More Apex City Fun!

Following up on suggestions, I had designed "chance" cards to be used with the Apex City heroclix map in my previous post.

One is drawn after each round of a game on the Apex City map; they presume that the Martian Manhunter will be in play during the game.

They are designed to incorporate several of Apex City's unique properties, specifically:

• the incredible frequency of fires breaking out;
• the improbably number of meteor-strikes (I suppose that technically makes the meteorites, doesn't it)?);
• the wandering flocks of citizen that always seem to fill the street of Apex City;
• the inevitability of planes crashing.

Plane crashes cause "Quake", which in Heroclix knocks all adjacent characters two squares and does them two clicks of damage. The player who wins an ad hoc roll-off get to bowl a plane into the other team!

Flocks of Apexians are mobile terrain, hindering line of sight for attacks (and giving places for Stealthy characters to hide).  They remain on the board until they "run into" a building in the way, which removes them from the board.

Meteor Strikes only happen on clear spaces without buildings; they wallop anyone on that spot for 2 damage and have the "Poison" power as long as the remain (1 click of damage per round to any adjacent character).  They remain where they are unless removed by the Department of Meteoritics (which Apex SURELY must have).

Fires have the same effect, but only happen on buildings. They remain until removed by the Fire Fighters.

When adjacent to a Meteor Strike or Fire, Martians lose all powers and are "Earthbound" (that is, cannot use any special movement abilities. 

As a treat, the Idol-Head of Diabolu can show up. The team opposing the Martian Manhunter can place it as an immobile object on any clear space; therefore, they can use Probability Control (forcing an attack to be re-rolled once) on the Martian Manhunter from that space. 

Taking my game to a higher level

My very crafty husband has gifted me with props for enlivening my Heroclix games, with which I am delighted.  Together we created an elevated, transparent and blank "supra-map" that I can put above outdoor maps to represent the airspace above and on underwater maps to represent the surface of the sea.

You can see it in use in the photo, where it represents the airspace above a public park where Hawkman and Hawkgirl (with some pals) are confronting some Manhawks, Satana, Byth, and Ira Quimby.

The Manhawks, Satana, Byth, and Ira Quimby are all customs.  You have to be willing to put in the work for a Hawkman-specific Heroclix game.

You can also see some of the aerial props he made (you should see the RAINBOW, not pictured).  

Okay, fine; there's the rainbow.

The rules adapt quite simply to a second level: there is no line of sight between the levels (it's too high up!); it costs one square to move up or down; a figure can only move up or down in one turn, not both.  It really brings life and purpose to flying characters and battles!

Here's a photo of the supra-map being used to represent the surface of the sea in game where Aquaman and his finny friends are taking on Black Manta and his goons.

These are the props for use in temperate/cool waters.  He made separate sets for Tropical Ocean and Polar Ocean. These things matter to me.

The Tropical Ocean props

Tropical surface of the sea close-up.

The Polar Ocean props. Brrrr.

The iceberg combo is a really nice touch.

Anyway, this has reinvigorated my enthusiasm for the game and inspired me to make a new map of my favorite, freaky fictionopolis: Apex City!

As in my original Apex map, all of these locations (including the two bridges) and place names are from references in actual Martian Manhunter stories, which were always specific about just WHERE something was happening.  We know more specific places in Apex City than in Metropolis.

My inspiration for the map was post-war beach-town tourist maps and postcards. That really does seem like J'onn's natural habitat (to the degree that J'onn seems "natural" anywhere!).

I am eager to figure out a way to have random meteors, fires, and plane crashes occur during the game and threatening the Martian Manhunter as an added challenge.

The props are ready.

I am also planning to make flocks of Apexians as "mobile hindering terrain".  I just have figured out the game mechanism for their auto-movement. 

Because what is Apex City without its flocks of panicked citizens?

The Mixed-Up Martian Powers!

In our recent visit to the 1940s Star City, we had reason to mention Apex Studios, which is, naturally enough, in Apex City, where all businesses are named after the town, the Floridian home of 

J'onn visited Apex Studios at least once in Detective 268's memorable tale of

In which, once again, J'onn's powers cause more problems than they solve.

Martian-halitosis is darned inconvenient when one of your favorite powers is Marshalation.

Car 45, where are you? "Just around the corner"; of course.  
Apex City contains many wonders, yet is really dense.
Much like J'onn himself.

What IS it in the Apex City gene pool that DOES that to their chins?

It's a riddle with no answer.

J'onn makes a sound tactical decision that also allows lets him go solo, so he can use his panoply of Martian powers unobserved, because Ares forbid that Detective Jones should just take out his service revolver and shoot some thief in the leg.

And to get out of the car as soon as possible. Even J'onn's afraid of Slade's driving.

He changes into his Martian form, because I think at this point in his evolution, he couldn't do any Martian tricks while in human form.

I mean, any tricks EXCEPT shift back to his Martian form.

Then, the most natural thing in the world happens.

A flaming meteor from space lands at J'onn's feet.

J'onn is focused on the anomalous aspect of the meteor's flames not harming him, rather than the bizarre coincidence of a flaming meteor from space landing right next to him because flaming meteors from space fall on Apex City daily.

