The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: magic

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 122: THE GREEN DEVIL

    (Slam-Bang Comics 003, 1940)

    I really like the Green Devil. He has a lot going on! He has an army of the living dead, an island base, and a hurricane generator. He’s conservatively 10 ft tall and looks like the Devil (with green skin, natch)

    His main scheme is to disrupt the laws of magic, which not only weakens his enemy Diamond Jack’s magic ring but also for some reason causes regular stage magic and stuff like snake charming and sword swallowing to turn deadly in some of the more low-key gruesome panels I’ve read recently.

    Finally, in classic magic villain style he meets a pretty ignoble end as he is transformed into a book and then blown up along with his HQ and zombies. A solid showing! I’d love to see the Green Devil BRUNG BACK to vex magic folk again.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 122: THE GREEN DEVIL

    (Slam-Bang Comics 003, 1940)

    I really like the Green Devil. He has a lot going on! He has an army of the living dead, an island base, and a hurricane generator. He’s conservatively 10 ft tall and looks like the Devil (with green skin, natch)

    His main scheme is to disrupt the laws of magic, which not only weakens his enemy Diamond Jack’s magic ring but also for some reason causes regular stage magic and stuff like snake charming and sword swallowing to turn deadly in some of the more low-key gruesome panels I’ve read recently.

    Finally, in classic magic villain style he meets a pretty ignoble end as he is transformed into a book and then blown up along with his HQ and zombies. A solid showing! I’d love to see the Green Devil BRUNG BACK to vex magic folk again.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 121: THE WITCH

    (Slam-Bang Comics 001, 1940)

    On the one hand the Witch uses smoke-dragon magic in an attempt to kill Diamond Jack for some thugs. On the other, she’s an old woman who Diamond Jack strips of her power and leaves weeping in her slum hovel. Still… technically a villain?

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 121: THE WITCH

    (Slam-Bang Comics 001, 1940)

    On the one hand the Witch uses smoke-dragon magic in an attempt to kill Diamond Jack for some thugs. On the other, she’s an old woman who Diamond Jack strips of her power and leaves weeping in her slum hovel. Still… technically a villain?

  • MINOR SUPER-HERO 017: WARLOCK THE WIZARD

    (Nickel Comics 001-007, 1940)

    Warlock the Wizard, in addition to having a name built to confuse someone familiar with modern D&D classes, is an interesting member of the Magic Guy type of Golden Age super-heroes, in that while he has some innate skill at magic he is much more of a magic item user than a lot of his contemporaries (and yes I am aware that this makes him closer to an Artificer than either a Warlock or a Wizard). This introduces a bit more uncertainty into a Warlock adventure as it is possible that he will be separated from his source of power, something that is quite a bit harder to do in a Zatara story, say

    Warlock’s tools of the trade (pictured above) are:

    -Hugin the raven. Acts as a familiar, scout, fetcher-of-other-tools, messenger and occasional subject of transformation magic.

    -the Hand of Abraxas. Speak the magic word (conveniently, it is Abraxas) and the hand detaches from the stick and grows huge. Acts as transport, muscle etc. Since we’re already talking D&D, it’s basically a wand of Bigby’s Hand spells.

    -the Lamp of the Gods. This is the big gun, which is why it only comes out occasionally and at the end of adventures. It seemingly offers consequence-free favours from the gods of assorted pantheons, including stuff like borrowing the Hammer of Thor to smite someone or petitioning Neptune for rain. 

    One more thing that I appreciate about Warlock is the repeated insistence that most people fear and hate him – a somewhat unusual thing in 40s comics and so a refreshing one.

    As always, my attitude about magic item-using characters is that they should be BROUGHT BACK, preferably as legacy characters. Picture this: some workaday schlub decides to befriend their neighbourhood crows ravens and it just so happens that one of them is Hugin and in return for a generous attitude toward sharing table scraps they get the Lamp of the Gods left on their front steps. Good stuff!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 119: THE TENAMENT FIREBUG

    (Nickel Comics 003, 1940)

    Spoilers for the end of this writeup: the Tenement Firebug is that most common of comic book villains, the property owner who burns down their own buildings for the insurance money and/or redevelopment. Ordinarily such a foe would be a regular guy with some hirelings and maybe a mask, but since he was set up as a foil to magic guy Warlock the Wizard the Tenament Firebug has been beefed up slightly.

    First off is his pet lizard, which is a salamander. But! Not a real-world amphibian salamander, nor a modern fantasy style fire elemental – this one is the Medieval bestiary denizen that is immune to fire! A very exciting appearance of a discarded beast!

    Secondly, the Firebug is both able to do comic book super-hypnotism and is adept enough at disguise that he manages to frame Warlock for the arsons. Again but!

    He was wearing a rubberoid mask the whole time! Which means that he applied the Warlock disguise over his mask. Which is frankly much more responsible for my interest in and love of him as a villain than any old arson. Commitment to the bit is what I’d call it.

  • 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

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 102: ZOR

    (More Fun Comics 055, 1940)

    Zor is from pretty early in the Spectre’s run, back when his concept was “resurrected dead guy” rather than “literal embodiment of the Wrath of God”. More specifically but also vaguely, he was an “earth-bound ghost” which was never really defined but was a pretty powerful thing to be.

    Zor was also an earth-bound ghost, only he was older and thus more powerful than the Spectre, and also evil:

    Zor makes a couple of Golden Age appearances to vex the Spectre before being set adrift in inter-cosmic space. Many years later, he was brought back in Seven Soldiers by Grant Morrison, now serving as an evil equivalent of Zatara (and given the first name Zachary) and foe to Zatanna. Given the cosmic nature of the story, this works for me: Zor is whatever he needs to be to oppose his foe of the moment. Honestly, I can think of no better person to bring back a character like Zor. Not many creators would read a story in which a villain shoots bullets out of his eyes:


    And make it canon:

    10/10, top marks. I know Zor is technically Solomon Grundy now but bring him back again anyway.