Retro Golden Age Comic Book Characters

[batguy]

How can I create my very own retro golden age comic book characters?

[Christopher R Taylor]

Well the first step is to pick up Darren Watts' Golden Age Champions.  It has all you need about the world, the concepts, and the ideas that made Golden Age feel like it does.

 

But what are you trying to accomplish with the character?  Do you want them to feel like the philosophy and outlook of the Golden Age, do you want them to have the same kind of powers, do you want them to have a Golden Age feeling costume?

 

All of that is covered in the GAC, but we can help you more if you explain how you want the character to feel like a Golden Age one.

[batguy]

this is what i am trying to accomplish with the characters:make them original.

I Want them to feel like the philosophy and outlook of the golden age.

i want them to have the same kind of powers.

i want them to have a golden age feeling costume.

this is how i want the character to feel like a golden age one:base them on existing characters.

[Pariah]

1 hour ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

Well the first step is to pick up Darren Watts' Golden Age Champions.  It has all you need about the world, the concepts, and the ideas that made Golden Age feel like it does.

 

This sounds like a fantastic way to honor Darren's memory. I think I'll probably do this when my tax return gets in. I don't actually have a group to play with at the moment, but everything I've read suggests that this book is worth having anyway.

[batguy]

Yeah,i agree with you 100%,

[Lord Liaden]

4 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

Well the first step is to pick up Darren Watts' Golden Age Champions.  It has all you need about the world, the concepts, and the ideas that made Golden Age feel like it does.

2 hours ago, Pariah said:

 

This sounds like a fantastic way to honor Darren's memory. I think I'll probably do this when my tax return gets in. I don't actually have a group to play with at the moment, but everything I've read suggests that this book is worth having anyway.

 

I have it, and I heartily concur with those sentiments. 👍

 

 

 

 

 

[Duke Bushido]

Unpopular comment coming:

 

Preface: I also own Darren's update of GAH, and it is a wonderful book, no doubt about it.

 

However, I don't think you need it for what you have in mind.  Maybe.

 

From your clarification, it sounds like you have a definite idea of what  the sorts of things you are looking for- powers, personalities, costumes, etc.  Just run with it and have a good time.

 

Now if I have misunderstood your comments and your desire is to learn about and explore golden age superheroes, then you cannot find a better resource. 

 

 

[Christopher R Taylor]

Quote

I Want them to feel like the philosophy and outlook of the golden age.

 

OK the majority of characters in the golden age are very black and white good and evil, very clear and strong morality.  There's none of this gray area "oh he's from a troubled home" stuff, if you're a bad guy, you're a bad guy.  Also, while some of the characters are pretty dark, especially the pulp era holdovers like the Shadow, they are essentially optimistic and hopeful. 

 

Few of the GA characters had any code against killing, but they wouldn't use it unless it was either fair play (I had no choice) or the targets weren't human.  That said, characters like the Shadow and the Specter killed without any moral agonizing (Superman threw a dictator's general basically at the horizon in one comic).  If someone happened to die in the effort to stop them and protect people well they had it coming and its no great loss to the world.  But they usually would not set out to kill; they were after fairness and justice, not vengeance.

 

Quote

i want them to have the same kind of powers.

 

Almost all of the Golden Age heroes had the same basic powerset.  They were either human or slightly above human, were strong and fit, but usually weren't much more than base level Superman: strong, tough, hardy, etc.  Even the over the top most powerful outrageous characters like Captain Marvel could be knocked out if someone caught them by surprise, bonked them on the head from behind. 

 

There were a few mystical types, but they usually were low end mentalists: mesmerism, low end mind reading, clairvoyance to see visions or the near future, that kind of thing.  It was the Silver Age where characters got ridiculously boosted powers to insane levels (except Captain Marvel who was impossible to really harm and strong enough to lift anything he had to).   There were some outliers like the original Human Torch and Namor who were really different from humans and had a pretty interesting powerset

 

Not all, but most had pretty significant weaknesses the bad guys could take advantage of.  Green Lantern's ring didn't work on wood.  Namor got weaker out of water.  Hourman was invulnerable and super strong, but only for one hour a day.  Miss Marvel was just a girl with great combat skills until she was rebooted into a mentalist, but didn't have any real defenses.

