Jab’s Builds! (Beaker! Sam Eagle! Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Galactic Golem! Dan Turpin! N.R.G.-X! Power Girl!)

Post by Batgirl III »

DC missed a golden opportunity to use Power Girl as the star of a solo title during the Nineties’ “Bad Girl Comic” boom.

They had Catwoman, of course, had her solo book (this was her purple costume era) and was a natural fit for the “Bad Girl” genre. But they also took Wonder Woman, of all people, Diana and shoved her into an a leather bra, a crop-top leather jacket and spandex bike shorts.

Like… What!?
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Galactic Golem! Dan Turpin! N.R.G.-X! Power Girl!)

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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Galactic Golem! Dan Turpin! N.R.G.-X! Power Girl!)

Post by Ares »

I think Power Girl is a perfectly fine character, and the whole boob controversy is just silly. Especially when you consider cleavage window sweaters were a thing only a year or so ago, and you can find similar cleavage displays walking around the supermarket. I do agree that the issue comes when the writers don't give her enough beyond her sex appeal. I think the "yeah, I'm sexy and I know it" attitude worked better than any attempt at using the boob window for pathos. Some girls are proud of their ... well, girls. No reason to make it more complicated than that. And I appreciate the Palmiotti's injecting some humor and fun into her book, but it seems like the series couldn't sustain itself without them.

I think ultimately Power Girl just might work better as part of an ensemble or a team series where she has someone to play off of. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, as plenty of characters like Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Cyclops and the like just work better when they have a larger cast to play off of.

I think if I was going to play Karen up, her main trait would be that of someone who wants to be doing something. Maybe make it an effect where when she was sent to Earth her pod's suspended animation system malfunctioned and she spent sometimes hours just unable to do anything but stare out her window. Now that she's on Earth, free to do what she wants and superpowerful, she wants to be active and actually make a difference. She's proactive, adventurous, fun, tough and aggressive when she needs to be, but understanding and sympathetic to people. And she is very sex positive. She is proud of her figure, works to maintain it, and has no issues showing it off. She won't sleep with just anyone, but she also isn't a prude either. Interestingly, I see her as the kind of daughter Scott Free and Barda might have raised together.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Galactic Golem! Dan Turpin! N.R.G.-X! Power Girl!)

Post by Batgirl III »

To quote the one and only Elvira: “If they ever ask about me, tell them I was more than just a great set of boobs. I was also an incredible pair of legs.”
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Galactic Golem! Dan Turpin! N.R.G.-X! Power Girl!)

Post by M4C8 »

I don't read DC so I don't know how prevalent the complaints about her boob window are but it reminds me of the complaints about Princess Leia's bikini. Yeah male fans do make the occasional comment or joke about it (such as Ross in an episode of Friends) but the times I've most often seen it outside of the actual Star Wars movies is female fans cosplaying in the outfit.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Galactic Golem! Dan Turpin! N.R.G.-X! Power Girl!)

Post by Ken »

I faintly recall seeing Power Girl's debut in All-Star #58 on the -er- rack.

I grew up in an era when "Wonder Woman", "Charlie's Angels", and "Three's Company" were on TV and people complained about jiggle TV. At the same time, I recall seeing my sister's issues of Tiger and Teen Beat and how dreamy Shaun Cassidy and John Travolta were.

I remember seeing old, early issues of Avengers and the Wasp commenting on how dreamy Thor was, despite her boyfriend, Giant Man, being right there. I remember Dick Dillin giving Hawkgirl a decolletage down to her navel in Justice League of America. I remember Terra calling Starfire "balloon bod' and I remember a bunch of women at Donna Troy's wedding ogling Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson as they had a pseudo-father-son chat.

I remember family members getting silicon implants, and others getting breast reduction surgery.

People are weird about secondary sexual characteristics.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Galactic Golem! Dan Turpin! N.R.G.-X! Power Girl!)

Post by RainOnTheSun »

I liked Power Girl's company in the Palmiotti/Conner series. I would have liked to see them focus on that more.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Galactic Golem! Dan Turpin! N.R.G.-X! Power Girl!)

