Thinking Out Loud: Anarchist Super Heroes

So having covered some of the quagmire of what politics superheroes tend to represent previously, let's take a look at something closer to my home; Anarchist Superheroes. Are there any? Well, that's a little tricky, if I'm being honest, because Anarchism, as an ethos and political stance, can be a bit nebulous. Part of that is the "Left" just not being super intersectional, in that two people can call themselves Anarchists, but have different views on a couple of things and end up fighting. So let's consider the broader implications of contemporary Anarchism on this one, rather than breaking out the Bakunin. If I limit myself to wanting to eliminate nations and abolish government as we know it, I can actually find a character or two that fits the bill. First of all, characters that are merely anti-police or pro-socialism, like Alison Green or Invincible, are clearly not Anarchists, despite their Leftness, as they wish to reform the system, not demolish it. No we need someone who likes to smash, some kind of Hulk, perhaps?

Yeah, Immortal Hulk is our first stop, as he's probably the best example of both a character and a comic with a radical bent to it. Hell, Devil Hulk's (love the irony) main antagonist is the Roxxon corporation, run by a literal inhuman monster capitalist, like, it's not even subtext, it's just text that this billionaire is a monster that eats people and wants to destroy the world. And Hulk openly states that he wants to end human civilisation, though not humanity, to save the planet before it's too late; it's a far cry from Iron Man thinking that getting cell phones into Africa will solve any of the world's problems. Of course, the other name everyone is going to think of is V, the masked revolutionary of V for Vendetta, an avowed anarchist who's sign is an inverted Anarchy symbol. V is actually a great example of the problems with contemporary Anarchism, especially in the graphic novel, where V undertakes his crusade with no consideration for how the people of England will react or be affected by his actions. Certainly not an intersectional Leftist.

V is problematic because he is also out for specific revenge and isn't really particularly humanist whilst he's going about destroying the system. Even in the film, V performs some pretty dark acts in order to achieve his goals which are, arguably, not redeemed by his death. My favouite at the moment is Karli Morganthau and the Flag-Smashers from The Falcon and The Winter Solider, who are not only intersectional Anarchists, but, during "The Blip", actually got to live in a border-less society with universal housing, healthcare and support; no wonder they're prepared to fight to get that back. And the programme doesn't frame them as outright villains! That's amazing, given that a good 150+ years of propaganda has made the word Anarchy synonymous with 'lawlessness', which, you know, it just isn't, Anarchism just has different methods of law-keeping. Yes, Karli turns to violence and murder as she escalates, but that is responsive behaviour to the arrival of Captain America and her friends being attacked. She's not perfect, but just seeing an Anarchist be presented as a reasonable and logical person is pretty unique, and I really enjoyed it.

Yet more Superhero Online Comics to read (if you like that sort of thing)

Lately, I've gotten back into reading some more indy comics, as I found I was hitting the Marvel pretty hard and little else. The great thing about the internet age is that independent producers can do their own thing with minimal overhead, which can lead to some unique voices getting out in a crowded market. Not everything below is perfect, but there is more than enough good there to make it at least checking out for a few pages. Best of all, these are free, so you can get your supers fix guilt and cash free.

Empowered (Ongoing)

Created by Adam Warren (of Marvel and DC fame), Empowered is the story of Empowered ("Emp" to her friends), and this Dark Horse indy darling is available to read for free at empoweredcomic.com Sold as "a sexy superhero comic" the art and content of Empowered do tend more towards the adult and erotic, but there is a lot of really smart content beneath all the bondage and semi-nudity. Emp may be the holder of incredible power, but the suit which grants her power is linked to her self-esteem, which is usually pretty fragile. Add in some great supporting characters like Ninjette and Thugboy and Empowered treads the same line as Invincible in making the setting feel huge without a lot of extra continuity to follow. Just a warning that some of the sexual and violent content (as well as some sexual violence, sadly) can get reasonably intense on occasion, so maybe don't go reading this one at work?

Edison Rex (On Hiatus)

Essentially based entirely on the premise "what if Lex Luthor was right?", Edison Rex is still a pretty interesting read, even if the opening chapter is in too much of a rush to get there. I'll admit that I was a little disinterested at first, with every character and beat feeling like a "not brand-x" version of DC Comics, but as the comic goes on and finds its voice, I became interested in the protagonist and his world. Nothing I read in Edison Rex was all that brilliant on its own, but everything was at least competent and well-presented, which kept me engaged and let the unique ideas stand out. It's like how Irredeemable works when it plays things a little generic, but gets bogged down in characters, so becomes something more than a basic Superman riff. Edison is interesting enough that I enjoy the clever metafiction that is happening, rather than being a brilliant comic universe of its own. That said, I will 100% be adding the villain "Maul Santa" (something of a Joker/Green Goblin riff) to my collection and Ultimate Alliance games.

Spinnerette (Ongoing)

Man, I'm getting old, I remember reading Krazy Krow's webcomics in high school, now I discover he's been doing this for years? Ok, I read 8 Bit Theater and then went on to Atomic Robo, but I knew about that one for a while before I started reading it. Spinnerette is one of those internet-born entities that has a huge and devoted fanbase that I wouldn't want to piss off, and I do get why. Whilst I, personally, only enjoy Spinnerette as an occasional distraction to binge out a few issues of, it has a delightfully silly charm that really draws the reader in. Sadly, unlike Empowered, not everything is on the website, with some stories only in the print comics which can be limited run, so I'm not completely up on ever aspect of Spinnerette and don't think I'll be bothering with it as anything more than a distraction. That said, should 3D printing facilitate my getting a Spinnerette and Mecha Maid, I won't say no to adding them to my Ultimate Alliance roster.


