Jab’s Builds! (Lawnmower Man! Samus Aran! Metroids!)

[bsdigitalq]

aahhhhh that makes sense. Casey's one of those guys I've mostly only heard about. I know a guy who LOVED this stuff- especially Mr. Majestic and WildCATS, which he segued into a Superman run. The rest of it's all TV stuff and creator-owned works.

That early Wildstorm stuff is pretty good, but right around the early 00s he seemed to get this huge bug up his butt, and now he's become a dime-store Grant Morrison with less drugs. A shame, as his WildCATS and Mr. Majestic books were genuinely good and fun.

[Batgirl III]

I don't think Marvel or DC allows "fun" in any of their books anymore.

[bsdigitalq]

I don't think Marvel or DC allows "fun" in any of their books anymore.

Well, this is about 15-20 years ago, and I think right around the time Wildstorm was sold off to DC. But the lack of fun in Joe Casey's comics post-Wildstorm seems more to do with pretensions of being an America Grant Morrison or indie wunderkind than anything else.

[Jabroniville]

Seriously- a SURFER super-hero. In *2001*.

SLIPSTREAM (Davis Cameron)
Created By: Chris Claremont & Salvador Larocca
First Appearance: X-Treme X-Men #6 (Dec. 2001)
Group Affiliations: X-Treme X-Men
Status: De-Powered but Alive
Role: Background Character, Team Teleporter
PL 7 (153)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+11)
Athletics 8 (+10)
Expertise (Surfer) 10 (+15) -- (Uses Agility)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 4 (+5)
Perception 4 (+4)

Advantages:
Attractive, Equipment (X-Men Uniform- Protection +1, Communications, Surfboard- Gains the Easy Teleport Feat), Ranged Attack, Set-Up, Teamwork

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Warp Wave Riding"
Teleport 12 (Feats: Change Direction, Change Velocity) (Extras: Extended, Easy, Portal +2) (Flaws: Easy is Limited to With Surfboard) [66]

"Super-Tracking Powers" Senses 5 (Teleportational Energy Senses- Acute & Exended 2, Direction Sense, Distance Sense) [5]

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +5

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +3 (+4 Uniform), Fortitude +5, Will +5

Complications:
Relationship (Storm)- No, SERIOUSLY.
Relationship (Lifeguard)- Davis is very close with his sister.
Responsibility (Normal Life)- Davis never wanted to be a mutant- indeed, he wasn't even SUPPOSED to be one- Sage jump-started some latent genetics he would've passed down to his kids and made him one instead. He doesn't respond well to this, nor the X-lifestyle.

Total: Abilities: 48 / Skills: 32--16 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 71 / Defenses: 13 (153)

-Um, yeah, never read this guy in a book, since I found X-Treme X-Men to be little more than a well-drawn Claremont Fanwank of the worst kind. Slipstream was a surfer dude (no really) that had a teleportation power and a surfboard to use it on (no really). Oddly specific, don't you think? I mean, who else develops a mutant power that just happens to require the very skill they've spent their entire life moving towards? He and his sister were discovered in Australia being attacked by the enemies of their father, a now-dead crimelord called The Viceroy. He's one of Claremont's favourite concepts- The Team Teleporter, allowing the gang to fly all over the world instantly without all that nasty exposition & justification (see: Magik, Lila Cheney, Gateway). X-fans basically dumped on the guy from day one, and he hasn't reappeared since he quit his X-team- he was confirmed as having lost his powers during M-Day.

-There's not a lot of info out there on this guy- for 2e, I just cribbed a bit from a Taliesin build (plus using the same "Super-Tracking" as Dawnstar). Stupid complex & obscure power-people. He's very weak, but he's the Team 'Porter, so he's not really there to kick ass.

[Jabroniville]

I don't think Marvel or DC allows "fun" in any of their books anymore.

Am I gonna have to recommend Dan Slott's Silver Surfer again? Dude just won his board, his Power Cosmic, his ability to use the letter "B" and his girlfriend's ability to see the color red in a poker game from The Grandmaster.

[M4C8]

THE SHADOWMASTERS (Manzo Ezaki, Yuriko Ezaki & Philip Richards)
Created By: Carl Potts & Dan Lawlis
First Appearance: Marvel Age #78 (Sept. 1989)
Role: Heroic Ninjas
Group Affiliations: The Shadowmasters

-Haha, WOW- never once even heard of these guys. The Shadowmasters were a band of Punisher allies during the late '80s, early '90s period when Ninjas were saturating everything. And hell- they got a push IMMEDIATELY- seems Marvel wanted to sell a Ninja-themed book good and regular, because they got a Limited Series only a month after their debut (I'm betting that Marvel wanted to use The Punisher's success as one of the hottest acts in comics to leapfrog The Shadowmasters into a hot-selling book).

