The Byron John Interview

 Over on Patreon, I've posted a lost interview from 1983 with the one-man army who created Doc Stalwart comics for several years, on a legendary run that ended with issue 250. This is a public post, so you can see the benefits of being a patron! (Nudge, nudge)

https://www.patreon.com/posts/54093260

Rick's Designs in Hero Forge

 Rick sent me some pics of Doc Stalwart and Lab Rat that he created in Hero Forge ... they are pretty sweet, if you ask me :)

Update for the Week of 7/24

Over on the Stalwart Age Comics Database, I have added a summary and overview of issue 250, as well as the prose adaptation of issue 255. I won't quite call the database 'robust' yet, but it's filling out nicely, and I am happy with the variety it represents. If you are a Patron (and I hope you think about becoming one if you're not), you've already seen the next few things that I'm planning. Patrons get to see things at least one (and sometimes several) weeks before they go live, and also get to take part in behind-the-scenes conversations around the development of Doc and his world.

One of the things that I've introduced in the summary to 250 is the idea of a larger universe around the Doc comics that is also part of my own experiences; I loved the comics, but I also loved the interviews with comics creators and the letters pages of the comics. I allude to both of these in the historic notes to 250, and these are something I plan to explore in the future. Some of my favorite teenage memories are spending time reading the in-depth interviews in The Comics Journal and seeing under the hood of how the industry worked (or at least a glimpse of how it worked). At the time, I was all in on wanting to make superhero comics as my livelihood, and I was just as interested in what it was like to be a writer or artist as I was in reading the comics themselves. 

Retconning a Story I'm Writing

I've got a few Doc Stalwart side projects I'm working on... if you are on Patreon, you already know what I'm talking about... so you can sign up to get in on the conversation. But, in this process, I was thinking about the history of Doc and his story. In many ways, I'm looking at the story starting at issue 251 as establishing 'new' canon. One example of this is the character of Simian Prime. Simian Prime first appeared as a Doc Stalwart villain in the golden age comics, and his origin was always tied to Doc in the silver age comics... but starting with 251, he is ret-conned to have been an enemy of Hartland, 25 years earlier. I know that this seems like a mistake, but it's actually not. The current writer of Doc Stalwart (me, but not me, of course), has decided to revisit 'classic' Doc elements are re-imagine them. It is a soft reset of Doc's world; effectively, the John Byrne's "Man of Steel" of Doc's Superman history. One of the writer's goals from 251 forward is to create a definitive storyline that works out all of the contractions in Doc's publishing history.  Comics have a proud history of making narrative messes and then working hard to clean them up; if I wasn't doing the same, I wouldn't be creating an 'authentic' homage.

Tessek Lives!

This week's update is all about a certain mummy. Tessek the Terrible has ended up being a more powerful foe than I first conceived him; he starts pretty powerful, but he gets increasingly powerful as he gathers his artifacts. He could work as a big bad for a campaign, since hunting down his relics and fighting him with different power levels is on the table. Each encounter with him can be a little different. The Stalwart Age databases have been updated; his character profile is in the characters tab, and the summary of his first appearance is in the comics tab. Head over and take a look.

Remember, you can see this sort of content a week (or more) before others do... sign up as a Patron (for as little as $1 a month) to keep new content flowing. Thanks to those who have already signed up!

Print Edition Now Live

 The print edition of the Stalwart Age is now live at Lulu.com.

This version has a little bit of updated art, a few clean-ups throughout, and some minor tweaks and edits. There are no changes to gameplay, but I found (or had pointed out to me) a number of minor errors that I wanted to address. I also tightened up the layout throughout, getting rid of a little bit of white space and pushing the images to be a little bigger throughout.

If you already ordered the pdf, check drivethrurpg for an updated file and a link to the discounted edition. Remember, if you have already purchased the pdf, I am giving you a link to a discounted edition at 9.95. The link will be in the revised document, at the bottom of page 31.
 

Print Proof of Life

 

The print edition arrived today. I have a set of notes (Thanks, Rick!) for some minor edits, and I want to give the whole book one more read-through before I put it live. I will then also create a discounted edition, share the code, and release the updated PDF (with the code included for the discounted download). My goal was tomorrow, but it may not all go live until Friday... we'll see how it goes. I am very happy to have a physical book in hand, though :)