 

So; keep your concepts modest, and consider just giving your character a really interesting schtick or theme and go with a base Captain America type powerset: peak or slightly above human level in everything, with maybe one oddball power like "I can hear at long range and any pitch" or "I can summon any animal to help me".

 

Quote

i want them to have a golden age feeling costume.

 

Its pretty easy to dig up Golden Age character images online with a search engine.  Take a look at their uniforms, mostly patriotic colors, bright and stand out, lots of pirate boots, shorts on the outside, capes, etc.

 

Quote

this is how i want the character to feel like a golden age one: base them on existing characters.

 

Its easy to find golden age character info online as well.  In fact, there are a host of "out of copyright" characters that you can find and use, just swipe their look and powers.

[unclevlad]

For those more into the history of comics than me, feel free to correct, but...

 

I think the advent of common/stronger CVKs coincided with the (only semi-voluntary, I believe) adoption of the Comics Code Authority, at which point killing would've been anathema.  

 

For GA feel, think the positive interpretation of soldiers.  Doing their jobs, supporting their buddies and their country, doing the right thing.  That can include killing Bad Guys.  I believe the most common build style is the physically enhanced type.  There are exceptions, to be sure;  Green Lantern dates back to 1940.

[Lord Liaden]

There are a couple of additional resources besides GAC available in the Hero website store for parties interested in this subject. The first I'll mention is Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes, containing over 2,000 entries on superheroes, private eyes, cowboys, pilots, and adventure heroes who appeared in comics during the Golden Age (1935-1949). If the OP or anyone else is looking for published example characters conveying that GA style and flavor, this would make an excellent reference.

 

Since Darren Watts's Golden Age Champions has been brought up, and people are also thinking about ways to honor him, I'll also point out the Golden Age Champions Secret Files, a collection of material Darren had to leave out of the final GAC book due to space considerations. I have it, and it's pretty cool, and a fine complement to GAC. Not too pricey, either.

[BigJackBrass]

You might find Darren Watts' Explain This, Comics Guys!! podcast useful, especially the episode on the different ages of superheroes from last autumn.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Yeah I forgot about that   I really enjoyed that podcast and I don't even know what they are going to do now with it.

[BigJackBrass]

51 minutes ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

Yeah I forgot about that   I really enjoyed that podcast and I don't even know what they are going to do now with it.

It seems the intention is to release the remaining recordings (I don't know how many) and then end the show. Hopefully that doesn't mean taking down the existing library.

[batguy]

Thanks,guys.I should also use the golden age champions book,which was published in 1994 to create retro golden age comic book characters!

Edited January 5, 2023 by batguy
I left something out.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Any of the editions of GAC are great and useful, but the most recent is the most lucrative for Hero Games and its consistent with 6th edition.

[batguy]

16 minutes ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

Any of the editions of GAC are great and useful, but the most recent is the most lucrative for Hero Games and its consistent with 6th edition.

You are right about that,thank you very much for telling me this.

[BigJackBrass]

Have you seen Ken Hite's Adventures into Darkness? It's a very nicely done example of creating a fictional comicbook reality along with adapting and creating Golden Age characters, in this case using the conceit that H.P. Lovecraft didn't die so young and went on to work in comics. 

 

[wcw43921]

The International Catalogue Of Superheroes is an excellent resource for Golden Age Superhero characters, as is The Public Domain Super Heroes Wiki.  Both have scores of heroes and villains alike which should give you an idea of what you want to make into a Golden Age Superhero.  

 

Hope that helps.  Good Luck, and let us know how it goes.

[batguy]

thanks,guys.i should create retro golden age comic book super heroes and  base them on the ones from marvel and dc.

 

Edited January 6, 2023 by batguy
i wanted to say another thing!

[Christopher R Taylor]

Let us know

[batguy]

21 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

 

OK the majority of characters in the golden age are very black and white good and evil, very clear and strong morality.  There's none of this gray area "oh he's from a troubled home" stuff, if you're a bad guy, you're a bad guy.  Also, while some of the characters are pretty dark, especially the pulp era holdovers like the Shadow, they are essentially optimistic and hopeful. 

