The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: group

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 015

    It’s time for another round with the guys in the masks.

    A radio announcer who tries to poison all of Inland City with chlorine gas for unclear reasons. Ends up blowing himself up while tangling with heroic pilot Captain Steve Ransom. (Keen Detective Funnies v2 006, 1939)

    This unnamed fellow takes the cake for audaciousness: his racket is drug smuggling and though traditionally one wants to keep a low profile while attempting to move controlled substances from place to place he:

    -sets up camp in the basement of an occupied house,

    -keeps a gorilla in that same basement,

    -sends that gorilla out to attack randos in hopes of driving away the locals,

    -poses as an FBI agent in an attempt to throw Power-Man off his scent.

    All of these are what I would describe as “activities likely to invite scrutiny”. And they do! (Fight Comics 005, 1940)

    Muipo here is a Japanese agent in all but name working to foment trouble in China by flooding the country with opioids. His major interesting features are a decent looking half-face draped cloth mask (rare and annoying-looking to wear) and a fake fat guy body he sits in while dealing with his underlings. He gets beat up by US Marine Strut Warren precisely one page after making his debut. (Fight Comics 007, 1940)

    The Squadron of Death is a group who blow up US defense infrastructure for… some reason. And there’s the problem: very little is given away about who the Squadron are or what their motivations might be (beyond general anti-US sentiment) in this issue, and though there is some indication that they might return to vex the Arrow in future instalments the next three issues of Funny Pages are not available to anyone without about 10 to 15 grand to spend on physical copies. 

    Pending further information the Squadron of Death are just two guys who steal a plane and then variously get thrown out of it or blown up in it by the Arrow. (Funny Pages v4 004, 1940)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 652: THE GRIM CIRCLE

    (Green Mask v1 001, 1940)

    The Grim Circle! A mysterious hooded group responsible not only for killing the Green Mask’s father but also for causing the injury that leads to the creation of the Green Mask himself! And the creation of Domino the Miracle Boy a bit later in the issue! Truly they are the engines of their own destruction.

    SIDE NOTE: Criminals targeting politicians for introducing tough-on-crime legislation is a trope in various media to this very day. I have no doubt that it has a TVtropes entry. Normally such laws are so vaguely laid out in the text of the story they appear in as to essentially be “we’re making crime illegal again,” but Senator Shelby’s Mandatory Death Sentence for All Gang Members Bill is legitimately insane and while I don’t condone murder maybe it is overall a good thing that he no longer has a hand in making laws.

    Weirdly, I don’t actually think that the Grim Circle are a gang. They’re a group, certainly, but all of their activities seem to be in aid at a sort of freelance espionage situation. That’s more of a conspiracy. And espionage is already very illegal!

    The Grim Circle’s major project is to draw the US into WWII and to that end they’ve recruited Igor, a mad scientist with a super artillery cannon, to help them blow up some peace talks. Needless to say, the Green Mask doesn’t let this happen and in fact kills the whole lot of them via explosion.

    John Sebastion, a financier tangentially connected to some of the Circle’s crimes, is eventually revealed to be the head of the group, perhaps because he claims to have been released after the Green Mask killed everyone but the leader. The huge Grim Circle forearm tattoo might also have been a clue.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 652: THE GRIM CIRCLE

    (Green Mask v1 001, 1940)

    The Grim Circle! A mysterious hooded group responsible not only for killing the Green Mask’s father but also for causing the injury that leads to the creation of the Green Mask himself! And the creation of Domino the Miracle Boy a bit later in the issue! Truly they are the engines of their own destruction.

    SIDE NOTE: Criminals targeting politicians for introducing tough-on-crime legislation is a trope in various media to this very day. I have no doubt that it has a TVtropes entry. Normally such laws are so vaguely laid out in the text of the story they appear in as to essentially be “we’re making crime illegal again,” but Senator Shelby’s Mandatory Death Sentence for All Gang Members Bill is legitimately insane and while I don’t condone murder maybe it is overall a good thing that he no longer has a hand in making laws.

    Weirdly, I don’t actually think that the Grim Circle are a gang. They’re a group, certainly, but all of their activities seem to be in aid at a sort of freelance espionage situation. That’s more of a conspiracy. And espionage is already very illegal!

    The Grim Circle’s major project is to draw the US into WWII and to that end they’ve recruited Igor, a mad scientist with a super artillery cannon, to help them blow up some peace talks. Needless to say, the Green Mask doesn’t let this happen and in fact kills the whole lot of them via explosion.

