANTOM LADY II (Delilah "Dee" Tyler)
Created By:
Len Strazewski & Chuck Austen
First Appearance: Action Comics Weekly #636 (Jan. 1989)
Role: Miss Fanservice, Invisible Girl
Group Affiliations: The Freedom Fighters, The All-Star Squadron
PL 8 (112)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+12)
Athletics 7 (+9)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 3 (+13)
Deception 3 (+6, +11 Attractive)
Expertise (Spy) 4 (+6)
Insight 2 (+5)
Investigation 3 (+6)
Perception 2 (+5)
Persuasion 2 (+5, +10 Attractive)
Stealth 4 (+8)

Advantages:
Attractive 2, Daze (Deception), Defensive Roll, Grab Finesse, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Trip, Ranged Attack 5

Powers:
"Black Light Projector & Wrist Blaster" (Flaws: Removable) [22]
Illusion (Visual) 8 (16) -- (17)
  • AE: Concealment 2 (Visuals) (4)
Blast 5 (10)
-- (27 points)

"Savate Master" Strength-Damage +1 [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +13 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Wrist Blaster +10 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +3 (+4 D.Roll), Fortitude +5, Will +6

Complications:
Relationship (The Freedom Fighters, Sandra Knight)- Dee is a successor to the first Phantom Lady, and a close ally of her old team.

Total: Abilities: 64 / Skills: 40--20 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 23 / Defenses: 15 (112)

-The second Phantom Lady debuted when Action Comics went weekly in the late '80s, and stuck around for a bit. She was trained by Sandra as a Lady Spy successor, inheriting the costume. Dee Tyler is also a Savate master and uses some gadgetry to help herself out, often working with her roommate Sarah. She appeared in a small handful of books (I suspect her creator Len Strazewski must have written some of them) like the '80s Starman (*checks* OH HEY LOOK AT THAT), The Flash (Nope and YEP) and others, but mainly showed up in Robinson's Starman run, owing to her Golden Age links. She joined the newer Freedom Fighters incarnation in the '90s JSA book, but never had a big role- I really can't find much about the character, as she never really got a starring role anywhere (even a team book).

-So after about fifteen years of nothing, Dee was horribly-murdered in Infinite Crisis along with her pals, run through by Deathstroke's blade after Cheetah had sniffed her invisible self out. My roommate at the time laughed his ASS off, going "Invisibility's her ONLY POWER?" in a funny moment- I mean, in REAL LIFE that's a power countless people wish they'd had (more common amongst younger males, for obvious perverted reasons), but in comics it's pretty low-grade. Though really, it SHOULDN'T be- in Batman: The Animated Series, Bruce is annihilated by a COMMON CRIMINAL who just happens to be wearing a suit that makes him invisible- the inability to see attacks coming (or respond with your own) is an enormous disadvantage in a real fight. As an elite fighter, Dee should really have been top-tier. But since she's basically just the successor of a largely-forgotten Miss Fanservice character, it was unlikely she'd ever get that push.

-Like Sandra Knight, Dee Tyler (wait... "Sandra"... "Dee?" I JUST GOT THAT) isn't bad, but lacks a lot of "oomph", and is only a PL 8 Martial Artist heroine with some good tricks. Turning Invisible gives her a boost to defenses and hitting potential, but at Toughness +4, she'll need something more to go up against someone like Cheetah.
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Ares
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Re: The Phantom Lady (Dee Tyler)

Post by Ares »

Jabroniville wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 10:13 pm Image
Oh God, the 80s hair is strong with this one.

And as much as I like my fanservice, Phantom Lady is right at the point where it becomes a bit too much for me. That kind of skin display works for someone like, say, Starfire since she's an alien space princess with a very Dejah Thoris look to her. But when people complain about superhero costumes being bathing suits, this is the kind of thing they talk about. Power Girl and Wonder Woman look positively modest compared to PL here. Heck, Jade from Mortal Kombat is technically wearing more clothes:

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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Spectre! Quality Comics- Uncle Sam! The Phantom Lady!)

