CODE: BLUE
Created By: Tom DeFalco & Ron Frenz
First Appearance: The Might Thor #426 (Nov. 1990)
Role: Super-Police
Group Affiliations: The New York Police Department
PL 6 (82)
STRENGTH 2
STAMINA 3
AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 7
DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2
AWARENESS 3
PRESENCE 2
Skills:
Athletics 4 (+6)
Deception 3 (+5)
Expertise (Police Officer) 6 (+8)
Insight 2 (+5)
Intimidation 4 (+6)
Investigation 3 (+6)
Perception 3 (+6)
Stealth 1 (+5)
Technology 1 (+3)
Treatment 1 (+4)
Vehicles 2 (+6)
Advantages:
Benefit 1 (Police Officer), Equipment 4 (Police Gear), Improved Critical (Gun), Fast Grab, Ranged Attack 2
Equipment:
"Police Arsenal"
"Pistol" Blast 4 (8)
"Rifle" Blast 6 (12)
"Pepper Spray" Affliction 6 (Fort; Dazed & Hindered/Stunned & Defenseless) (Feats: Reach 2) (Extras: Extra Condition) (Flaws: Limited Degree) (8)
"Body Armour" Protection 1, Protection 2 (Flaws: Limited to Bullets) (2)
"Grenades" Blast 6 (Extras: Area- 15ft. Burst +1/2) (Diminished Range -1) (14)
"Baton" Strength-Damage +1 (1)
Regular Equipment: Handcuffs, Communications
Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Pistol +6 (+4 Ranged Damage, DC 19)
Rifle +6 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Pepper Spray +7 (+6 Affliction, DC 16)
Grenades +6 Area (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +4
Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +3 (+4 Armour, +6 to Bullets), Fortitude +4, Will +4
Complications:
Responsibility (The NYPD)
Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 30--15 / Advantages: 8 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 5 (82)
Code: Blue- Thor's Super-Cop Buddies:
-Code: Blue was a solid idea by Tom DeFalco, and seems inspired by the kind of stuff Mark Gruenwald thought about, re: How different would the world be with super-heroes in it, and how would people go about things? Gru often wrote stuff like The Avengers having a support staff (I mean, all that crap would require MAINTENANCE, right?), and DeFalco figured that NYC would eventually have to develop less-useless cops to deal with all the super-crime going around. DeFalco's
Thor run was... often uninspired, in my opinion. The few issues I've read were fairly dull stuff, and I REALLY thought his first issues on
Thunderstrike was sub-par. Eric Masterson was a decent character, I guess, but just didn't do much for me- but his "He's an everyday guy" thing had gotten pretty generic in comic books by that time in the early 1990s. Granted, I've never been that interesting in Thors of any type- even the great Walt Simonson run for me was basically Boring Thor & Boring Balder and their super-interesting supporting cast of awesome characters. It doesn't help that the dialogue was often bad, and the villains were really poor.
-Honestly, though, it's a really good idea to have guys like this. It makes sense in the context of their universe (cops getting sick of being scared off by villains making a team of SUPER-COPS), it makes for something other than "generic background police" in the books, AND it essentially gives the villain another Jobber to beat up on- because after all, these guys are still meant to LOSE. They're the Aldo Montoya to the regular police's Barry Hardy- they still job, but they're at least a recognizable NAME.
Code: Blue's Adventures:
-The team actually has a LOT of appearances, as DeFalco used them again and again as part of his
Thor/Thunderstrike run, trying to build up a solid supporting cast for his hero (years after I first did this build, Tom did a Panel at the Edmonton Comic Expo, and brought up how a Supporting Cast should always "inform upon at least one aspect of the main character"- I would imagine Code: Blue would reflect Eric's responsibility/law-abiding nature, as well as his comradery with allies). Code: Blue dealt with bureacracy (losing funding & being shut down once), losing to super-villains, and Jock's death in battle, while generally getting a lot of focus, judging by the relatively-large number of appearances they made according to the Official Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe. They also had minor team-ups with Night Thrasher, Moon Knight, Spider-Man and The Human Torch. They made WAY fewer appearances as soon as DeFalco departed Marvel, but pop up once or twice since the mid-'90s in the background, and appeared a bit in DeFalco's MC2 continuity. Their most recent appearance was in 2005, under Fabian Nicieza's
Thunderbolts run, so they're at least still around in some context, but only the major Continuity Nerd-type writers actually get involved with using them.
Code: Blue- Super-Jobbers:
-Code: Blue was a rag-tag band of multiracial extra-tough cops, but never really got any big wins that I could see. Their best showing was in seeing off The Wrecking Crew, who basically Teleported away when the team freed their hostage. Their history is REALLY not that impressive, as most villains laugh off their hardware as easily as they do regular cops, especially considering most of them are THOR foes- there's nothing they can really do to affect The Absorbing Man or Titania, though they DID arrest Demogoblin in one issue. 90% of the time, though, they just arrive to arrest somebody a real superhero has already defeated. PL 6 is pretty much good for the lot of them- slightly above your average Mook, but a joke to a real Super-Villain, who might only have trouble with them as a group (D'Spayre once effortlessly swatted the whole team aside).
