RPG REVIEW: Amazing Heroes by Martin Lloyd

To give you a quick summation of my feelings about Amazing Heroes (from 2021), consider the fact that I'm on record (probably many times) moaning about my inability to cope with reading large PDF files, being an old geezer who thinks books should be printed on paper.

Then consider the fact that I made the effort to read - and make notes about - the 131-page PDF file of Martin Lloyd's new Amazing Heroes superhero roleplaying game; quite possibly the largest PDF file I have read from cover-to-cover.

Recently Kickstarted into existence, this is Martin's reimagining of his original kid-friendly, introductory, roleplaying system, Amazing Tales, but targeting a slightly older demographic.

Geared towards playing superhero characters (although the freeform nature of the game allows for a great deal of flexibility), the style of play encouraged takes its inspiration from superhero TV shows (particularly The CW ones), such as Flash, Arrow, Supergirl etc, while still drawing on the lore and tropes of comic books, of course.

Expanding on the very simple rules at the heart of Amazing Tales, Amazing Heroes is - in a nutshell - the perfect distillation of the core elements you need for a rules-lite, narrative-led superhero campaign.

Rather than explaining, and cataloguing, every possible superpower, such aspects of the game are left to a combination of player creativity and gamesmaster fiat.

Characters have a handful of attributes, and powers, each allocated a die type.

All checks in the game are player-facing, however if a player fluffs his roll in, say, a combat situation, he doesn't automatically get hurt, rather the situation "escalates", meaning it gets worse for the hero and his colleagues.

Straight off I will say that while I absolutely love this approach, as it addresses a lot of the problems I've had, personally, with overly mechanical superhero roleplaying systems in the past, it's not going to appeal to everyone.

Power gamers, people who talk about "optimum builds", and those who welcome characters that need spreadsheets to keep track of, will be scratching their heads at the bare bones nature of Amazing Heroes.

It's about as far from my own traditional, old school, comfort zone as you can imagine, and yet the primary function of the simple mechanics is to encourage interesting story creation at a fast-pace, without the necessity of constant rules-referencing.

To me, this seems perfect for a game seeking to emulate the biff-bam-pow of superhero comics, TV shows, and movies.

The freeform, storygame, approach of Amazing Heroes means the gamesmaster will often be flying by the seat of their pants, but with creative players the story is also very unlikely to run afoul of a crunchy ruling.

It does require the players to buy in to the superheroic world that they and the gamesmaster are creating, but with the right ensemble, of any age, I believe great things are possible.

The whole book is gorgeously illustrated in full-colour, with the player's section of the rules taking up the first 23 pages, followed by about 22 pages of GM advice (ranging from pacing and villain creation to guidelines on awarding experience so that player-characters can grow through the campaign).

The rest of the book covers the default setting of Storm City, on America's west coast, a plentiful array of example villains, a collection of story hooks (tied to different areas of Storm City), and then two adventures.

When you read through Martin's sample setting and the fully-fleshed out adventures, you can immediately grok the fact that you don't need pages and pages of stats and description to run an exciting and inspirational scenario.

Amazing Heroes is available to buy in POD or PDF from Drivethru.

THROWBACK THURSDAY: How Many 50-Year-Olds Have Superhero-Themed Birthday Parties? Not Enough

The 'Must-Eat League': from left - Richard, Erica, Paul, Jeni, Pete, Me, Nick, and Clare...

The month of celebrations for my half-century (in 2016) came to an end with a superhero-themed meal at the Oriental Buffet in Tonbridge, with a loose comic book-inspired dress code.

You can't really go wrong with an all-you-can-eat dining experience, accentuated by a selection of T-shirts and outfits that ran the gamut from Richard's Batman shirt (he wore the plastic Bat-mask for 90 per cent of the evening as well, which was true dedication to the theme) to Jeni's She-ra costume (complete with gauntlets and headgear) and Rachel's bespoke Marvel comic book dress.

As well as having decorated our table ahead of time with appropriate balloons (several of which also survived the journey home afterwards), my wonderful wife still had one gobsmacking surprise up her sleeve: the best birthday cake ever!