Post by Ares »

I tweaked that Phantom Lady image a little and came up with this:

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I think that keeps the fanservice aspect while leaving her in something that won't suffer near constant nip slips.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Spectre! Quality Comics- Uncle Sam! The Phantom Lady!)

Post by Sidney369 »

Ares wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 9:48 pm That said, the fact that said fun characters are very fan-service-y doesn't hurt things:

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Ms. Victory, based on Miss Victory
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But yeah, copyright can be confusing. Bill Black had used the Fox version Phantom Lady in his fanzines through the 70s, but when he started publishing professional, he got hit with a cease and desist order as DC had trademarked the name Phantom Lady. Still, all the published PL stories from both Quality and Fox are in public domain.
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The Phantom Lady (Stormy Knight)

Post by Jabroniville »

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Mysteriously, this is the new Freedom Fighter with the most pictures on Comicvine.

THE PHANTOM LADY III (Stormy Knight)
Created By:
Jimmy Palmiotti & Dan Jurgens
First Appearance: Infinite Crisis- The Battle For Blüdhaven #1 (June 2006)
Role: Forgotten Heroine, Miss Fanservice

-The successive Phantom Ladies have been a bit dull- Stormy Knight was part of the Drug-Addled Morrison Team, and a spoiled movie star who looked down on her teammates like she was Libby from Sabrina the Teenage Witch. She later reveals that she's a super-genius who acts stupid as a cover, and wields devices that can BEND REALITY. Then her father dies and she turns to drugs and booze, trying to commit suicide. Eventually she quits super-heroics. The "NuDCU" Phantom Lady is Jennifer Knight, a rookie heroine who infiltrates a crime boss' network after her father, a reporter, is killed, and teams up with the new Doll Man. It was a short-run Limited Series that I've never heard of.
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Re: The Phantom Lady (Stormy Knight)

Post by Shock »

Jabroniville wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 2:08 am Image

THE PHANTOM LADY III (Stormy Knight)
It's a shame she's Caucasian or she could have been a dark Stormy Knight. Real missed opportunity there.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Spectre! Quality Comics- Uncle Sam! The Phantom Lady!)

Post by Ken »

Jabroniville wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 2:19 pm Image
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THE PHANTOM LADY I (Sandra Knight)


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.
Quality Comics didn't lose the rights to Phantom Lady. They just stopped publishing her. Fox Features contacted the Iger Studio,and hired them to sex the character up (more on that further down), and keep making the stories.

Back in those days there were these businesses, called "shops" that hired writers and artists to produce comic book stories, but they didn't publish them. They just sold them to publishers for publication. Who held the rights to the characters was less clear. Since Quality Comics stayed in business until 1956, and "Busy" Arnold didn't sue Victor Fox makes it clear the rights to the character weren't clear.

It is known that Victor Fox sold a lot of the Fox Features material to the company that became Charlton Comics, which is how Charlton was able to a)reprint Dan Garret (masked cop with super vitamin) stories, b)create and publish the Dan Garrett (archaeologist turned humourless Captain Marvel knock-off) Blue Beetle, c) recreate a severely nerfed archaeologist "Dan Garret" Blue Beetle as they gave a back story to d) the Ted Kord Blue Beetle.

Charlton's possession of the Phantom Lady material also led to the creation of Eve Eden, the Nightshade. Eve is also a senator's daughter, and she also had darkness projection abilities. She was the Phantom Lady, reinvented for the 1960s.

Americomics tried using both Nightshade and Phantom Lady briefly in the 1980s, but when DC bought the Charlton characters... they replaced they both with the Blue Bulleteer who was also Nightveil. By the by, two of the pictures Jab included actually are pictures of the Blue Bulleteer, NOT Phantom Lady (repeated above). The skull choker and belt buckle are the giveaway.

