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Post by dans on Nov 15, 2023 16:01:29 GMT
I'm thinking about writing a story about some of my own analog characters for Starman, Starwoman (Libby showed Doris Lee using a Gravity Rod in the Earth 2 story: Times Past, 1942 Gender Gasp), Hawkman, and Hawkgirl. (These would be: Dr. Lambda, Lady Lambda, and the Stormbirds: Thunderbird and Rain Bird from Other Earth). In the story, the four are going to go on a vacation in the Rocky Mountains, and they are going to fly in, trying to find a hidden valley where there is no indication that humans have ever visited. But they all live on the East Coast (the Lambdas in Maryland, and the Stormbirds in Buffalo). So two questions: - in general, where should they go in the Rocky Mountains? I'm thinking somewhere in the Montana/Idaho/Wyoming area but have never been there.
- how would they get to some city in that region? They can all fly, but I think the Stars with Gravity Rods are much faster than the Hawks with their wings - and it would be a LONG flight. So more likely they will take some other form of transportation. Options appear to be: car, train, airplane (either an airline company or a plane owned by the Justice Society (Alliance of Mystery Heroes), or magical teleportation).
I originally thought of having them fly a private jet owned by the JSA (AMH) and chartering a hanger at the other end, but having some world famous super heroes flying into town might draw a lot of local attention and might even cause some kind of panic reaction. Reserving a private Pullman car on a train might be relaxing but also might hamper their response if there was some kind of emergency that required them to attend, and being out of action for the several days the round trip train would take seems kind of unwise. So I'm thinking magic - but I wonder what you guys think?
Thanks!
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Post by DocQuantum on Nov 15, 2023 22:10:28 GMT
Using powers to reach a vacation spot seems so "gauche" to me, unless it's so far that it makes no sense to do otherwise, such as a Pacific isle or something in the Southern Hemisphere. Based on so many Golden Age stories featuring the characters going on vacation, you usually just saw them drive there in a car. There's something to be said about a road trip, where you can take the time to sightsee on your journey, rather than instantly teleporting somewhere and ignoring all the "flyover" states like politicians tend to do.
They should definitely travel incognito, so they appear to be just normal vacationers. Then, once out of the city bounds, they could use their powers to fly the rest of the way to that hidden valley you speak of. Now, is this an established location, or is it created for the purposes of this story? I know Hawkman visited some kind of 'Hawk valley' a couple of times in the Golden Age, but I don't think it was specifically located in the Rockies, and it's probably not what you're referring to anyway.
Here are some options for their initial destination. You can look each of them up and consider whether they're suitable for your purposes:
Glacier National Park, Montana
Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Sun Valley, Idaho
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Post by lee on Nov 15, 2023 22:11:46 GMT
Take them to Jackson Hole, Wyoming by rail, and then from there, to rented cabin up in the mountains.
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Post by dans on Nov 15, 2023 23:06:48 GMT
Thanks, both of you. OK, you win... fly in a Alliance of Mystery Heroes minijet to Ashburn Flying Field outside Chicago, where the AMH leases a hanger, so it won't attract a lot of attention, then travel by rail to Idaho Falls in their civies, then fly northwest into the Rockies.
Now I gotta start all over again, darn it!
No planned destination; they are trying to go where no humans have gone before!
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Post by dans on Nov 16, 2023 1:16:45 GMT
OK, stuck again... how would 3 super hero members of a super hero team be able to justify taking a vacation in the middle of World War II? Pretty sure the Golden Age writers would have just had them go and not worried about justifying it to readers, but it seems out of character to me. Particularly a vacation that starts and ends with 3 days travel around however long their camping trip is going to be. That is kind of why I was thinking of having them magically transported out and back.
I suppose they could be 'on call', and if there was an emergency, one of the powerful magic users could zap one or more of the vacationers out of the train for the duration, and then zap them back again when the problem is solved. But that kind of clashes with the idea of riding the train in order to sightsee on the way out and back.
looking for suggestions again, thanks!
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Post by DocQuantum on Nov 16, 2023 1:30:06 GMT
Even soldiers in the U.S. Army were able to take leave occasionally. Most of those golden age stories featuring characters going on vacation tended to emphasize how overworked they'd been, and how much they needed a break. Of course, the "vacations" were anything but, and always led to a new case, so maybe you're overthinking it.
If you want to tie it in to the war somehow, maybe the reason for their travel is that they arrive early to a big War Bond Rally out West, and have some time to kill before the event.
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Post by dans on Nov 16, 2023 1:41:16 GMT
Thanks, Doc, that might work. The heroes are on a War Bond tour, and they have arranged to take a few days off when the train reaches Iowa... I can work with that.
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Post by redsycorax on Nov 16, 2023 3:04:40 GMT
There's also the question of logistics in this context, namely rationing. Wouldn't military personnel receive priority transit when it came to trains and private aircraft, that is, unless there's a covert reason for travel. The FBI or its analogue on Other Earth might well have detected something ominous in the area that they're vacationing in and has tipped one of them off, possibly Axis espionage activity or implications of sabotage? I know, it sounds manipulative, but I imagine that the heroes involved wouldn't flinch from manhandling Axis agents if they came across them.
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Post by dans on Nov 16, 2023 11:01:19 GMT
Thanks! As I thought about my story and all the comments above I realized that I don't need to set this story in 1944, so I am going to move the date. It is going to occur in late summer of 1945, after Germany has surrendered but before Japan has surrendered, and have one of the heroes note that the major super bad guys are now all in prison so there is a lull in super villain activity (while having his wife point out that he has now jinxed them!). Plus I don't need to put them in the Rocky Mountains; it actually makes more sense to have them vacationing in the Adirondacks because two of them are Native Americans from a nation that lived in the Adirondacks. And that is much closer to their normal areas of activity, so they can get back home more quickly if the need arises and they have to cut the trip short.
This new date actually suits my own time line better, too. I changed the date on an existing story to accommodate this and now that one makes more sense too...
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Post by dans on Nov 16, 2023 19:14:55 GMT
So, some advice from hikers... you are camping in the mountains in the wilderness - what precautions do you take at night?
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