Based on Des Taylor's design from my main birthday present, it was the scumptious, double-decker cake you can see below (created by a local cake aficionado), complete with Acrobatic Flea, Flash, and Supergirl decorations:

BEST. CAKE. EVER!

BEST. WIFE. EVER!

Special mention has to be made of how Paul turned up at our door, before we went to the restaurant. The doorbell rang, and I opened the door to be greeted by The Black Power Ranger!

Apparently he'd changed into his superhero alter ego outside our house (although I still suspect he'd travelled down from London on the train like this, only he'd used super-ninja skills to blend in with the crowd).

Sadly, the costume was too uncomfortable - and totally impractical - for going to a restaurant in. But major kudos for borrowing this outfit and throwing himself into the spirit of the evening!

What Is Seen Cannot Be Unseen: Alice has no clue as to what is happening at this point!

THROWBACK THURSDAY: BEST. PRESENT. EVER!

Back in 2016, I turned 50.  It would be quite gauche to list all the amazing presents I got from friends and family for successfully reaching my half-century, but I have to share with you this incredible gift that Rachel gave me.

She commissioned a one-of-a-kind piece of art from DC Comics artist Des Taylor (also one of the co-hosts of Sky Television's DC Fancast), featuring not only a race between television's Flash and Supergirl, but also a cameo by my very own Acrobatic Flea!!!

Does this make the Flea part of the DCU? Probably not, but I can dream.

The picture now hangs in pride of place at the top of our main staircase.

In pride of place

At the time, Des presented Sky One's sadly short-lived "Arrowverse" companion show, DC Fancast, along with Bec Hill and Rick Edwards, recapping and discussing episodes of The Flash, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl.

This was where I came to appreciate his art and mentioned this to Rachel, as my "special" birthday was approaching.

Currently Des is probably best known as the creator of Titan Comics' Scarlett Couture, as well as being a frequent contributor to one of the best online comic book resources, 13th Dimension.

With the picture, Des included some of his initial sketches as well, so I also have wonderful black and white illustrations of the Flea, Flash, and Supergirl, which I still need to get framed at some stage.

The Importance of Superheroes

Superman and The Amazing Spider-Man by Ross Andru

Booktube supremo Michael K Vaughan presents a 20-minute video essay on the "importance of superheroes", which I agree with 100 per cent, for the regular Epic Comic Book Wednesday slot on his channel.

Head of The Family (1996)

It's amazing what you can just stumble across on Shudder.

I'd just finished one "time-filler" movie and up popped in the "also available" offerings: Head of The Family, a Full Moon film I'd never even heard of before but clearly inspired by the legendary cover story of DC Comics' Black Magic issue one, from 1973 (see below).

Although no acknowledgment is made in the credits the similarities are staring you right in the face!

Now, the 1996 movie is from Full Moon so you know it's going to be cheap and sleazy, and not one you want your wife randomly wandering in in the middle of (as Rachel did!)

Gangster and drug dealer Howard (Gordon Jennison Noice) is trying to muscle in on Lance's (Blake Adams) diner business, unaware that Lance is having a torrid affair with Howard's stunning wife, Loretta (Playboy model Jacqueline Lovell).

Lance resorts to blackmailing a weird family of local well-to-do mutants, the Stackpools, into disposing of Howard.

Although then Lance gets greedy and tries to scam money out of the peculiar family, only to have the tables turned on him and Loretta.

There's an element of 2003's House of 1,000 Corpses in the way the Stackpool quadruplets are seemingly 'farming' captives in their basement for scientific experiments, and I can't help but wonder if maybe Rob Zombie picked up on this at some point when 'crafting' his first flick about the murderous Firefly family.

The head of the Stackpool family is poster boy Myron (J.W. Perra), a giant head with all the brains and mild telepathic influence over his siblings: the superstrong, but dumb, Otis (Bob Schott); the bug-eyed Wheeler (James Jones), with incredible senses; and the seductive Ernestina (Alexandria Quinn as Dianne Colazzo).

Myron's siblings: Otis, Wheeler, and Ernestina!

