The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: spy

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 011

    Some say they’re not generic enough but I think they’re trying their best.

    This fellow is part of a gang looking to hijack a shipment of railway guns from train engineer Runaway Ronson. I really enjoy the look of the padded suit they use to help survive crashing a car into a high-speed train but I really really enjoy the fact that they immediately scramble off into the woods and are never seen again, as if they were completely unrelated to the criminal plot. (Blue Bolt v1 007, 1940)

    This fellow’s a pseudo-Nazi spy named Ketler who goes up against Sub-Zero in an attempt to influence the very specific Torpedo Workers Union into striking and hindering part of the US defense program. I feel like he overestimates the usefulness of the mask as he doesn’t change anything else about his appearance when not murdering people but that’s not what gets him caught so I guess I’m the fool here.(Blue Bolt v2 002, 1941)

    Colourful enemy aces are the best/ only tolerable part of the absurd number of Golden Age comics about pilot-adventurers, so my little ears pricked up when American-flying-for-the-French Loop Logan was challenged to a dogfight by a Nazi called the Blue Duke but… there’s nothing to him. He’s just a guy with a name who’s been sabotaging French planes and shooting them down. Waste of a good name, if you ask me. (several days later note: it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that this guy’s name was a play on the Red Baron) (Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940)

    These guys briefly terrorize New York (possibly – we have another instance of a city that is Clearly New York City But the Mayor is Wrong) with a futuristic tank mounted with a death ray. If they a) had a name and b) weren’t completely demolished by Mr Justice in about three panels they might have made the leap to full Minor Super-Villain status but as it stands they’re an object lesson in why ultra-powerful ghosts need a tougher class of enemy to be really entertaining. (Blue Ribbon Comics 010, 1941)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 520: THE HIGH PRIEST OF THOR

    (Blue Bolt v2 006, 1941) 

    We open on an aircraft factory. Suddenly, a strange vibration fills the air. After an initial moment of surprise, the workers all file out the door and into a cave in a nearby hillside. Inside?

    THIS MAN!

    This man is the self-proclaimed High Priest of Thor and before we get into what he’s up to I’d like to commend his commitment to the costume. Your average religious-type villain is not going to these lengths to look ceremonial and in fact are more likely to be in the Robe and Cloth Mask club. I particularly like the helmet, which looks like it must be obstructing his vision and crushing his nose at the same time but which manages to combine wings and horns in a single Platonic Fake Viking Helmet. Also note the mustache, which flies off the first time he is punched and just reaffirms his commitment to the bit.

    Of course the High Priest of Thor ends up being some sort of pseudo-Nazi spy looking to sabotage the US defense program. It’s never explicitly laid out but his vibration machine seems to put its subjects into a mentally receptive hypnotic state and the Thor stuff is all a way of getting them to do what he wants: if Thor is real and they are fanatical Thor cultists like this guy says then why not blow up an airplane factory? Too bad for the High Priest of Thor that the Twister had to show up and ruin things but at least he got to look cool with a tommy gun before it was all over.

    Bonus: this Thor explainer written by someone who did not have the gumption to look up anything about Thor.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 512: AGENT 17

    MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 512: AGENT 17

    (Blue Bolt v1 012, 1941)

    There are a lot of dastardly fascist spy chiefs in comics of the 1940s, so it’s nice when one has something to distinguish themself from the monocle-and-dueling-scar heavy pack. Agent 17’s gimmick, as stated by the dying Latonian agent Gonzales, is that he is a “young man with an old face.” How useful is this in the average spy mission? Moderately, I presume.

    Agent 17’s mission is to prevent the government of the South American nation of Latonia from learning before it’s too late that the nonspecific European fascist nation that they just signed a trade pact with is in fact planning to take over their country as a staging area for a full-scale invasion of South America. But though Agent 17 had managed to deal a fatal blow to Latonian secret agent Gonzales, Gonzales had not died before engaging the services of Venusian super-hero Sub-Zero.

    For all that Agent 17 was going up against a cold-controlling super-hero armed with an old face he almost pulls it off! Latonia almost falls to the unspecified hordes of the enemy! Lucky for them, Sub-Zero manages to show up with a warning in the nick of time. Plus he gets to punch an old man in the face, guilt free!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 500: DR VYLE AND THE VULTURE MEN

    (Big Shot Comics 020, 1941)

    Dr Howard Vyle is a pretty disappointing villain to land on for the big Number 500, if I’m honest. He’s just some guy from some country (Big Shot Comics 1940-1941 is rife with spies but the folks at Columbia Comic Corporation were even more cagey than the rest of the industry about indicating where those spies might actually be from – it’s faintly possible he might be supposed to be a commie, even as late as December ’41) who kidnaps a US Senator with colossal eyebrows in order to hypnotize him and use his influence over the government for the glory of his home country. 

    This is all pretty regular comics stuff and depending on my mood on the day I encountered him Dr Vyle would normally find himself in the Mad and Criminal Scientist Round-Up or maybe not even there. Lucky for him as well as for my sense that there should be something interesting in these big round number entries, Dr Vyle did not limit himself to using his hypnotic gifts for dull old political plots:

    He also used them to recruit hapless goons to be his costumed Vulture Men! So cool they appear on the cover!

    I can’t say there’s too much to the Vulture Men beyond being a bunch of mind controlled goons in cool wingsuits, but after reading two years’ worth of Big Shot Comics‘ array of spies and gang bosses a flock of guys in proper gaudy villain garb are a breath of fresh air.