 

Few of the GA characters had any code against killing, but they wouldn't use it unless it was either fair play (I had no choice) or the targets weren't human.  That said, characters like the Shadow and the Specter killed without any moral agonizing (Superman threw a dictator's general basically at the horizon in one comic).  If someone happened to die in the effort to stop them and protect people well they had it coming and its no great loss to the world.  But they usually would not set out to kill; they were after fairness and justice, not vengeance.

 

 

Almost all of the Golden Age heroes had the same basic powerset.  They were either human or slightly above human, were strong and fit, but usually weren't much more than base level Superman: strong, tough, hardy, etc.  Even the over the top most powerful outrageous characters like Captain Marvel could be knocked out if someone caught them by surprise, bonked them on the head from behind. 

 

There were a few mystical types, but they usually were low end mentalists: mesmerism, low end mind reading, clairvoyance to see visions or the near future, that kind of thing.  It was the Silver Age where characters got ridiculously boosted powers to insane levels (except Captain Marvel who was impossible to really harm and strong enough to lift anything he had to).   There were some outliers like the original Human Torch and Namor who were really different from humans and had a pretty interesting powerset

 

Not all, but most had pretty significant weaknesses the bad guys could take advantage of.  Green Lantern's ring didn't work on wood.  Namor got weaker out of water.  Hourman was invulnerable and super strong, but only for one hour a day.  Miss Marvel was just a girl with great combat skills until she was rebooted into a mentalist, but didn't have any real defenses.

 

So; keep your concepts modest, and consider just giving your character a really interesting schtick or theme and go with a base Captain America type powerset: peak or slightly above human level in everything, with maybe one oddball power like "I can hear at long range and any pitch" or "I can summon any animal to help me".

 

 

Its pretty easy to dig up Golden Age character images online with a search engine.  Take a look at their uniforms, mostly patriotic colors, bright and stand out, lots of pirate boots, shorts on the outside, capes, etc.

 

 

Its easy to find golden age character info online as well.  In fact, there are a host of "out of copyright" characters that you can find and use, just swipe their look and powers.

cool,man,give me some examples of out of copyright characters i can find and use,and swipe their look and powers

[assault]

53 minutes ago, batguy said:

cool,man,give me some examples of out of copyright characters i can find and use,and swipe their look and powers

 

6 hours ago, wcw43921 said:

The International Catalogue Of Superheroes is an excellent resource for Golden Age Superhero characters, as is The Public Domain Super Heroes Wiki.  Both have scores of heroes and villains alike which should give you an idea of what you want to make into a Golden Age Superhero.  

 

Hope that helps.  Good Luck, and let us know how it goes.

 

The second, chronologically first, quote is a good answer to the question.

 

I'll a add one point: Golden Age characters were very cookie cutter. Once you have designed one you can really churn out others.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Basic Golden Age character:  30 STR, 20 DEX, 5 SPD, 10 PD and ED, 10 REC, higher than normal STN and END, Boxing martial arts package, maybe one special ability like jumping a long ways, or seeing through walls, or high defenses against metallic attacks, just one thing to set them apart.  Complications have stuff like honorable, protective of women, almost always a secret identity, vulnerability to attacks from surprise (x1.5 stun), etc. 

[wcw43921]

That sounds about right.  Back then all you needed to fight crime was a cape, a mask, and a solid left hook.

 

And some heroes didn't even need the cape and the mask--

 

 

You can feel that punch across state lines.

 

For the record, I will mention that there were a few grossly overpowered characters in the Golden Age.  Stardust The Super Wizard is one such character, as is Master Mystic.  DC's The Spectre is Golden Age as well, and seemed to have whatever powers he needed for the task at hand.

 

Again--hope that helps.

[assault]

There were certainly over-powered characters, but if you want characters to play in a game you should stay away from them.

 

Many years ago now, during the 5th edition days, I did an analysis of as many Golden Age characters as I could be bothered. My conclusion was that characters could be built from a common template.

 

The main issues were sidekicks, and, unfortunately, female characters. Very few of the latter could  be justified as throwing a punch quite as hard as the red-blooded boys, but they could still take out mooks, or indeed the normal variety of villains.

 

Actual training wasn't an issue  Red-blooded men could be supers without any special training.