Post by Ken »

RainOnTheSun wrote: Tue Jan 24, 2023 10:24 amI liked Power Girl's company in the Palmiotti/Conner series. I would have liked to see them focus on that more.
I wish they'd just made the book an 8 times a year book (something DC used to do; not every book was a monthly), so the fact that they couldn't maintain a monthly schedule wouldn't have been an issue and the Palmotti/Conner series would have lasted longer.
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Re: The Silver Age Parasite

Post by Sidney369 »

Jabroniville wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 7:21 pm
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PARASITE I (Raymond Maxwell Jensen)
Created By:
Jim Shooter
First Appearance: Action Comics #340 (Aug. 1966)
Role: Power Thief
PL 14 (388)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0/6 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 4 (+10)
Deception 6 (+7)
Expertise (Thief) 4 (+4)
Intimidation 6 (+7)
Investigation 4 (+5)
Perception 4 (+5)
Stealth 6 (+9)
Technology 3 (+3)
Vehicles 1 (+3)

Advantages:
Fast Grab, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative 2, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6, Startle

Powers:
"Power Thief" (All Powers Linked)
Affliction 18 (Fort; Fatigued & Impaired/Exhausted & Disabled/Paralyzed & Transformed to Powerless) (Extras: Cumulative, Extra Condition, Reaction +3) (Flaws: Permanent) [72]
Mimic 30 (Flaws: Limited to Touched Subjects) [210]
Weaken Stamina 12 (Flaws: Grab-Based) [6]
Mind-Reading 8 (Flaws: Touch Range -2, Grab-Based) [1]

"Residual Genius"
Enhanced Intelligence 6 [12]
Enhanced Skills 2: Expertise (Science) 2 (+8) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Unarmed w/ Superman's Strength +10 (+18 Damage, DC 33)
Affliction +10 (+18 Affliction, DC 28)
Initiative +6

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +4 (+18 w/ Superman's Powers), Fortitude +7, Will +4

Complications:
Hatred (Superman, STAR Labs)
Prejudice (Superhuman)- Parasite cannot pass for an ordinary human being.

Total: Abilities: 38 / Skills: 38--19 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 302 / Defenses: 17 (388)

-To me, Parasite is one of the most damning things about Superman's Rogues Gallery- this guy is one of Superman's biggest and most dangerous enemies in the comics, but if he was a Spider-Man bad guy, he'd be like the 19th most awesome one, at best. He's just some guy the color of bubble gum who drains people and... that's about it. Little extra details, little grand motivation- he just kinda absorbs powers and is a bad guy. Even Superman: The Animated Series, with the same staff as the Batman show, which renovated asswipe villains like Mister Freeze and turned Poison Ivy from a forgettable jobber into a legend, was like "yeah so here's a bad guy...". And... holy shit there's actually been FIVE of them.

-The original Parasite was created by Jim Shooter, then a 14-15 year old boy writing for DC, having been hired at 13 by Mort Weisinger. Jim had recalled reading about parasites in Biology class, and so came up with this purple villain who drained energy. Looking a bit like a Marvel guy with his odd skin color and green undies, this guy was a lowlife who got hired as a plant worker at a research center. Thinking that the payrolls were hidden in storage containers, Raymond Jensen stupidly opened one, and was bombarded with biohazardous materials, including waste collected by Superman while in space. This turned him into a purple-skinned parasitic monster who could absorb the physical and mental properties of anyone he touched. Touching Superman himself, we had the core of the character- someone who could counter Superman's overwhelming power by STEALING it.

-Parasite went on to become a recurring foe, once disintegrating for a while by absorbing too much of Superman's power. He grew depressed because he could no longer touch his wife and children, as his powers were constantly active. He was one of VERY few foes to have knowledge that Superman was Clark Kent, often using it to torment Kent. He even swiped some genius from Supes & others, using it to reanimated Solomon Grundy into a bigger threat. He is one of few villains barely mentioned in Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, mentioned in passing as having died killing Terra-Man, another villain. Post-Crisis, Parasite is reimagined with a new character and more monstrous design.

