Sorcerer's Skull

 

Lately, I've been furthering my exploration of L. Sprague de Camp's fantasy work, with the Novarian stories, but I've also dipped into some of his earlier Pusadian series. It has sort of a similar relationship to the Howard's Hyborian Age stories that de Camp's Krishna novels have to Burroughsian Sword & Planet. That is, it's an attempt to do the same thing more "realistically" or at least in a concerted and methodological sort of way. For instance, de Camp uses current (to the 1950s) understanding of geologic change to inform his design of his landforms, and more rigorously derives his imagined countries and their names from Greek myth (mostly).

Whether any of that is necessary, every reader will have to decide for themselves, but I appreciate the thought behind it, at least. As I've said before, I find de Camp a very Gygaxian writer, though this is perhaps less true of the Pusadian series than the Novarian one. Still, the humor, and the pragmatic, if not venal characters are there. I also appreciate the less "standard fantasy" sort of setting. It's mostly a Bronze Age level of technology, with iron being the bane of magic.

I discovered that a number of the older Pusadian stories published in the pulps are available on the Internet Archive:

"The Eye of Tandyla" (1951)

"The Owl and the Ape" (1951)

"The Stronger Spell" (1953)

"The Hungry Hercynian" (1953)

"Ka the Appalling" (1958)

Paul Vermeren's game of futuristic, super-powered resistance fighters on the run is back in a new edition! The standalone game GRIDSHOCK ZERO, powered appropriately enough by Free League's Year Zero Engine is being crowdfunded now on Gamefound.

I've talked about my appreciation for GRIDSHOCK before. Paul has a familiar-but-fresh vision not really like anything else out there and he's assembled artists for this version (Simon Roy, Giannis Milonogiannis, and the returning Steven de Waele) to really give a great visual style.

I may even get a chance to pitch some adventure scenarios for it, so back it and stay tuned!

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I read the comics on sale on September 19, 1985.

Warlord #100: Warlord hits 100 issues and Grell provides the cover. I reviewed it here.

Batman and the Outsiders #27: Barr and Davis have Halo getting a new, short, and very 80s haircut. Meanwhile, Sapphire and Rex are on their honeymoon, and Rex is kidnapped by men who appear to pull his soul or consciousness into a palm-sized sphere. Katana's co-worker Emily Briggs pays her a visit at the Wayne Foundation, but as she's leaving, she's kidnapped by thugs. Batman and the Outsiders think the gangster, Morgan Jones, is responsible, but it turns out not to be the case. The thugs that kidnapped Emily were mind-controlled. Elsewhere, Emily's strange captor with glowing eyes tells her she will be queen of the world.

Blue Devil #19: Mishkin/Cohn and Kupperberg/Maygar give this issue prominently featuring Kid Devil a retro feel with several short stories alternating protagonists between Kid Devil and Blue Devil. The Blue Devil ones call him "Kid Devil's Pal." The joke wears thin pretty quickly, unfortunately. There's a segment with the Trickster manipulating both Captain Cold and Kid Devil in an attempt to one-up his Roguish rival. My favorite is probably the one where Kid Devil and his pen pal Robin realize they both fought the same bicoastal villain who relies on public air travel to get back and forth. The Blue Devil sequences deal with him bouncing around some alternate realities before getting home.

Green Lantern #194: This is another Crisis crossover by Englehart and Staton. Guy is transported to Oa and as he meets with the Guardians, we get his backstory as well as Krona's history. Hal had followed part way, but then he was deposited on Oa, not in the Guardians' sanctum. He heads off to the Guardians' citadel, finding that since Oa itself has absorbed energy he is able to fly, but there are also monsters released by loss of the Power Battery's energy.
Meanwhile, Katma Tui is fighting natural disasters on Earth, but her ring suddenly shuts off. John Stewart is in the 19th Century fighting Shadow Demons with Cyborg, Jonah Hex, Bat Lash and Scalphunter, and his ring shuts off, as well.

Infinity, Inc. #20: The Thomases and McFarlane/Montano/DeZuniga formally introduce the two new heroes they've been telegraphing were on the way for the past few issues, and they both have pretty bad costumes. After the wedding of Green Lantern and the Harlequin, Harbinger appears to take the JSA and Infinity, Inc. to the Monitor's satellite. Rick Tyler, left behind, has already decided to become the new Hourman. He heads to South Carolina (hitchhiking) to check on Beth Chapel, who lost her sight in the daytime but now, like Dr. Mid-Nite, can see in the dark. After she and the new Hourman are attacked by the Anti-Monitor's shadow-demons, she decides to her adopt her own superhero identity, designs a costume and becomes "Dr. Midnight." The Chapel family home is hit by a cannonball, so Dr. Midnight and Hourman are immediately thrown into action.

New Teen Titans #15: Arella tracks Raven to a Louisiana leper colony that has been holding her captive, but both are abducted and the lepers killed by Mother Mayhem and the Church of Blood. 
Meanwhile, the Titans in space arrive at Tamarran, and discover what Captain Karras hasn't been telling them: the royal family expects Kory to wed to end the civil war, and the person she must wed is the heir of Kalapatt, Karras. Apparently, none of them know that Blackfire is on Tamarran fomenting unrest.

Sgt. Rock #407: Two stories this issue with three shorter, humor pieces. In the main story, Kanigher and Catan have Easy get a new kid (a shiny "new penny"), but after the first engagement the kid is shellshocked into near catatonia. The lieutenant (who never sees the kid's face. This is important!) demands Rock take the kid to the MPs and wants him court martialed for cowardice. On the way to find MPs in a warzone, the new penny finds his courage and saves Rock by firing an artillery piece at the cost of his own life. When the lieutenant arrives, he finds not only that he was wrong about the kid, but the kid is his own son, just 16, who lied about his age to enlist.
The second story involves pie laced with rat poison being fed to German soldiers, saving two captured G.I.s. The interesting thing here is that it was written, drawn, and colored by Scott Madsen, and so far as I can tell, it's his only comics credit anywhere.

Saga of Swamp Thing #43: Hippie naturalist and sometime drug dealer Chester, happens to pick up one of the tubers that dropped from the Swamp Thing. Examining it, he cuts it into 3 parts. One eventually goes to a woman dying of cancer, who experiences psychedelic visions of her oneness with the Earth and cycles of life, and dies free of pain and at peace. Another is stolen by a bully and dealer who has a bad trip wherein he relives the horrific events of the Swamp Thing's life before he's hit by a car. Chester, hearing these stories, decides the plant must reveal a person's true morality. He considers taking the last bit himself, but them decides against it.

Who's Who #9: We are in "G-H" now. Newer characters Gypsy and Halo show up, courtesy of Patton and Aparo. Harbinger is here by Perez, but her first appearance is wrong. She doesn't even appear in in New Teen Titans (1980) #21. We get the Hawks of two Earths with Hawkgirl (Earth-Two) being drawn by Steve Rude. McFarlane provides the art for Infinity, Inc. antagonists, Helix. With the debut of Hourman II this month, both Rex and Rick Tyler appear here, with art by Murphy Anderson and Denys Cowan, respectively. The newly married Harlequin is here by Nodell/Giordano. There's also the Haunted Tank by regular penciler Sam Glanzman.

This past week, I had a brief vacation in Michigan and picked up a book on Colonial-era French folklore. It had a chapter on Nain Rouge, which reminded me of this Weird Adventures related post from 2011.

Check out the great art above from Chris Hűth for Weird Adventures. This is, of course, the Red Dwarf--the malign genius loci of Motorton in the Steel League.

Since the days when the site of Motorton was a plague-pit for Old Fort Narrows, the area has been the home of the dwarf. He’s a harbinger of calamity; doom in a dapper, red suit.

