The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: Spider.

  • CATALOGUE OF WOUNDS 005

    CATALOGUE OF WOUNDS 005

    More wounds for the Catalogue of Wounds!

    Ace of Space:

    Shot in the left arm during an attempted skyjacking. (Feature Comics 041, 1941)

    the Black Hood:

    As part of Kip Burland’s journey to masked vigilantism he gets shot all to hell and back by the Skull’s minions. The shots we can see happening are all hitting him in the torso, and according to his hermit mentor there were at least eight of them. Sheesh. (Top-Notch Comics 009, 1940)

    Chic Carter:

    Chic takes a bullet to his right arm while contending with the Phantom’s very satanic boss. (Smash Comics 015, 1941)

    the Comet:

    Shot in the left shoulder by a gun-wielding member of an angry mob that is after him. (Pep Comics 004, 1940)

    the Fox:

    Severely whipped and beaten by the Night Riders during his origin. (Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940)

    Galahad: 

    Takes a sword blow meant for King Arthur, and while all these bullet wounds and so forth can get a little abstracted, this is a real overhand chop that has to be threatening to hit his lung. Galahad only survives due to Merlin’s magical intervention. (Top-Notch Comics 008, 1940)

    the Green Falcon:

    Takes an arrow to the left shoulder. (Blue Ribbon Comics 013, 1941)

    the Shadow:

    Shot in the left arm by Zevox, aka the Head. (Shadow Comics v1 004, 1940)

    The Shadow’s left arm can’t get a break, as a few issues later it gets a throwing knife to the shoulder. (Shadow Comics v1 007, 1940)

    the Spider:

    I don’t know the precise number of times the Spider is shot here while tanking bullets to scare a gang but it sure is enough to impress his doctor. (Crack Comics 007, 1940)

    A year later, the Spider gets near-fatally shot in the chest by the Crow. (Crack Comics 018, 1941)

    Whiz, King of Falcons: 

    Silver Streak’s animal companion Whiz is struck in the bird-shoulder by a machine gun round. (Silver Streak Comics 010, 1941)

  • CATALOGUE OF WOUNDS 005

    CATALOGUE OF WOUNDS 005

    More wounds for the Catalogue of Wounds!

    Ace of Space:

    Shot in the left arm during an attempted skyjacking. (Feature Comics 041, 1941)

    the Black Hood:

    As part of Kip Burland’s journey to masked vigilantism he gets shot all to hell and back by the Skull’s minions. The shots we can see happening are all hitting him in the torso, and according to his hermit mentor there were at least eight of them. Sheesh. (Top-Notch Comics 009, 1940)

    Chic Carter:

    Chic takes a bullet to his right arm while contending with the Phantom’s very satanic boss. (Smash Comics 015, 1941)

    the Comet:

    Shot in the left shoulder by a gun-wielding member of an angry mob that is after him. (Pep Comics 004, 1940)

    the Fox:

    Severely whipped and beaten by the Night Riders during his origin. (Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940)

    Galahad: 

    Takes a sword blow meant for King Arthur, and while all these bullet wounds and so forth can get a little abstracted, this is a real overhand chop that has to be threatening to hit his lung. Galahad only survives due to Merlin’s magical intervention. (Top-Notch Comics 008, 1940)

    the Green Falcon:

    Takes an arrow to the left shoulder. (Blue Ribbon Comics 013, 1941)

    the Shadow:

    Shot in the left arm by Zevox, aka the Head. (Shadow Comics v1 004, 1940)

    The Shadow’s left arm can’t get a break, as a few issues later it gets a throwing knife to the shoulder. (Shadow Comics v1 007, 1940)

    the Spider:

    I don’t know the precise number of times the Spider is shot here while tanking bullets to scare a gang but it sure is enough to impress his doctor. (Crack Comics 007, 1940)

    A year later, the Spider gets near-fatally shot in the chest by the Crow. (Crack Comics 018, 1941)

    Whiz, King of Falcons: 

    Silver Streak’s animal companion Whiz is struck in the bird-shoulder by a machine gun round. (Silver Streak Comics 010, 1941)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 909: THE SPIDER

    (Whiz Comics 022, 1941)

    In what turns out to be Dan Dare’s final recorded case, he is asked to protect a man named Dr Phoebus Weber from being murdered by a mysterious figure known only as the Spider.

