MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 219: THE FENCER

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 219: THE FENCER

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(Detective Comics v1 057, 1941) A simple concept but a good one: the Fencer is the head of a vaguely-Axis espionage group that has been trying to kill anti-fascist author Jules Vortez for the past two issues using methods including causing plane crashes while still on the plane, duplicates, hypnosis and, sadly, blackface. Aside from the latter, this is exactly the sort of over-the-top behavior that should be going on all the time in a super-hero universe, so it’s only…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 218: THE LIGHTNING KILLER

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 218: THE LIGHTNING KILLER

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(Detective Comics v1 056, 1941) The Lightning Killer is a neat and potentially great concept that was ill-served by being featured in a 6-page middle-of-the-book strip like Cliff Crosby’s. As presented, he’s a mysterious killer who strikes only during thunderstorms and times his shots to lightning strikes so that they go unnoticed by witnesses. Unsurprisingly, he turns out to be the meteorologist Cliff consults midway through the story, as he is the only non-cop/ non-victim/ non-protagonist character featured. The Lightning…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 217: THE STONE IDOL

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 217: THE STONE IDOL

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(Detective Comics v1 056, 1941) The Stone Idol is a bit of a weird one: a miner living in the ghost town of Ghost Gulch City discovers silver on town land and recruits an unscrupulous group of circus performers to aid him in driving out the town’s remaining inhabitants so as to have all the silver for themselves. The actual Stone Idol is the circus strongman disguised as a local Native American statue in order to play on the local…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 216: DR DEKER

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 216: DR DEKER

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(Detective Comics v1 055, 1941) Dr Deker is a spy chief and a fifth columnist from the heady days before the US entered WWI, so of course he’s from an unnamed Fatherland and no further clarification is needed. He has the not-uncommon plan to kidnap prominent American scientists and steal their secrets, abetted by his very first acquisition: the Truth Machine, a device which unsurprisingly forces one to truthfully answer all questions. All of this is pretty comics-regular and poor…

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GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 003

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 003

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Yet another collection of also-rans and never-weres. Philip White:  Philip White here got exactly one panel into his career as a masked spy chief before Madam Fatal unmasked him. (Crack Comics 014, 1941) Basil:  An auctioneer named Basil ran an overly complicated scheme to steal the fabled Five Bloodstones of Mu. His plans were also undone by Madam Fatal and ended in his grisly demise. (Crack Comics 016, 1941) Unnamed Crook:  This unnamed thief almost got away with the Dare Diamond…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 215: THE THREE DEVILS

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 215: THE THREE DEVILS

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(Detective Comics v1 050, 1941)  The Three Devils are an early example of a fairly common minor super-villain archetype: the acrobat who turns their skill to criminal ends (and of course this is a subset of “circus folk who use their talents for crime” which itself is a subset of “talented professional turns their talent to crime” and then I guess above that is “criminals”).  I don’t think I’m going to bother calling it out every time it happens but…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 214: THE TERROR

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 214: THE TERROR

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(Detective Comics v1 049, 1941) This is one of your technical qualifications: a singer’s former partner, jealous of his success, comes back for revenge. He calls himself the Terror and has a camera-gun and a bunch of hired goons with names like Smokey Joe. It all adds up to just enough to land him in the theoretical super-villain wing of the prison when Slam Bradley busts him.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 212: ECHO

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 212: ECHO

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(Detective Comics v1 049, 1941) The story elements of this aren’t anything special: a mad scientist builds a giant robot (or something) and sends it to get revenge on the world what shunned him for his wild ideas about building giant robots (or something). Eventually he gets sloppy and the Crimson Avenger tracks him back to his lair and in a twist of mild irony the order that was meant to cause the ultra-literal Echo to kill the Crimson instead…

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SUPER-VILLAIN YEARBOOK: CLAYFACE 1941

SUPER-VILLAIN YEARBOOK: CLAYFACE 1941

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Detective Comics v1 049, ‘Clayface Walks Again!’ Clayface’s 1941 adventure starts with two asylum guards learning a very important lesson a bit too late: if you exist in a fictional setting, never transport a homicidal maniac in a storm. It’s as true in a 1941 comic book as it was in any of the Halloween movies. Sadly, they remain unaware of the laws of narrative causality right un until their demise while Basil “Clayface” Karlo, protected by those same laws,…

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SUPER-VILLAIN YEARBOOK: THE JOKER 1940

SUPER-VILLAIN YEARBOOK: THE JOKER 1940

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What did the Joker get up to in 1940? 1. Batman Comics v1 001, ‘Untitled’ **first appearance** The Joker really hits the ground running in his first crime-outing. He establishes his character – prideful, mercurial and on-theme – and methods that are still in his repertoire to this day He indulges in the old standard of warning the police ahead of time, then killing his target and stealing their named gems (uh, this is a personal term for any gem…

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