The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: More Fun Comics

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 113: RAYMOND RALL

    (More Fun 062, 1940)

    Look at this damn nerd. He’s got a lightning cannon and a robot army and he bothered Dr Fate for a whole afternoon. Good riddance to him, I say. Raymond Rall. Ridiculous.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 112: THE CRIME LORD/ THE BRAIN

    (More Fun Comics 062, 1940) 

    An early iteration of the classic tale of a brain that is freed of its cranium and becomes both powerful and EVIL, originally just a man named Dexter with a skeletal system and all the organs, he then became a mysterious shadowy figure named the Crime Lord as he directed his minions toward an eventual takeover of the US.

    Upon being freed from his bell jar, the Crime Lord became the rapidly-expanding Brain, who similarly grew his ambitions: no longer interested in conquest on a national level, he was now going to expand to fill the entire universe. And he might have gotten away with it if the Spectre hadn’t shown up to shrivel him away to nothingness.

    Bonus: the Spectre eating a bullet to save FDR.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 112: THE CRIME LORD/ THE BRAIN

    (More Fun Comics 062, 1940) 

    An early iteration of the classic tale of a brain that is freed of its cranium and becomes both powerful and EVIL, originally just a man named Dexter with a skeletal system and all the organs, he then became a mysterious shadowy figure named the Crime Lord as he directed his minions toward an eventual takeover of the US.

    Upon being freed from his bell jar, the Crime Lord became the rapidly-expanding Brain, who similarly grew his ambitions: no longer interested in conquest on a national level, he was now going to expand to fill the entire universe. And he might have gotten away with it if the Spectre hadn’t shown up to shrivel him away to nothingness.

    Bonus: the Spectre eating a bullet to save FDR.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 111: THE SPECTRE

    (More Fun 061,1940)

    Impersonating and framing a super-hero is not an uncommon thing to do, but Gustav Gilroy took the added step of adopting his target’s identity as his own in his campaign of turning his enemies to gold via chemical-laced free gum samples.

    Gilroy also faced the Spectre in the first year of his career and so didn’t really comprehend just how bad his choice of scapegoat was – the only surprising thing about his end is that he was ultimately turned to gold by his own hand rather than that of the earth-bound ghost himself.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 110: THE NORNS

    (More Fun Comics 060, 1940)

    Here’s the thing about these guys: they probably aren’t the Norns and they probably don’t call themselves the Norns. They’re three giant purple guys who hang out in a cave in the Catskills and send a flying saucer full of little green guys to attack NYC, ostensibly to conquer it. But! Earlier in the story:

    … Dr Fate is reading a book about the Fates when Inza comes to tell him about the saucer attack, and then jumps to the conclusion that they are the same as the purple guys when he sees three people together. It’s weird!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 110: THE NORNS

    (More Fun Comics 060, 1940)

    Here’s the thing about these guys: they probably aren’t the Norns and they probably don’t call themselves the Norns. They’re three giant purple guys who hang out in a cave in the Catskills and send a flying saucer full of little green guys to attack NYC, ostensibly to conquer it. But! Earlier in the story:

    … Dr Fate is reading a book about the Fates when Inza comes to tell him about the saucer attack, and then jumps to the conclusion that they are the same as the purple guys when he sees three people together. It’s weird!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 109: XNON

    (More Fun Comics 060, 1940)

    Xnon is a guy I like. He lives an an extradimensional orb/city and seems to spend his time traveling from world to world looting and conquering, if his behavior on Earth is taken as an example. Then again, he seems to have recruited all of his henchmen from the Cliffland, New Jersey underworld so maybe this was his first outing as a transdimensional overlord.

    What can be said for certain is that Xnon (no idea if it’s pronounced “Znon” or “X-non”, though I prefer the latter) uses his advanced technology to perform a series of daring thefts including an entire train, then briefly mind controls the Spectre into doing his bidding. He almost gets away with it, but the Spectre manages to call for help from what would later be semi-explicitly defined as the Christian God. Xnon is swiftly stuck in a meteor and blasted into interdimensional space.

    I love Xnon. He looks great, has a great orb, is an arrogant jerk which I love in a villain… he has it all. Plus the manner of his defeat makes him someone who could conceivably be BRUNG BACK without any need for a new origin or anything. Just say that throughout all of the retcons and crises and every other dumb thing that DC has done in the last ~30 years, Xnon has been floating around in his meteor and then BAM it lands back in Cliffland (or wherever the Spectre hangs out nowadays) for some reason, and he’s ready to scrap with a Spectre who has absolutely no idea who he is.

    Also, this is what happens when you try to make the Spectre do a crime: pride flag explosion.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 108: UNNAMED MAGE

    (More Fun Comics 058, 1940)

    I love this guy, for all that he’s unnamed. He kills an immortal snake that lives in the Nile in order to steal the magic book that it guards. The first spell he tries summons all of the wealthy men in a wide radius and compels them to give up their cash to him. The second spell he tries starts to tear the world apart, though it’s unclear whether that was his goal or if he was trying to punch above his weight. Either way, Dr Fate is forced to take him out to restore order.

    Also he dresses like Marvel’s Sphinx, which is a neat coincidence.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 108: UNNAMED MAGE

    (More Fun Comics 058, 1940)

    I love this guy, for all that he’s unnamed. He kills an immortal snake that lives in the Nile in order to steal the magic book that it guards. The first spell he tries summons all of the wealthy men in a wide radius and compels them to give up their cash to him. The second spell he tries starts to tear the world apart, though it’s unclear whether that was his goal or if he was trying to punch above his weight. Either way, Dr Fate is forced to take him out to restore order.

    Also he dresses like Marvel’s Sphinx, which is a neat coincidence.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 107: MANGO THE MIGHTY

    (More Fun Comics 057, 1940)

    Mango is a magician who fancies himself tough enough to go up against Dr Fate and quickly finds out that even though he can summon globes of flame and the undead legions of the Styx he is no match for the big man. This sort of thing happens to magical Golden Age characters pretty often – penny ante magical shitheels seem to have this urge to Peter Principle themselves against all comers, but whereas in an office setting rising to one’s level of incompetence leaves you with poor job satisfaction doing so in the cutthroat world of magic crime gets you dead or sealed un a magic boulder.

    But what’s with the name? I checked and they definitely knew what mangoes were in 1940. Why is it a villain’s name? Look: 

    Look at this, USA Comics 003, 1941 – the Defender fights a beast-guy named Mango.

    Adventure Comics 058, 1941 – villainous Pacific Islander named Mango,

    Blood of Dracula’s Castle, 1969 – evil hunchback… NAMED MANGO.


    WHAT’s WITH ALL THE MANGOS