You will note that there are only two main female characters in this movie, both hot blondes and both who are required - in Jacqueline Lovell's case nearly constantly - to get naked.

Written and directed by Mr Full Moon himself, Charles Band, Head of The Family is supposedly a black comedy, but while it does raise a laugh every so often that's invariably because you are laughing at it.

Myron's experiments - to find a 'regular' human body capable of holding his mighty intellect - are set up like Chekhov's Gun, and I was half-expecting Howard to make a more dramatic return than he actually did, now 'gifted' with Myron's brain.

But no, that thread was seemingly just there for an excuse to show off some low-budget post-operative patients.

Several scenes, particularly in the final act, go on way too long, such as Loretta's uncomfortable attempt to seduce Myron and then her forced involvement in a play about the death of Joan of Arc... with its expected fiery pay-off.

The whole "blackmail scheme backfiring" is nicely plotted, very film noirish, but, narratively, one of the big issues I had with Head of The Family is that there's no one to root for.

Both sides of the dramatic equation are equally scuzzy and despicable, although I guess, if anything, I felt slightly more empathy for the Stackpools as, despite all their money, they were clearly physically and mentally disabled.

Even the denouement (and this is a mild spoiler for a 29-year-old Z-list schlock movie) has Loretta taking advantage of the mentally ill Otis.

In a strange way, I'm glad I discovered Head of The Family - for its vague connection to a comic book that's near and dear to my geeky heart - but beyond that, and the swathes of skin on display, there's very little to recommend this shoddy old movie.

I've talked before about my early exposure to comic books as a young kid, namely the Fantastic Four in British reprints and discovering The Flash and Shazam in a newsagent's spinner while on holiday on the South Coast.

But there was always one other comic book cover that has stuck with me - possibly from the same time I found those comics in a seaside newsagents back in the early 70s.

All I could remember was the picture... and the pun. However, in 2013, thanks to a magnificent retro comic book blog, Rip Jagger's Dojo I was mentally reunited with the first issue of DC's Black Magic (dated November 1973).

I suspect it was probably early '74 (or it could have been late '73, I suppose) when I saw this comic. I was about seven at the time - and either mum didn't approve or I was too chicken - but I didn't pick it up.

However, the "head of the family" pun stayed with me.

I'm pretty certain that anyone who knows me will see that my dark sense of humour is perfectly encapsulated in this image and I think it's fair to say that it was possibly a bigger influence on me in my formative years than I realised.

I still regard it as one of the greatest visual gags ever. Over the years I've recycled it in roleplaying games and awkward social occasions (and probably will, again, in the future).

Thank you, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby!

Soon after encountering Black Magic #1 on Rip's site, I tracked down a reasonably-priced copy (thank you, eBay), and it now has pride of place among my gallery of framed covers in the lounge.

My framed copy of Black Magic #1 from 1973

Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)

Building on the foundations laid in Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Zack Snyder's Justice League is a four-hour epic that sweeps its audience up and carries you along, whether through tightly-scripted character beats or frenetic, supercharged fight sequences.

Gone is the element of "heroic cruelty" that rather tainted the previous two films, this is pure, old fashioned, comic book action, served in a modern, celebratory, style.

Having sworn a pledge on Superman's grave, Bruce Wayne aka Batman (Ben Affleck) teams up with Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) to hunt down fellow metahumans and form an alliance against the coming darkness foretold by Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg).

Eventually they build a team consisting of Victor Stone aka Cyborg (Ray Fisher), Arthur Curry aka Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and Barry Allen aka The Flash (Ezra Miller), to face down the alien warlord Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds), who is preparing the Earth for the arrival of Darkseid (voiced by Ray Porter), the definitive uber-bad guy in DC Comics.

I don't want to dwell too much on the previous, theatrical, iteration of Justice League, as reshaped by the disgraced Joss Whedon, when he took over the project after Zack Snyder had to step away due to a dreadful family tragedy.

However, if you have seen that then you will recognise certain scenes and moments in this new cut, but so much of it is new - to us - material that was shelved for the version that was released four years ago.