-Yeah, that is one seriously powerful Affliction super-combo. Parasite can drain someone as powerful as Superman of all their powers, drain their Stamina at the same time (killing them), gaining their memories AND skills for a brief period of time, and basically turns into a lethal PL 14 powerhouse if he gets a Kryptonian to duplicate. His Mimic is positively ENORMOUS- able to absorb roughly 150 points worth of powers (ie. about what Superman has in his various forms). One issue is that he apparently can't turn his powers off- it could even be given the "Reaction" extra if it's as bad as all that.
One of the very first comic I got when I started collecting was a DC Comics Presents where he fought Superman and Air Wave II. I think he should have been a more major villain not only to Superman but in the DC Universe in general. His ability to drain powers made him a match for even the most physically powerful heroes and. while not a genius like Luthor, he was still intelligent enough to use his powers effectively in well thought out plans.
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Colonel Edmond Future

Post by Jabroniville »

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COLONEL FUTURE I (Edmond H. Future)
Created By:
Cary Bates & Curt Swan
First Appearance: Action Comics #484 (June 1978)
Role: Generic Conqueror
Group Affiliations: None

-There are apparently two Colonel Futures, separated by only four years- this one is from Earth-Two (the JSA Earth) and was a generic world conqueror type military dude.
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Earth-One Colonel Future

Post by Jabroniville »

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COLONEL FUTURE II (Edmond Hamilton)
Created By:
Paul Kupperberg & Curt Swan
First Appearance: Superman #378 (Dec. 1982)
Role: Future-Seeing Would-Be Hero
Group Affiliations: None

-Strangely, the second Colonel Future was a hero of sorts- a NASA scientist who gained Precognitive powers when... he spilled coffee on his computer console and was electrocuted. Forseeing a solar flare that threatened Earth, he plotted to stop it- his actions nearly destroy the Earth when it turns out that the flare had been created by Superman himself in order to save the day. Superman gave Col. Future a lecture in proper use of his powers. Later, he came out of retirement after forseeing Superman's death. He gave himself a heart attack in the process, and Superman again revealed that the glimpse was misinterpreted. Col. Future retired for good after this. His real name comes from DC writer Edmund Hamilton, who I might imagine was being teased by the whole "Sees the future, but is wrong every time" thing (or maybe not, as he died in 1978).
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Re: Earth-One Colonel Future

Post by Ken »

Jabroniville wrote: Tue Jan 24, 2023 8:18 pmHis real name comes from DC writer Edmund(sic) Hamilton, who I might imagine was being teased by the whole "Sees the future, but is wrong every time" thing (or maybe not, as he died in 1978).
Edmond Hamilton was the same Edmond Hamilton who wrote science fiction novels including series of books about Starwolf, Interstellar Patrol, the Star Kings, and most notably, a hero called Captain Future. There were several other books as well.

His wife Leigh Brackett was also a science fiction writer, nicknamed "the Queen of Space Opera." She was also a screenwriter working on such films as The Big Sleep (1946), Rio Bravo (1959), and The Long Goodbye (1973). She also turned in an early, but rejected draft for The Empire Strike Back.
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The Golden Age Prankster

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE PRANKSTER (Oswald Hubert Loomis)- Golden Age
Created By:
Jerry Siegel & John Sikela
First Appearance: Action Comics #51 (Aug. 1942)
Role: Prankster, Nuisance Villain
Group Affiliations: None

-The Prankster is a classic "Golden Age" villain- take a normal guy with no powers, give him a funny gimmick and a loud outfit made up mostly of normal clothes in weird colors, and send him against a super-powered adversary he has no chance against. He's not really dissimilar from the Joker at all (they even share things like acid-squirting lapel flowers), but is a short fat guy with an "Old-Timey Huckster" appearance, so stands out a bit from other villains, and has a lot more longevity than guys like the JSA fought. His gimmick is that he uses practical jokes and gag weapons during the committing of crimes. He's your basic bankrobber leading a gang of goons, but also does stuff like forcing bank employees to accept money and even throwing it to the crowd as a big joke. Of course, after drawing fame for this, he just robs a bank for real, then kidnaps Lois Lane at the same time. Superman naturally gets involved and stops the Prankster's deathtrap of deadly gas- the Prankster escapes while Superman disables it.