-The Shadowmasters are an ancient clan meant to defend Iga Province against invaders- Shigeru Ezaki, one of the last of their clan, lost a wife to the American Atomic Bombs, but formed a friendship with Americans after Captain Richards, who'd been assigned to oversee Iga saved the life of Ezaki's son. Ezaki, began training his children Manzo & Yuriko, along with Captain Richards' son Philip, in the arts of Ninjitsu, and wanted them to oppose Umezu, an ultra-nationalist who wanted to form a cabal that would take control of Japan and return it to its Imperialist roots. Umezu and his Sunrise Society attack, killing Capt. Richards, and Ezaki himself dies in the final battle, in which the three Shadowmasters storm the base and fight off the Sunrise Society and an army of clones of Ezaki. Actually, that doesn't sound half-bad. Might not be half-GOOD either, but it's something.

-A resurgent Sunrise Society, now called The Eternal Sun, is active in New York, and the Shadowmasters, still in training, ally with The Punisher & Black Widow against them. Far as I can tell, there's only the three of them, but they have some allies who were also Punisher allies, like Hatsu & Katherine Yakamoto.

THE SHADOWMASTERS
PL 7 (119)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+13)
Athletics 8 (+10)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+10)
Deception 3 (+5)
Expertise (Ninja) 6 (+7)
Insight 4 (+6)
Intimidation 3 (+5)
Investigation 2 (+4)
Perception 5 (+7)
Ranged Combat (Ninja Weapons) 5 (+12)
Stealth 6 (+11)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, Chokehold, Defensive Attack, Equipment 2 (Ninja Gear), Evasion, Fast Grab, Grab Finesse, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Critical 2 (Sword, Unarmed), Improved Defense, Precise Attack (Close/Concealment), Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 7, Tracking

Equipment:
"Ninja Weapons" Sword +3, Shuriken +2, Chain +1- Reach 4, etc.

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Weapons +8 (+3-6 Damage, DC 18-21)
Shuriken +12 (+2 Ranged Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +9

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +4

Total: Abilities: 46 / Skills: 52--26 / Advantages: 23 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 14 (119)

-Amateur Ninjas, The Shadowmasters are PL 7 Elites, about equal to Elite Hand Ninjas.

The name 'Shigeru Ezaki' sounded familiar, so I looked it up, the Marvel character Mace who teamed up with Venom is an enhanced clone of him.

[M4C8]

Much as I love Iron Fist, Luke Cage and their Heroes for Hire book, Davos / Steel Serpent / Steel Phoenix shows kind of a flaw with the duo. Namely that they had REALLY crappy villains for the most part. I mean, outside of Davos and Sabertooth, Danny's next biggest villain was Master Khan, a sorcerer so generic Danny didn't even get to finish him off, Namor wound up taking him out.

It's a shame Immortal Iron Fist went the way it did, as it was setting Danny up to be a proper solo hero with his own mythos, and he just needed a some new quality villains to really cement that. Sadly, that never happened. Then again, much as I loved Danny and Luke, it was weird to have Iron Fist as a street level "hero for hire" type of guy, when his background would make you think he was designed specifically for the Avengers or Defenders.

A guy trained in a city of immortal martial arts masters to be a Living Weapon, one of the most dangerous martial artists on the planet, who slew a dragon in single combat to use it's magical life energy to enhance his chi to the point that he can actually do Street Fighter/Shonen chi techniques, his most prominent being a flaming, chi fueled punch of unbelievable power.

That's a more awesome origin than frickin Batman and he's rarely been used to his potential.

Aside from his terrible original costume, I've always liked IF and really enjoyed the push he got a couple of years ago (With a massive power/skill upgrade and the expanding of his background through the previous Iron Fist's and the Immortal Weapons) I hoped that he would finally become one of the top tier Marvel characters. Sadly that all seem to have been quickly forgotten and he's back to his former street level.

[BriarThrone]

Much as I love Iron Fist, Luke Cage and their Heroes for Hire book, Davos / Steel Serpent / Steel Phoenix shows kind of a flaw with the duo. Namely that they had REALLY crappy villains for the most part. I mean, outside of Davos and Sabertooth, Danny's next biggest villain was Master Khan, a sorcerer so generic Danny didn't even get to finish him off, Namor wound up taking him out.