Magellan (On Hiatus)

A long-running comic that I only recently discovered by accident, Magellan takes place at the titular superhero academy and reads something like a cross between X-Men and the old Star Fleet Academy books (or maybe Harry Potter? Not sure, never really got into them). Although there are broader superhero teams, drama and action, everything tends to come back to the cadets and how they're navigating the world of becoming a professional superhero. Having started way back in 2004, Magellan does seem a little "of its time" to begin with, but like many internet productions, picks up in quality once the writer and artist have had time to develop skills. Much like Edison Rex, there's not too many characters here that I'm keen enough on to want miniatures of, as many are a tad generic, but it is nice to see more Australian superheroes than you normally do, even if far too many of them are still Australian "themed" for no real reason. Seriously, we have culture beyond native animals and famous tropes, no reason we can't just have an Iron Man or Martian Manhunter, you know?

Superhero Media: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Black Dossier

The oft-overlooked third entry in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Black Dossier is a collection of shorter narratives, filling in the gaps of the setting somewhat, covering from the end of the nineteenth century through to the 1950s. Some of these details would be further illustrated later in the Century series, but for a long time, Black Dossier is all fans had to continue the story. The story covers Alan and Mina, returning to England after the fall of INGSOC, uncovering and reading the titular Black Dossier, a report gathered on their own activities. Trying to apprehend Alan and Mina are James Bond, Emma Peel and Bulldog Drummond, because, being a The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen book, Black Dossier is just packed with references to anything and everything from The Tempest to Fireball XL5. Black Dossier is probably one of the best examples of what Alan Moore is capable of as a writer, because, unlike other entries in the series, it is mostly prose, with little in the way of traditional comic panels. 

The Black Dossier of the story contains reports, extracts and novellas that mention the various incarnations of the League, from the original Prospero's Men, through to the Alan, Mina, Orlando triad. In doing so, Moore gets to flex his literary skills, writing in the styles of Shakespeare, PG Wodehouse and Jack Kerouac, to name a few, and mostly getting it pretty right; making Black Dossier a treat for Literature Graduates like me, but tending to turn off the more casual fans. I'm thrilled personally by more detail on the Hommes Mysterieux, the French answer to the League and an almost certain future wargames project for me, featuring Jean Robur, the Nyctalope, Arsene Lupin, Zenith and Fantomas. Whilst not as overall effective as the first Murray League, the Hommes Mysterieux kick the crap out of the version later seen in 1910 and may be the only superhero team comprised of criminals and serial killers that I actually enjoy reading; excepting some incarnations of the Thunderbolts. 

What Black Dossier tends to remind me of, even more than other comics, is a sourcebook for a roleplaying setting, the kind of strange yet endearing indy game that was everywhere in the 2000s where the books are collections of articles and diary entries rather than straightforward explanations of the setting. If The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a setting you'd like to try gaming in, Black Dossier is one of the best places to start, as it covers the broader timeline of the series better than most entries, and lets a shocking amount of popular culture bleed in, unifying much of it through the "hub" of the Blazing World. There are even some superheroes, mostly from the Golden Age, like The Angel and the Woman In Red, if that's the path you want to go. For an indy comic by one of the medium's great auteurs, Black Dossier creates a whole sprawling universe to rival even Marvel 616 or the DC Multiverse, with immortals, super spy agencies and underground cities galore, just ripe for your teams and/or players to explore and adventure through.

Miniatures Finished - 11/04/2021

Now that I'm running games at work regularly, I'm having to focus on Star Wars and 40k, so actually getting enough Supers done for one of these posts is pretty rare for the time being.

Kisa: I sold off my D&D Boardgames, so I needed a new panther to follow Jedda Walker around. Technically, this is also a D&D figure, but panthers are shockingly rare in 28mm. Wizkids.

Stardust: Big thanks to Attica Games for not only making this miniature, but for giving me a sweet deal on buying some. Get ready for plenty of games featuring Fletcher Hanks' most unique creation, Stardust the Super Wizard. Attica Games.

V: Replacing my own dodgy conversion, this version is alright, but the static pose makes it lose a little. Still, I'm not complaining for a couple of GBP. Minifigs.

Owlman: Not a character I was champing at the bit for, but this figure is really nice, especially for Heroclix, so now I need to work it into games. Maybe some kind of Crisis? Heroclix.

Venogoblin: Home-brew Marvel character for a Spider-Man Ultimate Alliance Mini-Campaign I'm working on and should have more details of soon. Essentially a version of Norman Osborn who mixed symbiote with his Goblin Formula and it went about as well as you'd expect. Converted Heroclix.

Spider-Slayer: Well, how else was I going to get J Jonah Jameson on my wargames table? One of those strangely iconic Spider-Man villains that never really shows up now that the Silver Age is over, I honestly wouldn't mind seeing one in a movie, with JK Simmons' face on the screen. Heroclix.

Miniatures Finished: Who's Doctor Who?

In an attempt to keep my painting on theme, I decided that I really needed to paint the last of my current batch of Doctor Who characters. I need to get the rest of the classic Doctors I'm missing and a few more companions so that I can start running some games with these.

Grimjack: Not strictly a "Doctor Who" figure, but I couldn't find a 6th for this post. Also not a character I'm huge on, but I've actually had requests for him in games since I started doing this, oddly enough. Minifigs

Absolom Daak: A character originating in the comics, Daak is the universe's greatest Dalek hunter, part machine and all violence. It's actually a tad odd for the series, but once I saw that I could actually buy him as a miniature, I had to have one. Minifigs

The 4th Doctor: I've had this miniature since 2013, but have put off painting it because the scarf was too intimidating. One evening, I just sat down with a sharp brush and a lot of colours and got it done. I'm not sure of the make as I bought it second hand, but I suspect Harlequin or even Games Workshop.