-The Prankster goes on to become one of the most recurring villains of the Superman books, generally always doing the "hero has to find out the villain's scheme, then locate them" thing because that's how most Golden Age stories worked- 8-12 pages of "Whodunnit?" stuff. One weird story involved him filing a copyright to own the English language. Anyone using a written word thus owes him payment, with even Superman unable to do anything, as this is not breaking the law. However, when he discovers that Prankster had hired an impostor to replace the registrar at the copyright office, the plan is foiled. So basically he's always a wacky schemer, albeit maybe the most clever and crafty of Superman's early foes- a match for the Man of Steel just in how devious and unpredictable he is, since none of Superman's foes back then stood a chance against him in a fight. In the 1950s, Prankster stories move from Earth-Two to Earth-One.
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The Modern Day Prankster

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE PRANKSTER (Oswald Hubert Loomis)- Modern
Created By:
Jerry Siegel & John Sikela
First Appearance: Action Comics #51 (Aug. 1942)
Role: Prankster, Nuisance Villain
Group Affiliations: The Injustice League, The Underground Society
PL 8 (121)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Deception 7 (+11)
Expertise (Criminal) 7 (+10)
Expertise (Acting/Performing) 4 (+8)
Insight 3 (+7)
Investigation 2 (+6)
Perception 4 (+8)
Persuasion 3 (+7)
Stealth 7 (+10)
Technology 5 (+8)
Vehicles 2 (+7)

Advantages:
Daze (Deception), Evasion, Fascination (Deception), Improved Initiative, Inventor, Ranged Attack 5, Seize Initiative, Uncanny Dodge

Powers:
"The Prankster's Gadgets" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [12]
"Exploding Whoopie Cushion" Damage 8 (Feats: Triggered- Touch) (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (17) -- (20 points)
  • AE: "Ultrasonic Laughing Device" Affliction 8 (Will; Dazed & Vulnerable/Stunned & Defenseless/Paralyzed) (Extras: Area- Hearing Perception) (16)
  • AE: "Joy Buzzer" Damage 6 (6)
  • AE: "Acid-Squirting Lapel Flower" Blast 2 Linked to Weaken Toughness 4 (Extras: Affects Objects, Ranged) (Diminished Range -3) (10)
Offense:
Unarmed +2 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Joy Buzzer +8 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Laughing Device +8 Area (+8 Affliction, DC 18)
Acid-Squirting Lapel Flower +10 (+2 Ranged Damage & +4 Ranged Weaken, DC 17 & 14)
Initiative +7

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +3, Fortitude +4, Will +6

Complications:
Enemy (Superman)
Motivation (Greed & Fame)- The Prankster often deliberately seeks to draw attention to himself, even get arrested, just to earn greater fame and more money for later gigs.
Motivation (Artistry)- The Prankster often commits crimes to amuse himself.

Total: Abilities: 62 / Skills: 44--22 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 12 / Defenses: 13 (121)

-The Prankster is a natural fit for the Silver Age as well, doing silly things like teaming up with the Toyman to drive Superman crazy by breaking "ridiculous obsolete laws" like putting pennies in their ears in Honolulu (the "Zany Laws" thing was a recurring gag in Ripley's Believe It Or Not! and Jughead's Looney Laws). He and the Joker also became natural partners, but Prankster turned on Joker, requiring Superman & Joker to team up to defeat him! In Alan Moore's Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, the darkness of the story is immediately made clear when goofy joke villains like Toyman & Prankster turn murderer, torturing Pete Ross into giving up Superman's secret identity- Superman follows radio waves to their hideout and arrests them.

-The Prankster is swiftly brought into canon Post-Crisis in 1988 by John Byrne himself. He's now a comedian hosting The Uncle Oswald Show for kids, but it's cancelled by the network- he is typecast and out of work and naturally tries to murder the network executives- however, he expects to be stopped by Superman and plans to just use the media attention for his own ends. The character reappears in 2000 as a much younger-looking man, claiming plastic surgery and dieting, while the story implies that a deal with Lord Satanus was made. Now he's a manic trickster trying to unleash "twisted brand of laughter" on the world... so he's now a Joker rip-off. But he uses high technology thanks to Brainiac-13 upgrading Metropolis with space-tech. He teams up with Lord Satanus and Lex Luthor, often as a hired man to deflect attention from the villains. He even makes a regular gig as a "Distraction For Hire" guy, and he's quite good at it. However, he's still a minor act and never draws much focus.

-The Prankster was typically a Gadgeteer Villain mostly known for his weird plans or daring escapes, but he's also got some other Joker knock-off stuff in more recent years, so I included those. The Prankster used to be a short fat guy but got in shape in the 2000s.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (N.R.G.-X! Power Girl! The Prankster!)

Post by Skavenger »

The Prankster is another character who would be fine in another villain's gallery....except that most heroes that could use someone like him already HAVE someone like him (Flash, Batman, etc.) Sticking him in Superman's rogues gallery just brings down the average even further in terms of "credible threats."
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