The Red Menace & More Public Domain

As the loyal readers know I am working on developing and hashing out my Silver Age for the Zenith Universe, as that will have a direct link to the Bronze Age which the campaign is set at the latter edge of.

In doing so I get to do something I haven't had a chance to do for a long time... develop Soviet supers!

For me the Cold War, while not a lot of fun in the real world, provides an excellent and deep pool to dive into for creativity and story telling. Back in the 80's and early 90's I had developed a crap-load of Soviet supers, complete with authentic Russian names thanks to my roommate at the time who had studied Russian in college.

More on that as it develops.

As for the Public Domain, I have come to a most excellent decision as to how I am going to progress on using it.

There is a team in my world called the "Protectors of New York". I had used them once for a campaign, but had never really developed them beyond some PCs who stepped in after the original team was killed in the collapse of the Twin Towers.

Since I have no notes and they were always just sort of this "other" team, I have decided to tap the Public Domain heroes and create a team who's names can never be on the front cover!

The premise is that they were a bunch of heroes who came together during the Golden Age and were battling Nazis or what have you, when they all got turned into statues by some evil axis magician character (you can see I have really fleshed this out ;) ) and were left in a warehouse in New York from 1942 on.

Flash forward to 1976, the country's Bicentennial and somehow (haven't decided yet) the spell is broken and they are all suddenly 33 years later than they should be.

This to will be more on it as it develops.

As always thoughts, suggestions, comments and feedback are more than welcomed, they are sought.

I Need A Batman

Yup that's right.

As I work on the Silver Age for the Zenith Universe, I have my Superman (Guardsman) and I have my Wonder Woman (Lady America) but I am missing a Batman. The guy who uses brains and skill instead of powers. The guy who everyone wonders if he is a hero or a villain. The guy, who when the American Government says "Unmask or go to jail." in the 50's doesn't say anything, he just ignores them and keeps going.

Now the hard part of this is that I don't want him to be a dead-to-rights rip-off of the Bat. Certainly Guardsman doesn't strike anyone as Superman on first blush. He isn't an alien, he started in 1944 and was powered by a magical helmet. Lady America (nicknamed the American Amazon for those who might miss it ;) ) isn't directly Wonder Woman either. She has no powers, uses Martial Arts and is a wrapped in the flag patriot. Essentially she is Wonder Woman masquerading as Captain America.

So how to have a Batman who isn't really a Batman at first glance.

I am wracking my brain on this one and coming up empty, so I turn to you all for input, ideas and guidance.

One caveat, please don't offer me characters from your own campaigns or creations unless you are also giving me permission to use them in publishing ventures (for which proper credit will be given to you if the character is used) as well as to twist, fold, spindle and/or mutilate as I see fit to make them work in the Zenith Universe.

Just had to get that out of the way.

Just What Is The Silver Age?

"A silver age is a name often given to a particular period within a history, typically as a lesser and later successor to a golden age, the metal silver generally being valuable, but less so than gold."

Nope that sounds bad. Making it not as good as the Golden Age. Hmmmmm.

"The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those in the superhero genre. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an interregnum in the early to mid-1950s, the Silver Age is considered to cover the period from 1956 to circa 1970, and was succeeded by the Bronze and Modern Ages."

Well that just tells me when it was... le sigh. I need a better definition of what the Silver Age was... what it means.

Wikipedia you have failed me!

"The Silver Age of comic books began with the “second generation” of superheroes from 1959 to 1963 or so. Silver Age comics tended to feature more powerful heroes than their Golden Age predecessors (with the exception of a few godlike Golden Age characters). Silver Age comics also had a decidedly science fiction bent to them, with more aliens, fantastic technology, and scientific origins, especially involving atomic energy and related mutations. Many classic comic book characters first appeared in the Silver Age, or settled into their now-familiar forms and mythologies during this time."

That's from Mutants & Masterminds by-the-way.

Hmmm... it doesn't really help though does it?

Okay science and aliens are up. Got it. The classic characters either start or settle into themselves in this era. I am guessing that means what we know as the Flash, Wonder-Woman, Batman and Superman from DC or the entirety of Marvel Comics.

It would be fair to say that DC's Silver Age was much sillier than Marvel comics, though some also say that Marvel Comics are part of the "Atomic Age", though I am not going into that in this campaign.

So for me, the idea of the Silver Age becomes defining it for myself with an eye to what it was in the real world of comics. Those comics range from the 50s to about 1970. Interestingly enough that is an age that starts, in American history, as a sort of idealized innocence and ends with that innocence ripped away and reality really hitting home. The Korean War vs the Vietnam War. Eisenhower's America vs the Civil Rights movement. Elvis Presley vs the Beatles. Okay I better stop I can do this all day.

So given that my Silver Age needs to start with an idealized and somewhat naive view and end with a more realistic view, that gives way to the Bronze Age.

So at the end of the Golden Age we have the postwar heroes falling victim to the "Red Menace" fears and Dr. Dynamite getting shot. The other heroes have all but retired or vanished. Some have stuck it out, like Guardsman, who is very much into the whole 1950s America. White picket fence, nuclear family, etc... Racisim exists but no one talks about it in polite company and while there may be greasers, most middle-class white kids are essentially what Archie comics gave us. Oh and no one talks about the poor people.

In my timeline I have the SS Titan getting hi-jacked in 1958. A but late for the Silver Age to kick off, certainly later than the 1953 or 56 proposed in the above quotes. I had certainly decided that before I had created the idea of Guardsman as well. Still it is easy to say that with Guardsman running around doing various "American Things" in the early to mid 50s and Captain Comet showing up in 1958 the Silver Age get's kicked off with a flood of new heroes.

Though that makes me unhappy as well, for it means I lose out on the wonder and excitement of the whole early and mid 50s idealism and innocence. Interesting the onyl superheroes of note in those days in our world were Superman and I think Batman. Wonder Woman may have been in that time as well, I can't remember. Oh and there may have been a commie battling Captain America as well. Hmmm.

So I either adjust my timeline and move the beginning of the Silver Age back, or have Captain Comet show up earlier in the timeline, which is the same as moving the beginning back.

Now I am just thinking out loud.

I suspect I will need to do more research on this and so I will end this post by asking any and all of you to feel free to comment or share your thoughts on this topic.

Cheers.