But how on earth can that be?

I see; thank you, Explanatory Floating Head of Wonder Woman.

Weird crap happens to J'onn constantly; if he actually stopped to deal with it, he'd never get anything done, so he presses on.

I think the meteor is a remnant of the planet Rastafaria. Just like "The Brother from Another Planet". 

NOW it gets more interesting than just random meteor strikes!

The metaphor of Detective Jones as a closeted Martian is always tantalizingly JUST out of reach for me.

Tee hee, J'onn's become the Bizarro Manhunter. This'll be good.

Yes. I can imagine that easily. Something ALWAYS goes wrong,
badly wrong for J'onn.  
He's the Charlie Brown of alien super-heroes.

I KNEW the internet would not fail to provide me with the image I needed.

Sure enough, it goes even more wrong for J'onn as some workers notice him, report him to the House Committee of UnTerrestrial Activities, and he's burned at the stake like a witch.

 "I don't care what they do in the privacy of their own homes and alien bars, but do they have to GLOW in PUBLIC?"

It's little scenes like this that really hammer home the fact that the DCU, well, wasn't much of a "U" at all back in the day.  Each hero operated not merely in a vacuum, but in their own little world.  Which is terrible for J'onn, since he can't use his Marshalation in a vacuum.  It's also terrible because it means he can't simply say: "Hi, I'm an alien superhero, just like Superman, except green. One with a ridiculous allergy,  but that's not important right now."

Fortunately for J'onn, he is in the ONE PLACE where he can get away with this glowing alien bit.

At APEX MOVIE STUDIOS.

Imagine; J'onn looks exactly like a 1950s B-movie writer's idea of what an alien looks like! So, undaunted, 

Don't worry; he gets daunted pretty soon.

J'onn decides to phase through a nearby wall 

Payroll. It's always payroll.

and instead just smashes his face into it

Oops. Or, being an super-strong and indestructible alien lummox, crashes THROUGH it like he's Kool-Aid Man.

"YOU BLOCKHEAD!" shouts the director.  Actually, he blames it on the WALL, because everything on movie sets is fake and flimsy.

"AND DON'T CALL ME 'CHIEF'!"

Two power fails in a row is a pattern, so JJ decides to test his treasured lung power (Marshalation).

You probably don't floss enough, J'onn.

Just how DOES Apex Studio store its junked ships VERTICALLY?  Like J'onn, Apex City is special.

Being a detective, J'onn quickly deduces (with a little help from some starlets), that the meteor and/or its fire is the cause of his Mixed-Up Powers.

It's a Red Kryptonite story, in other words.

This presents J'onn with his WORST-CASE SCENARIO:

That is, an ORDINARY EARTH DETECTIVE who can casually crash through cement walls like he's Kool-Aid Man.

Oh, dear; the struggle is real.  Fortunately for J'onn, British comedic character actor Maurice Dallimore is on hand to steer him in the right direction.

"It is the considered opinion of Her Majesty's government that you must pursue the thief at all costs."

Sigh. J'onn.  Just turn BACK into your Earth guise as Detective Jones, take out your service revolver and SHOOT THE THIEF IN THE LEG.  Detective Jones could handle almost every situation you ever find yourself in, JJ, because your real problem is your ridiculous panoply of powers, mixed up or not.

Oh, no. A fire has broken out. In Apex City, American's Most Flammable Vacation Spot. Imagine.

Upon beginning his rescue, he immediately abandons the idea of doing it as An Ordinary Earth Detective and uses his Martian vision.

What will happen? Take a wild guess.

Oxygen-eating Vision. 
Sure, J'onn. Whatever.

Naturally, J'onn's mixed-up powers have given him exactly the ability he needs to rescue the men. At this point, just rename him Nemesis Kid or let him swallow the H Dial, why don't you.

With truly Charlie Brown levels of insecurity, J'onn notes that his colleague Slade now has the situation in hand, and concludes that he himself will be on no more use to the police and will have to quit.

"All I have is the powers of an ordinary Earth detective and the ability to walk casually through cement walls; I'm useless a police officer!"  Get some therapy, J'onn.

I'd love to just SLAP J'onn when he gets like this, but I'd only break my hand.  Besides, now that the universe has (again) brought JJ to the point of tears because he's a blockhead, it relents and gives him his powers back.

"As the Martian Manhunter reaches the wall..."
Were ya just gonna... crash through that wall, JJ, like the Kool-Aid Man again?  
Is that what you were going for?  smh

Sometimes the internet will NOT provide you just the image you need.

The Red K effect of the meteor ended once its flames died out.  Because Martian Manhunter stories always treat fire as if it's some sort of tangible, radioactive element, rather than just the result of a chemical combustion process.

Harrumph. Okay, maybe the mix-up left him unable to shapeshift back into Detective Jones. But his over-reliance on his 47 powers is still the root of his problems. 

Now, Batman would have that meteor encased in lucite, labelled, and displayed in the Hall of Trophies overnight and Superman would assign a team of robots at the Fortress of Solitude analyzing it to determine what caused the effect and whether it could be of any danger to him in the future.  The Martian Manhunter...?