The general thrust of the story is similar, but better developed, explored, and explained now that it's in the hands of its original creator.

All the characters come across as more three-dimensional, and Cyborg has been elevated from an almost incidental player back to the heart of the story, as Zack and scriptwriter Chris Terrio envisaged him.

Cyborg has been on my radar for as long as I've been collecting comics, as he was a founding member of the Marv Wolfman/George Perez era of the New Teen Titans, which transformed me from a dabbler in comics to a full-on collector and addict.

I have to be honest, though, until this movie, I'd never found him that interesting a character, but Zack (and Chris)  - and, of course, Ray Fisher - have totally turned me round on Victor Stone.

I'd been looking forward to seeing Zack Snyder's Justice League since it was announced, but had always considered it simply an "Elseworlds" alternate take on the characters, and a chance to see what should have been in 2017 under better circumstances.

And I'll watch any big budget superhero flick eventually, because I still can't believe we live in age where the comics I read as a child (and am still regularly reading) are being made into box office-topping blockbusters.

With its prevalence on the silver screen and small screen, the superhero genre has become as ubiquitous as westerns were in the early days of Hollywood and television, the new American (global?) mythology.

However, Zack Snyder's Justice League far exceeded my expectations and deserves all the kudos that I hope were showered upon it.

It may be four hours long, but it doesn't feel it. Never does the pace drag, nor are there any corny or uncomfortable scenes, or substandard CGI creations, to take you out of the moment.

Let's put it this way: about two hours in, I was already planning on watching it again.

Without a doubt, Justice League is Zack Snyder's tour de force.

It's such a pity that Warner Bros - for a minute - decreed that the earlier, inferior, cut of the film remained canon in the DC Extended Universe, when really all copies of it should have been shovelled into the same landfill as the E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial video game.

Yet, while Zack Snyder's Justice League is a magnificent conclusion to the Snyderverse trilogy, it's highly unlikely that we will see the continuation of this storyline and the resolution of the movie's apocalyptic cliffhanger.

Now, it appears as though we are getting into an era where Superman (and the DC Universe as a whole) is under the stewardship of someone who understands the four-colour comics of old and the positive value of superheroes. 

Snyder has had his moment, but now we are moving into the light of James Gunn.

Let's hope his Superman is everything we want it will be.

TALES FROM THE VAULT: The Flash # 179 - Fact Or Fiction? (May, 1968)

A Silver Age classic, The Flash #179: Fact Or Fiction? from May 1968 is notable for being the first time DC Comics used the idea (although unnamed) of Earth-Prime (or 'our' Earth) as a destination for superheroes.

The Flash - Barry Allen - is having problems with an energy beast, The Nok, that has escaped from the spaceship of an alien beast-hunter (who'd landed on Earth to repair his ship).

The Nok appears to feed on Barry's "speed force" (again, it isn't called that) and ends up pushing The Flash to new velocities, which carry him to an alternate world: 'our' world, a world where his adventures are recorded in the pages of DC Comics and his secret identity is known by every small child!

People mistake him for a party-goer in fancy dress and he realises that the only person who will believe he is who he says he is is DC Comics Editor Julius Schwartz!

This is a wild story, from the mind of Cary Bates, as it had no precedent at the time. The only parallel world Barry (and the DC readers) knew of was Earth-2, where the Golden Age heroes hung out.

The Nok (pictured on the cover above), and the alien hunter, are rather bland Silver Age pulp sci-fi constructs, but the story itself really opened up a Multiverse of possibilities.

And, at the end of the tale, left Julius Schwartz with a working Cosmic Treadmill in his office! I wonder if that was ever revisted?

I picked up this landmark issue on eBay for the surprisingly low-cost of a couple of quid. It was just a random recommendation the site threw up for me and the cover caught my eye, so I Googled the story and couldn't believe this wasn't going for more.

It's not a perfect copy - but the listing made that clear  - but it was still a bargain for such a key story in the history of DC's Multiverse.

The comic  has since been framed and hangs in our lounge, with a selection of other books that are special to me.

It could well be the oldest, original comic I currently own (being only couple of years younger than me!)