Lost and Found

Lost Carcosa is now available at the LotFP EU shop!

My involvement with Geoffrey McKinney's Carcosa goes back to almost the beginning. About a year after the release of the original Supplement V: Carcosa Geoffrey expanded one of the hexes on the campaign map in an article for issue #4 of Fight On! and I contributed some pictures; I'm not certain but this may have been my first published role-playing game work.

Later Geoffrey self-published that same content, this time in colour, as a zine. In 2011 Lamentations of the Flame Princess released an expanded version of Carcosa in a handsome hardback edition and almost all of my pictures were dropped in favour of new pieces by Rich Longmore. A fair trade, I think.

(Although I like my Bone Sorcerer more. Sorry Rich!)

I say "almost all" because I do have one very small piece in the published book. It's only about 5mm square and even I had trouble finding it yesterday, but it was apparently enough for James at LotFP to send me a contributor copy of the book. I've always been touched by that generosity and am always keen to tell people about it, because it's a side of James that I think gets overshadowed by his general infamy.

(I'm not sure James himself would approve, as much of that infamy is self-generated, quite deliberately!)

Earlier this year James got in touch to tell me that a new, even more expanded version of Carcosa was in the works, adding all the supplements and extras to the LotFP hardback. This time my pictures from 2009 (!) would be included and I also found a piece intended for the Fight On! article that was not completed at the time. Don't ask me why, it was 16 years ago!

Yesterday I received my contributor copy of the new book, and it's even more handsome than the 2011 printing. There are three variant covers, of which my favourite is probably the Yellow Lotus, and you can also -- if you are rich -- buy all three in a sexy -- and very heavy -- slipcase.

Which is what the contributors received.

See what I mean about generous?

Anyway, Lost Carcosa is out now, and it's quite swish. You can read Grognardia reviews of the original Carcosa here if you're interested in what it's all about.

When Banner Met Spidey

Spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day -- it's very good, I've seen it twice this week! -- follow.

In the film, a significant moment hinges on Hulk recognising Peter Parker, and I've been trying to work out how that could be, barring any off-screen "I read about you in the Avengers files" business:

• In Infinity War, Banner meets Spider-Man before the latter goes into spaaaaaaaaace.
• In Endgame, Professor Hulk and Spidey are both on the battlefield. During the fight, Spidey unmasks and tells Captain Marvel his real name, and it's possible that PH witnesses that, but PH and Spidey do not interact directly on-screen. That said...
• In the same film, both Professor Hulk and Parker are at Tony Stark's funeral. Again, we don't see them interact, but it would be very strange if they didn't; if any "Hi, I'm Peter" hadn't happened yet, it must have happened here. BUT...
• In No Way Home, Spidey and Doctor Strange make everyone forget about Peter Parker. Not that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, mind you, but that Peter Parker even exists.
• In Brand New Day, Peter meets Banner. It's clear that Banner has no idea who Peter is, and Peter gives his name as "Ned Leeds".
• Later on, Spidey fights the Hulk. People are calling this "Savage Hulk" and it seems to be a new incarnation; Spidey doesn't recognise him, suggesting it's not the Hulk from Assemble and Age of Ultron. THAT SAID...
• This incarnation is the one to whom Spidey says "It's me, Peter" and reacts, apparently with recognition.

So what's happening here? Banner hasn't met Peter, and Professor Hulk probably has but doesn't seem to remember, but Savage Hulk does remember him?

There's a lovely moment in 2020's comic Immortal Hulk: Great Power in which something similar happens:

Although it's not stated on-screen -- which is a shame but I can see why, for reasons of drama and pacing, it wouldn't work in the film -- I imagine something similar to this happened. Doctor Strange's spell in NWH just didn't work on this version of the Hulk for whatever reason. Perhaps he's immune to memory wipes, like the comics version seems to be, or perhaps he was buried so deep in Banner that the spell couldn't reach him, or maybe when [REDACTED] "breaks his brain" the memory is restored.

I don't think Marvel has given an official answer, but that one's good enough for me. Probably.

I'm No Dyson

Here's a map I drew, because I sometimes draw maps.

#KelvinDrawsThings