When journalists were heroes

Back when Americans trusted journalists, and reporters were more interested in keeping the public informed than advancing their personal political agendas, they were pop-culture heroes. During the 1930s and 1940s, crusading reporters and news photographers were the subjects of movies and numerous comic book series.

Newshounds is a new series from NUELOW Games that presents some of those classic stories from the Golden Age of Comics when journalists were more interested in speaking truth to power and uncovering dirty corporate dealings than being part of the elite and reaping the benefits.

Click here to see previews and to get your own copy of Newshounds #1, which collects classics by Matt Baker, Bob Oksner, and Harvey Kurtzman. Like all NUELOW Games comics projects, this issue contains roleplaying game content. This one presents rules for playing adventuresome reporters using Lester Smith's d6xd6 CORE RPG system.

As a further preview, here are a few sample pages from the book.

Art by Matt Baker

Art by Bob Oksner

Art by Harvey Kurtzman

Art by Matt Baker

August 16th is Julie Newmar's birthday!

According to Freedonian tradition, pants are optional on your birthday. Julie Newmar is reportedly a strong believer in respecting  other cultures.

Shades of Gray wishes Ms. Newmar a happy 81st birthday!

Lauren Bacall has died at 89

The great Lauren Bacall passed away Tuesday, 8/12/2014. Here's a photo gallery in her memory.

Ann Miller never figured out chairs...

Although she tried, from she was a young girl, through her adult years, and into old age, Ann Miller never did master the chair.

Ann Miller is believed to have suffered from undiagnosed Cathedra-Caudexia. I am declaring today Cathedra-Caudexia Day, hoping to raise awareness of this rare condition. It is time to stand up for those who don't know how to sit down.

You can show your support by purchasing lots and lots of NUELOW Games products. You can see the full listing here.

Bring chills to your summer with 'Feary Tales.'

My latest NUELOW Games project is now available from DriveThruComics and the other usual outlets. Titled Feary Tales, it's got six short horror comics inspired by classic fairy tales. Four of them were drawn and written by the great Steve Ditko. In addition to the comics, the book features a new race for use as a monster or player character in your OGL Modern or other d20 System games.

By way of a preview, here are three of my favorite pages from the book.

You can see more previews, or get your own copy by clicking here. It is on sale at 25% the usual price through August 1.

Happy National Ice Cream Day!

Today is the 30th annual National Ice Cream Day.

In 1984, US President Ronald Reagan issued one of the most important proclamations of his presidency: He declared the month of July National Ice Cream Month. He further designated that all Americans should celebrate ice cream with "appropriate ceremonies and activities" on National Ice Cream Day, which he designated as July 15.

Since then, America has observed National Ice Cream day on the third Sunday of every July. I've drafted Yvonne Craig and a couple of friends to remind everyone to do their patriotic duty and enjoy some tasty frozen treats on this most momentous day.

Picture Perfect Wednesday; Brittany Jo Sprinkle

Some shots of an up-and-coming model, grabbed from her page on Facebook.