Death's Head: Did you know that cult Marvel character Death's Head appeared regularly in the 1990s Doctor Who comics? Well now you do. I'm not sure what scenario I'll be using him in, but he may also appear in some Sci-Fi skirmish games as a Bounty Hunter/Mercenary. Heroclix

Doctor Who: From the 1960s "Dalek" films, as portrayed by Peter Cushing, this version of the character is a human inventor, rather than a Time Lord. This was another case of me deciding to buy a figure when I found out it existed. Minifigs 

Romana 1: A lucky find at a swap meet, this first Romana incarnation is an excellent addition to my small collection of companions. Though only useful for 4th Doctor games, I really like the character, so it will probably see some use. Unknown manufacture, I suspect Games Workshop.

The LXG Cinematic Universe

Ok, this one will be something of a "broad strokes" approach, as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is already a bricolage of other works loosely held together with narrative, so it doesn't really need any help in that regard. Since writing about both the divisive Sean Connery film and and the cult Alan Moore comics on this blog, I have been surprised to learn just how devoted some fans are to the film and how genuine the regret that it never spawned a sequel is. Whilst I'm not enthused to the same level as some, I do regard the LXG film in a more positive light than most and perfectly understand the desire for that bit more of a media that you love, so here's my short list of suggestions to get you going in that direction. For the sake of brevity, I'll be looking at film and television that features the main cast of LXG, rather than branching out into the broader world presented by the comics, but by all means check out some classic Fireball XL5 or The Avengers (the British television version) if you are so inclined.

So we're all pretty much agreed that the 1992 Bram Stoker's Dracula is about the best film version of the story, right? Yes both versions of Nosferatu are also excellent, but as far as a straight adaptation goes, Francis Ford Coppola got it bang on, with the right amount of sex and gore to slide into LXG with minimal effort. Personally, I have fond memories of the 1997 Mini-Series of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea starring Michael Caine as Captain Nemo, but that could be down to a particular scene in which Caine beats Brian Brown savagely. Certainly, Caine bears little resemblance to an exiled Indian prince, but most adaptations of the original text have this issue. In the 1980s, Richard Chamberlain did a couple of Alan Quartermain films that are about as good as one may expect, but still lean heavily on Colonial assumptions and can be a little uncomfortable to watch in these, somewhat more enlightened, times. '90s Kids will remember Jonathan Taylor Thomas, well he did a Mark Twain adaptation entitled Tom and Huck, which I haven't seen, but honestly looks pretty pedestrian. 

Ok, who's left? Well, Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde have been adapted only less frequently than Sherlock Holmes and Dracula, but there hasn't really been a good modern version, and the 1931 film tends to still be the best option, if it is a little hokey by today's standards. Similarly, Claude Rains  is about as good an Invisible Man that you're likely to find in the correct cultural milieu, even if the character isn't quite the same. There is a 2009 film, Dorian Grey which is, honestly, a train wreck, but I feel that suits the tone of the version presented in LXG? Shall we not bother with Moriarty? I mean, for tone the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes series is appropriate, but he's such a non-entity in LXG that I bet you can't even remember who kills him in the finale. Alright, enough of this nonsense, on to the regular nonsense we concern ourselves with around here. 

Thinking Out Loud: The Universe of Alan Moore

I was reading The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Century 2009 recently, and there were a few panels of Mina and Orlando waiting to meet Norton, the Prisoner of London and the background displays some highly-militarised Bobbies that looked so familiar that I just knew I'd seen them elsewhere. Now, almost everything in the Century books is a reference to something, so that's not really a huge revelation, but this one twigged something deep in my memory, so I had to go digging. I'd been on a bit of an Alan Moore kick lately, so thankfully I didn't have to go through much to find what I was looking for, a bound edition of Marvel UK's Captain Britain. Without going into a major history of Marvel UK and the stuff they were doing in the 1970s and '80s, whilst many of the stories published are considered to be canonical with the 616 Universe, being a smaller and semi-independent operation, they were able to get away with quite a bit. For example, did you know that in the 616 universe, Great Britain entered a fascist dictatorship for a little bit in the 1980s, where mutants and superheroes were put in concentration camps, but no one other than the victims remember it? 

Not only was that a thing that happened in the pages of Captain Britain, and was the origin of his future wife Meggan, but there were some distinctive Dystopian Militarised Bobbies pushing mutants and other "undesirables" around. Ok, so 1984(ish) and 2009 are a little far apart, and Moore is famous for nothing if not using other people's ideas in new and interesting ways, but it got me thinking how "linked" Moore's work may actually be. A lot can be discounted quickly, like V for Vendetta, Watchmen and even From Hell (in the LXG books, Jack the Ripper is also Mac the Knife), also probably anything that happened in the DCU, although I love the idea of Swamp Thing being part of the Blazing World. Moore got his start in comics writing Doctor Who for Radio Comics, writing adventures for the First Doctor, who also appears in Century 2009, in the same scene as the armoured police, so it's possible that there is a cannonical link there, in the same way the Marvel UK comics from the 1980s are connected to the Transformers comics as well as the broader Marvel 616 continuity. 

