The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: honours – minor super-hero

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 990: THE EMPEROR

    (Bill Barnes, America’s Air Ace Comics 003, 1941)

    The first chunk of the story that the Emperor appears in is not available anywhere that I can find, but what remains is enough to evaluate him and determine that yes, he is a super-villain. Specifically, he is a scientist who discovered “the secret of atomic power” and decided that the best way to use it was as part of an attempt to conquer the world. Plus he has all of his henchmen running around in little uniforms, a clear sign of super-villainy.

    The part of the Emperor’s plans that we get to see involves using cool-looking rocket bombers to blow big holes in various US cities and then sending out agents provocateur to stir up public support for surrender as an alternative to continued explosions.

    Unfortunately for the Emperor, Bill Barnes (America’s Air Ace) is on the case, and he’s such a mechanical genius that he is able to divine the secrets of atomic energy merely by creeping around the engine room of one of those cool rocket bombers for about half an hour. Barnes builds his own fleet of nuclear-powered aircraft, tracks the Emperor to a secret base in the Rockies and then wipes him off the map with atomic bombs. I suppose that the actual Emperor himself might have suvived, since we never actually see him alive or dead, but it’s pretty unlikely.

    BONUS: Bill Barnes is awarded “the highest honor of the nation” by FDR for stopping the Emperor, which is either the Medal of Honor or… some precursor to the Medal of Freedom that I can’t find (logically there had to be a highest civilian honour before 1942 but Wikipedia is being coy). It all depends on whether America’s Air Ace is a military or civilian role.

    Categorized in: Accessories (Mountain Base), Royalty (Emperors), Supercrime (Attempted Conquest of the US)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 990: THE EMPEROR

    (Bill Barnes, America’s Air Ace Comics 003, 1941)

    The first chunk of the story that the Emperor appears in is not available anywhere that I can find, but what remains is enough to evaluate him and determine that yes, he is a super-villain. Specifically, he is a scientist who discovered “the secret of atomic power” and decided that the best way to use it was as part of an attempt to conquer the world. Plus he has all of his henchmen running around in little uniforms, a clear sign of super-villainy.

    The part of the Emperor’s plans that we get to see involves using cool-looking rocket bombers to blow big holes in various US cities and then sending out agents provocateur to stir up public support for surrender as an alternative to continued explosions.

    Unfortunately for the Emperor, Bill Barnes (America’s Air Ace) is on the case, and he’s such a mechanical genius that he is able to divine the secrets of atomic energy merely by creeping around the engine room of one of those cool rocket bombers for about half an hour. Barnes builds his own fleet of nuclear-powered aircraft, tracks the Emperor to a secret base in the Rockies and then wipes him off the map with atomic bombs. I suppose that the actual Emperor himself might have suvived, since we never actually see him alive or dead, but it’s pretty unlikely.

    BONUS: Bill Barnes is awarded “the highest honor of the nation” by FDR for stopping the Emperor, which is either the Medal of Honor or… some precursor to the Medal of Freedom that I can’t find (logically there had to be a highest civilian honour before 1942 but Wikipedia is being coy). It all depends on whether America’s Air Ace is a military or civilian role.

    Categorized in: Accessories (Mountain Base), Royalty (Emperors), Supercrime (Attempted Conquest of the US)

  • NOTES: AUGUST 2026

    the Looming Spectre of Death:

    An impressive Grim Reaper complete with bloody scythe and optional army helmet looms over an Alaskan town in this Liberty Scouts Guards tale. (Man of War Comics 001, 1941)

    Cops Shooting at Fleeing Suspects:

    It’s a good thing that these cops don’t quite manage to murder the Raven for aggressively running away from them like this, because they all know his alter ego Danny Dartin and it’s the one time they would actually feel bad about summarily executing someone. (Lightning Comics v2 003, 1941)

    Great Folk:

    We never actually meet the Masked Marvel, but we can glean two things about him from context: 1) he is a mysterious masked bowler who travels the land doing exhibitions of skill at local bowling alleys and 2) he looks enough like Doctor Nemesis that the latter is mistaken for him without even trying. (Lightning Comics v2 003, 1941)

    Honours – Marvo the Magician:

    Both Marvo the Magician and his monkey Tito are knighted by the unnamed king of this unnamed South or Central American country for saving their crown jewels from pirates. (Lightning Comics v2 003, 1941)

  • NOTES – JULY 2026

    Honours:

    Pilot Bill Barnes is almost certainly awarded the Victoria Cross for blowing up a Nazi gas stockpile. He also gets a pie. (Bill Barnes, America’s Air Ace Comics 004, 1941)

