The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: world domination

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 221: PROFESSOR KYLL/ MINOR SUPER-HERO 023: TRIX

    (Doc Savage Comics v1 004, 1941)

    Professor Kyll is your regular-style scientist who develops a working humanoid robot and immediately starts thinking in terms of world conquest. My eyes might have glazed over and completely missed him if not for the fact that in the very same town was another scientist, a benevolent one, working on a humanoid robot made of rubber!

    Now, Flexo the Rubber Man has not come up on this here blog yet because I’ve fallen behind on my Golden Age Marvel reading but know ye this: I love me a weird rubber robot and am absolutely thrilled that there are two of them, even if poor Trix here never made a second appearance as far as I can tell. It’s enough that they existed and beat the tar out of Kyll’s metal guy.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 221: PROFESSOR KYLL/ MINOR SUPER-HERO 023: TRIX

    (Doc Savage Comics v1 004, 1941)

    Professor Kyll is your regular-style scientist who develops a working humanoid robot and immediately starts thinking in terms of world conquest. My eyes might have glazed over and completely missed him if not for the fact that in the very same town was another scientist, a benevolent one, working on a humanoid robot made of rubber!

    Now, Flexo the Rubber Man has not come up on this here blog yet because I’ve fallen behind on my Golden Age Marvel reading but know ye this: I love me a weird rubber robot and am absolutely thrilled that there are two of them, even if poor Trix here never made a second appearance as far as I can tell. It’s enough that they existed and beat the tar out of Kyll’s metal guy.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 155: MAZDA THE GREAT

    (All-Star Comics 003, 1940)

    Much of the information that we have on Mazda the Great comes from the mouth of one of his dying henchmen at the end of the story, but what reason would he have to lie? According to this man, Mazda was a scientist (I assume a vulcanologist. An enormous one!) who developed both technology to control/ redirect the energies of a volcano and also volcano-proof suits. Thus equipped, he set up shop in the crater of Mount Krakatoa along with his minions, dubbed the Fire Ghosts.

    It’s a bit unclear whether Mazda actually planned on taking over the world or destroying it – he said destroy while his minion said conquer – but either way, he was chucked into the volcano for his troubles, once Hawkman showed up on the scene.

    A lot of reasons to like this fella – I love a huge guy and I love a skull hat, and on a scientist? Beautiful. He also manages to maintain enough gravitas that I always remember him as having a pseudo-noble goal for his conquest/destruction but on further examination it seems that he just has volcano-weaponizing technology and wants to use it.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 139: IVAN BORLOFF

    MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 139: IVAN BORLOFF

     (Adventure 061, 1941)


    Ivan Borloff is a strange combination of things: a scientist with a super airship (the Cylindecraft) and a metal-destroying ray, he rains destruction down on New York City in pursuit of his goal of conquering the US (and by implication, the world), but also, it’s implied that he is affiliated with *foreign powers*, ie, fascists – possibly ones who didn’t quite know what they were getting into. 

    His name ringing more Russian might mean that he is a rare pre-Cold War Commie villain, but a more likely explanation is plain old lazy naming – German, Russian… it’s all basically the same, right?

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 139: IVAN BORLOFF

    MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 139: IVAN BORLOFF

     (Adventure 061, 1941)


    Ivan Borloff is a strange combination of things: a scientist with a super airship (the Cylindecraft) and a metal-destroying ray, he rains destruction down on New York City in pursuit of his goal of conquering the US (and by implication, the world), but also, it’s implied that he is affiliated with *foreign powers*, ie, fascists – possibly ones who didn’t quite know what they were getting into. 

    His name ringing more Russian might mean that he is a rare pre-Cold War Commie villain, but a more likely explanation is plain old lazy naming – German, Russian… it’s all basically the same, right?

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 138: DR DOOG

     (Adventure 061, 1941)


    Starman’s first foe is also his first super-foe: the diabolical Dr Doog. Doog (and nothing is ever made of his name being Good, backward) has stolen a device called to Ultra-Dynamo from Professor Davis (above right) and is using it to disrupt electrical power across North America in service to his dreams of world domination.

    Doog brings in deathtraps, a hollowed-out mountain base and perhaps most importantly, a group of henchmen with the excellent name the Secret Brotherhood of the Electron. It’s small wonder that he’s already been brought back once or twice, a decision that I wholeheartedly endorse.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 138: DR DOOG

     (Adventure 061, 1941)


    Starman’s first foe is also his first super-foe: the diabolical Dr Doog. Doog (and nothing is ever made of his name being Good, backward) has stolen a device called to Ultra-Dynamo from Professor Davis (above right) and is using it to disrupt electrical power across North America in service to his dreams of world domination.

    Doog brings in deathtraps, a hollowed-out mountain base and perhaps most importantly, a group of henchmen with the excellent name the Secret Brotherhood of the Electron. It’s small wonder that he’s already been brought back once or twice, a decision that I wholeheartedly endorse.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 127: THE SKY DEMON

    (Slam-Bang Comics 006, 1940) 

    The Sky Demon is a heretofore-unseen old enemy of Diamond Jack who starts strong with an overall Satanic look and a little skull on the front of his trunks – just the right amount of accessorizing to make a pretty basic super-outfit pop.

    I also love his plot to conquer Earth and/or wipe out humanity: get some gorillas, give them wings and revolvers and let them loose. I can’t say whether or not his plan would have succeeded because he was fatally prevented from carrying it out by Diamond Jack.

    Gorilla-based schemes aside, I really like the parallel of Diamond Jack the magic ring-powered hero vs the Sky Demon and his little magic cape. A sub-ecosystem of heroes and villains weilding magic items of various kinds sounds like it could be interesting comics fodder!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 127: THE SKY DEMON

    (Slam-Bang Comics 006, 1940) 

    The Sky Demon is a heretofore-unseen old enemy of Diamond Jack who starts strong with an overall Satanic look and a little skull on the front of his trunks – just the right amount of accessorizing to make a pretty basic super-outfit pop.

    I also love his plot to conquer Earth and/or wipe out humanity: get some gorillas, give them wings and revolvers and let them loose. I can’t say whether or not his plan would have succeeded because he was fatally prevented from carrying it out by Diamond Jack.

    Gorilla-based schemes aside, I really like the parallel of Diamond Jack the magic ring-powered hero vs the Sky Demon and his little magic cape. A sub-ecosystem of heroes and villains weilding magic items of various kinds sounds like it could be interesting comics fodder!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 124: MARIA, QUEEN OF THE VAMPIRES

    (Slam-Bang Comics 005, 1940) 

    I quite like Maria. Firstly, she is a vampire with bat wings, which is a feature that hardly ever shows up any more. Also she sleeps in a coffin filled with the bones of her victims, which is not a bit of vampire lore that I am familiar with but which does rule. She hangs out in a castle somewhere in the US and vampirizes random motorists in anticipation of the day that she has enough minions to take over the world. She even manages to turn Diamond Jack briefly but he manages to resist the full transformation due to being good and pure.

    She has these weird minions that may or may not be another kind of vampire? They kind of look like bipedal panthers with bat wings. I love them.

    Like I said she manages to vamp Diamond Jack, which she achieves by pretending defeat, offering to kiss his ring and then biting out the magic diamond. A clever move, but ultimately undone when the gem refuses to act against Jack and returns to his ring.

    Ultimately, Maria ends up turned into a skeleton and her cool looking castle is transformed into a cemetery for the other vampires, who I guess were less redeemable than Diamond Jack.