Gods aplenty! Tyalpo: The god worshipped by Ibis the Invincible villain Piang the Terrible. Probably real, in that Piang has real magical power that he calls upon Tyalpo to activate, even if the god himself shows up only in idol form. God Style: Idol (Real?) (Whiz Comics 009, 1940) Goddess of the Jungle: Sandor is a jungle hero who doesn’t so much adventure as get into one long series of scrapes and situations in Northern India, the second most popular location…
Once again I present to you some deities. Pelenona: South Pacific adventurer Lance O’Casey almost gets sacrificed to the volcano goddess Pelenona on the of the same name because a different, more evil adventurer had made off with the island’s sacred temple jewels. The people of the same island also worship a shipwrecked circus gorilla as god-monster the Eepa, God Style: Animist (Whiz Comics 008, 1940) the Creeping Death: The Jungle Twins were a pair of brothers who were separated…
You won’t believe the aliens and alien-adjacent societies we got in here. Scorpians and Subterrines: When crack reporter Scoop Smith and his photographer pal Blimp Black fly to Mexico to investigate reports of an “invisible revolutionary army” they get the story in a very direct way when they are shot down and taken captive by the Scorpians, who dwell in the underground kingdom of Scorpia and are extremely on-theme about the scorpion thing at all times, as can be seen in…
Cops Shooting Fleeing Suspects in the Back: I’ll grant these cops this: Steel Sterling did just steal one of their motorcycles. I still don’t think that that warrants a “SHOOT TO KILL!” and three bullets in the back. (Zip Comics 001, 1940) Even less of a reason to shoot someone in the back: because you heard a different person shooting at them and assumed that they were a thief. Both because you are wrong and the person you are shooting…
Today we have, per usual, something from the comic I’m currently reading followed by some stuff from the archives. It’s a good system! Glompers: We first meet the Glompers on the planet Venus after Dr Sivana has tricked Billy Batson and by extension Captain Marvel into joining him on an experimental rocket trip, with the intention of killing and/or stranding him there. They are immediately the most charming aliens I have ever seen, despite or perhaps because of the fact…
A veritable bounty of aliens for your perusal. People of Venus, the Jibbering Giant of Jupiter, Weird Inhabitants of the Strange Planet: Blast Bennett has lost his little pal Red, and his solution is to just kind of bop around from planet to planet, asking random aliens if they have seen a red-headed guy. I’ve grouped these alien together because they all represent a very boring alien design trend of the 40s and 50s (and beyond!): the alien as just…
You won’t believe these guys. the Mermen: Some undersea jerks who capture explorer Typhon and his crew. Their leader is a real creep named Neptune who has a nigh-fetishistic plan to freeze the crew – and particularly sole female crewmember Cecelia – into blocks of ice and then breathe fire on them. Luckily for all who might venture beneath the waves, he drowns (?) during Typhon’s escape. (Weird Comics 002, 1940) the Beaked Men: The Beaked Men of Mercury’s mountains…
A number of minor Fox Features characters for your perusal and delight. the Bird Man: The Bird Man, descendant of “an ancient Indian god” (no further detail provided) uses his weird demigod wing-flaps to fly around the American Southwest and render aid to people. (Weird Comics 001, 1940) In Bird Man’s final appearance, in Weird Comics 004, he has conformed to the heroic norm a bit more by moving to a penthouse apartment in what might be NYC (please note that he…
Pad out your pantheon with some of these: Death: This version of Death may lack the social graces necessary to welcome Kardak the Mystic and his pal Lorna rather than attempt to murder them for entering his domain, but he does have a very good version of the classic “robed skeleton” look. And his house is charmingly coffin-themed, to boot! God Style: Anthropomorphic Personification (Top-Notch Comics 008, 1940) Ramu, God of Fire: Ramu, God of Fire is another one of…
I came across Jumbo Comics 031 while filling in gods from my backlog in another Divine Round-Up entry and realized that the array of entities represented in the Stuart Taylor story in that issue should be presented as a block. Mercury: This story begins as most Stuart Taylor stories do, with reckless use of time travel technology. Specifically, Taylor’s love interest Laura Hayward has travelled back to Ancient Greece to buy a new hat, because as we know: women be…