Rumor says that those unlucky enough to have an audience with the dwarf are brought to a Room with Red Velvet Curtains (sometimes just “The Red Room”). Visitors--survivors--describe the room as located in the basement of a ritzy old hotel, but no one has been able to relocated the building or provide directions to it later.

What comes from a meeting with the dwarf can’t be predicted. Sometimes, he’ll tell his visitor’s future. Other times, he’ll ask them for a favor, or tell them how they can get their heart’s desire. However it starts, it always plays out badly.
It’s worth noting that the infernal criminal organization known as the Hell Syndicate stays out of Motorton.  It’s the dwarf’s city.
Characters may have heard other rumors about the dwarf:

1. He can only be harmed by magical weapons.
2. The tea he sometimes offers visitors can bring strange visions, and cause madness
3. He carries a pocket watch whose hands only move when someone dies--or maybe when someone particular dies.
4. Bones excavated from the old, mass plague graves can be used to ward against him.
5. He’s only dangerous because Motorton’s sick. If the city could be healed, the dwarf would be benevolent.
6. The dwarf is only a midget human sorcerer cashing in on an old legend. It’s all smoke and mirrors.
7. There’s a red leather journal of a young girl, who died in an asylum, that contains, in its ramblings, the Red Dwarf’s true name, and the ritual to bind him to service.
8. The dwarf is always accompanied by the same gang--a black-haired moll in a red dress with a silky voice, and twin bruisers with the same first name.
9. The Red Room is actually the lowest level of Hell. The Dwarf is actually Morningstar in disguise.
10. The Dwarf isn’t a real entity at all, just the physical representation of the death curse of a Native shaman on the Ealderdish invaders. Treating it like a real being only increases its power.

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I'm looking at comics that were published on September 12, 1985.

Shadow of the Bat #1: This is not, of course, the post-Crisis series. That Batman: Shadow of the Bat doesn't debut until 1992. This is another reprint limited series focusing on the work of Englehart and Rogers, whose late 70s collaboration on bat-titles is celebrated. These first couple of issues, though, are pre-team-up of those creators. Here we have 3 Batman stories with Englehart and Simonson from 1977, and a House of Mystery story with Rogers on art written by DeMatteis. In keeping with my policy on reprints, I won't be reviewing it, but I'm noting it was out there. It runs for 5 issues.

Amethyst #12: Newell and Doran/Kesel fill-in on this issue. Amy is babysitting neighbor kids and tells them a previously unrevealed adventure of Amethyst and Prince Topaz where they must find a way to stop the onyx plague that turns its victims to stone. The solution involves a quest to the Emissaries of Varn. It's a shame Doran didn't draw more Amethyst as her art fits the material well. 

Batman #390: The skies are still red as Moench's and Mandrake's story veers into high melodrama. After their kiss in the Gotham Observatory, Batman and Nocturna have a talk. She feels her theft is justified and won't give it up, but Batman can't just let it slide. Nocturna points out that Batman is attracted to "dark and dangerous" women, but he feels compelled to stop them from being that way. If they change to suit him, he can't love them. Batman, perhaps stung by the truth, leaves. Meanwhile, the Night Slayer is still stalking the night, and Catwoman's quest to clear her name by catching him brings her to the Observatory. Robin intervenes to stop her from taking in Nocturna, and as she is fighting him, Batman shows up. He likewise tells her to stand down. Catwoman realizes Batman has feelings for Nocturna and is hurt, and in her anger, vows again to bring in Night Slayer, whatever it takes. 
Then she's struck by lightning.
Batman in anger and guilt blames Nocturna and carries Catwoman's body (dead or alive, it's unclear) away with Robin coming after him. Another earthquake in the series that has been shaking Gotham creates a rift between the observatory and where they stand. 
All that aside, we get more of the buddy relationship Moench is developing between Bullock and Robin. It's really a shame that that will all go away following Batman: Year One.

Legion of Super-Heroes #17: This is the second issue of Legion (not counting the Subs) I remember reading, though technically I read it in its reprint in Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #342 in 1986. LaRocque comes on as penciler this issue. Super-wealthy Leland McCauley wants to get his rival RJ Brande out of the way. Charon, the man he's hired to do that, says that the only way is to get the Legion of Super-Heroes out of way. Then we cut to Dream Girl awaking form one of her precognitive dreams saying RJ Brande is going to die and it's the Legion's fault! 
The Legion rushes to the rescue and deals with the assassin, then confronts McCauley. Brande refuses to press charges, though so they have to let him go. Brande decides to give up his public persona and this petty squabbling and head on into space on his own, anonymously, thus making Dream Girl's prediction sort of true.

Omega Men #33: In the first story, Klein and McManus bring most the Omega Men to a planet Nimbus is imprisoned on where they hope to settle the refugees of the Spider Guild invasion. Meanwhile, the other group that we last saw in Blue Devil has an audience with Harry Hokum.
In the second story by Parkhouse and Gibbons, an escaped, "mad android" hiding among the folk dwelling in the sewer system becomes a healer, but he's still hunted. 
Star Trek #21: Rozakis Tom Sutton/Villagran give Spock a spotlight story in his new command. The Surak arrives at an unexplored planet. Beaming down with two crewmembers, Spock finds himself alone, and in a dream-like environment. He realizes it is a dream and manages to breakout by force of will. He then has to employ the Vulcan mind meld to help the other crew escape and finds the monster in the mind of Commander Brinks, who isn't fond of her captain, bears a resemblance to him.

Super Powers #4: Superman and Firestorm are investigating one of the "Seeds of Doom" and encounter a Roman gladiator and Steppenwolf. They follow Steppenwolf into the past, Firestorm and the Gladiator having to be wrapped in Superman's somehow expanded cape for the journey.  In the Roman era, our heroes are captured and rendered powerless by Steppenwolf, then forced to fight in the arena. Firestorm manages to save both himself and Superman by separating into his component identities to escape the inhibiting device. The heroes defeat Steppenwolf and return to their own time to find the seed shriveled and dead.

Superman #414: Maggin and Swan/Williamson continue the story from last month's DCP #87. The Man of Steel is the captive of the Superman Revenge Squad. They take him to New Krypton, the home of the Kandorians, and forced to watch their conquest of the planet. Though they aren't able to win militarily, they employ means to mind control the Kryptonian population. They even bring them in to beat up Superman, and the poor guy seems so defeated he winds up sitting in a corner with his cape over his head. That's a ruse though, because when Sylvia (the human wife of Superman's cousin Van-Zee) shows up, she gives Superman a Phantom Zone Projector he had told her a little while ago to carry, predicting just such a Revenge Squad plot. The alien leaders are sent to the Zone. Before leaving New Krypton for what will be the last time thanks to Crisis, Superman retrieves Supergirl's body from space and brings it to her parents, Zor-El and Alura. 
This is the last story where any of those Kryptonian survivors (or the Superman Revenger Squad) appear for some time, though many have ultimately been reintroduced in one form or another.

The Velunans pride themselves on being the first people to adopt the faith of Nomism. Whether or not this is true, it is certain that the Velunan branch predates the Aerdian church. In fact, it may be that, as is popularly claimed, the religious communities of Veluna predate the nation itself. When Veluna was organized as a part of the Viceroyalty of Ferrond, the archimandrites of the church were treated as fiefholders.

In the Velunan version of the religion, Rao is considered the personification of divine law. He is a serene and distant god, and the monks spend much time in meditation upon his glory. The common folk are more interested in the earthier Saint Cuthbert who is believed to intercede with Rao and allow those who achieve less than spiritual oneness with the Law to enter Heaven.

The Canon is the spiritual and temporal head of Veluna. The Canons are held to delay their own spiritual perfection so that they may minister to the needs of the people. The Canon is supported in the task of managing the country a council by ministers, but also has a council formed from the remaining nobles of the country whose fealty the Canon commands.

