(Amazing-Man Comics 011, 1940) On the surface Drago seems to merely be a guy who looks like an evil cat and shoots his henchmen rather than paying them (not only a nightmare for HR but a bad financial decision as you’ll be spending more in headhunting and training new goons than you will save in salaries), and that’s just what he is. There are no hidden depths. He kidnaps world-class scientists and sells them to the Axis-equivalent belligerent governments of…
(Amazing-Man Comics 011, 1940) On the surface Drago seems to merely be a guy who looks like an evil cat and shoots his henchmen rather than paying them (not only a nightmare for HR but a bad financial decision as you’ll be spending more in headhunting and training new goons than you will save in salaries), and that’s just what he is. There are no hidden depths. He kidnaps world-class scientists and sells them to the Axis-equivalent belligerent governments of…
(Amazing-Man Comics 010, 1940) I am heartbroken. Here’s a bit of trivia: most of the 465 entries before this were written about characters in comics I had already read and if there was something in them that made me feel particularly strong emotions then I had had time to process it and mull it over. Going forward, however, we’re looking at a lot of comics that are brand new to me. In that spirit, I must admit: the first few…
(Amazing-Man Comics 010-011, 1940) The Magician from Mars’ final foe is a two-issue affair, but the first one is a bit of a nothing story: a mysterious terror attack at an airport turns out to be the work of a villain named the Hood who has found a way to… play a loud sound into a glass ball and then use it as a grenade. It’s a weird contrivance even by sci-fi super-hero comic standards. In any case, the Magician…
(Amazing-Man Comics 009, 1940) The Elemental! An extradimensional intruder who insinuates itself into the unspecified future world of hero the Magician from Mars via the music of unwitting dupe Bill Wend. Is this a future with wildly relaxed standards for professional music performance or has the musical director of Concert Hall also being influenced by the Elemental? This question will go unanswered, alas. Having achieved its goal of entering our reality, the Elemental feeds not only on the crowd’s fear…
Good reactions by the people in this crowd to Amazing-Man passing through in his Green Mist form – people usually treat it as if he’s invisible but this is much more satisfying. (Amazing-Man Comics 014, 1940) Origins: The Shark is not just the son of Father Neptune, he’s part of a long line of father/ son Neptunes and Sharks! I was right in my belief that the Shark was more interesting than most ocean dwelling super-heroes! (Amazing-Man Comics 014, 1940)…
(Keen Detective Funnies 011, 1939) The Conqueror is the major recurring foe of Dean Denton, Scientific Adventurer, about whom we will briefly aside: Dean Denton was created by Harry Campbell, who was also responsible for such characters as Ace of Space, Bruce Blackburn and the wretched Scarlet Seal, but also Wizard Wells and John Law, Scientiective, who form a kind of thematic triad of scientific detectives with Dean Denton. Dean Denton is definitely the most entertaining of the three to…
(Keen Detective Funnies v2 022, 1940) I want to be clear: there is very little to talk about re: the Tusk. I just find his weird face fascinating. Eponymous tusk plus weak chin plus huge eyes plus bonus enormous combover makes this guy a visual feast! Plus he’s a Masked Marvel foe and I love that guy. Just look at the faces he ends up pulling to highlight the tusk! Real great stuff. Oh, and as for the villainy: the…
(Keen Detective Funnies v2 021, 1940) A simple but effective origin story: The captain of a German Mergan submarine becomes obsessed with death and destruction and goes rogue, preying on Axis and Allied shipping alike and replacing the flag of Nazi Germany Zani Mergany* with the skull and crossbones. Suddenly, the threat of war is a threat to all seagoing vessels! The Red Raider (technically the name of the submarine but I stand firm in my conviction that the name…
(Keen Detective Funnies v2 019-020, 1940) Love a number name, particularly one so precise as the One Thousand and One. It’s tied to the number of criminals in their employ, but does it go up and down as they gain or lose members? Is the One a very harried HR guy frantically filling positions as they are vacated? Is it just a nice-sounding number and the actual staffing is a bit more loose? These are the important questions. It’s a…