Much like my previous, "Crafting the Hellboy Cinematic Universe" article, this isn't so much about solid links across diverse media as it is just taking a look at what the options are and having a bit of a think about it. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series is already awash in crossovers and references to anything and everything that engages Moore's interests (24, Little Britain and Harry Potter being some of the more unexpected ones), so cramming more in there is probably a waste of time, but it's kind of my thing and I can't help myself. I haven't read Lost Girls yet, does that work? I'm pretty sure half of those girls died in LXG, but it may be worth a look. Alan Moore himself appeared as an "Anarchist Wizard" in a Hellblazer comic, so does he exist somewhere, probably in a pub? Man, now I want an Alan Moore mini for my modern horror/urban fantasy/superheroes stuff, that would be cool. Something else I need to hunt down, I guess, so look out for that at some stage.

Superhero Media: The Umbrella Academy - Season 2

Either I wasn't paying too close attention to the first season of The Umbrella Academy, or the programme got enough better in season two to become what is honestly one of the best superhero television productions ever. Fleeing the apocalypse after having rescued Vanya, Klaus, Luther, Diego, Ben, Allison and Number Five find themselves in 1963 Dallas, days before the assassination of JFK. Spread out over a few years, Five has to get the family back together, prevent another potential apocalypse and find a way for them all to get back to 2019. The series opens with a full-blown World War III happening days after the assassination, 1960s era Soviet soldiers fight their way down a Dallas street until they hit the Umbrella Academy at full force, in one the the best soldiers vs superheroes sequences since the first Captain America film. The action is lighter on and more "low-rent" in the rest series until the finale, but this draw-in moment, plus a perfectly-executed engagement curve, shows just how much care and intelligence have gone into The Umbrella Academy. 

There are problems with the series, like The Handler and The Commission not really being all that engaging a set of antagonists without Hazel and Cha-Cha to front them, though I do like the introduction of Lila and hope she plays a bigger role in future seasons. I've been watching the Fox X-Men films at around the same time I was working through this series, and it's amazing that ten episodes of The Umbrella Academy do more with their time-displaced setting than several whole feature films. Whilst in 1963, the Hargreeves family confront issues of systemic racism and segregation, engage with the free love movement and combat conservative attitudes against homosexuality. One of the best moments comes when Allison is trying to convince her husband to travel to 2019 with her and she has to confront how slow the march towards equality has been for African Americans. It's a humbling moment for anyone watching, which is too soon undercut by a drunken Klaus. Also, how good is it that Ellen Page gets to finally play a queer character? Been way too long. 

As I mentioned in my season one review, I couldn't get into The Umbrella Academy comics when they were handed to me by a friend years ago, and as much as I'm enjoying this series, I don't think I'll be picking them up anytime soon. For some reason, this version has resonated with me and I'll be sticking to it for a while, maybe I'll look at the comics again when the series is finished. If I wasn't snowed under with lots of films and programmes to watch, I'd be tempted to go back to the first season of The Umbrella Academy and see how I felt about it now, but that's unlikely to happen any time soon. At the time of writing (August 2020), Mantic is preparing a Kickstarter for a The Umbrella Academy board game, complete with 32mm miniatures, but as they're modeled on the comic version, I think I'll be giving them a miss for the moment. I'm not honestly sure that I need all of the Hargreeves siblings on my gaming table, as their powers aren't as interesting as the characters, but a version of the younger heroes in domino masks and school uniforms could be interesting. Great superhero roleplaying fodder in this series though.

Superhero Media: V for Vendetta (2006)

It's been quite a while since I reviewed the graphic novel, so I really probably left V for Vendetta a little long, but by Odin's beard, this is a great film. Dropping some of the more absurd elements of the comic, condensing the story and updating it, V for Vendetta is slick, fun and still manages to be really smart in a lot of places. As an anarchist myself, I definitely identify more with the V of the film than the comics, as there is a lot more focus on the people of England coming around to a more humanistic point of view and deciding to change, rather than being forced. Not that I'd recommend V for Vendetta, in any form as a grounding text for contemporary anarchist thought, check out The Accidental Anarchist for that. Back to this amazing film, how good is the cast? Rather than populating the leads with Hollywood actors, only Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman aren't major fixtures of British film and television, and both manage their accents and mannerisms perfectly. Hell, just how good is Weaving to get all that emotion through a mask and gloves for the entire film? 

There is a reliance on style and theme in V for Vendetta that can weaken the impact on subsequent viewings, for example, V's plan depends on everything going exactly the way he predicted, but I feel that viewing it as some kind of "grounded thriller" is missing the point. V for Vendetta needs to be at least somewhat "over the top", as telling a straight story about violently resisting fascism gets weirdly ignored, just like in real life, where people seem to think ANTIFA is a terrorist organisation, despite being anti-terror and not really an organisation in the political sense. Sorry about that, but I stumbled across a Hard-Right reading of V for Vendetta whilst researching it online and I'm both baffled and furious that V, who is a minority put into a death camp by a fascist military dictatorship and carves an inverted Anarchism symbol into a propaganda poster, is somehow resonating with morons who think universal health care is communism. Maybe we do need a humanist revolution after all... 

Probably my favourite part of V for Vendetta that people seem to forget is the Stephen Fry sequence where he's hosting a campy variety show and they run a little pantomime number with both Hugo Weaving and John Hurt. This is the kind of fun that doesn't seem to make it into too many American action films, even factoring in the lack of a panto tradition in the USA. I think those who didn't grow up with the level of exported British television that I did aren't always aware that essentially every British actor has done some combination of Shakespeare, Pantomime, Doctor Who and/or Midsummer Murders; it's actually a fun drinking game to take a shot every time an actor in a new programme has been killed in Midsummer Murders. That V for Vendetta is destined for Cult Classic status is obvious, but I think it deserves more than that, as a film, it's slick, smart and carries a humanist message that is pretty rare for big blockbusters.