Most members of Code: Blue fit the above template with a few modifications:
FIREWORKS (Daniel Fielstein)- PL 6 (92): Intelligence 5, Expertise 4 (Demolitions) (+8), Inventor, Equipment 6 (More Gear- Electrified Nets, Liquid Nitrogen Guns, etc.- mostly Snares & Weakens) [10]
-Fielstein is the Tech Guy, often coming up with inventions in mid-battle, like a liquid nitrogen gun to freeze & shatter a big guy's hand.
RIGGER (Margarita Ruiz)- PL 6 (93): Strength 4, Intelligence 3, Improved Hold, Power Attack, Expertise 6 (Weaponry) (+8), Technology 4 (+7), Inventor, "Bazooka" Blast 8, Ranged Attack 2 [11]
-AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW YEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH. Rigger was a HUGE, ripped chick who was basically the team Tough Guy. According to my cop friend, a lot of female cops act like this, though most of them are usually average-sized girls who learn an important lesson the first time a male suspect REALLY fights back. But not Rigger- she's the strongest member of her entire team (lower accuracy, but higher-damage weapons, too), and is also a capable builder and tech-spert. And looks WAY HOT in an Asgardian Uber-Cleaveage Dress.
MAD DOG (Julius Anthony Rassitano)- PL 6 (84): Fighting 6, "Sniper Rifle" Blast 6 (Feats: Extended Reach 2, Accurate) (Flaws: Distracting), Ranged Attack 4, Improved Aim, Precise Attack (Ranged/Cover) [2]
-As the Sharpshooter of the team, Mad Dog is a higher PL than the others, since in comic books, the sniper is always the best shot in the field as well as when sniping.
MOTHER (Samuel Majowski)- PL 6 (89): Agility 1, Intelligence 4, Expertise (Tactics) 6 (+8), Expertise (Computers) 9 (+13), Technology 4 (+8) [7]
-In one of those moves that seems utterly cliche and silly, one of the team is a paraplegic who is nonetheless a huge bad-ass (bios say he's a quadriplegic, but he's shown using his arms). He's also a tech-guy & hacker. Oddly, he hasn't been seen since 1995, while the rest of the team has.
JOCK (Andrew Jackson)- PL 6 (93): Agility 5, Fighting 9, Acrobatics 4 (+9), Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Hold, Takedown [11]
-A personal combat specialist (this means hand-to-hand fighting), Jackson died saving Thunderstrike from a villainess called Pandara.
CAPTAIN SHELLEY CONKLIN- PL 6 (78): Strength 1, Stamina 2, Agility 3, Fighting 5, Intelligence 3, Presence 3, Expertise (Police) 8 (+10), Investigation 4 (+8) [-4]
-Capt. Conklin is a desk-jockey in charge of the team, who only rare sees action in the field, but is still capable. She's smarter and more Skilled than the usual crew. Her husband was killed by The Thermal Man in the
Thunderstrike series. She hasn't been seen since then.
CHIEF O'GRADY- PL 6 (68): Strength 1, Stamina 2, Agility 2, Fighting 2, Intelligence 3, Presence 3, Expertise (Police) 8 (+10), Expertise (Politics) 4 (+8), Ranged Attack 0 [-14]
-O'Grady was in charge of Capt. Conklin, and was the liaison between Code: Blue and the city (ie. the Mayor's office). He was pretty much a background guy who did nothing physical- he never even got a first name!
DETECTIVE WARREN CURZON- PL 6 (76): Strength 1, Stamina 2, Agility 3, Fighting 5, Intelligence 3, Presence 3, Investigation 7 (+10), Equipment 2 (Less Gear) [-6]
-Curzon is a chain-smoking, alcoholic detective assigned to the team. Warren Ellis created him to be his typical "Smoking English Guy" character. While investigating Thor's disappearance, he came across The Enchantress, who vaporized him. A pretty short story arc, really.
LIEUTENANT MARCUS STONE- PL 6 (89): Presence 3, Expertise (Police) 8 (+10), Expertise (Botany) 4 (+6), Fearless, Leadership [7]
-Stone is the commanding officer of Code: Blue in the field, answering to the Captain and Chief. He'd actually debuted in Thor #404 in June 1989, so was part of DeFalco's run long before the others. Shockingly, he once defeated ULIK THE TROLL after the Rock Troll KO'd both Thor & Hercules- a lucky shot hit Ulik's temple, sending him off a building and through an electrical sign.
-A few other members showed up later as background guys, named Sarge, Rookie & Marty, plus another unnamed blond-haired guy.