It's a shame Immortal Iron Fist went the way it did, as it was setting Danny up to be a proper solo hero with his own mythos, and he just needed a some new quality villains to really cement that. Sadly, that never happened. Then again, much as I loved Danny and Luke, it was weird to have Iron Fist as a street level "hero for hire" type of guy, when his background would make you think he was designed specifically for the Avengers or Defenders.

A guy trained in a city of immortal martial arts masters to be a Living Weapon, one of the most dangerous martial artists on the planet, who slew a dragon in single combat to use it's magical life energy to enhance his chi to the point that he can actually do Street Fighter/Shonen chi techniques, his most prominent being a flaming, chi fueled punch of unbelievable power.

That's a more awesome origin than frickin Batman and he's rarely been used to his potential.

Aside from his terrible original costume, I've always liked IF and really enjoyed the push he got a couple of years ago (With a massive power/skill upgrade and the expanding of his background through the previous Iron Fist's and the Immortal Weapons) I hoped that he would finally become one of the top tier Marvel characters. Sadly that all seem to have been quickly forgotten and he's back to his former street level.

Hopefully the Netflix series will push Marvel to try to fulfill some of the promise the character has.

[Ares]

Yeah, and going the "F'd Up Mystical Weirdness" route was actually a big boost for him, as he was doing all kinds of crazy stuff. Shang-Chi has it a bit trickier...

But honestly, "Great Fighter Kicking Ass" is as popular as it ever was. So is Spy Stuff (which Shang-Chi sorta did/does) and more. Both could easily be fit into modern stuff without the genre trappings of old.

Indeed. I mean, while the martial arts fad of the 70s eventually went away, being replaced by the ninja fad of the 80s, martial arts films are still going strong today. I mean, hell, Donnie Yen is going to be a blind kung fu Force adept in the upcoming Star Wars movie. Shang and Danny do have a place, it's just a matter of anything else: getting the right people on the book. Immortal Iron Fist came out of nowhere to make Danny an Avengers level character for a while, it'd be easy enough to give the characters that kind of push again.

[Ares]

Aside from his terrible original costume, I've always liked IF and really enjoyed the push he got a couple of years ago (With a massive power/skill upgrade and the expanding of his background through the previous Iron Fist's and the Immortal Weapons) I hoped that he would finally become one of the top tier Marvel characters. Sadly that all seem to have been quickly forgotten and he's back to his former street level.

Danny's in one of those weird places where his original outfit is dated, but it's also iconic. His newer outfits have been fine to various degrees, but they often wind up being rather plain in comparison to his original, and all of them have covered up his dragon brand which was essentially his symbol.

I think the optimum idea is to go back and try to update the original outfit by going with the original premise. Danny's 70's costume was basically a martial arts gi that was turned into spandex, given a high collar and a yellow mask. I think making his current outfit resemble more of a traditional martial arts gi, but with a little stylings to add some K'un L'un flair to it, would work best. Something like this:



It keeps the feel and overall look of the original outfit without looking quite as dated.

Hopefully the Netflix series will push Marvel to try to fulfill some of the promise the character has.

I just hope we don't have a scene dedicated to making fun of Danny's original costume. Both Jessica Jones and Luke Cage have had scenes basically dedicated to making fun of superhero costumes and that annoys the heck out of me. I love the series otherwise, but those moments basically sound like someone going "Hah hah, comic book costumes are stupid, look how mature and cool I am by mocking them even while I make money off of said characters". Just really rubs me the wrong way.

I do hope we get something like a proper Iron Fist costume for Danny in the series, including the mask, and I hope he shaves that fuzz off his chin. Danny with any kind of facial hair just doesn't look right.

[Ares]

I don't think Marvel or DC allows "fun" in any of their books anymore.

Am I gonna have to recommend Dan Slott's Silver Surfer again? Dude just won his board, his Power Cosmic, his ability to use the letter "B" and his girlfriend's ability to see the color red in a poker game from The Grandmaster.

Okay, so that's ONE book out of a hundred or so.

[FuzzyBoots]

Also "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl"

[L-Space]

Spider-Man with Miles Morales had fun moments and harkens back to some classic Peter Parker problems. Though I haven't read any of the Civil War II tie-ins for him yet.

[badpenny]

Ed Brubaker is my favorite writer because he's rebooted several books that are my lasting faves: Catwoman (with Darwyn Cooke) and Immortal Iron Fist (with David Aja). He brought Bucky back on the Cap title and created Winter Soldier, which is how you resurrect a long dead character in a book and make it matter.

