RPObjects recently published a source book
Mutants and Masterminds called
DEFCON.
The premise was: 4 color superheroes in the Cold War.
There are a lot of niches/settings being served in Supers RPGs - steampunk, WW2 era, gritty White Wolf angtsy, Pulp - - but the Cold War was conspiciously absent.
In fairness, the big 2 comics companies hadn't done much it. Iron Man's origin has even been retconned to take out any mention of Vietnam. Except for the occasional villain with a Boris and Natasha accent - the Cold War was almost absent from mainstream comic. So - it was a blank slate. (OK - the GI Joe comic at Marvel had
the Oktober Guard - a Warsaw Pact analog of GI Joe who were shown as sympathetic characters (they even appeared in seveal of the animated episodes.) But that's the exception that proves the rule)
Anyway - I'm working a few sequels
1) Checkpoint Charlie - -a campaign model for a Supers game set in Berlin during the mid 80s. Heroes and villains (on both sides of the Berlin Wall) and several adventure hooks.
2) Evildoers of the Cold War - Collection of supervillains tailored for the late Cold War period.
3) Superagents and Soviets - A campaign model for playing super-agents (think SHIELD and UNCLE) in a Cold War/Superpowers setting. So - I've commissioned some art for the sequels - -
This one was designed by Darren Calvert - an excellent artist who's had work published by some of the big boys in the industry (including Green Ronin)
The concept I gave him was just: "A Canadian Superhero during the Cold War". And you can see the image below of what he came up with. In Darren's own words:
"This concept is Arrow, based on the Avro Arrow, a Canadian jet design that got killed by budget constraints. In this alternate history I imagine it being a flight suit project which created one successful prototype to be flown by a RCAF pilot. Powers would basically be supersonic flight and probably some enhanced physical abilities. "
By Jon Gibbons - Here's der Stahladler (the Steel Eagle) - a West German super whose concept and battle rig was designed by the psyops division of NATO as a way to endear the Allied supers with the German populace.
And with the arms race impacting everything - including superheroes - here's the inevitable East German response to Stahladler - Kreigvogel (Warbird)(drawn by Jacob Blackmon.
And here's October Crusader - leader of the East Berlin team of Warsaw Pact supers
Out!