Fantasy Football III

Remember that I said I wanted these lists to have more Indy characters? Well, I guess Anime will have to suffice, as that's what I've been watching of late. I've never really been one of those guys (and it's pretty much always guys) that is into "Anime" as a genre; I watch what looks interesting to me, or what is considered influential, but that's about it, much the same way I treat all other media. Whilst I'll admit that there is an element of cultural difference that can stymie my enjoyment of Anime, a lot of it is just the domination of "Shonen" style storytelling, like, I'm sure One Piece is really good once you get into it, but I don't feel like committing the time to it when other things are gaining my interest. Enough about me though, let's get to another of these stupid lists my friends keep asking about!


Carter Greyson 

Whilst I wasn't taken enough with Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue to want to watch a lot more Power Rangers, Carter Greyson was a sight to behold. An experienced Firefighter with a proclivity for gun-play, Carter is best known for charging in head-first to dangerous situations and somehow coming out on top. Carter is truly heroic, in or out of the red spandex, ending the series running off to the next disaster, even without his powers, though he seems to still have them in Forever Red. I don't so much see Carter as a great leader, but an excellent NCO, at the head of a strike or response team that needs to get the job done, more of a Captain America type than a mastermind like Nick Fury.


Eraser Head

No, not the excellent David Lynch film, but a semi-retired superhero turned teacher from My Hero Academia, Shota Aizawa is a great team pick not so much for his power, which is middling, but for how well he can use it. Eraser Head can "switch off" the powers of anyone in his line of sight, so long as they stay within his visual range and he doesn't blink; just how much powers can be turned off is nebulous, but still pretty useful. To make the most of his power, Eraser Head has trained himself to not blink and has costume elements that enable him to entangle depowered foes, as well as wearing goggles that made it hard for opponents to see where his gaze is at. In addition to his own skills, Eraser Head has an excellent lateral intelligence, able to help others find new and different ways to use their powers as well.


Kaoru Hanayama 

Whilst it would be a stretch to cover Baki in a "Superhero Media" article, the fighters portrayed therein are certainly near-superhuman in their strength and endurance. Although a member of the Yakusa and a criminal, Kaoru Hanayama is possessed of a rigid code of conduct that sees him defend police against the onslaught of mass-murderer Spec, even at the cost of his own face. Unlike many of the fighters in Baki, Hanayama is untrained, a brawler who relies on his incredible strength and high pain tolerance to win through against more skilled opponents. I'm not the kind of person that thinks a team really needs a "brutal" character like Wolverine or Peacemaker, but Hanayama would certainly be an excellent pick for that kind of role.


Qubit

A super-genius with an affinity for machines, Qubit is perhaps the most interesting character of BOOM! series Irredeemable, able to turn any device into anything else with only his mind. A pacifist who wields world-ending power through his "tele-portals", Qubit's optimism hides a viscous streak that few will push him far enough to see, let alone survive. Qubit is something of a chess player, working ahead of those around him with the end, not the means, foremost in his mind, always trying hard to make the best outcome happen, whilst planning contingencies. In the end, Qubit saves his world, getting a better outcome than any could have hoped for, and he walks away without the credit, because all he's done is his job; be a hero. Qubit doesn't just bring his prodigious intellect to a team, but also mobility through his tele-portals and a solid morality that some heroes lack.


Ultraman (Shinjiro)

Ok, yes, I'm sold on Ultraman now, and Shinjiro is a solid character with a lot to admire. Thrust into the role of planetary defender by destiny, this young man is learning as he goes, rather than being the best from the start. Not wanting to kill where he doesn't have to, Shinjiro's natural talents in the armour make him more "powerful" than the other Ultramen, but we see that power doesn't necessarily translate to efficacy. Much like Supergirl being more engaging than Superman because she has to struggle, Shinjiro is on the way to becoming an excellent hero, which means growing not only in power, but in maturity and wisdom. One of the greats in the making. 

From the Archives - 19

Ok, I think this should be the last one for a while. It's amazing how long it took to catalog all of the supers minis I have, I really need a better system for storing them so that I can keep track of what's where.

Venom: I may really not be a fan of the character, but if you have Spider-Man you need the iconic villains. This version has a good presence and size for a very '90s look. Heroclix. 

Mister Hyde: Last of my League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the outsize top-hat leans Hyde towards the film rather than the comic, but I love the character of the piece. Wyrd. 

Mk I Iron Man: I wasn't going to have too many different Iron Man suits but I opened this one in a booster and couldn't resist painting it up. Heroclix. 
 

Kyurem: I think this figure came in a box of cards I bough back when I ran Pokemon League at work? I know it was a while ago because of the square base, from a short-lived Dungeon Crawl project. Toy. 

Thor: Before the MCU film, there was only a couple of looks to choose from for Thor, so I went with this more armored version, which I still really like, though most people aren't big fans. Heroclix. 

Rhino: Pretty sure this is one of the oldest Heroclix I own, in that it was part of my original collection, back when I played. The paint work on it is pretty old too, I probably should update it. Heroclix. 

Superhero Media: Men In Black III

From what I'd heard, Men In Black III was the return-to-form for the series, and I guess that's true, but then my contention becomes that perhaps the series wasn't all that good to begin with. Seemingly wanting to erase all memory of Men In Black II, the third installment begins with Jay and Kay still partners and Jay being treated like the "new kid" despite more than a decade with the agency. Before you can say "out of ideas", a brilliant actor is cast as a creepy alien and a chase across New York has begun, with Jay having to go back in time to save Kay from an untimely death. Men In Black III is a tad more fresh than its predecessor, in that it doesn't rely on repeating all of the jokes of the original, but this also manages to date it, with the world of 2012 being quite a ways different from the world of 1997. Yes, we need to talk about racism, sorry. The main "joke" of the MIB series has always been based on immigration, framing extraterrestrials as foreigners, and it does work, but post Trayvon Martin, the jokes just aren't as funny anymore. For example, a "Chinese" chef having to put on a dodgy accent in order to engage with customers is, perhaps, not the best look.