Veluna has at times been controlled by Keoland, though that land too recognizes the spiritual authority of the church.

Thanks to Prismatic Wasteland's post, I was made aware of a blogwagon in the GLoGosphere about naming. I am not a GloGger, but that post got me thinking about the posts I have written about naming:

In 2021, I wrote a post giving my thoughts "On Fantasy Naming."

In 2023, I made some "Observations on Science Fiction Names."

In 2025, I advocated following Tolkien's practice and engaging in strategic translation.

In 2018, I presented this potentially handy Sword & Planet Name Generator.

In 2015, I discussed cultural naming practices in the Strange Stars universe.

My mission: to read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis. This week, I'm looking at the comics that were on stands in the week of September 5, 1985. 

Outsiders #2: Barr and Aparo continue the story from last issue. The Outsiders realize Looker is likely captured and use the Mom android to lure out the rest of the Nuclear Family. The confrontation doesn't go well for them, and the Nuclear Family heads flies off to cause a nuclear explosion in L.A., leaving the Outsiders unconscious. Luckily, our heroes run into the scientist studying fear who had previously helped Shanner but is now getting out of town to escape the nuclear threat. She lets them know what the Nuclear Family is up to. The Outsiders race to stop them. In a fight at the nuclear plant, it looks like the Outsiders will lose again until a desperate but clever attack by a combo of Geo-Force and Metamorpho shorts out the androids.

Infinity, Inc. Annual #1: This Crisis crossover has very little Crisis in it. We get a reference to the red skies, and Obsidian returns to the group, but (unlike everyone else summoned by Harbinger so far) he only has vague memories of what happened while he was gone. The Thomases and McFarlane/Harris spend most of the issue dealing with the villainess Thorn and revealing the mysterious backstory of Jade and Obsidian. This mostly consists of Alan Scott or Harlequin narrating (and retconning, I imagine) the events of past issues. To summarize what we learn: Thorn the other personality of Rose, and both were also Alyx, the supposedly deceased wife of Scott. Obsidian and Jade are indeed their children, whose existence Scott was unaware of. Harlequin is revealed to be his co-worker Molly Mayne who has had a crush on him since forever. Those Mayne and Scott get married at the end of the issue.

DC Comics Presents #88: An editorial comment at the start of this issue by Englehart and Giffen/Kesel says something like "this is how things are going to be here from now on," but I'm not sure what they mean by that. Anyway, the Crisis is more part of the setting for this issue than actually crossing over with the story in any significant way. Because of the Crisis, sensationalist newsman Jack Ryder, is giving airtime to the cranks and crackpots who claim the end of the world is nigh. Stodgy, old mainstream media moguls are worried this is freaking people out and so ask America's most trust newsman, Clark Kent, to have a talk with Ryder and get him to tone it down. Ryder says no. The stodgy old guys seem to have a point here, as Ryder's most recent guest, the Hermit, uses his media exposure to form a psychic link between an ancient demon and Ryder's viewers. Superman and the Creeper have to team-up to defeat the demon.
It's interesting that, even at this point, Engelhart suggests (at a Comics Code approved, kid's comic level) Ryder is sort of a conservative shock jock (he has him call Kent "left" as an insult). I would have thought that characterization came later.

Fury of Firestorm #42: Conway and Kayanan/Akin pick-up Firehawk's and Wonder Girl's quest from this month's COIE #9 except that (much like with the Red Tornado thing) the accounts don't quite match. Here, the two are looking for both Terry and Lorraine's father, who wasn't mentioned before. Also, Firehawk thanks Wonder Girl and the Titans for being there for her as she was freaking out over this whole Crisis thing, but we haven't seen or got mention of any such breakdown in COIE #8 or #9. All that aside, this issue mostly deals with expanding Firehawk's character and shows her working through some uncertainty about being a hero in a very patriotic way: by joining Wonder Girl to play havoc with the British forces that have Washington and his troops pinned down in Brooklyn. Thanks to the Crisis, to travel through the New York City area is the travel through time, so in addition to helping Washington they meet Tomahawk and Dan Hunter. In the end, our heroes still haven't found Terry or Senator Reilly, but Firehawk has found something out about herself.

Hex #4: Wagner fills in for Texeira this issue. Poor Jonah Hex just can't get a moment to stop and catch his breath in this future. He crashes his stolen flier, barely escaping a fall into a canyon, and then he's forced to trek across the wastes without supplies. He's saved from drinking out of a contaminated puddle by the timely re-appearance of Stiletta--the real one. She explains that the Conglomerate has a stranglehold on society (such as it is) by controlling the supply of "Soames," pills used to purify the tainted water supply. She also reveals that she's the daughter of Borsten, who is a time traveler from 2042 who found out a nuclear war was coming in 2045. He jumped into the future two years farther with a cache of technology so he could rule amid the ashes. So far, the criminal Conglomerate has been an impediment to his plans.
Hex and Stiletta have a narrow escape from oversized leech-like worms, but then the guys who supplied the drug dealer Hex killed find them. Meanwhile, Harris is being interrogated in a Vietnam simulation by Bortsen's men to get him to tell them where Hex is.

Justice League of America #245: Luke McDonnell comes onboard as penciler in this Crisis crossover that followed directly from COIE #9 last week. Thanks to Warp, Steel is sent into the far future of the year 1,000,000. There he's helped by a woman named Olanda as they are pursued by the robotic servitors of the mysterious Six. The woman takes Steel to her father who turns out to be the aged Lord of Time, who last fought the Justice League as a younger man in '81 in JLA #199. He also appears in the background of COIE #9-10. The Lord of Time reveals he took refuge in the far future and cloned children from his genetic material to form a family. Eventually, his six sons rebelled, jealous of his favoritism for his daughter, and stole his Chrono-Cube, brought killer robots from the past, and attacked. Only their slow decision-making due to their reliance on consensus among themselves as kept them from overwhelming their father and Olanda. 
Steel helps Olanda and the old man get back the Chrono-Cube. The Lord of Time then uses it to go back and prevent his younger self from making the Six. 

Vigilante #24: Cover by Dan Day this month. Kupperberg and Smith/Maygar have a middle-aged mother whose daughter is killed in Time Square threatening to go Death Wish after Judge Chase lets the men go free that she believes are responsible. Chase, feeling a kinship with the woman, ultimately takes a bullet to stop her. It's revealed that the two men aren't responsible after someone else confesses to the crime. Meanwhile, the Vigilante hunts the drug dealer whose lawyer he killed last issue, and the Electrocutioner is also still on a rampage. Also, Marcia's psychiatrist thinks he knows the identity of "the friend" she told him was the Vigilante.

Looking back through some old files on Google Drive I found this generator I made back in 2015 for MOTU-esque characters. Could also be used for something more broadly post-apocalytpic, too.
The Random Ultra-Warriors Generator is just a first draft--I haven't updated it since I made it, so maybe also "final."

Occupying a narrow, rocky peninsula, Onnwal has ever relied on the sea and the hills for its livelihood. When it was an obedient part of the South Province of the Great Kingdom, it served as a convenient place for agents of the crown to oversee (and tax) trade looking to enter the Azure Sea from Gearnat Strait. 

It's capital, Scant, was not the largest port, but it was an important one. It was fortified town with a castle serving as a customs house on a rocky islet just offshore. After the Iron League rebelled against the crown, the castle periodically changed hands between the Onnwalers and the Overking's forces, causing its upkeep to be neglected, even as Scant itself stayed well-defended.  At the best of times, command of the isolated castle was a post few sought, though it did provide an opportunity for its occupants to collect bribes provided they weren't just killed by pirates.

