MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 862: BEAUTIA

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 862: BEAUTIA

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(Whiz Comics 003b, 1940) Captain Marvel first encounters Beautia after being tricked into taking a trip to Venus with a disguised Dr Sivana. There, she rules over a kingdom of wonderful frog aliens called Glompers If you’ve read any supplemental material about Dr Sivana then you probably know that Beautia is actually one of his four children, but this is not established since 1941, and honestly the Beautia/Sivana interactions in her first handful of appearances do not support the relationship…

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DIVINE ROUND-UP 014

DIVINE ROUND-UP 014

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Once again I present to you some deities.  Pelenona:  South Pacific adventurer Lance O’Casey almost gets sacrificed to the volcano goddess Pelenona on the of the same name because a different, more evil adventurer had made off with the island’s sacred temple jewels. The people of the same island also worship a shipwrecked circus gorilla as god-monster the Eepa,  God Style: Animist (Whiz Comics 008, 1940) the Creeping Death: The Jungle Twins were a pair of brothers who were separated…

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HONOURS – CAPTAIN MARVEL

HONOURS – CAPTAIN MARVEL

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Lots of college hijinks for our lad:  Less than one year into Captain Marvel’s career, the local college has an elite football squad named Captain Marvel’s Men who dress in replicas of his uniform. As part of an investigation into illegal sports betting, Marvel infiltrates the team and ends up winning a game single-handed. Plus, this all takes place at Marvel College, which has to be a coincidence. Billy Batson also uses the Wisdom of Solomon get into Marvel College at what……

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ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 020

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 020

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You won’t believe the aliens and alien-adjacent societies we got in here.  Scorpians and Subterrines:  When crack reporter Scoop Smith and his photographer pal Blimp Black fly to Mexico to investigate reports of an “invisible revolutionary army” they get the story in a very direct way when they are shot down and taken captive by the Scorpians, who dwell in the underground kingdom of Scorpia and are extremely on-theme about the scorpion thing at all times, as can be seen in…

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GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 027

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 027

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Rascals the lot of ’em.  L-17 is a spy from an extremely unspecified foreign power who vexes pilot Wings Bordon throughout his three appearances. He is remarkable both for his longevity – three whole appearances for a simple letters-and-numbers spy is astonishing – and for the fact that he managed to get a promotion between his first appearance and his last, from field agent reporting to a shadowy Chief to being the shadowy figure whom other report to. It’s possible…

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NOTES – OCTOBER 2025

NOTES – OCTOBER 2025

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Cops Shooting Fleeing Suspects in the Back:  I’ll grant these cops this: Steel Sterling did just steal one of their motorcycles. I still don’t think that that warrants a  “SHOOT TO KILL!” and three bullets in the back. (Zip Comics 001, 1940) Even less of a reason to shoot someone in the back: because you heard a different person shooting at them and assumed that they were a thief. Both because you are wrong and the person you are shooting…

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DIVINE ROUND-UP 013

DIVINE ROUND-UP 013

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Piping hot deities for you this mornining. Sivu the Tiger God:  The worshippers of Sivu the Tiger God come to New York City to recover the jewelled eyes of their great idol, which are known as the Death Ruby and the Doom Ruby and held in the New York Museum and the collection of Beverly van Pell, respectively. Detective Dan Dare gets involved when he is hired by Mrs van Pell and the rubies ultimately stay right where they are….

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 062

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 062

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We’re awash in minor super-heroes!  Golden Arrow:  Golden Arrow has a more convoluted origin than an Western hero has any right to, but I’ll do my best to summarize it without one million images. He is Roger Parsons, whose father, Professor Paul Parsons, develops advanced ballooning technology just before WWI breaks out and determines to test it out before donating it to the US government. To that end, he bundles his wife and infant son into a balloon and sets…

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ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 019

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 019

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Today we have, per usual, something from the comic I’m currently reading followed by some stuff from the archives. It’s a good system! Glompers:  We first meet the Glompers on the planet Venus after Dr Sivana has tricked Billy Batson and by extension Captain Marvel into joining him on an experimental rocket trip, with the intention of killing and/or stranding him there. They are immediately the most charming aliens I have ever seen, despite or perhaps because of the fact…

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 061

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 061

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Superfolk galore!  the Buzzard:  In an unnamed New-York-alike city, the gadgeteering mayor equips a young man with a suite of devices to help him engage in a vigilante crusade against crime. Chief among these gadgets is a gas that makes whomever it touches resemble a balding, big-nosed man in thick glasses and a tailcoat – the perfect disguise! Armed with this gas, plus some clawed gloves and a heat ray, the Buzzard begins tearing his way through the city’s underworld. …

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