Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Dogwood City A to Z: Judo Joe

Here's another non-costumed hero for Dogwood City.  Well...non-costumed for now, anyway...I could easily see this character being set up nicely as the youthful version of a martial arts hero like those who became popular in 1970s superhero comics (Richard Dragon, Bronze Tiger, Iron Fist, etc.).

Judo Joe is Joe Smith, an American high schooler raised in Japan, where he became a master of...judo.  He confirms most of these assumptions right off the bat:


In addition to judo, it appears that Joe has learned a bit about zingers of the verbal variety...


Judo Joe looks to be the only comic published by Jay-Jay Corporation (I'm assuming the company name is connected to the character).  The three issues of his adventures can be found here (as always, I can't guarantee you won't hit upon some good ol' historical racial insensitivity, but at least this comic is from the "forward-thinking" 50s).  Something kind of cool is that the character is all about empowering others by teaching them judo, and the comic itself featured some simple judo lessons:


You can also check out Judo Joe on the PDSH wiki here.


Judo Joe
Real name:  Joseph Smith
Level 7
5 Hero Dice
Defense 14

Devastating judo move (melee) +8 (2D damage)



3 comments:

  1. I like him. I can see him becoming an Iron Fist-like character myself.

    Also, thanks for introducing me to Comic Book +, via these posts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad to! Comic Book Plus is always a threat to exhaust hours of my time...

      Delete
  2. Interesting. Good luck with the rest of the AtoZchallenge.

    ReplyDelete