MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 074

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 074

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Some more of those “minor super-heroes” you like so much.  the Cat-Man **Update**: Hey, it’s the Cat-Man! As you may or may not recall, the Cat Man (sans hyphen) debuted in Crash Comics Adventures in 1940 and was the only survivor of that comics short run. The most obvious change to his character is his costume, which goes from its former jungle chic look through a blue-and-orange phase  before settling on the orange-and-darker orange look that he will stick with for the…

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GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 035

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 035

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Not every villain is super and they must learn to accept that. Miguel Greeze:  He may just be a regular style crooked gambler looking to murder Golden Arrow in order to win a bet, but Miguel Greeze here is decked out in too good a costume to just ignore. Plus it’s impressive that he can make his legs go like that. (Whiz Comics 023, 1941) Konrad Schtienker:  Fascist assassin Konrad Schtienker is all-in on a tobacco product theme: he uses…

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CATALOGUE OF WOUNDS 001

CATALOGUE OF WOUNDS 001

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Among the many things that I have found interesting enough to keep track of over the years is just how many times super-heroes get wounded while going about their business. What does a shoulder look like after it’s been shot a dozen times, for example? If I had been really on the ball I would have also been noting every time someone was knocked out with a blow to the head as well, but we can’t all be perfect. Full catalogue here,…

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 073

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 073

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It’s a fine day for a dose of minor super-heroes.  Alias X:  Alias, aka just X, is a mysterious master of disguise who has been cleaning up crime in NYC for the better part of a year and who, as of his first appearance, has now deigned to tell his origin story to Police Commissioner Malley and newspaper editor Hunch Armstrong. Turns out that X was a small-town taxi company owner who was railroaded and sent to prison for a…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 914: THE BRIDGE-DESTROYERS

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 914: THE BRIDGE-DESTROYERS

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(Cat-Man Comics 001, 1941) Some villains are puzzles, high-concept enigmas whose motivations and goals are a mystery that must be solved to understand them. The Bridge-Destroyers are not that. They are exactly what their name declares them to be: a couple of guys in a tower who destroy bridges using a long-range heat-ray cannon. But why the Bridge-Destroyers destroy bridges, that must be a mystery, yes? Perhaps it is, but the authorities are pretty certain that they are working for “some foreign…

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 072

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 072

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Extremely minor super-heroes? Don’t mind if I do! the Flag-Man: The Flag-Man is one standard unit of patriotic American super-hero: he loves the United States and is willing to put on a costume and punch guys until it is safe. And speaking of costumes: the Flag-Man and his pal Rusty are prime examples of how piggybacking off of the iconography of the American flag can really paper over some pretty bad costume design. I mean, tank-top and cape and flared gloves? Give me a…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 913: CAPTAIN HOOD

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 913: CAPTAIN HOOD

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(Captain Aero Comics 001, 1941)  Captain Hood is your classic fascist of indeterminate allegiance, who has been holed up with a crew of pseudo-Nazis and pseudo-Imperial Japanese agents in a cave underneath Easter Island for four long years working on an “undersea tractor” designed to haul a cargo of explosives to the Panama Canal and then blow it up. Just why he requires a mask in order to oversee this operation is an exercise left for the reader – I…

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 071

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 071

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It’s time for another round of aviator-heroes, most of whom hail from Air Fighters Comics 001, a distinguished publication that was home to many storied characters. None of those characters appear here. the Black Commander:  A little while ago I covered the character Spitfire Ace and posited that he had one of the most complicated origins in comic books, and while the origin of the Black Commander doesn’t quite manage to take the crown away from its predecessor it is…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 912: COMMANDER DARKE

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 912: COMMANDER DARKE

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(Bang-Up Comics 001, 1941) Commander Darke, though ostensibly on a mission to invade the United States with his private military, is the arch-foe of scientist-adventurer Cosmo Mann and as such spends his entire career trying to Steal Those Gizmos. Perhaps things would be different if there had been more than three issues of Bang-Up Comics for Darke and Mann to clash, but as it stands all we get are the opening moves of their epic struggle. You probably already took note of…

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 070

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 070

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No more of those fancy-pants vigilantes that you’ve had a chance to have heard of: here’s some real minor super-heroes for you: the Rainbow:  The Rainbow, aka Jim Travis, may just be the first super-hero whose origin involves reading a comic book and taking inspiration from it, but unlike the other examples of this that I can think of Jim reads less like someone finding a solution to a problem that they have and more like one of those guys…

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