Onwal's proximity to Pomarj and its raiders are part of why the coast is only sparsely developed, the other reason being its occasionally marshy terrain. The relationship Onnwal and Pomarj is not completely adversarial, however. Coastal villages have profited from wrecking and aiding smugglers. The Iron League as a whole takes a dim view of latter, and those that are caught are punished, but few are caught.

The hills of the Headlands were mined first for copper and tin and later platinum. Much of this was done by dwarf clans, though for the most part humans and dwarves have shared the region peacefully. The strong dwarven presence has led to human miners of the region adopting dwarven customs and superstitions to a degree.

I've conceived of Onnwal a lot like Cornwall, a bit like Romney Marsh, and with its Mediterranean climate, a little like Koroni, Greece during the Middle Ages, too.

My mission: to read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis. This week, I'm looking at the comics that were on stands in the week of August 29, 1985. 

DC Challenge #1: Though most comics this week are cover dated December 1985, this one carries a November date. This was one I bought off the stands, but well, despite the heavy advertising this series got, I didn't find it particularly interesting at the time. This is a high concept sort of endeavor: a "round robin" story with a number of ground rules each creative team has to follow. They are outlined here. The tagline "Can You Solve It Before We Do?" makes it sound like there's a mystery, but so far as I am aware, they were making it up as they went along, so what's to solve?
Anyway, Evanier and Colan/Smith introduce the strange happenings where demonic entities seem to be possessing people and there are unexplained appearances by phantom, celebrity lookalikes (Bogart, Groucho Marx). Rereading it, I do find it a bit intriguing, but we'll see where that goes.

Wonder Woman #328: This is our only Crisis crossover this week. Notably, Newell and Heck really evoke the apocalyptic feel of Crisis--and perhaps with good reason. The shadow-demons of the Anti-Monitor imperil the realms of the Greek gods themselves, so they interrupt the political machinations on Paradise Island (ending that subplot) and carelessly reveal Wonder Woman's secret ID to Diana's co-workers as they draft the Amazon's into the war. The forces arrayed against them and the need for all-out war cause Hippolyta to lose hope: She believes the dream of peace that led to Paradise Island's founding is over. She urges the Amazons to join her in pray and appears to withdraw from the battle, leading the Olympians to conclude they may have to go it alone.
Meanwhile, we get a bit of General Darnell's backstory and learn that he's been engaged in some Oliver North-esque behavior in Tropidor. It turns out a jilted ex-lover is the one threatening to reveal his misdeeds. Darnell reveals his crimes to his subordinates, taking full responsibility.
Well, the end approaches for Darnell, the Olympians, and the Amazons, too, as the next issue blurb announces that it will be the final issue of the series!

Action Comics #573: This one also is dated November. We continue with what I remain convinced is the burning through a bunch of inventory stories as the ongoing Crisis shortens their shelf-life. In the first one, Boldman and Schaffenberger/Oksner have that W.C. Fields stand-in J. Wilbur Wolfingham think he's pulling a master scam by selling the Earth to an alien visitor, but instead the alien realtor appears to have scammed Wolfingham, when he comes back and takes possession of the planet, evicting humanity.
In the second story, Campiti (only story for the Big Two)/Juaie (only story for the Big Two outside of New Talent Showcase) and Saviuk/Barreto have a street corner hotdog vendor castigate Clark Kent for ordering ketchup on a hotdog, then fantasize about how he would do all the super-problem-solving he hears Superman doing on the radio, if he were Superman.

Crisis on Infinite Earths #9: As the Crisis appears to be abating, the villains assembled by Brainiac and Lex Luthor strike. There is some dissension at first, though, and Brainiac has to disintegrate Earth-Two Luthor. After that, the villains quickly take Earth-4 and Earth-S and are making a serious assault on Earth-Two when the heroes rally and start to fight back. Brainiac and Luthor didn't necessarily intended that the villains would win; they were using this assault as a means to power for themselves. However, Psimon stayed behind on the station and overhears their plans. He blasts Brainiac to bits and prepares to take down Luthor to claim the rulership for himself.
Meanwhile, the World War II era characters get back to just fighting their usual war as the red skies recede. On modern day Earth-One, though, Wonder Girl and Firehawk prepare to enter an area of Manhattan where time is still confused to try to find Terry.

MASK #1: For a number of years, this 80s toyline would have been utterly forgotten, but I hear the toys are coming back and Skybound's Energon Universe has a MASK comic out now. The version here pretty much works like the cartoon, so far as I can recall, though Fleisher and Chen/DelBeato have a Cold War stand-in element that I don't remember in the animated series. MASK seem to be independent but closely aligned with the PNA (Peaceful Nations Alliance--peaceful but still with aircraft carriers!), and trying to help them construct a laser-powered missile defense system, while VENOM is the "mercenary arm" of Contraworld who are the bad guy alliance, and they're trying to stop MASK and steal the tech. The backgrounds of the MASK members seem weird for their government roles (Sato is listed as toy designer first and engineer second, Brad Turner's primary job is rock singer/guitarist, and Dusty Hayes is listed as pizza chef/delivery man), but then I remember DOGE happened, and it seems more plausible.
Anyway, I assume this appealed to the kids who liked the cartoon. The art nicely bridges an animation style with a standard comic book one.

One of the things about Appendix N in the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide is that, in the main, the protagonists of the works featured don't really represent the typical PC in the old school mode, at least in the way players first meet them at lowly first level. "You're no heroes" has become a cliched marketing line in newer games wishing to evoke the old school D&D vibe, but the fantasy protagonists of Appendix N are heroes, at least in terms of capabilities. 

In older D&D, characters get by cleverness (player skill) or by luck (die rolls), but even when we first meet them, the likes of Conan, Fafhrd & Gray Mouser, Ganelon, and Skafloc are skilled, puissant sorts. One might quibble regarding Fafhrd and Gray Mouser. Tthey are presented in the chronologically earlier but written later Leiber stories "Snow Women" and the "Unholy Grail," as youths, but they seem to be pre-hero (call it 0 level) in those, to me. We are told that Conan, in contrast, was formidable even at a young age: "I was one of the horde that swarmed over the hills. I hadn't yet seen fifteen snows, but already my name was repeated about the council fires."

There is fiction more representative of these early level adventurers perhaps as likely to come to ruin as to succeed, but we don't find it as much in heroic fantasy as in other genres. Fairytales and legends with their less competent protagonists often have heroes escaping by cleverness or luck or Providence --or not escaping and meeting a bad end. Picaresque adventure novels and some novels in the Gothic tradition often have protagonists buffeted from one predicament to another and seldom do they get out of them due to their adventuresome capabilities!

While not as violent as D&D or as some older fairytales, the Oz novels have protagonists engaging in exploration, encountering dangers, and mostly having combat being a fail-state.

This sort of plot where characters either narrow escape (or fail to escape) does show up in fantasy, too. Lord Dunsany (who is in Appendix N) and Clark Ashton Smith have stories of this sort. Mignola and collaborators have created some stories in the style of these two masters in Bowling for Corpses and Other Strange Tales from Lands Unknown and Uri Tupka and the Gods. 

Are there any of the most frequently cited Appendix N authors and works that depict these sort of characters? I think so. Jack Vance with Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel's Saga, certainly, and Tolkien's The Hobbit.

Art by Gary Gianni. Check out all those polearms!
While my Greyhawk series of posts are all just sort of pseudo-encyclopedia entry sort of stuff, they are informed by a certain conception of Greyhawk, at least. I thought it was worth taking a post to outline the works that inform the way I'm presenting and interpreting what I read in the 1980 folio, and other "primary sources." 

As I mentioned, initially thinking of Greyhawk as a more firmly Medieval place was the impetus for this series, but as these things tend to do, my approach has drifted some with time. While my view remains more realistically Medieval elements are nice to bring in, I also don't want to lose site of the Gygaxian Implied Setting Recipe, because at the end of the day, a Greyhawk that feels like Greyhawk (if more rationalized) is more interesting to me than a straight pseudo-history.

