(Big 3 001, 1940) Here’s the thing about Borgo: they call him the Mirror Murderer in the opening blurb and then never do so again, even though he kills several people using mirrors. It’s a good name and I’m sad that I can’t justify using it so I’ll keep this short. Borgo’s got one goal in life and that’s to kill the five scientific James Brothers, seemingly because one of them fired him for stealing radium. Is it rational to…
Who will rid me of these fascist goons? The Nordland Bund is another German-American Bund analog but operates as more of a traditional spy operation on behalf of Nazi Germany stand-in Prussland. Their moderately complicated plan to get explosive coal onto US ships leaving Bermuda is foiled by Secret Agent D-13 and his Canadian counterpart/ love interest Lorraine MacAlinn (Mystery Men Comics 019, 1941) Like the man’s feet say, the Hoops are a bunch of Nazis (proper Nazis – Fox…
King of Darkness: Radio engineer Bruce King develops the amazingly-named Black Zero Transmitter that selectively allows him to negate light and/or heat in its range of operation, plus an insulated costume and night-vision goggles so that he is immune to its effects. He ends up dealing with nosy reporters and spies inadvertently egged on by said nosy reporters and so adopts the alias of the King of Darkness. Probably the best thing about him is the fact that he will…
(Banner Comics 003, 1941) The Dictator’s Shadow is the “head of the fifth column in America” and the major villain of patriotic hero the Lone Warrior and his kid brother Dicky, in the vein of the Red Skull. A notable thing about him is that he is not explicitly a Nazi, which is both unusual for someone whose name is so evocative of Hitler as the capital-D Dictator of the day but also for a character appearing in Banner Comics,…
Still lotsa super-heroes to add. the Marksman: Single appearance hero trained by his father to be completely accurate with thrown or projectile weapons. Uses the alias John Courage. Throws a spear through a guy’s head one time. (Amazing-Man Comics 023, 1941) Miraco the Great: Circus magician with real powers. His one adventure involved running a sex pest gorilla trainer out of the circus. (Amazing-Man Comics 023, 1941) Super Ann: A young woman who was given super strength by a weird…
I used up all the tags on the first one. Honours: Dick Cole gets the Carnegie Hero Fund Medal for saving a baby and a shirtless lunatic (Blue Bolt v1 001, 1940) Dick Cole also saves the Princess of the fictional European nation of Dania from pseudo-Nazis and is awarded the Danian Order of the Exalted Knight for his efforts. (Blue Bolt v1 012, 1941) Sub-Zero saves the city of Centro from a volcano and gets a banquet in his…
Some minor super-heroes I only have a small amount to say about: the Wraith: The Wraith is a very similar concept to the Spectre: a murdered cop comes back to mete out justice. They even have the same white/ green colour scheme, only reversed. A few things about the Wraith that sets him apart: though he does have some general ghost powers his main trick is possession, he is limited to the hours between midnight and dawn, and he has…
(Amazing-Man Comics 023, 1941) The Sewer Rat is actually Major Strabo, who says that he just wanted to graft off the government by selling military supplies to foreign governments but actually just ran a gang that, like, robbed museums and held up nightclubs and so forth. Aside from his rad name is notable for being the only foe of minor Centaur hero the Marksman.
(Amazing-Man Comics 021, 1941) A single-appearance hero notable for two reasons: 1) His name is Treve N. Thorndike and he got his super-hero name because he was careless enough to wear a belt with his initials on it while crimefighting (in his mild defense the more well-known super-hero named TNT also has those initials – maybe it’s a compulsion associated with having a cool name) 2) TNT carries a gun that is powered by atomic fission but he mostly uses…
(Amazing-Man Comics 019, 1941) Mighty Man was always a lot for crooks to deal with even when he was just a 12 foot tall guy with super strength but after he gained complete control over his physical form he really gave them a run for their money. I assume that’s why he was assigned an actual, factual magic-using witch as a recurring enemy. At least, at first. In her first appearance, the Witch had a magic broom that allowed her…