It can’t all be off-brand Greek gods. I’m elbow-deep in the 1941 issues of Jungle Comics, so here are some off-brand African deities. Damballah and Gbeji-Nibu: The evil witch doctor N’Goku has been using his magical abilities to cause problems in his area (plagues of snakes, a sickness among the cattle) and then solve them for cash money, and then when Fantomah (post-Fletcher Hanks) points out that he is doing so he attempts to do away with her. N’Goku invokes Gbeji-Nibu,…
(Green Mask v1 008, 1941) The tale of the Mad Ghost (“Death Deals in Diamonds!”) is presented as a classic whodunnit, which happen to be one of my very favourite genres of both comic stories and of fiction in general. Sadly, this story is a prime example of how poorly this genre can be executed, and an early sign of this is in the dramatic presentation of suspects on the splash page. While it is pretty common to include the…
You like minor super-heroes? We got more than four hundred of them! the Night Bird: The Night Bird might just have the simplest origin in the history of super-heroes: when newspaper Dell (just Dell) is captured by gangsters, her photographer Lens Crockett sets out to rescue her. Deciding that he needs a disguise, Crockett looks in the office storeroom and finds a full super-hero outfit stuffed in a bin – if it were about ten years later this might be…
I hope you like media from comics, because I certainly do and I am going to keep doing these. Comics: Bullied bootblack Timothy Smith just wants to buy a comic book with his last nickel and he has a whole selection of Fox Features titles to choose from, but what draws his eye is a book called The Land of Magic, a comic so fantastical and majestical that he wishes himself away to live inside its pages the next time he gets…
(Green Mask v1 007, 1941) The Ghoul has a simple, brutal, efficient racket: identify people who have large life insurance policies, murder them, and then extort the payout from their beneficiaries with threats of violence. What is unclear is exactly how long the racket has been going on, and whether the point we come in at represents some awkward teething troubles or a long-established operation beginning to crumble. Either way, the Ghoul’s last score is a mess: actor John Pierce…
A disappointingly humanoid bunch of aliens today. Gigantians: The Gigantians of Gigantia are the kind of advanced society who like nothing more than to gas on about how primitive and backward Earth is to space travellers like Rocket Rooney and his pal, but are still content to have a hereditary monarchy. True to their name, they are super huge in their natural state but have the good graces to shrink themselves down whenever their Earth visitors show up. (Bill Barnes,…
(Green Mask v1 006, 1941) It’s a classic scheme: dress up like a super-hero – or super-heroes in this case: the Green Mask and Domino the Miracle Boy – to commit crimes, and rely on the public and the police to draw attention away from you and toward them in the subsequent outcry and investigation. The only real trick to the hero-imposture game is not to push your luck. As long as the super-hero is free to do so, they…
If we criminalize mad science then only criminal scientists will be mad. Mauser: Mauser is the second of two foes battled by two-fisted chemist Guy Gorham and also the second rogue biologist. Was this comic setting up some sort of biologist/chemist beef that never got a chance to pay off? Mauser’s plans are never really spelled out, but he’s got a colony of vampire bats that he seems to be training to attack human targets, which isn’t great but which…
(The Funnies 062, 1941) “Rex, King of the Deep” is an adventure strip that ran in The Funnies 037 through to 063, the final issue. It stars titular King of the Deep Rex Withers, a wealthy young man who decides to put his money toward the betterment of humanity by funding the construction of a Super-Submarine designed by his friend Professor Bidoux. Over the next couple of years worth of comics he and his ever-expanding cast of associates (the Professor, second-in-command Tim…
We regret to inform you that more super-heroes have been wounded. the Blue Beetle: The very first thing that happens in the very first Blue Beetle comic: Dan “the Blue Beetle” Garret gets shot in the left arm. (Mystery Men Comics 001, 1939) Domino the Miracle Boy: It’s a miracle (a boy miracle?) that Domino survives 1941, because he gets hit by a dang car. (Green Mask v1 006, 1941) Not two issues later, Domino gets shot in the ever-popular…