    Upon entering Weber’s home, Dan and Carol are almost immediately attacked by the Spider, who I have to give partial credit to for the costume. Sure it appears to have a more beetle-like body plan and the head of a mosquito, but what’s more important is that it has the full eight limbs, including four useless ones hanging off the torso that surely must constantly be in the way. Accuracy be damned, I love a commitment to the bit.

    The Spider also has a third central eye that is supposedly able to emit a hypnotic light, but if it does there is no actual evidence of it in the text. Perhaps Dan Dare is merely a paragon of mental fortitude.

    The Spider’s attempt to kill Dan fails thanks to an over-reliance on a hypnotic eye/ stabbing proboscis combo that he never really manages to pull off and I can only imagine was further hindered by the extra arms. He is unmasked to reveal the in-retrospect-supiciously-named Dr Weber, but that’s not all, because…

    Weber is in turn unmasked to reveal that he is in fact Dan’s old enemy Hypno Harry! This has all been an attempt to kill Dan in revenge for his foiling Harry’s old racket of hypnotizing bank clerks with his gimmicked glass eye, and just imagine the impact that this story might have had if we had ever heard about any of this before the Spider reared his improbable head!

    Still, a costumed crook is a pretty good note for Dan and Carol to go out on after 20-odd issues of solving one mystery after another. Let’s hope that they were finally able to get that vacation. 

  • NOTES – APRIL 2025

    NOTES – APRIL 2025

    Aliens:

    The adventures of Mars Mason, interplanetary mailman, are rife with amazing alien designs thanks to creator Munson Paddock, but the Tough-Tails of Planet Greentrees and their allies the top-hatted Spear-Men are possibly my favourite aliens that I’ve seen in a couple of years. (Speed Comics 009, 1940) 

    The Speed Comics 010 Mars Mason adventure again features some more top-notch alien designs, including both the Mercurian leader with his enormous ears and his subjects with their amazing hats. The Uranian Monster-Men are okay, but the real star of that second set of panels is Mars Mason’s amazing radiator suit that seems to help him weather both the cold of Uranus and the heat of Mercury with equal aplomb.

    Drawn Without Reference:

    A nice fuzzy spider created to menace Shock Gibson. (Speed Comics 010, 1940) 

    Good Henchmen:

    It’s not really germane to the story, but I would like to highlight the emotional journey that this henchman goes through over the course of a scheme by upcoming Minor Super-Villain Comrade Ratski. midway through a scheme to release giant arthropods on an unsuspecting populace is a heckuva time to confront your dislike of bugs. (Speed Comics 010, 1940)

    Honours:

    Ted Parrish, aka the mystery man known as the Man With 1000 Faces, wins the Academy Award for his performance in a film called Thundering Hoofs. We must make some assumptions – that Thundering Hoofs was completed and released in 1940, for example – but I think that Parrish might just have gotten his Oscar at the expense of Jimmy Stewart’s win for The Philadelphia Story. (Speed Comics 010, 1940)

    Mars Mason, Interplanetary Mailman, has his likeness on the Mercury Mail five-something stamp. (Speed Comics 011, 1940)

  • NOTES – DECEMBER 2024

    Drawn Without Reference: 

    The Rocket and the Queen of Diamonds find themselves facing a very off-model spider in the lad of the Batmen. (Pep Comics 003, 1940)

    Cops Shooting at Fleeing Suspects:

    I was briefly tempted to give the cops of the MLJ universe a pass on shooting at the Comet because he did after all kill a bunch of them while mind controlled but then I remembered that a) that’s still no excuse to gun someone down in the street, and b) it’s still bad that they’re just blazing away at a flying man in the middle of a large city full of other people. (Pep Comics 004, 1940)

     And they do it again… (Pep Comics 005, 1940)

     And again… (Pep Comics 006, 1940)

    … and again (in a crowded state legislature building!) (Pep Comics 008, 1940)

    Louisiana cops try to blow away Naval Academy Midshipman Lee Samson for escaping jail and stealing a police car. (Pep Comics 006, 1940)

    Crossovers:

    Oft touted as the first super-hero crossover in comics, the Shield shares a total of four panels with the Wizard as they both set out to foil some dastardly Mosconian spies. (Pep Comics 004, 1940)

    Less frequently mentioned are the brief encounters between the Wizard and Lee Samson, aka the Midshipman and the Shield and Keith Kornell, aka the West Pointer, two very similar and very dull military academy students from different branches of the military-industrial complex. And they are less interesting, so that makes sense.