Fiction:
Anderson, Poul. The Broken Sword — Fantasy in a historical setting with some science fictional rationalization.
Buehlman, Christopher. Between Two Fires, The Blacktongue Thief  — The first is a horror/fantasy novel in a Medieval setting, full of horrific monsters and historic detail. The latter is a secondary world fantasy in a world with interesting cultural detail and humor.
DeCamp, L. Sprague. The Reluctant King — Humorous fantasy with good worldbuilding. I've opined before about the relationship between De Camp and Gygax.
Chabon, Michael. Gentlemen of the Road — A historical adventuring duo, highlighting some less discussed areas of history like the Khazar Khaganate.Howard, Robert E. Conan series, various historical adventure stories. — Pulpy historic adventure or pseudo-historic adventure, with a sweep of history element. "The Hyborian Age" essay seems to have been a strong influence on Greyhawk's presentation.
Jókai, Mór. Told by the Death's Head — Picaresque adventure.
Leiber, Fritz. Fafhrd & Gray Mouser stories — Picaresque-inspired fantasy with the archetypal fantasy city and active gods.
Potocki, Jan. Manuscript Found in the Saragossa  — Stories within stories that mix Gothic, picaresque, and a bit of secret history.
Smith, Clark Ashton. Averoigne stories — Pulpy pseudohistorical fantasy with a lot of atmosphere, humor.

Art by Marie & John Severin
The nonfiction is perhaps less definitive, but it has provided some inspiration to me in the course of the posts I've written so far.
Nonfiction:Armstrong, Dorsey. Powerful Women of the Medieval World (Great Courses) — Vignettes on the lives of some figures of the Middle Ages.Bale, Anthony. A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages — A fairly light, but informative series of examines of the stories of various travelers in the Middle Ages.Devereaux, Bret. "Practical Polytheism," blog series  — A great read on how real polytheism worked.Gies, Francis and Gies, Joseph. Life in a Medieval City — Street level (literally) view of life in the city of Troyes in 1250 CE.Haywood, John. Historical Atlas of the Medieval World — Just the one I happened to have at home.Hoffman-Becking, Dirk. History of the Germans (Podcast) — I particularly found this inspiring regarding the Great Kingdom.Muesse, Mark W. Great World Religions: Hindusim (Great Courses) — useful inspiration for the thinking about the religions of Oerth.Various. Osprey Publishing military books — mostly for the pictures of armors and armor of various cultures/eras.

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I read the comics on sale on August 22, 1985.

Detective Comics #556: Moench and Colan/Smith continue their story from this month's Batman. It's very much set under the red skies of the Crisis, but it's not labelled as a crossover. We find out, as Night Slayer keeps murdering them, that the False Face Society leftovers hadn't actually been working with Nocturna yet--but as of this issue, she takes command. 
Robin tries to tell her how he feels and lean on her for support, but Nocturna is preoccupied with what's happening to the night skies. However, when Batman tracks her down after an encounter with Night Slayer, she makes time for a kiss. Meanwhile, Bullock reveals to Commissioner Gordon his theory that the current Robin isn't the original (something Gordon had noticed as well) but is actually Nocturna's son!
In the Green Arrow backup, we get back to the story by Cavalieri and Moore that had been left dangling. Ollie agrees to help Onyx battle Lars, a renegade monk at the monastery where Ollie himself once trained, who has killed the Exalted Master and taken over. Ollie recalls a run in he had with Lars when they were both students, where the guy confided that he sought a "wisdom key" that would unlock the power of an ancient book. As soon as Green Arrow and Onyx arrive at the monastery, they are confronted by Lars's goons. 
All-Star Squadron #51: A Crisis crossover, but that bit only amounts to a cameo, really. The Thomases and Clark/Jones/Coletta have the passing of Harbinger and Firebrand give Mr. Mind a way to find Earth--or at least an Earth. That leads to the events of this issue, where Hourman and Dr. Fate arrive at the JSA brownstone to find most of their team members missing and Hawkgirl a captive of a group of former JSA-member villains banded together as the Monster Society of Evil. This group is the brainchild of Mr. Mind, who came to Earth to meet his hero Charlie McCarthy only to find out he was just a puppet. He then decided to meet his other heroes the JSA, and when he could find them, he decided to be a super-villain. 
Hourman, Dr. Fate, Hawkgirl, and late arriver Sandy battle the likes of Oom the Mighty, Ramulus, Mr. Who and Nyola. Unfortunately, they're going to need more help to defeat them. Elsewhere, Liberty Belle and Johnny Quick have apparently fallen through the reverse of the portal Mr. Mind came through and find themselves facing Captain Marvel.

Nathaniel Dusk II #2: MacGregor and Colan pick up just at last issues cliffhanger. Dusk survives the falling unicorn statue, but the gunman who shot at Cranston gets away. As Dusk continues his job of trying to keep Cranston out of trouble, he gets the idea that the older man knows who is trying to kill him and is playing some dangerous game. Amanda's stepfather leans on Dusk to drop the case, and her husband takes him flying. He gets another piece of the puzzle when he finds out Cranston borrowed a camera from Amanda and that he visited her new family on the one day he slipped Dusk's surveillance. 
Before he can put any of this together, a drive-by with a tommy gun seems to take Cranston's life. This leads to one of those (for me) jarring aspects of the story, where it moves from conventional detective story to 80s action. Dusk pursues the shooter. The getaway car gets wrecked, and the shooter takes a bus. The issue ends with Dusk on top of the bus as the shooter blows holes in the roof trying to ventilate the detective, too.

Omega Men Annual #2: Klein and host of artists (including McManus, Colon, Smith, Giffen, and O'Neil) give us Primus's backstory, the events leading up to his marriage to Kalista and the founding of the Omega Men, his apparent death in the Spider Guild war, and how he came to be bonded with Artin. When she has heard the whole story Kalista accepts that this being is indeed her husband (at least in part) and the two reconcile. This issue pretty much closes the gap between the previous run and the time jump when Klein took over.

V #10: After all the setup and schemes last issue, it resolves pretty quickly. The mayor reveals herself to our heroes as one of the Visitors but tells them she is actually a triple agent and on their side. She gives them a device that can extend the New York winter, keeping the red dust active and at least postponing a renewed invasion. They're overheard, though, and the mayor is captured, interrogated, and executed. Still, the resistance has the device. Big, bad Walter sent to kill Donovan, gets in a fight with him, but before things resolve he's killed by friendly fire from an overzealous Visitor fighter. The device works, spring is forestalled, and our heroes return to L.A., presumably assuming the nascent New York resistance they were starting up can take care of itself. 

World's Finest #321: Cavalieri and Delbo pit our heroes against the Atom villain, Chronos. Coerced by the mysterious Powerbroker, Chronos uses time travel in a plot to destroy Batman. After sending Superman off chasing bombs in the timestream, Chronos forces Batman to journey to the past and watch his parents get murdered--or save them and alter history. Batman resists the temptation to save his parents, using the experience of again reliving their deaths to strengthen his crimefighting resolve, and he's rescued by Superman. Chronos, in a desperate attempt to evade capture, uses his time machine to become one with the timestream.

Proud Keoland is the oldest of the human nations of the Flanaess. Though diminished from its greatest glory, its rulers never bowed to lords of the Aerdi in the Great Kingdom. Its warriors have been successful in the main in protecting the land from invaders, though they have been powerless against the folly of its kings.

