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Category: 1941

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 072

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 072

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Extremely minor super-heroes? Don’t mind if I do! the Flag-Man: The Flag-Man is one standard unit of patriotic American super-hero: he loves the United States and is willing to put on a costume and punch guys until it is safe. And speaking of costumes: the Flag-Man and his pal Rusty are prime examples of how piggybacking off of the iconography of the American flag can really paper over some pretty bad costume design. I mean, tank-top and cape and flared gloves? Give me a…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 913: CAPTAIN HOOD

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 913: CAPTAIN HOOD

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(Captain Aero Comics 001, 1941)  Captain Hood is your classic fascist of indeterminate allegiance, who has been holed up with a crew of pseudo-Nazis and pseudo-Imperial Japanese agents in a cave underneath Easter Island for four long years working on an “undersea tractor” designed to haul a cargo of explosives to the Panama Canal and then blow it up. Just why he requires a mask in order to oversee this operation is an exercise left for the reader – I…

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 071

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 071

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It’s time for another round of aviator-heroes, most of whom hail from Air Fighters Comics 001, a distinguished publication that was home to many storied characters. None of those characters appear here. the Black Commander:  A little while ago I covered the character Spitfire Ace and posited that he had one of the most complicated origins in comic books, and while the origin of the Black Commander doesn’t quite manage to take the crown away from its predecessor it is…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 912: COMMANDER DARKE

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 912: COMMANDER DARKE

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(Bang-Up Comics 001, 1941) Commander Darke, though ostensibly on a mission to invade the United States with his private military, is the arch-foe of scientist-adventurer Cosmo Mann and as such spends his entire career trying to Steal Those Gizmos. Perhaps things would be different if there had been more than three issues of Bang-Up Comics for Darke and Mann to clash, but as it stands all we get are the opening moves of their epic struggle. You probably already took note of…

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 070

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 070

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No more of those fancy-pants vigilantes that you’ve had a chance to have heard of: here’s some real minor super-heroes for you: the Rainbow:  The Rainbow, aka Jim Travis, may just be the first super-hero whose origin involves reading a comic book and taking inspiration from it, but unlike the other examples of this that I can think of Jim reads less like someone finding a solution to a problem that they have and more like one of those guys…

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SUPER-HERO FILE 002: CAPTAIN MARVEL JUNIOR

SUPER-HERO FILE 002: CAPTAIN MARVEL JUNIOR

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(Whiz Comics 025, 1941) After the vile Captain Nazi is knocked into New York Fawcett City Harbor during a battle with Captain Marvel, he is pulled from the water by young Freddy Freeman and his grandfather and immediately rewards their good deed by murdering them both. Or so he thinks! It turns out that Freddy is merely grievously injured, and Captain Marvel is able to bring him to a hospital for care. Informed that Freddy is not expected to live…

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SUPER-VILLAIN 002 UPDATE: CAPTAIN NAZI (1941)

SUPER-VILLAIN 002 UPDATE: CAPTAIN NAZI (1941)

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Our second full-fledged super-villain is the odious Captain Nazi, and he had a short but busy run in 1941: After being deployed by Adolf Hitler himself as a foil to the threat of the American super-hero, Captain Nazi makes a very public appearance in Times Square in order to issue a challenge to Bulletman. This also attracts the attention of Captain Marvel, leading to the second Fawcett Comics character meetup of 1941 as they decide to team up and kick his…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 911: RAMESES

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 911: RAMESES

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(Whiz Comics 025, 1941) We open in Egypt, where a group of partisans led by a fellow with the unlikely name of “Girbo, the Mad Mullah”* are brainstorming ways in which they might expel both the Germans and the British from their country, and Girbo has an innovative solution: he has procured the mummy of the Pharaoh Rameses, along with a vial of mummy-resurrection juice, and is going to bring the ancient king back to life to lead them. And it works!…

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SUPER-VILLAIN FILE 002: CAPTAIN NAZI

SUPER-VILLAIN FILE 002: CAPTAIN NAZI

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(Master Comics 021, 1941) Our very second full-fledged super-villain is Captain Nazi, a fellow who I would be tempted to shelve under Minor status if it weren’t for the fact that he just keeps on showing up to this very day (or three years ago, at least). Most of the time he’s just padding out a crowd scene and/or acting as a target for some super-hero to really beat the tar out of, but any way you shake it just…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 910: HERR GLOOBELS

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 910: HERR GLOOBELS

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(Whiz Comics 024, 1941) Herr Gloobels is a mysterious and somewhat gruesome figure who murders a motorcycle messenger in order to get ahold of some troop transport schedules and then murders a second one to get them again after Spy Smasher recovers them from the first theft. He does all of this using his Tornado Gun, a device that seems to be a ray gun but which actually fires beams of compressed air that can sink a ship as easily as perforate…

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