It's pretty clear that Men In Black III is looking for nostalgia hits and to kick-start a new franchise, MCU-style, with Jay at the centre as some kind of "chosen one". You see, in the finale, Jay's father sacrifices himself to save Kay, who then takes the child Jay under his wing. Sure, that's an idea, I guess, but my big question is why? This twist in Jay's origin doesn't add anything to the character, who was intentionally something of a blank slate to begin with, and with no more films in the franchise, it doesn't go anywhere, it just hangs like a bloody stump. I get the feeling that the studio was expecting for Men In Black III to be a big enough hit to launch a new series of films, with new supporting cast being introduced, the setting being expanded and the introduction of time travel. Sadly, MIB just doesn't seem to be the kind of setting that Hollywood can manage to spin into an ongoing franchise, as easy at it looks on paper. I think, to date, only the Godzilla/Monarch Cinematic Universe has gotten this right, keeping the monsters, but changing up the cast with each new film. 

So is there anything left in the MIB tank? Yes and no. We'll get to MIB International in time, but the premise is workable, even if it's only worked once. Taking a risk would, oddly, probably be the best approach at this stage, cut the budget to the bone and get some up-and coming comics to take a spin. How about the Lonely Island as Men In Black, or Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as "affirmative action" WoMen In Black? Hell, make it an Amazon Women On The Moon style anthology film with sketches of different comedians and actors dealing with aliens, there's got to be enough there for ninety minutes of laughs. Ok, now I want to see Anna Kendrik and Elizabeth Banks in suits running the Immigration Desk at MIB headquarters, trying to be as polite as possible in trying circumstances. There's something there, right? Or do we just let this one go already?

Superhero Media: Hellboy II The Golden Army

I love Hellboy II, perhaps even more than the original. Yes, the tone lightens somewhat and there's more comedy, but heaven forbid that superhero films be fun to watch, right? Following on from the first film, the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense is continuing to operate as normal, though Hellboy is trying harder and harder to breach the veil of secrecy and engage with the human world. In this, Hellboy his repeatedly clashing with Special Agent Manning, with whom Abe Sapien has developed a rapport, but the real strain is on Hellboy's relationship with Liz Sherman. Meanwhile, the exiled Fae prince Nuada is closing in on the missing pieces of the clockwork crown that will enable him to raise the Golden Army and wage war on the human world. Whereas Hellboy featured Pulp Nazis and Eldritch Horror, Hellboy II dips into Celtic myth and changeling lore, which can be a little jarring for those expecting more of the same, but gives Del Toro and crew plenty of opportunity for some great creative work. 

Sequences like the Troll Market and the Seelie Court show off what a great team can do with a mix of practical effects and CGI and why the best results come from using both. Del Toro definitely brought the chops his team grew on Pan's Labyrinth and blew it up with all the colour and flair that the superhero genre allowed. The White Wolf World of Darkness game, Changeling: The Dreaming, about fae, looks to be, on the surface, the most hopeful and light in the setting, but on closer examination, is about the slow but certain death of dreams an imagination. Shades of that tragic tone are woven into Hellboy II, with every move that the BPRD makes against Nuada resulting in something magnificent being lost for all time; the Forest God fight makes me want to pick up an Age of Sigmar Treelord Ancient model to battle my new Hellboy stuff at some stage. Add in Johann Krauss, one of my favourite characters from the comics, voiced by Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane, and Hellboy II is a joy to watch. 

When I read criticisms of Hellboy II that aren't "it's not the original" (seriously?), they tend to relate to the tone, which, I'll admit, can feel a little muddled. Hellboy and "His Death" draw heavily on Christian myth, clashing somewhat with the Fae and Celtic elements, but Hellboy and his world have always been a bricolage of themes, which is part of why it's so unique and interesting. The set-up for the third film which never came makes me wistful every time I see it, wondering what could have been and how Liz's choice would have come to haunt her. The real shame is that there is really no series like Hellboy around anymore, sub-par reboot notwithstanding, the design, characters and world are utterly unique and bring something to the genre that Marvel and DC don't. Yes, I think Del Toro and Mignola need to come back to the series, maybe not do a "Hellboy III", but there is plenty of room to explore the setting, be it through the B.P.R.D. or even other characters like The Visitor or Ben Daimo. I really hope this isn't the last we see of this fantastic world.

From the Archives - 15

I was worried all of these would be repainted Heroclix, but looks like I've stumbled on the stash of metal at long last.

Bateu: Painted after his Stand Alone Complex design, I'm a little disappointed this member of Public Security Section 9 is without his "Standard Issue Big Gun", but the action pose is great. Converted Hasslefree. 

Mole Man: On day I realised I had a bunch of giant monsters, but no one to lead them. Thankfully I found Mole Man gathering dust in a box of spare miniatures. Heroclix. 

Conner MacLeod: I honestly forgot I had this miniature, I think I got him in a Kickstarter? Anyway, a sword-wielding immortal is certainly super enough for my games. Studio Miniatures. 
 

Punisher: Yes, there's better, metal, "not-" versions of this character available, but I love the posing on this one and the skull detailed vest is very cool. Heroclix. 