Keoland's origins are in the migrations following the war between Ancient Suel and Baklunish. Suloise refugees, harried by the humanoid warbands and reavers of their own people, fled across the Crystalmists and settled in the fertile basin formed by Sheldomar and Javan Rivers. The Flannae population of the region was small, owing to the depredations of the humanoids and a plague brought by earlier waves of Suloise fleeing war and destruction. The remnant Flannae and scattered demihumans were pushed to the fringes by the newcomers who sought to create a unified Suel kingdom but were thwarted by conflict with others and their own fractiousness.

In another century, Oeridian Keogha tribes swept into the region, scattering the encircling humanoid tribes. The Oeridians came in friendship to the Suloise and demihumans alike, but they brooked no disagreement with their intention to share the land between the rivers, and they expanded rapidly, soon claiming hegemony over all the human settlements, as they began to intermingle with the Suel peoples.

Eventually a monarchy was declared with the old Suloise town of Niole Dra as its capital. Over time, it would come to dominate the entire basin. This was not accomplished solely through conquest, however. Keoish kings shrewdly made allies of the demihuman lands Ulek and Celene.

The people came to embrace Nomism in the main (though pockets of folk religion still exist). In fact, it is possible the belief system may have coalesced here with the blending of Suel and Oeridian beliefs. Saint Cuthbert is the patron deity of Keoland, and the land's churches are adherent to Velunan doctrines and traditions.

Periodically over the centuries, Keoish kings have succumbed to dreams of empire. Such ambitions have tended to fare poorly beyond the two rivers. Indeed, Keoish entanglements elsewhere allowed the Sea Princes to gain a foothold to the South and lost the kingdom control of the Yeomanry. 

Though Keoland is currently at peace with its neighbors, it may be that it is being weakened by enemies from within. The ancient and entrenched noble houses game and scheme to see their house ascend the throne. Humanoid bands and human renegades lurk within the Dreadwood and the expansive [as in bigger than Ireland!] Hool Marsh. The coastal marshes rely on a brisk smuggling trade and secretly deal with the piratical Sea Princes.

Keoland's real world inspirations are perhaps not as distinct as many of the eras in the Aerdian East. The Mediterranean climate suggested by Anne Meyer's maps brought to mind for me the Iberian Peninsula. That might make the Keoish Oeridians the Vandals/Visigoths. On the other hand, it's position on the map, and its use of light cavalry reminiscent of the turcopoles are reminiscent of Byzantine Empire.

 

Last year, I was working on a blog series doing my own take on the world of Greyhawk. As it goes with these things, my interest petered out after a bit, and I moved on to other things. I'm feeling that Greyhawk jones coming on again, and I think I have at least a few more posts on that topic in me. We'll see, but if so it seemed a good time to revisit where I'd been. 

I summarized collated the posts summarizing what I wanted to do with the project and the first batch of posts here.

I had three posts after that:

The Wild Coast

North Province

South Province

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I read the comics on sale on August 15, 1985.

Batman and the Outsiders #27: I remember seeing this Barr/Davis issue on the spinner rack at the Pac-N-Sac gas station a few blocks from my house. Twelve year-old me found the "We call it WAR STARS! (or we'd get sued!)" cover blurb very clever. Anyway...Continuing from last issue, the U.S. fires missiles at the Star Wars station in defiance of Kobra's extortion, but the missile defense works on the station too, and they are disabled. In a show of glastnost, Gorbachev only pretends to make a deal with Kobra (reasoning rightly that the cult leader will turn on the USSR, too) and instructs his people to contact the U.S. and offer an alliance against the villain.
Meanwhile, our heroes are trying to get to the station to stop Kobra and rescue Halo, but the U.S. government refuses to loan Batman a shuttle. We see a computer screen labelling him "politically incorrect" due to his leaving the JLA and fighting with the Force of July. Harsh! So, the team just has to steal Kobra's own spacecraft and fly it up there. There's a fight in the station and the bad guys are defeated, but Kobra bests Batman in a one-on-one fight and escapes. Batman seems to relish the tough opponent though and looks forward to his next confrontation with the villain.
Halo's beau David decides to take some time to patch things up with his father, so she's free to return to the Outsiders.

Fury of Firestorm Annual #3: Conway and Kayanan/Akin/Garvey rewind to just power Ronnie and Stein left New York. Firestorm notices some fluctuations in his powers. Stein has a theory its due to sunspot activity and the two test it, leading Stein to figure the parameters of their powers. Largely, this seems like a way for Conway to rein in and clarify the limits of what Firestorm can do as we are given Official Handbook level quantifications.
While all this is going on, Frido, a guy in Miami with a drug problem, is having particularly bad time trying to get his fix to deal with his withdrawal. As the sunspot activity increases, Frido is somehow transformed into a being of (I guess) electricity. Still in pain, Frido takes out his frustrations on those who refuse to help him until Firestorm who has heard about this intervenes. He wins the day by short circuiting Frido (or Sparx as Firestorm names him) in the ocean.

Blue Devil #18: Mishkin/Cohn and Kupperberg/Maygar cheekily present "The Last Parallel World Story!" in this Crisis crossover issue. After the events of COIE #8, Blue Devil finds himself in space with some of the Omega Men. Luckily, they are picked up by a spaceship in the hands of a film crew composed of alternate universe versions of Cassidy and Blue Devil's supporting cast who had been sucked through a black hole into this universe just before theirs was destroyed by anti-matter. This being a somewhat humorous book, the characters take the potential trauma of being the last survivors of their universe and having lost everyone they know completely in stride. However, they soon find they are fading away, going to a Limbo since their universe no longer exists. Both Cassidys have to work to find a way to vibrationally stabilize both the crew and their ship.
The crew decides to go with the Omega Men to Vega via a teleporter as they know their universe's version of Harry Hokum has one. They try to send Blue Devil back to Earth, but he disappears before they can.

Green Lantern #194: Crisis crossovers often reveal that Harbinger had a tougher time than initially depicted assembling the heroes in COIE #1. Engelhart and Staton/Patterson again give us a bit of s scuffle, before Stewart agrees to go with her. This crossover is unusual as it depicts events on the Monitor's station from Stewart's perspective. We also see how the Anti-Monitor strikes a blow at the Guardians so that they can't interfere. A blast through the central Power battery kills many of them.
With everything going on Katma Tui turns to Hal, and the two of them reconcile. Hal seems ready to stop feeling sorry for himself, but feeling in a nostalgic mood, I guess, visits Abin Sur's grave. He finds Guy Gardner out of the nursing room, and misguidedly attempting to dig up a ring and power battery. The two fight, but then a Guardian shows up and gives Gardner exactly what he's looking for, inducting him into the Corps and snubbing Hal.

Infinity, Inc. #20: Another Crisis crossover by the Thomases and McFarlane/Bair, as the Infinitors deal with the weather disruption and natural disaster part of the Crisis. A hospital is threatened by extreme weather and an earthquake, and members of the JSA and the Infinitors must work together to try to save people. In the...well, crisis, a new hero emerges: Previous NEET Rick Tyler decides to follow in his father's footsteps and become a new Hourman, a move that worries both his father and Dr. Mid-Nite. There's another new hero in the making, too. McNider's medical protege, Beth Chapel, is blinded in the disaster and jokes bitterly the only sort of doctor she is fit to be is the next Dr. Midnight. 
Interestingly, a caption in this issue tells us it is "July 1985," which is (as George Olshevsky would have it) a "topical reference" to be ignored, but since this universe is going away anyway, I think it's usual in placing when the "modern day" events of the Crisis are occurring. This timeline goes with that idea. 