I feel like if they give Danny a costume on the Netflix show (at all), it'll be a "reward" at the end of the series like they did with DD. I don't mind the nod to the Silver Age costume conventions, and I don't feel they mocked it on Luke's show. They did on Jessica, but Jessica mocked it in her original book, so that was consistent for the character.

It's not like, for example, the first season of CW's Flash where Cisco got to name (and mock) all the Silver Age villain names. That put me off.

[Jabroniville]

SABRA (Ruth Bat-Seraph)
Created By: Bill Mantlo & Sal Buscema
First Appearance: The Incredible Hulk #250-51 (Aug. 1980)
Role: Nationalist Bitch
Country of Origin: Israel
Group Affiliations: The Mossad, X-Corporation
PL 10 (189)
STRENGTH 4/7 STAMINA 4/7 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills: 
Close Combat (Unarmed) 3 (+11)
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Mossad Agent) 8 (+11)
Insight 2 (+5)
Intimidation 2 (+5)
Investigation 5 (+8)
Perception 4 (+7)
Vehicles 2 (+4)

Advantages: 
Diehard, Great Endurance, Improved Aim, Languages (Various), Power Attack, Precise Attack (Ranged/Cover), Ranged Attack 8

Powers:
"Empower Others" Variable 5 (Extras: Any Power, Affects Others) (Flaws: Random Powers) (40) -- [41]

• AE: Enhanced Strength 3 (6), Enhanced Stamina 3 (6) -- (12)

Healing 4 (Feats: Stabilize) (Extras: Energizing) [13]

"Sabra Costume" (Flaws: Removable) [35]
Flight 6 (120 mph) (12)
Features 1: Auto-Pilot (can unconsciously fly to a given location) (1)
"Energy Quills" Affliction 10 (Fort; Fatigued/Exhausted/Paralyzed) (Extras: Ranged, Multiattack) (30)
-- (43 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Quills +10 (+10 Ranged Affliction, DC 20)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +7, Fortitude +6 (+9 Boost), Will +7

Complications:
Motivation (Israel's Defense)- Sabra is a proud Israeli, and an agent of it's government. She will occasionally reject orders, but is usually a loyal soldier.
Responsibility (Son's Memory)- Ruth's son was killed in a terrorist attack, and so she is rather unsympathetic to any Muslim's cause.

Total: Abilities: 60 / Skills: 30--15 / Advantages: 14 / Powers: 84 / Defenses: 16 (189)

-Sabra's kind of a hit-or-miss character, but we honestly see very, VERY little of her. She's kind of goofy at heart, being named after a "prickly pear" that's the symbol of the Israeli people, and she used to have a giant "jew-fro" and a big spiny cape (her modern appearance is more a "hot sorta-dark-skinned chick with short hair"). Her powers are kinda weird (she's part-brick, part-blaster), but her spy skills have often given her the edge. She's also been kind of a bitch in the various stories of her I've read, which is at least less stereotypical and CERTAINLY doesn't come across as pro-Israel (comics are odd in that they tend to fall into the "You're both pricks" line in the Arab-Israeli conflict, which is something I personally have a hard time disagreeing with. I take Israel's side OVERALL- given the lack of suicide bombings and what-not- but they are certainly hard to like). We'll probably never see more than a bit of her though, especially now that the Arab-Israeli conflict has accelerated and taken a more focal point in world politics. It's just too uncomfortable a subject for most people.

-Sabra is a police officer and agent for the Mossad, the legendary Israeli Secret Service- her first public act was to engage in battle with the Hulk (!!), after mistakenly thinking he was working with some Arab terrorists. A short while later, she popped up in Contest of Champions, engaging in some inter-team squabbling with The Arabian Knight, who refused to work with "a Jewess!" like her. Her appearances weren't common, but at some point she lost a son to a terrorist attack. She appeared in the Hulk book a couple more times until she showed up where *I* most remember her- as a short-haired Special Agent during Operation: Zero Tolerance, where she aided Iceman and some other X-Men. After this point, she kind of ceases to be a "Hulk Character", and instead pops up in background scenes related to the X-Men, or general Earth-based superheroes (such as during global events).

-Sabra's an expensive, powerful character, but still fits a PL 10 standard. She's a minature Flying Brick (less strong than most), in addition to a Device-given Ranged Affliction that Paralyzes, in addition to having the Multiattack Extra. Apparently she can ALSO Heal others, AND Empower them (while taking away a bit of her own abilities- therefore she has some boosted powers as an Alt-Effect of her Affects Others Variable thing), though I've never seen either ability in print.