    The next issue features another appearance by the Wizard, this one less highly touted as it’s the second time it happened plus he just shows up to loan the Shield a plane. I personally think that that’s remarkable, as Golden Age crossovers tended more toward the one-off. (Pep Comics 005, 1940)

    Minutia: 

    The Shield briefly pitches pro baseball under the name the Masked Marvel, as part of an investigation into a protection racket targeting players. (Pep Comics 007, 1940)

  • NOTES – DECEMBER 2024

    Drawn Without Reference: 

    The Rocket and the Queen of Diamonds find themselves facing a very off-model spider in the lad of the Batmen. (Pep Comics 003, 1940)

    Cops Shooting at Fleeing Suspects:

    I was briefly tempted to give the cops of the MLJ universe a pass on shooting at the Comet because he did after all kill a bunch of them while mind controlled but then I remembered that a) that’s still no excuse to gun someone down in the street, and b) it’s still bad that they’re just blazing away at a flying man in the middle of a large city full of other people. (Pep Comics 004, 1940)

     And they do it again… (Pep Comics 005, 1940)

     And again… (Pep Comics 006, 1940)

    … and again (in a crowded state legislature building!) (Pep Comics 008, 1940)

    Louisiana cops try to blow away Naval Academy Midshipman Lee Samson for escaping jail and stealing a police car. (Pep Comics 006, 1940)

    Crossovers:

    Oft touted as the first super-hero crossover in comics, the Shield shares a total of four panels with the Wizard as they both set out to foil some dastardly Mosconian spies. (Pep Comics 004, 1940)

    Less frequently mentioned are the brief encounters between the Wizard and Lee Samson, aka the Midshipman and the Shield and Keith Kornell, aka the West Pointer, two very similar and very dull military academy students from different branches of the military-industrial complex. And they are less interesting, so that makes sense.

    The next issue features another appearance by the Wizard, this one less highly touted as it’s the second time it happened plus he just shows up to loan the Shield a plane. I personally think that that’s remarkable, as Golden Age crossovers tended more toward the one-off. (Pep Comics 005, 1940)

    Minutia: 

    The Shield briefly pitches pro baseball under the name the Masked Marvel, as part of an investigation into a protection racket targeting players. (Pep Comics 007, 1940)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 206: THE CROW

    (Crack Comics 018, 1941)

    The Crow! Wanted in every country on the Earth! A villain with a very impressive resume! It’s actually a bit disappointing when he just does some regular bank robbing in this issue.

    To be fair, he does give the Spider much more of a run for his money than his usual foe, and he does end up returning in Crack 021 the next year, in which he steals the Black Widow and uses it for evil deeds. I don’t know if it’s quite enough, but it’s something.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 206: THE CROW

    (Crack Comics 018, 1941)

    The Crow! Wanted in every country on the Earth! A villain with a very impressive resume! It’s actually a bit disappointing when he just does some regular bank robbing in this issue.

    To be fair, he does give the Spider much more of a run for his money than his usual foe, and he does end up returning in Crack 021 the next year, in which he steals the Black Widow and uses it for evil deeds. I don’t know if it’s quite enough, but it’s something.

  • NOTES: NOVEMBER 2022

    Costumes: I don’t really feel like doing a whole entry for the Spider. Maybe someday. For now I just want to point out one detail of his costume:

    Little spiders on his boots! 

    Heroes Going to Costume Parties as Themselves:

    Batman! And he wins Most Original Costume! (Batman Comics v1 001, 1940)

    Speaking of awards and such, after Batman and Robin save an unnamed small town somewhere in America from a cabal of crooks they are honoured with a statue:

    (Detective Comics v1 043, 1940)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 198: THE CRICKET

    (Crack Comics 001, 011 & 012, 1940-1941)

    The Cricket, leader of the Crickets, is a fairly undistinguished gang boss notable only for his brutality, the fact that he was the first foe of hard done-by hero the Spider and that he made two subsequent appearances!

    His first two appearances are nothing to write home about, though I do note a repeated armchair theme. The man loves to be comfortable. Sadly for him, he was shot down by the Spider before he could enjoy another good sit. RIP.