New Teen Titans #14: Yet another Crisis crossover from Wolfman and Barreto/Tanghal. Under red skies, Arella searches for her daughter and finds out she was for a time a faith healer in Alabama but has moved on by the time Arella gets there. Meanwhile, Captain Karras convinces Starfire to return to Tamaran, and Nightwing and Jericho choose to accompany her, leaving the others to deal with this whole Crisis thing. At the end of the issue, we find out Blackfire is waiting to greet her sister.
 The Titans that stay on Earth have to deal with Steve Dayton who is dying of cancer. Or at least he was. He may have used his Mento helmet to cure himself, but that seems to have driven him insane. He attacks his butler, then a club of wealthy men that denies him membership, then the Titans when they show up. 

Sgt. Rock #406: We finish Kanigher's and Gonzales's tribute to the 332nd Expeditionary Operations Group. In the end, this story seems to have been largely for didactic purposes, which is a reasonable goal I suppose when we think about the assumed kid audience of comics. We get a lot more on the groups exploits and highlights of important members. Then, sometime later, Rock and Easy meet Captain Dennis again briefly. After that, we return to the frame of the civil rights era where the racist lieutenant turned police officer seems to recognize Dennis among the marchers and silent moves aside. Dennis feels Rock is with them in spirit, with the implication being that (as Kanigher as stated, I believe) Rock did not survive the War. 

Saga of Swamp Thing #42: Continuing the story from last issue, as Swamp Thing and Abby are piecing together what is going on, the past takes a greater hold over the present. The extras performing the ritual have caused the dead to rise from the graveyard and walk the Earth. The dead advance on the plantation house to confront the spirit of the former master of that house, now taken over an actor. Swamp Thing does have a whole lot to do as his plant powers can do little to stop a haunting. He's set on fire and accidentally catches the house ablaze too. That seems to break the spell and bring an end to what was going on, though one actor dies in the fire, and another seems unable to break from the traumatic memory of a man skinned alive. One of the zombies gets away and gets a job at a theater, so again the mystical strangeness of the world is rising.

Warlord #99: I reviewed this issue here.

Who's Who #9: Like last issue, the alphabetical span of this issue seems providential, as we get the Jordan and Stewart Green Lanterns (though no Guy Gardner), the Green Lantern Corps, and the Guardians of the Universe. The current artists, Staton, gets to draw Stewart, but Kane is fittingly given the honor of depicting Hal Jordan, and Bolland gets the two-page Corps spread. Gemworld is also in this issue as are both the Earth-Two and Earth-One Green Arrows, the latter depicted by Mike Grell. The Captain Atom foe, the Ghost, gets an entry and he hasn't even appeared in the DCU yet! We also get war comics characters Gravedigger, who we haven't seen since 1979, and G.I. Robot who we haven't seen since the demise of Weird War Tales in 1983.

Art by Jeff Easley
Savings throw in latter day editions of D&D are intrinsically tied to ability scores, which is pretty easy to understand. Old school saving throws, in contrast, are oddly specific and therefore difficult to generalize. Beyond that, given that they are tied to class, and only a few get ability score bonuses, it's not immediately clear what's going on in the fictional world.

Of course, this can be seen as a feature not a bug. Proponents point out the abstraction allows the player and DM to interpret what happens in the fiction, making this an unexpectedly more narrative sort of mechanical feature.

That's all sort of interesting, but a problem (for me at least) is that their progression is uniform based on class, and every member of the same class has the same distribution of saving throw aptitudes. So, while you're free to interpret success (or failure) any way you like, whatever situational explanation you give doesn't really build or develop the fictional world. As written, every cleric's better saving throw than other classes against Death Magic is just a mechanic.

I think it's more interesting to view them as telling us something about the world, while leaving room for situational factors. The fact that every member of a class is more resistant to certain dangers than others can tell us something about the training, aptitudes, of characteristics of people in that class.

Compared to the normal individual (0 level Fighter in AD&D parlance), we could conclude that:

Clerics have divine favor bolstering their spiritual and mental fortitude.  This particularly protects them from effects that would destroy or disrupt the body. Their biggest advantage is against Poison & Death Magic, but they have consistently good defense against all sorts of dangers.

Fighters have their martial spirit increasing their fortitude and perhaps giving them a "sixth sense" for danger. At first level, they are neophytes and haven't cultivated this to a great degree, but by the time they max out, they have the best saves on average.

Magic-Users possess an innate arcane aura that strengthens slowly as they develop their skills. It makes them particularly resilient in the face of spells and spell-like effects cast from common magical implements like wands and staves. Interestingly, they are also somewhat protected against the magical breath of dragons. Their aura adds little to protect them from poison, though.

Thieves rely on luck to get by. In the beginning it mostly protects them against things that would bind, hinder, or directly impair them being who they are. Unfortunately, they tend to wear their luck out and they max out their saves worse off than the other classes.

Certainly, these aren't the only implied class abilities you could take from these, but I wanted to come up with an explanation that didn't implicate ability scores, and I haven't really seen another approach that does that.

As when I wrote this post in 2019, I've been watching some wuxia film lately, and then there was the announcement of a new edition of Dark Sun, so it seemed a good time to revisit this idea...    art by Eric Belisle
Still on a wuxia kick and thinking about the arid lands of Northern China, it occurs to me that Dark Sun might be an interesting mashup with kung fu action. It is true that the default 80s barbarian film meets Mad Max aesthetic of Dark Sun doesn’t scream Crouching Tiger or Hidden Dragon, but that aside, I think it’s actually not a bad fit. Let me run the list:

• The downgrading of weaponry due to the scarcity of metal in the setting leaves space for bare-handed martial arts.
• The Elemental clerics thing can easily spun in a wuxia direction (as seen in Avatar: The Last Airbender).
• The "fighting oppression" angle of Dark Sun dovetails nicely with with the "fighting corrupt authority" aspect of some wuxia.

• There are Thri-Kreen who are praying mantis people, essentially, who would be natural practitioners of praying mantis kung fu. 
• Athasian Dragons aren't common monsters but beings of immense power, like the Chinese conception of the creature (though Athas's is certainly not benevolent). 

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I'm looking at comics that were published on July 11, 1985.

Arak Son of Thunder #50: We arrive at the long ago announced final issue of the series as Arak and friends part ways from their more recent allies from the Middle East, and head ever eastward on a Chinese ship. Machinations of the Serpent see them barely making it to Japan, where they are attacked by the Ezo people under the command of an oni. Arak drives off the demon, sending the Ezo running too, and putting Arak and friends in the good graces of the local lord. The relationship sours, however, when Arak refuses to exterminate to Ezo for him. As Arak leaves, he frees an Ezo prisoner, who leads the group to his village. The Ezo aren't on the demon's side at all, but under his thumb. They want to escape to another island, free from the Japanese and the demon. Arak and friends slay the oni and get the lord to agree to giving safe passage to the Ezo.
Arak and Maligigi reveal that they have seen in visions that Charlemagne has now been made Emperor of the Romans. Valda realizes she must return to her king. Arak and Satyricus set out in a smaller boat to the Americas, but Maligigi is sure he and Valda will see them again.
This is the end of their story, though. Aside from some cameos, Arak and friends haven't appeared in the post-Crisis DCU. At 50 issues, Arak had the second longest run of any Sword & Sorcery character not based on a Robert E. Howard property in American comics.

Amethyst #11: Nice cover here by Cullins and Tanghal. Cohn and Colon/Kesel have Topaz and Turquoise reveal their love to Amethyst. Feeling betrayed, Amethyst decides to quit Gemworld to just live as Amy Winston on Earth. Gemworld isn't out of danger, though. Odd crystal formations are emerging, and one in the form of a serpent recruits Sardonyx for some evil scheme.
Things aren't so great on Earth, either. Amy's friend Rita is now Carnelian's accomplice in luring her father to his home to be a sacrifice for some dark ritual using the power of Dark Opal's broach. Meanwhile, in the Winston household's domestic drama, it seems like Herb's dissatisfaction with married life with an adopted kid who's also the savior of a fantasy world may be heading to an affair with one of his students from Hudson University.