    John Sebastion, a financier tangentially connected to some of the Circle’s crimes, is eventually revealed to be the head of the group, perhaps because he claims to have been released after the Green Mask killed everyone but the leader. The huge Grim Circle forearm tattoo might also have been a clue.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 651: THE RAIDERS

    (Green Giant Comics 001, 1940)

    The Raiders are a piratical group with a two-pronged approach to acquiring gold on the briny deep: 

    1. learn of  gold shipments via a spy network operated by a member known only as “the Spy Chief”

    2. employ the super-scientific creations of submarine captain Dirck to wreak havoc on gold bearing ships and then escape.

    The whole thing is going swimmingly and even Rex Norton, the Black Arrow, is making very little headway against them until they make the mistake of trying to eliminate him using some of the Spy Chief’s spies. Here’s where the Raiders’ fatal flaw comes in: no two of them can stand one another. In the course of their operation, spies Borgu and X-13 bicker hard enough to spill every vital secret that their organization has to Norton’s hot little ears, and are distracted enough by infighting that he escapes and captures them without difficulty.

    (X-13 seems to be coded as the Black Arrow’s femme fatale/ friendly enemy and probably would have been a recurring antagonist if Rex Norton had ever reappeared)

    The bickering extends all the way to the top, as the Spy Chief and Dirck the Inventor basically do Rex Norton’s job for him in a mutual betrayal that he barely has to intervene in to take down the entire organization.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 607: THE MIRACLE MEN

    (Fantastic Comics 005, 1940)

    Like a fair few Fletcher Hanks villains, the Miracle Men take a regular crime and amp it up to the nth degree. In this case, thanks to the technological marvel that is the Invisible Vacuum Tube, they have industrialized kidnapping. And if the ransom is not paid an appropriately oversized response can be delivered via their tornado making machines! This is modern, industrialized crime!

    Under the direction of leader Wolf-Eye, the Miracle Men perform hundreds of simultaneous kidnappings. Should Wolf-Eye be the one in the title of this entry? Maybe.

    Unfortunately for the hundreds of rich guys and the US at large, the FBI does not want to pay up, so it’s tornado time.

    Stardust is of course all over this, so the chances of a major city being destroyed via super-tornado are only about 50% (this is, remember, a Fletcher Hanks comic – he does not shy away from mass casualties). This time there is no slaughter, but remember folks: Stardust will not necessarily save you. He will avenge you.

    The greatest and most unexpected thing in this comic is when the hitherto-normal seeming gang boss Wolf-Eye unveils his gland-control magic. Is it real magic or more super-science? Impossible to say but I choose to believe that it’s magic, a perhaps one-time spell that Wolf-Eye has kept in his back pocket for years in case his authority is sufficiently challenged. It’s really great.

    Merely being a big guy is not enough to take on an enraged Super Wizard, however, so all Wolf-Eye gets for his trouble is a sock in the mouth and a trip to Prison City by way of Getting Shrunk Avenue. It is perhaps lucky for the Miracle Men that they only kidnapped people, as the most ironic punishment for a kidnapping is of course to be taken away and confined yourself – it’s just lucky for them that Stardust didn’t decide to seal them up in a big boulder or something.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 607: THE MIRACLE MEN

    (Fantastic Comics 005, 1940)

    Like a fair few Fletcher Hanks villains, the Miracle Men take a regular crime and amp it up to the nth degree. In this case, thanks to the technological marvel that is the Invisible Vacuum Tube, they have industrialized kidnapping. And if the ransom is not paid an appropriately oversized response can be delivered via their tornado making machines! This is modern, industrialized crime!

    Under the direction of leader Wolf-Eye, the Miracle Men perform hundreds of simultaneous kidnappings. Should Wolf-Eye be the one in the title of this entry? Maybe.

    Unfortunately for the hundreds of rich guys and the US at large, the FBI does not want to pay up, so it’s tornado time.

    Stardust is of course all over this, so the chances of a major city being destroyed via super-tornado are only about 50% (this is, remember, a Fletcher Hanks comic – he does not shy away from mass casualties). This time there is no slaughter, but remember folks: Stardust will not necessarily save you. He will avenge you.

    The greatest and most unexpected thing in this comic is when the hitherto-normal seeming gang boss Wolf-Eye unveils his gland-control magic. Is it real magic or more super-science? Impossible to say but I choose to believe that it’s magic, a perhaps one-time spell that Wolf-Eye has kept in his back pocket for years in case his authority is sufficiently challenged. It’s really great.