It's also worth noting (I said I'd get back to this) that the Quality Comics version of Phantom Lady wasn't the sexbomb that she bacame at Fox Features. In her earliest appearances, her top didn't even had the decolletage. And even after she did get the plunging neckline, it was rendered being far narrower than it would be under Matt Baker's pencil. Baker also increased Sandra's bosom by about 3 cup sizes.
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Re: The Phantom Lady (Stormy Knight)

Post by Ken »

Shock wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 3:04 am
Jabroniville wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 2:08 am THE PHANTOM LADY III (Stormy Knight)
It's a shame she's Caucasian or she could have been a dark Stormy Knight. Real missed opportunity there.
On a rleated a side note, "Good Girl" artist Matt Baker who sexed up Phantom Lady for Fox was one of the first successful black comic book artists.
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The Golden Age Black Condor

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE BLACK CONDOR I (Richard Grey, Jr., aka Tom Wright)
Created By:
Will Eisner & Lou Fine
First Appearance: Crack Comics #1 (May 1940)
Role: Flying Hero
Group Affiliations: The Freedom Fighters, The All-Star Squadron
PL 8 (124)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Aerobatics 5 (+9)
Athletics 5 (+8)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+10)
Deception 4 (+7)
Expertise (Animal Handling) 5 (+6)
Expertise (Politics) 4 (+5)
Insight 3 (+5)
Investigation 3 (+5)
Perception 4 (+6)
Persuasion 2 (+5)
Stealth 3 (+7)

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Benefit (Senator), Contacts, Evasion, Favored Environment (Air), Improved Disarm, Move-By Action, Ranged Attack 5, Set-Up, Teamwork

Powers:
"Flight Learned From Condors, Because That's How Stuff Works"
Flight 6 (120 mph) [12]

"Black Light Pistol" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [9]
Blast 7 (14) -- (15 points)
  • AE: "Stun Beam" Affliction 7 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Extras: Ranged) (14)
Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Black Light Pistol +8 (+7 Ranged Damage, DC 22)
Pistol Stun +8 (+7 Ranged Affliction, DC 17)
Initiative +4

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

Complications:
Motivation (Justice)
Secret (Identity)- Richard Grey takes the identity of Senator Thomas Wright after failing to save the man's life. This allows him a dual identity.

Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 40--20 / Advantages: 14 / Powers: 21 / Defenses: 13 (124)

-Black Condor was initially a take on the old Tarzan theme (at that time, that book was actually semi-recent), a boy raised in Mongolia by super-intelligent... Condors?!! No, really, condors raised him, and then TAUGHT HIM HOW TO FLY. He was later taught by a mountain hermit to speak and become civiliazed, killed the Mongolian bandits who slew his parents, and moved to the United States. Retconned into a generic "radioactive meteor" origin, he can fly under his own power, use a "Black Light Pistol" (whatever the hell that is). And he's actually a senator in disguise, taking the identity of a man whom he failed to save. His career was devoted to fighting crooked politicians, bootleggers and racketeers. He didn't have a long run, however- he lasted from 1940-1943, at first alternating covers of Crack Comics with The Clock (a two-fisted detective type), but both loosing out to Captain Triumph. He lasted a little over thirty appearances.

-Well how's that for a unique storyline? Not that it saved him; he died with the rest of the Quality Comics characters, with a whimper, only showing up decades later in the JSA/JLA cross-overs under "Earth-X". Despite his super-cool name (which should rightfully belong to awesome characters), he was portrayed as a boring, generic hero and didn't really do anything, and it's been stated that he died, but we never found out how (you gotta suck pretty hard to not even get a heroic death story- hell, even WING got one, and he was just a sidekick!). He eventually got a legacy in Ryan Kendall, who again has like no fans. Currently, there's even a third Black Condor.

-Fairly simple build, a guy who focuses on aerial combat and being pretty quick on the draw and hard to hit. Nobody's shaking in their boots against him, but he's decent. More notable are his Contacts feat and his senator Benefit, making him a pretty handy guy for the Freedom Fighters.
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The Black Condor (Ryan Kendall)

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE BLACK CONDOR II (Ryan Kendall)
Created By:
Brian Augustyn & Rags Morales
First Appearance: Black Condor #1 (June 1992)
Role: Flying Hero
Group Affiliations: The Freedom Fighters, Primal Force
PL 8 (132)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 11 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Aerobatics 6 (+10)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+11)
Deception 5 (+5)
Insight 4 (+5)
Intimidation 6 (+6)
Perception 6 (+7)
Stealth 4 (+8)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 1 (Knife), Great Endurance, Move-By Action, Ranged Attack 3, Set-Up