Mina Murray: I wish the dress were a little more modest, and the sword makes no sense, but finding a decent mini of Mina is pretty tricky, so this one will do for now. Ironclad. 

Captain Nemo: Ok, so I went with this "younger" Nemo because I had plans of doing a Nemo-theme army for the steampunk miniatures battle game GASLIGHT, but the player base died away and it never went anywhere. Still a nice model I feel no need to replace, though. Reaper. 

Superhero Media: Men In Black II

Yes, Men In Black II is not a very good film, I don't think anyone really wants to debate that, even if they enjoy it on some level. The setting of the original Men In Black opened up almost endless opportunity for storytelling, with a universe of colourful aliens and an international team of agents operating in secret to protect the Earth. Sadly, this is a Hollywood production, so the only option for a new story is to retread the old one. What bugs me most about Men In Black II is that there's a great cast backing up a terrible script, but they can't do anything with it, which, implies to me, bad direction and too much studio oversight. Seriously, how bad of a job do you have to do to make David Cross, Tony Shalhoub, Patrick Warburton, Lara Flynn Boyle, Rosario Dawson, Rip Torn, Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith uninteresting to watch for ninety minutes? Well, you retread the last film, including all of the jokes, and fail to innovate at all. 

There are good moments in Men In Black II, but in the kind of way that a good Saturday Night Live sketch will endure, rather than being genuinely good parts of the film. Rip Torn and Patrick Warburton are playing great characters, but their appearances are almost rendered vignettes, lest they distract from more Will Smith shtick. The hints that Zed drops about his past as an agent, sex symbol and bon vivant are more interesting than the trail-of-clues plot, and some of the guest spots from comedy actors, yes even Michael Jackson, a the only parts I really enjoyed in this re-watch. So here's my take; redo the Men In Black "franchise" as a sketch series. Not so much a television run in the vein of The Sketch Show, but something more like Amazon Women On the Moon or even History of the World Part I, where there are linking characters, but any narrative only serves to set up a running gag. 

Yes, we still have Men In Black III and MIB International to get to, but hear me out on this one. The central joke of the Men In Black series is that aliens living on Earth have the same struggles as immigrants to the United States, which is not only only pretty ripe for exploitation, but is also a safe way to explore cultural difference for comedy whist [hopefully] skirting away from racism and bigotry. The series already uses unique and iconoclastic individuals as aliens (Shalhoub, Jackson and even Biz Markie), so that's a great way to draw in guest stars for short scenes, especially those with a Sci-Fi background (William Shattner and Mark Hammil spring to mind). I don't know, I'm not really a screen writer, especially the "Late Night Comedy" format that this idea would demand, but it's a thought. Don't bother watching this again, it's not worth the time it would take.

Thinking Out Loud: Big Hero 6 Versus the 7 Guns

I really should get around to doing a "Superhero Media" on Black Summer, but for those who don't know, it's an indy graphic novel written by Warren Ellis, in which a cadre of university students develop technology to give them the super powers they need to strike back at the corrupt private police force who have a strangle-hold on their city. In Big Hero 6, a cadre of university students develop their experimental technology into superhero suits to avenge the death of their friend. Chicken and egg time, is Big Hero 6 the family-friendly Black Summer or is Black Summer the gritty and brutal Big Hero 6? Well, neither, really, as the two only have superficial commonalities, but it's kind of fun to compare and contrast the two works. For my money, Big Hero 6 is the better effort, if only because Black Summer was written as a response to the Bush Administration's handling of the War on Terror, so is pretty ranty and agenda-driven in sections. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Ellis is better when working for a big studio, where he has some editorial oversight. 

The core concept of both works, that super powers aren't given, but are made through ingenuity and research, is one that I really like, and feel could really have legs in your own narrative, be it miniatures or an RPG. More and more school-leavers are moving into tertiary education and, in my personal experience, most roleplayers are the kind to have at least dropped out of university, if not wasted too many years on postgraduate qualifications like myself, so a game where the players start as students would have plenty of near-universal themes. This idea is a great way to introduce powers to a setting that previously didn't have them as well, as I've met a few people for whom this mechanical detail, which I tend to find rather trivial, is hugely important in designing an original setting. For a more collaborative approach, literally having the players in the group set what the technology level is and how powers work through their original characters lets people be the arbiters on their own limits. Got that one killjoy in your group who insists that one particular thing never works? Make him happy by setting that limit in the technology from the get-go. 

The options for tone in this approach should be pretty obvious, if only due to the two works I've chosen to demonstrate it. Yes, Big Hero 6 is probably a little twee and light-hearted for most wargamers and roleplayers, but I'd argue that Black Summer is probably a bit too grimdark for the kind of game I'd really want to play. The "society is so bad we need to take up arms and kill cops for justice" concept has some potential, and whilst I could see running it from an ANTIFA angle, I'd be worried that it would be like running a Vampire: The Masquerade game where the group loses sight of the intended point and just starts reveling in murder and mayhem. A balance between the kind of youthful optimism that drives you into postgrad study and the brutal reality that makes otherwise sane young people develop super-suits is pretty much were I'd want this to sit. I have no plans for any games along this line anytime in the near future, but if you decide to give it a go, please let me know, chuck a link in the comments or whatever.

