Comics love to have media in them, and I love telling you about those media. Music: Though the radio debut Roger Midas and His Melodeers is a hopeful sign for the relationship between former absentee workaholic father and snob Harvey Midas and his progeny, one can’t help but be a little cynical about the sudden success of a rich man’s passion project. (Detective Comics v1 047, 1941) When I detailed the musical output of the Murder Maestro in the last…
(Marvel Mystery Comics 003, 1940) Though Namor started his comics journey as an outright villain, by his third appearance, the world was ready to see a softer side of him. This journey to redemption begins when the police notice just how horny he was in his last outing and assign NYPD officer Betty Dean to capture him. On her own with no backup, of course. Despite the fact that her boss is seemingly trying to commit murder by super-villain on…
Everyone likes a good monster now and then. Horned Cat: With every one of these round-ups I accrue more evidence that the Slightly Different Big Cat is one of the classic monster types, as seen here when Congo Jack is confronted with this horned green feline in the mystical Valley of Vango in the Congolese jungle. As a bonus, a few steps later he has to deal with another classic: the carnivorous plant, or in this case flesh-eating bush. (Lightning…
So just what did the Human Torch get up to in 1940? Well, in Marvel Mystery Comics v1 004 he makes the name Jim Hamond on the fly during a police stop and evidently likes it enough to adopt it as his full-time secret identity. Not sure when he adds the second ‘m’ to make it Hammond. Will report back when he does. In Marvel Mystery Comics v1 007 the Human Torch, as Jim Hamond, decides to become a police…
More aliens? Just how many more can there be? Fantasans: When time/space traveller Whiz Wilson visits Earth of the year 4400 CE, he finds that it is being bombarded by comets originating from the far-off planet Fantasa. Going there with the aid of his trusty Futuroscope, he learns that Molla, the rightful ruler of Fantasa, has been deposed by the wicked Gorano and that Gorano has a fanatical (and unexplained) hatred of humanity that is his reason for the comet…
(Marvel Comics 001, 1939*) No character in comics history swings more wildly and frequently between super-villain and super-hero than Namor the Sub-Mariner, Prince of Atlantis, and since as established in the case of Spy Smasher and Smasher Spy we treat the villainous and heroic actions of the same individual as different subjects we must start with Namor the villain (Namor the hero here). Namor’s origin is a relatively simple one, and to my knowledge one that has remained fairly unchanged to…
Forget lost media, here are some media that only exist in comic books Movies: A Modern Macbeth is one of innumerable in-comic movies that we never really learn anything about. Is it a musical? Is that why a singer is speaking at the premiere? Is it a reference to another movie? The only pre-1941 movie with a similar title that I can find is 1917’s A Modern Monte Cristo and that seems a bit of a stretch. (More Fun Comics 072, 1941)…
(Marvel Comics 001, 1939) A two-fisted vigilante in the Batman mode, the Angel was a big enough name in Marvel’s Golden Age comics that it would be kind of surprising that he has never really been revived post-Silver Age if not for the fact that his name was, and that the subsequent and ongoing popularity of the X-Men means that there was always a full “Angel” slot on the Marvel roster. On top of this (and probably because of this) the Angel…
Time for a heaping dose of real folk from Golden Age Marvel comics. Adolf Hitler: Kalph Belgri, dictator of Torpis, takes his own life when his invasion of neighbouring Molivia is thwarted by Electro. (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 005, 1940) The Human Torch encounters Adolphe Hiccup, dictator of Slaveland, while foiling a plot to fool his sidekick Toro into aiding their war effort. He is seen colluding with his ally Benny Musclein, who is such a clear Mussolini stand-in that…
The Looming Spectre of Death: Death rides, menaces the Human Torch in a flooding tunnel, advances as a glacier and looks over Hitler’s shoulder, all from the same busy issue: Human Torch v1 005b, 1941 The Looming Spectre of War: Also from Human Torch v1 005b: the looming spectre of war, in the form of Mars, menaces the USA and rejoices in the flooding of Berlin.