Where are we going to put all of these aliens? Undergrounders: I want to call these guys mole men who invade the surface world in the year 3050 CE, but looking at the battle scene and the remainder of this adventure I reckon that Abovegrounders of that particular future also look all bald and gangly. It’s a whole world of mole men! Science adventurer Captain Daring kills the Undergrounders’ underground Fuehrer and installs his own ladyfriend as the new Queen…
I’ve often mentioned how comics as a medium has a grand tradition of not using the real names for people (see about half the entries in our collection of Real Folk in comics) places (see the grand list of fictional countries on every continent of our list of Locations) and things, so I hope that it won’t surprise you when I say that they make up all the media, too. And since I have a big list of all the…
I’ve often mentioned how comics as a medium has a grand tradition of not using the real names for people (see about half the entries in our collection of Real Folk in comics) places (see the grand list of fictional countries on every continent of our list of Locations) and things, so I hope that it won’t surprise you when I say that they make up all the media, too. And since I have a big list of all the…
They just love putting real folks and versions of real folks in comics and I just love finding them and putting them on my blog. Adolf Hitler: An in-all-but-name version of Hitler gets mad at Citizen Smith for foiling his plans and plots. (Captain Fearless Comics 002, 1941) Gang boss and Deacon foe Duke Adare’s little toothbrush mustache is what initially drew my attention, even though that wasn’t nearly as glaring a signpost of a character being a Hitler stand-in…
The wonders of the cosmos! Spiny Scalemen: The Spiny Scalemen are yet another group of gross-looking underwater humanoids who threaten the mostly peaceful nation of Amloza, and what’s worse, they’re doing it as part of a Nazi plot to take over the city and use it as a naval base. Thankfully Mogg the Fish-Man and only competent citizen of Amloza realizes that city walls are a bit of a useless affectation in an underwater environment and destroys the Scalemen by…
Not every villain is super and they must learn to accept that. Miguel Greeze: He may just be a regular style crooked gambler looking to murder Golden Arrow in order to win a bet, but Miguel Greeze here is decked out in too good a costume to just ignore. Plus it’s impressive that he can make his legs go like that. (Whiz Comics 023, 1941) Konrad Schtienker: Fascist assassin Konrad Schtienker is all-in on a tobacco product theme: he uses…
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…
I’ve finally caught up on my god backlog so these are all piping fresh deities for you to peruse. Itzalotahui: On an expedition to Guatemala to locate their missing friend John Malcolm, Billy Batson and Whitey Murphy make camp in the lost temple of the monkey god Itzalotahui and are awoken from their slumber by the god himself, flaming and steaming and flailing about. After an initial panic and an in-retrospect-embarassing fistfight, Captain Marvel discovers the truth: Itzalotahui is not…
Mostly, but not all, updates. Ibis the Invincible **UPDATE**: 1941 sees Ibis the Invincible’s omnipotence tempered a bit via a slight limitation that is added to the Ibistick: it is not directly able to affect things created by or otherwise powered by evil magic, and it might not work at all in overtly magical areas such as a giant’s floating castle. This is balanced out somewhat by the fact that it gives Ibis the chance to demonstrate his lateral thinking…
None of this science is mad or criminal peer reviewed. This fellow attempts to blackmail Dynamo’s unnamed home city by various methods, including Causing and then threatening further widespread destruction with his “liquid air” freeze cannon and kidnapping city council members and then subjecting some of them to a frankly horrific bone liquefying ray. The main problem with him is honestly the fact that he has no established name. He does go by “Miss Monda” while he is posing as…