    Unfortunately for Dr Vyle while mind controlled goons are certainly cheaper and less concerned with their personal safety than your more conventional salaried minions they also seem to lack some of the verve and personal initiative that you need to give a super-hero a run for their money. Skyman beats them up and then beats up their boss, in other words. The senator is saved!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 500: DR VYLE AND THE VULTURE MEN

    MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 500: DR VYLE AND THE VULTURE MEN

    (Big Shot Comics 020, 1941)

    Dr Howard Vyle is a pretty disappointing villain to land on for the big Number 500, if I’m honest. He’s just some guy from some country (Big Shot Comics 1940-1941 is rife with spies but the folks at Columbia Comic Corporation were even more cagey than the rest of the industry about indicating where those spies might actually be from – it’s faintly possible he might be supposed to be a commie, even as late as December ’41) who kidnaps a US Senator with colossal eyebrows in order to hypnotize him and use his influence over the government for the glory of his home country. 

    This is all pretty regular comics stuff and depending on my mood on the day I encountered him Dr Vyle would normally find himself in the Mad and Criminal Scientist Round-Up or maybe not even there. Lucky for him as well as for my sense that there should be something interesting in these big round number entries, Dr Vyle did not limit himself to using his hypnotic gifts for dull old political plots:

    He also used them to recruit hapless goons to be his costumed Vulture Men! So cool they appear on the cover!

    I can’t say there’s too much to the Vulture Men beyond being a bunch of mind controlled goons in cool wingsuits, but after reading two years’ worth of Big Shot Comics‘ array of spies and gang bosses a flock of guys in proper gaudy villain garb are a breath of fresh air.

    Unfortunately for Dr Vyle while mind controlled goons are certainly cheaper and less concerned with their personal safety than your more conventional salaried minions they also seem to lack some of the verve and personal initiative that you need to give a super-hero a run for their money. Skyman beats them up and then beats up their boss, in other words. The senator is saved!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 488: THE RED SIGNET

    (Big Shot Comics 001, 1940)

    The Red Signet is a seemingly unaligned spy chief who has the misfortune of being the antagonist in the very first adventure of pilot super-hero Skyman and so gets just completely owned. Like, “captured within ten minutes of this panel in which he learns that Skyman might be on to him” owned. He does have a really excellent name, at least.

    BONUS TROPHY ROOM: Skyman nicks the Red Signet’s red signet at the end of the issue.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 488: THE RED SIGNET

    MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 488: THE RED SIGNET

    (Big Shot Comics 001, 1940)

    The Red Signet is a seemingly unaligned spy chief who has the misfortune of being the antagonist in the very first adventure of pilot super-hero Skyman and so gets just completely owned. Like, “captured within ten minutes of this panel in which he learns that Skyman might be on to him” owned. He does have a really excellent name, at least.

    BONUS TROPHY ROOM: Skyman nicks the Red Signet’s red signet at the end of the issue.

  • FASCIST GOON CLEARING HOUSE 006

    Who will rid me of these fascist goons?

    The Nordland Bund is another German-American Bund analog but operates as more of a traditional spy operation on behalf of Nazi Germany stand-in Prussland. Their moderately complicated plan to get explosive coal onto US ships leaving Bermuda is foiled by Secret Agent D-13 and his Canadian counterpart/ love interest Lorraine MacAlinn (Mystery Men Comics 019, 1941)

    Like the man’s feet say, the Hoops are a bunch of Nazis (proper Nazis – Fox Features seems to have stopped pussyfooting around with oblique references and backwards words in the last few months of 1941) who had a signature move of leaving a hoop around the neck of their victims. And the word the Blue Beetle is searching for is explode the hoops explode. And fittingly enough the Blue Beetle later uses one of those hoops to explode Baron Gell, leader of the big-h Hoops. (Mystery Men Comics 025, 1941)

    Technically this group is nameless and the Anti-Foreigners Committee is a supposedly patriotic group run by their leader as a cover, but if there’s a name that underlines the simmering fascism that underlies ultra-patriotism better than that one then I can’t recall it. (Amazing-Man Comics 022, 1941)

    These guys are called the Thorns for no particular reason. Just a buncha Nazi goons with a more poetic name than usual. They go up against ultrapatriotic teen Paul Revere, Jr and also his dad. (Banner Comics 003, 1941)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 473: THE HEAD

    (Amazing-Man Comics 019, 1941)

    The Head is a spy chief notable a) because he is also a US Senator but mostly because b) his plan seems to revolve around it being unremarkable for him to be carrying a big ol’ watermelon around. In his defense, it seems to be working pretty well until Minimidget rides in on a carrier pigeon and spoils everything.

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 009

    GENERIC! COSTUMED! VILLAINS!

    It’s not much of a costume but this dude named Marmi does manage to use a trained cobra to steal a huge ruby before the Radio Squad gets him, which is a feat. (More Fun Comics 072, 1941)

    It’s possible that this fellow was meant to have a name but he never managed to say it over the Green Mask’s relentless mocking of his costume. He’s munitions magnate August Mincer, who has no obvious ties to Nazism despite his gruesome swastika-themed deathtrap. His plans to take over the US munitions market and possibly the world are stopped by a boomerang to the head from Green Mask sidekick Domino the Miracle Boy (Mystery Men Comics 018, 1941)

    A bunch of fake ghosts set to scare off Zara of the Jungle and her guy-pal Jeff Graves from a slavery operation, these guys not only have a great look but an unshakable faith in their armoured skull headpieces – not only that they will protect them from all incoming attacks but that their foes will only go for headshots. All of these guys must have so many concussions. (Mystic Comics v1 003, 1940)

    This here bunch of handsome lads are the Communist-esque henchmen of spy Kursk. They capture weirdo hero Dr Hypno but don’t manage to get what they want out of him before he projects his mind into a little cat and escapes. (Amazing-Man Comics 018, 1940)