AlHazred Posted July 25, 2006 Report Share Posted July 25, 2006 Okay, I tried searching, but I got too many results. I'm trying to locate an old thread where someone (was it Oddhat?) put together a campaign background that included the histories of most comic book universes. I remember thinking it was pretty cool, since it included the most important characters of Marvel and DC. Anybody remember this thread? Also, anybody have any writeups for the Astro City characters (besides the ones on Susano's site)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted July 25, 2006 Report Share Posted July 25, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City Perhaps you're thinking of Oddhat's Alternate Wold Newton Universe Timeline? And Shelley Chrystal Mactyre's website hosts several nice Fourth Edition HERO writeups of characters from Astro City. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted July 25, 2006 Report Share Posted July 25, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City Thanks, LL. The latest version of my timeline can always be found Here on my site and HERE hosted by Mike Surbrook. Hope you're able to find a use for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted July 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City That's the stuff! Thanks LL and OH! Oddhat, any thought to including Kurt Busiek's Astro City in your timeline? I don't see any obvious difficulties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted July 25, 2006 Report Share Posted July 25, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City That's the stuff! Thanks LL and OH! Oddhat' date=' any thought to including Kurt Busiek's [b']Astro City[/b] in your timeline? I don't see any obvious difficulties. No strong reason not to. It's mostly a matter of figuring out which characters contribute something interesting and which can be linked or merged. The Confessor might have been in part inspired by meeting a man who fought crime while dressed as a bat, and Samaritan's origin story is similar to the origin stories of Superwoman and Booster Gold... I'll think it over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted July 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City FWIW, I'm working on a timeline for Astro City. There's not much to go by, so it's much easier than many others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City FWIW' date=' I'm working on a timeline for Astro City. There's not much to go by, so it's much easier than many others.[/quote'] I'd love to see what you come up with. One problem is having so many Superman analogs. There's "The Gentleman" (from what I can see, flight, probably strength and some invulnerability, boyscout attitude), Samaritan (very high SIlver Age supes), the Silver Bullet (iirc; local heroes last story), the Cowboy Superman (don't remember his name, but again the same power set), and the superman analog from the Lois Lane analog story (only one to pull the Superman Robots / duplication trick). Don't much like the Wonder Woman analog; another case of going for the 70s Feminist angle. The Confessor and Alterboy were first rate, and the Quiver (?) Green Arrow analog, daughter of a criminal Green Arrow, looks promissing. The merged Batman/Joker as well. Looks like a groovy project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted July 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City Actually, while I am not enough of a comics reader to get all of the inside references, I understand that all of Busiek's homages are obvious. So, Samaritan=Superman. Roustabout (the cowboy superdude) is probably meant as an homage to "theme heroes" such as Black Vulcan and such. The Gentleman is Fred McMurray (much like Steeljack is Robert Mitchum) - in face and some personality. Atomicus is the guy from the Lois Lane-style story, but it's not an exact analogy, more like a variation, since "Lois" picks up on it right away, and "ClarK" is completely at sea when it comes to human social norms. And the "Batman/Joker" analog - Jack-in-the-Box - is actually meant as an homage to weird Steve Ditko theme heroes like Spider-Man. I can't wait to see where the current Dark Age miniseries is going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Johnston Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City Actually' date=' while I am not enough of a comics reader to get all of the inside references, I understand that all of Busiek's homages are obvious. So, Samaritan=Superman. Roustabout (the cowboy superdude) is probably meant as an homage to "theme heroes" such as Black Vulcan and such. The Gentleman is Fred McMurray (much like Steeljack is Robert Mitchum) - in face and some personality. [/quote'] He may be "played" by Fred McMurray, but he's clearly Captain Marvel's analog. He even had a cartoon feline sidekick to spell it out for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Johnston Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City I'd love to see what you come up with. One problem is having so many Superman analogs. There's "The Gentleman" (from what I can see, flight, probably strength and some invulnerability, boyscout attitude), Samaritan (very high SIlver Age supes), the Silver Bullet (iirc; local heroes last story), the Cowboy Superman (don't remember his name, but again the same power set), and the superman analog from the Lois Lane analog story (only one to pull the Superman Robots / duplication trick). Well Astro-City combines both the DC and Marvel universes and have you ever counted the number of Superman knock-offs either of them have? Marvel has Hyperion, Sentry, Gladiator, and Nefaria for a start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City Well Astro-City combines both the DC and Marvel universes and have you ever counted the number of Superman knock-offs either of them have? Yes. That was one of the challenges when putting together a Campaign Timeline that includes iconic chararacters from the comics; deciding how many and which of similar icons were "real" in the setting. One or two Superman-analogs are useful. More than that starts to leave less room for the player characters. That's why the "Superman" and other major league icons of my timeline drop from the public eye well before play begins; they're still available for backstory and GM use, but the PCs never have to feel like they're opperating in the shadows of giants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanderer Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City I'd love to see what you come up with. One problem is having so many Superman analogs. There's "The Gentleman" (from what I can see, flight, probably