Powers:
"Telekinesis & Stuff"
Flight 6 (120 mph) [12]
Regeneration 6 [6]
Mind Reading 4 (Flaws: Limited- Emotions Only) [4]

"Throwing Stuff" Blast 5 (Feats: Accurate 2, Ricochet, Homing 2) (Quirks: Requires Objects) (14) -- [16]
AE: Deflect 10 (10)
AE: Move Object 6 (12)

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Knife +11 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Thrown Things +10 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +4 (+5 D.Roll), Fortitude +7, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Justice)
Enemy (Grandfather)- Kendall's Grandfeather Creighton is continuously hunting him, in order to discover the secrets that allow for his powers.

Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 34--17 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: 38 / Defenses: 15 (132)

-I have no idea why they created a second Black Condor in this manner. I mean, with such a cool name, you could come up with tons of bird-themed guys, from power-armor types to badass street-level Batman characters. But no, they stick it with some regular guy with a bunch of unrelated, low-level powers and flight. He actually got his own series for a brief flicker of time, before being casually tossed onto the Freedom Fighters. And in that role, he was the first casualty of Infinite Crisis, being run through by Sinestro. Not much of a run for a character, but he did get a successor with the new Freedom Fighters series, so there's that (hee).

-Ryan Krendall gained his powers from the genetic experiments of his father, a member of a secret Society of The Golden Wing. Krendall escaped, and was hunted by his evil grandfather, hoping to unlock the secrets of human flight from studying the boy.

-Another pretty cheap PL 8 build, though he only matches that defensively. He's no major powerhouse, and his offensive capabilities are pretty minor. I'm a little hazy on just how powerful he is, since I've never read a comic where he did anything other than get run through by a yellow beam of light or just punch mind-controlled civilians in the background. Flying Guys are tricky that way- exactly what is supposed to make them match a higher PL, if they're not master Martial Artists?
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Spectre! Quality Comics- Uncle Sam! The Phantom Lady!)

Post by Jabroniville »

It’s time for another hot, pleasing poll! I wanna gauge interest in what follows the JSA/JLA set.

Iron Man Builds: the last of the big Marvel sets! Only took me six years!

Watchmen: This actually did well on a poll that was literally from 2017, and I never got around to it, lol.

Fire Emblem: I even had this planned around the Shinig Force set! Just lost track of doing it.

Dead or Alive: One of the last big fighting game franchises to do.

Archie Comics: It’s actually been a bit since I did these!

2D Fighting Games: I have a bunch completed and ready to post, and others yet to stat. Outlaws of the Lost Dynasty, Savage Reign, Ultra Vortek, and even Tongue of the Fatman!
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Spectre! Quality Comics- Uncle Sam! The Phantom Lady!)

Post by catsi563 »

DOA for me always been a fun series and i incluided them in my Street fighter universe for that reason
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Spectre! Quality Comics- Uncle Sam! The Phantom Lady!)

Post by SolarOracle »

Oh wow! First time I manage to catch one of these in time!

Personally, I'm very interested in both the Watchmen and the Fire Emblem sets, since those are both things I love a lot.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Spectre! Quality Comics- Uncle Sam! The Phantom Lady!)

Post by Skavenger »

I haven't posted as much because, well, there just isn't that much I can contribute beyond 'I like this character' or 'I hate this character'. And since some people seem to like Hawkman, I didn't want to point out all the reasons he sucks and ruin peoples' fun. :D

But for me, I'd vote the following as my top 3:

1) Archie Comics

2) Dead Or Alive

3) Fire Emblem (never played, but I did play Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore which is not only the absolute WORST TITLE EVER for a game, but also really, really fun since it was made by the studios that did Persona and Fire Emblem and essentially went 'what if...we did Persona but their personas were Fire Emblem characters and we built from there?')
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Spectre! Quality Comics- Uncle Sam! The Phantom Lady!)

Post by EternalPhoenix »

1) Dead Or Alive

2) Watchmen

3) Fire Emblem
The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse!)
The Archetype Blendarama!
You, Dear Reader, may comment on any build at any time. I will be happy regardless.
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