Arion, Lord of Atlantis Special #1: The promised final issue of the series became a special instead. Kupperberg and Duursema seem like they're stuffing in every potential plot element they had thought of in this one issue. Atlantis is attacked by sub-men, alien invaders arrive, and jackal-headed S'net launches another assault. All of these forces manipulated and abetted by the evil god, Chaon. It's a lot for one issue, and it crowds out any significant focus on the characters, except that we do get to see Mara in her new relationship with the musician who also has an unusual ability: the power to manifest wings. 
In the end, the alien invasion is turned back after the revelation that they had their origins in expeditions from Atlantis millennia ago. Their ship is driven into the sun by one of their leaders sympathetic to the Atlantean cause so they won't be returning. S'Net is lost in space, and the sub-men have allied with the Atlanteans against their common foes. 
In Arion's fight with Chaon, though, the demon unleashes a blast sends seismic shudders through the land.  Arion banishes Chaon, but Atlantis is doomed. Arion, Chian, Wyynde, and many Atlantean refugees escape in ships, but their great city is no more. This is also the last appearance of Arion and his supporting cast in the pre-Crisis universe. Arion will show up in the post-Crisis world, mostly as a background element, though he will get another series in 1992 where he takes up residence in modern day New York.

Batman #389: Thanks to the Crisis (and Moench and Mandrake) there are red skies over Gotham. That's got Bruce thinking about his love life. He goes to the gym where Vicki is always working out to end things for good, but she thinks he's trying to win her back and storms off. Catwoman is back in town, tracking down the person killing wayward members of the False Face Society, and Batman meets with her to let her down easy, too. This attempt goes a bit better, but she declines to give up her vigilantism. Meanwhile, Jason is feeling the lack of a mother, so when a disappearance Bullock is working suggests Nocturna is back in town, he goes to the observatory to find her. Apparently, she's the one leading the False Face Society. Though no one knows it, Night Slayer is the one killing the Society members, with Nocturna is final goal. 

G.I. Combat #280: In the first Haunted Tank story by Kanigher and Glanzman, Stuart's Raiders draw cards to see who will go on a solo suicide mission to destroy the secret hangar for Germany's new jets, but even after Jeb "wins," his men won't let him go it alone. The second is a solo Rick story where he's attending a carnival with a woman when the Germans attack. Rick takes a shot from the top of a roller coaster to take out a fighter pilot.
In the Mercenaries story by Kanigher and Catan, the trio steals back a convoy of food relief for the Ethiopian famine from a hijacker chief, Nakamti. 
The two nonserial stories are both by Kanigher. The first, with art by Cruz, has an American G.I. and former championship skier besting the Chinese and an avalanche to complete his mission. The second has art by Catan as his about a paratrooper unlucky enough to get his chute caught on the wing of a German fighter plane, but lucky enough to make it out alive. 

Justice League of America Annual #3: Mishkin and Hoberg/Gustovich give us the ending of the pre-Crisis Red Tornado. It seems to me impossible to square the early events depicted here with the version of them in COIE #8 (though Wikipedia makes an effort). Here, Red is conscious and alone at the JLA station as he uses equipment there to test his powers, seeking to find out what the Anti-Monitor's cryptic comments meant about their being more to him. This leads to him exploding and sending the damaged station falling on to the Earth. The disaster is responded to by the new Justice League and several of the old members including Firestorm, Green Arrow, and Black Canary. 
Meanwhile, unusual weather patterns are starting up, and members of the JLA discover it isn't due to the Crisis but an experimental weather manipulation station that has mysteriously gone out of control. Red Tornado's lady friend, Kathy, is contact by Red through a TV set and other electronic devices. He asks her to meet him at the golden gate bridge.
It turns out Red Tornado has survived, he's again in the form of the living tornado, the Tornado Champion. Now viewing himself as a force of nature, he looks with a new-found horror at the ecological devastation humanity had wreaked on Earth. He decides to destroy civilization and battles the heroes to do just that. Finally, Kathy gets through to him, and he leaves the Earth to go elsewhere in the universe.

Legion of Super-Heroes #16: Levitz and Lightle/Smith still have Brainiac 5 moping over the death of Supergirl. If "moping" seems a dismissive description of grief over the death of a loved one, well, that's weirdly exactly how the narrative treats it. Brainiac is drawn to look like a sad sack, and a lot of other characters question why he's so upset when her death had occurred a long time ago and was a matter of the historical record. It seems the opposite of what you would want to do in a story, particularly when Crisis spent so much time trying to make her death impactful. I assume Levitz was trying to drive home that this is the future, and the past had been written, but that only draws attention to the fact that it clearly isn't, and it also seems to contradict the idea of Crisis as a sort of meta-temporal occurrence. Otherwise, to everyone but poor Anthro, maybe, the Crisis is to some extent "in the past."
Interestingly, the DCU fandom wiki argues Brainiac 5 is glum about the 1000 anniversary of Supergirl's Pre-Crisis death. It points out her death is not mysterious in this story--unlike a number of other Crisis-related events --and further notes Crisis isn't mentioned in this issue, nor does it carry a Crisis banner. Given, however, we saw Brainiac 5 grieving Supergirl in COIE #8, I'm not persuaded, but it is interesting.
Beyond, that a lot of Legionnaires attend the baptism of Graym, Lighting Lad's and Saturn Girl's infant. The new members also go on their first solo case to take down some bombers, which proves more complicated and mysterious than anticipated.

Omega Men #32: Klein and guest artist Spiegle do a fill-in issue where Felicity returns to Karna and finds work as a bar dancer, only to lose that job due to the lack of titillation in her dance. She meets a scarred face human named Mung who helps her get more work and gives her some dance pointers. In the background of all this, the cops are hunting for a serial killer who they believe to be a "regressor," a Karnan who can turn into a big cat like Tigorr. The story seems to signal that Mung is the killer, and he certainly tries to kill Felicity after revealing himself to be the bounty hunter Bedlam we saw previously. Felicity manages to best him and the cops take him away. Still, the issue ends with some ambiguity: Was Mung the killer? The only other possibility is that Felicity is secretly a regressor, but I'm not sure what Klein intended. 
Star Trek #20: Laurie Sutton scripts with Tom Sutton and Villagran on art for this Sulu solo story. Sulu attends a family wedding where a clan cousin he was romantically involved with in his youth is marrying a son of a rival clan in the un-Trekian giant robot business. It turns out the young man hasn't given up the feud, it ends as these things must: Sulu and the guy fight, each piloting a giant robot.

Super Powers #3: Kupperberg and Kirby/Theakston send Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Dr. Fate to Easter Island, probably so Kirby can again illustrate the Maoi, which he has done more than once before. Like in those stories the statues turn out to be aliens, but the primary menace here is Kirby's redesigned Mantis. The grateful Easter Islanders erect busts of the heroes, but unfortunately Green Lantern feels they have to be destroyed, which could be construed as "destroying evidence."

Superman #413: Bates and Swan/Williamson get to the end of the this "Clark Kent--Fired!" storyline. Luthor, already having Supes doubting his sanity, moves to his endgame. It comes at a particularly bad time, too, because Clark has been invited to a dinner, unaware that it's a big to-do in his honor put in by his friends and colleagues. Luthor's devices convince Superman that the Earth is dematerializing around him. Lex plans to trap him in this simulated reality of defeat forever, but his super-hearing (I guess) picks up all his friends and co-workers mentioning Clark Kent. Their calls focus him on the real world, allowing him to pull out of Lex's machine. As he fights with the villain, though, Lex is pulled away by some force. From Crisis, we know that's Brainiac, but it's mysterious here.
Superman attends the dinner and gives Clark's regrets but clears his good name by saying his previous reporting was all part of a plan to catch Luthor.