    Merely being a big guy is not enough to take on an enraged Super Wizard, however, so all Wolf-Eye gets for his trouble is a sock in the mouth and a trip to Prison City by way of Getting Shrunk Avenue. It is perhaps lucky for the Miracle Men that they only kidnapped people, as the most ironic punishment for a kidnapping is of course to be taken away and confined yourself – it’s just lucky for them that Stardust didn’t decide to seal them up in a big boulder or something.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 596: THE ROBOT SCIENTISTS OF VENUS

    (Fantastic Comics 003, 1940) 

    The Robot Scientists of Venus are not particularly noteworthy villains on a lot of axes but they are the bosses of perhaps the most visually distinctive groups of the Golden Age, the Leopard Women of Venus.

    What other comic could offer a visual like this: a bevy of bodacious blonde babes in red leopardprint bodysuits, surfing through space on lizard monsters and blazing away with their head-guns? Other Fletcher Hanks comics, I guess, plus early Wonder Woman. But the point stands!

    (here is where I will put a brief aside on the notion of “transmitting” as it exists in Fletcher Hanks comics. Conceptually, transmitting involves just that, the transmission of matter along a light or radio beam of some kind. In practice, it’s more like just being able to fly around in space without any kind of life support like the Leopard Women here)

    Sadly, the Leopard Women are mere vassals of the dominant Venusian race and we don’t really see them again. Happily, the dominant Venusian race are these cool robots! Their leaders appear to be these robot scientists, who seem to be running these Leopard Woman space raids without any clear goals. Sure, they plan on turning Dianna into a Leopard Woman but that seems to be more of a spur-of-the-moment decision.

    Luckily for them, Space Smith escapes before they have to figure out what to do with him. The rest of the adventure is just a series of encounters with colourful robots as they make their way to their spaceship, starting with these (delightfully and conscientiously masked) robot surgeons.

    Everyone in this panel is grumpy.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 593: THE INVINCIBLE FIVE

    (Exciting Comics 006, 1940)

    The Invincible Five (good name!) are a mysterious group of hooded men who have been kidnapping skilled mechanics across the US in order to construct a fleet of vehicles known as Submaplanes.

    If you guessed that a Submaplane was either a submarine capable of flight or and airplane capable of operating underwater then give yourself a pat on the back because it is the former. Submaplanes also have some sort of electric forcefield, an electric ray cannon and appear to be remote controlled from a central location.

    Having seemingly done away with John “Son of the Gods” Thesson, whom they view as their only credible opposition, the Invincible Five proceed with their master plan: world conquest through intimidation and mass destruction. Various governments are given the opportunity to surrender peacefully then given the business when they refuse.

    (side note: these are some good hoods on the Invincible Five. The simple faces sketched on the front are a nice change from all of those regular-style hoods we usually see)

    Unsurprisingly, the leader of the Invincible Five is Burton, the sour-faced industrialist who turns up to advise FDR to surrender. Presumably at least some of his companions are also in on the scheme.

    It turns out that it was a good idea to try to kill John Thesson, because he ends up single-handedly taking down the entire operation by the simple expedient of punching people and things until the Submaplanes are grounded and the Invincible Five are in hand. Remember: if the only thing that stands between you and complete world domination is one person and you’re pretty sure that they’re dead: double check.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 591: THE CULT OF DEATH

    (Exciting Comics 006, 1940)

    The Cult of Death comes into conflict with adventurer Ted Crane and his pals as they look for their associate, Egyptologist Dr Turner, in Luxor. Despite its very evocative name, the Cult of Death seems to sort of broadly worship the concept of Ancient Egypt and resent those who would pry into its secrets – Dr Turner has in fact been killed by them for seeking the lost tomb of King Mephtet.

    Does the cult’s leader Phator shares his followers’ beliefs? It’s up for debate, but whether it is for the glory of the Cult of Death or that of himself he seeks to drive the colonial forces out of Egypt and assume control.

    For unclear reasons the keystone of Phator’s plane is the destruction of the Aswan Dam (or “Assuan Dam” as it is called here), which, granted, would flood part of Egypt. How exactly that would lead to the Cult of Death’s ascension to power is never spelled out.

    It’s a moot point anyway, as Phator has sent his two most clownish dunces to place the bomb on the dam and they end up not only blowing themselves up but only flooding the region that the Temple of Death is located in. The entire Cult is wiped out save fore Phator himself, who must face colonial justice on his own.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 587: THE MASKED MEN

    MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 587: THE MASKED MEN

    (Exciting Comics 003, 1940)

    They may be an ordinary gang of Western Bandits but I can’t help but be impressed by just how many of them there are. Every time Texas Ranger Jim Hatfield meets up with the Masked Men he blows at least a couple of them away yet there are always more available to help top man Bull Jeffrey loot the boom town of Concho. They must’ve been planning a 72-man split of the loot originally!