To him, it was a Tuesday.

Mystery Analysts: Apex City

So, if we are going to postulate sets of Mystery Analysts to support heroes OTHER than Batman, let's start with another hero who is already a detective and shouldn't need any help at all: J'onn J'onzz , the Martian Manhunter. 

Here are my top picks.

Captain Harding

Look, I know that Diane Meade is the obvious choice from the ACPD to be among the Mystery Analysts of Apex, because she is a SHARP detective. But it's just too on the nose.  Besides, if Diane were one of them, you'd wonder why John Jones WASN'T.  

And I mean SHARP.  Diane sniffed out the Martian Manhunter in nothing flat.  I guess if both the Gotham D.A. and Commissioner Gordon can be in the Mystery Analysts of Gotham, both Captain Harding and Diane Meade can be in the Mystery Analysts of Apex.

So instead I pick their BOSS, Captain Harding. Now, that may seen counter-intuitive to those who are familiar with his past appearances on this blog.

In Harding's defense, Detective Jones is quite handsome, if you like the square-jawed type.

My rationale goes as follows.  Captain Harding doesn't look like he got his position by being an outstanding beat cop.

That position specifically being "sitting behind a desk".

So I figure Captain Harding must in fact be an "arm-chair" detective, that is, one who specializes in the analysis of evidence and situations presented to him, rather than one who goes out and, you know, DETECTS things. 

It would help explain why he never gets up from his chair.

If I were feeling bold, I would suggest an older, retired version of Heavyweight Harding, who is perhaps now CONFINED to a wheelchair, like a modern Ironside.

Newspaper editor Jim Wade

An investigative journalist is always a ripe choice for a Mystery Analyst, and Apex City's best (and only) known journalist is Jim Wade, editor of the daily newspaper,  The Clarion.

Jim is clearly portrayed as thorough reporter on the results of long-term investigations, rather than a "scoop-getter".  

The very IDEA of a "scoop" seems to baffle him.

Jim wouldn't be flashy, but he'd be the kind of guy who'd do all the tedious background research involved in any case (that one of the other Mystery Analysts would then use to figure out the mystery).

Detective Chimp

I would also consider Bobo appropriate for the Mystery Analysts of Central City, because he was created by Flash artist Carmine Infantino and because simians in general go well with the Flash.

I have two principal reasons for including Bobo among the possible Mystery Analysts of Apex City. First, Detective Chimp is weird and J'onn is the weirdest of DC's Iconic Eight.  

I was going to make a point here about how originally Bobo was much more normal than nowadays, when he can talk and wears clothes and is an expert on the outré.  I was going to talk about bizarrely overpowered he has become (I have one friend whose sole fear is facing off against Detective Chimp's Heroclix figure), and how that was part of larger contemporary phenomenon, in which DCU Characters We Used To Deride As Goofy have been reinterpreted by modern writers and readers as Actually Awesome and Fearsome.  Detective Chimp, Cat-Man, Plastic Man, heck, even Aquaman, really.

Ralph Dibny, however, remains, by general consensus, a total goober.

I was going to do that. But then I checked his first story again.

In which he makes a homemade bathysphere. In a week. In secret.
Rex, The Wonder Dog #4 (Aug. 1952).

Yeah, current Detective Chimp may be verbal and a great detective, but there is no way he could build a bathysphere. Heck, most chimpanzees can't even SPELL "bathysphere".

So, yeah; Detective Chimp is weird and always has been. But there is a SECOND reason I would include him in the Mystery Analysts of Apex.

Quite simply, Bobo lives in Florida, which is where Apex City is.

Roy Raymond, TV Detective

Roy Raymond, TV Detective! It's one of those comic book names that always gets said in total. It sounds weird to just say "Roy Raymond".  I've already theoretically associated him with the Martian Manhunter, so he's an obvious choice.

I was going to comment how Rick Veitch did Roy Raymond dirty during his Swamp Thing run. But I've read the original stories of Roy Raymond, TV Detective, because they appear in the same comics that classic Martian Manhunter stories were in.  And, frankly, Roy was rather a ****.  

He was consistently a jerk to his delightful assistant, Karen Duncan

Roy had a son, Roy Raymond Junior (because there is no way Roy would name after anyone but himself), who was actually an unpleasant Flash character at one point.  So if RRJr goes in any Mystery Analyst franchise, if would have to be Central City's.

Fortunately, DC has already established that Roy Raymond also has an eponymous grandson, who'd be a logical member of the Mystery Analysts of Apex.  

He seems annoying, but nowhere the **** his grandfather and father were.

Not only was the original version a comic book co-habitant of the Martian Manhunter's, but you know DARNED well that J'onn would have been GLUED to the set every week watching "Roy Raymond, TV Detective". 

Mysto, Magician Detective

Mysto, like J'onn, used to be one of the back-up features in Detective Comics.  He was a stage illusionist who also solved crimes.

I mean, you don't get to BE in Detective if you don't solve crimes.

As a stage magician, he certainly brings a unique flair to the table, as opposed to just another generic private investigator.

Besides, Sholly Fisch already made him a Mystery Analyst, and whatever Sholly Fisch does is right.