strength and some invulnerability, boyscout attitude), More like a Captain Marvel analog. Samaritan (very high SIlver Age supes), In personality and position of preminence in the superhuman community, but the melancholic workaholic attitude is quite postmodern and the powerset is more reminiscent of Marvel's Quasar. the Silver Bullet (iirc; local heroes last story), You mean Supersonic ? More like a Golden/Silver Age elder flying speedster. Hmm, Max Mercury ? Johnny Quick ? the Cowboy Superman (don't remember his name, but again the same power set), He remembered me of the "relevant" heroes of the '70s. A variant of Luke Cage, only country white trash instead of inner city black. and the superman analog from the Lois Lane analog story (only one to pull the Superman Robots / duplication trick). The female main character is an obvious spoof of the Silver Age Lois Lane, but Atomicus, the superhuman character, is an obvious spoof of Silver Age Silver Surfer: massive cosmic power set, non-human background, and naive/alienated personality. Rather nice story, too bad it makes a return of Atomicus improbable, I'd rather like to see more of him. Don't much like the Wonder Woman analog; another case of going for the 70s Feminist angle. Winged Victory ? Yeah, her feminism is so over the top to be grating, but at least Busiek had the good grace to make a story showing the vulnerable underside beheath the workaholic amazon complex (just as he did with Samaritan). Samaritan and her are a nice take on the Superman - Wonder Woman romantic/sexual tension. I took a good laugh at the huge mobilization of the superhuman population that it was necessary for those two workaholics to have a date and share a kiss The Confessor and Alterboy were first rate, and the Quiver (?) Green Arrow analog, daughter of a criminal Green Arrow, looks promissing. The merged Batman/Joker as well. Looks like a groovy project. Yep, although I yearn to see more Marvel-inspired characters. Hopefully, with new Bronze/Iron Age-inspired series... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City San Angelo: City of Heroes by Gold Rush Games http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showbook&bookid=3790 This book has a great write up by Kurt Busiek's Astro City that I agree with. I wholly recommend it too. Cheers QM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted July 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City My favorite story so far is the Tarnished Angel series. It rocks on toast - I could practially see the Champions mechanics working around it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent 13 Posted July 27, 2006 Report Share Posted July 27, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City FWIW' date=' I'm working on a timeline for Astro City. There's not much to go by, so it's much easier than many others.[/quote'] http://kbac.orcon.net.nz/astro4.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Johnston Posted July 27, 2006 Report Share Posted July 27, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City Way out of date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haerandir Posted July 27, 2006 Report Share Posted July 27, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City My favorite story so far is the Tarnished Angel series. It rocks on toast - I could practially see the Champions mechanics working around it. As far as my favorite goes, if it came down to a no-holds-barred steel-cage grudge match between Tarnished Angel and Confession, I'm not sure which would win. However, I've made a Steeljack tribute character (Brass Knuckles), so I suspect that's which way I would lean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted August 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City As I said, TA is an awesome story. Just when you hit the denoument of the story, and you're sure you've figured out the fundamental element of it, *wham* the authors hit you with a moment of pure pathos unmatched in most comics! I was very impressed. Excellent story-telling skills displayed there. Well, here's the timeline I worked up. And FWIW, the Dark Age story is shaping up great as well. I can't wait to see where it goes from here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted August 3, 2006 Report Share Posted August 3, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City As I said, TA is an awesome story. Just when you hit the denoument of the story, and you're sure you've figured out the fundamental element of it, *wham* the authors hit you with a moment of pure pathos unmatched in most comics! I was very impressed. Excellent story-telling skills displayed there. Well, here's the timeline I worked up. And FWIW, the Dark Age story is shaping up great as well. I can't wait to see where it goes from here! Woot! Saved and repped! Great work on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Johnston Posted August 3, 2006 Report Share Posted August 3, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City Are you giving Altar Boy enough time as a sidekick? That would only be a few months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted August 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City Are you giving Altar Boy enough time as a sidekick? That would only be a few months. All dates are worked out from events in the stories. If I didn't have any definite dates, I didn't put anything in the timeline for it. Which is why Tarnished Angel is underrepresented, and some other important events aren't on the list at all - there was absolutely no information to establish a date. And please note that many of the events are extremely minor. For the Wold Newton Timeline, I'd keep only the most interesting/important events and characters - Samaritan, Honor Guard, the First Family, the death of Silver Agent, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRavenIs Posted August 4, 2006 Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City AlHazard got my rep again for all that work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted August 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 Re: Old Thread and Astro-City Are you giving Altar Boy enough time as a sidekick? That would only be a few months. Oh, and Altar Boy arrives in Astro City right when the third victim of the Shadow Hill Killer is found. The Shadow Hill Killer business takes months, not years. So, yeah, it's a matter of months as a sidekick. However, afterward, he takes four years of training before he comes back to assume the mantle of Confessor II. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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