Superhero Media: The Phantom (1996)

Hey, would you like a comic-accurate film adaptation, set in the Golden Age that remains faithful to the source material and tells a compelling story? Well, probably not, I'm assuming, as The Phantom, as a character, only really remains popular in Australia and some of the South Pacific, outside of a few die-hard fans elsewhere. For those fans, the 1996 film, The Phantom, is considered such a milestone classic that some fans still tout the possibility of Billy Zane returning to the role, more than two decades later. The Phantom is part of that odd wave of superhero films that were made in the wake of Batman's (1989) success, that drew on Golden Age heroes, as the rights to more popular and contemporary characters were too hard to get. Most of these films have been forgotten by all but the most tragic of nerds, but along with The Phantom, there was Darkman, The Rocketeer and The Shadow, all of which are worth checking out if you can find them. 

The film opens with a recounting of the history of The Phantom and how the line has descended to Kit Walker, then the ride starts and doesn't let up for ninety minutes. The Phantom is not high art, or attempting to be anything more than a fun, pulpy romp, and there's a fun honestly to that which really makes the film watchable. The antagonist, Xander Drax, is an industrialist searching for three mystical skulls which, when united, grant the power to  rule the world, The Phantom is on the trail of Drax and his Sky-Pirates, crossing the world in classic pulp style. Style is probably the key word for The Phantom, as a lot of thought has gone into the design, sets and locations used for the film, really evoking an inter-war serial feel and making the film a pleasure to watch, even through the goofy sequences. In fact, The Phantom, in terms of look, feel and design, plays like a trial run for the Marvel Cinematic Universe; taking the core elements of the characters and just making a good film around them. 

I'm not a big reader of The Phantom comics, but the film really does translate what I recognise, from The Phantom and Devil, through to the Singh Brotherhood and trick-shooting. Some minor changes, like Bangalla seeming to be in South East Asia, rather than Africa are pretty easy to overlook, as the pace doesn't let up long enough for the cracks to show. It's kind of shocking just how compelling a not-terribly-popular character like the Phantom can be when the adaptation is done well and with a decent sensitivity to what made the original media popular. The Phantom isn't a gritty reboot, it doesn't attempt to shave away the goofy parts of the character and it has the balls to be a Golden Age treatment. If my The Pitch articles on the Defenders of the Earth weren't indication enough, I think The Phantom would be a great opportunity for any studio looking to make a superhero film outside of the Marvel/DC paradigm. Because the character is a legacy, any film or television could be set at any time, or the actor replaced without needing a full reboot; just steer clear of making bad choices with the character and pandering to trends. 

From the Archives - 10

I hope you're not sick of these, because we're only about halfway.

Bullseye: A really early repaint and one I should get around to replacing, as the sculpt is pretty poor. Heroclix 

Blazing Skull: Another costumed adventurer from the Golden Age for my Weird World War II gaming, his only real super-power seems to be being fireproof. Heroclix. 

Catgirl: Eventually, I'll need to get around to reviewing The Dark Knight Returns and The Dark Knight Strikes Again to explain why I actually quite like the latter, but I do think Carrie Kelly is an excellent Robin and later Catgirl. Heroclix.

The Invisible Man: Part of my League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, I kind of always meant to replace this model with a nicer one, but never got around to it. Reaper. 

The Question: Big fan of The Question, especially in Justice League Unlimited and 52, even if Ditko's original politics are offensive in the extreme. Heroclix. 

Riddler: Love this sculpt for this character, from the "Arkham" set if you're looking for it, really captures Nigma's cockiness and arrogance. Heroclix. 
  

Superhero Media: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Volume 2

For gamers of all stripes, the second volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is well worth a read, if not a purchase. Hot on the heels of the last volume, the titular League are sent to Working to investigate the impact site of a supposed meteor, only to discover a metal cylinder filled with cephalopod alien life-forms. Faster than you can say "but still they come", heat rays are deployed and the army is called in. Soon, Tripods stalk the land and the British government is scrambling to defeat the Martians before the country is overrun. Allan and Mina are dispatched to look for Doctor Moreau, whilst Hyde and Nemo battle the tripods from the Nautilus, but the Invisible Man has disappeared... I'll leave it there, because the second volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is worth reading for yourself, but be warned, this volume contains even more extreme violence and sexual content. 

Now, say you were running a campaign for Victorian age and/or VSF/Steampunk superheroes, a Martian invasion, complete with Tripods, red weed and black smoke sounds like a hell of a challenge for your players to face. Even the ones that can't physically stand up to the Tripods, like all of the League, can rescue civilians, research Mars and the history of the Martians or look for new weapons and powers to overcome the invaders. Maybe it's just me, but more and more as a Game Master or Campaign Arbitrator, I'm looking for non-combat solutions for players to find and use to "win". At the end of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, despite overcoming the Martians, the League is split and broken and the air is more of loss than victory, at least, until you hit the prose section. Rather than a single adventure, like "Allan and the Sundered Veil" in the previous volume, the feature this time is "The New World Travelers' Almanac", a guide to the fantastic places of the world to be found in classic fiction, like Gulliver's Travels, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and even Noddy. 

To take a cynical look, "The New World Travelers' Almanac" is simply a list of locations from literary and popular fiction viewed through Moore's lens, but what it really does is lay the groundwork for the later volumes of the series. Many of the entries describing fantastic lands are "written" by members of various Leagues, not just Mina and Nemo, but also Gulliver and even Prospero and Orlando. The introduction of Orlando is important as Mina, Allan and Orlando form a polamorous triad that will form the main body of the League through to the end of the Century series of the comic. For those looking for inspiration for pulp games, "The New World Travelers' Almanac" is worth a peruse for more exotic locales than the typical Atlantis, Mu and other "Lost Cities". Also introduced for the first time are Les Hommes Mysterieux, the French answer to the League, which includes Jean Robur, Arsene Lupin, Monsieur Zenith, Fantomas and the Nyctalope, which I'm sorely tempted to recreate in miniature.