    The Liberty Scouts are given nonspecific (but secret) medals for saving NYC from being destroyed. Strut also gets a pie. (Liberty Scouts Comics 002, 1941)

  • NOTES – JUNE 2026

    Comics Crossovers:

    In one of Golden Age comics’ rare but casual crossovers, Judy Jackson, rival of reporter-hero Scoop Mason, is attending the same Governor’s ball in the Bahamas as Newsreel cameraman Speed Martin. (The Funnies 051, 1941)

    Then in the very next issue, Scoop Mason himself shows up to take in a football game! (The Funnies 052, 1941)

    ADDENDUM: I just realized that the team that they’re watching is Elmhurst College featuring star player Wally Williams, from his own feature in Popular Comics. Layers upon layers!

    the Looming Spectre of Death:

    Perhaps the most understated Looming Spectre of Death of all time, from the Philo Vance story “Murder Rings the Bell.” (The Funnies 059, 1941)

    Another, very cheeky Death, very appropriately wearing a mask. (The Funnies 062, 1941)

    Presented Without Comment: 

    (The Funnies 062, 1941)

    Honours:

    Both the Purple Zombie and Chico, creator of the Mechanized Skeleton(s) receive medals for defending an unspecified European nation from the death ray of an unspecified fascist nation, while Chico’s skeleton troops get a hero’s burial. (Reg’lar Fellers Heroic Comics 006, 1941)

  • NOTES – MARCH 2026

    Cops Shooting Fleeing Suspects: 

    The NYPD do their level best to gun down the Challenger for wearing a mask near the scene of a crime. (Daring Mystery Comics 007, 1941)

    Some probably-also-NYPD officers try to do the same to the Black Cobra. (Dynamic Comics 001, 1941)

    Some definitely-NYPD officers try to gun down a fleeing Mask. (Exciting Comics 010, 1941)

    Honours:

    Heroic dog K-9 is given a medal and made an official officer in what is also likely supposed to be the NYPD. (Dynamic Comics 001, 1941)

    Temporally Tricky Westerns:

    I’ve occasionally talked about the temporal uncertainty of depictions of the West in comics of the 1940s and 1950s, in that comics set in the modern day are given all of the tropes of the Old West, such that you don’t know what era they are taking place until someone flies a plane on-panel etc. The “Jim Hatfield” feature in Exciting Comics might just take the cake on this front. Every issue features Hatfield seemingly stepping from the present-day Texas Ranger HQ through a time portal to the 1850s.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 925: THE IRON-JAW

    MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 925: THE IRON-JAW

    (Silver Streak Comics 009, 1941)

    The US is being rocked by a series of explosions targeting munitions factories and other facilities contributing to national defense, and not even the speed of the Silver Streak is enough to combat the organizational skills and coordination of the mysterious mastermind behind them. It is only by sheer coincidence that he happens upon an imperilled security guard from a plant in Georgia and learns from him that the men who blew up his workplace were under command of a mysterious figure called “Iron-Jaw” and that they all work for the “Axes Government”.

    Even with this information under his belt, the Silver Streak still loses two more factories to the Iron-Jaw before finally running down some of his men in Boston and discovering the secret of their great organizational abilities: a super-miniaturized (for the 40s) radio set used to relay orders to the Axes forces in America. By following the instructions coming from a captured unit, the Streak and Whiz are finally able to get the jump on the Iron-Jaw’s men and prevent the destruction of a plant in Pittsburgh, though the mastermind remains on the loose.

    The Iron-Jaw returns in Silver Streak Comics 010 with a new set of goals – the focus is now on shutting down media criticism of the Axes. To that end, the Silver Streak is drawn away via a report of a potential bombing in Chicago while Iron-Jaw is grabbing the real target, broadcaster Kitty Doyle, in NYC.

    This is Silver Streak we’re talking about here, so he returns in time to interrupt the kidnapping in progress. the mysterious Iron-Jaw is revealed to be a moderately cool-looking/ moderately goofy-looking/ fairly spiky humanoid robot. With a gold finish, no less – so much for thematic consistency.

    Though Iron-Jaw briefly gets the upper hand, even a super strong, very pointy robot is no match for the world’s fastest man and it takes a fatal header onto the streets of Manhattan below.

    Here’s something about the Iron-Jaw: in its first appearance, all it does is talk, while in its second it is completely mute. This dovetails interestingly with something that Kitty reports after its defeat, that investigation of the robot indicates that it was controlled by trans-oceanic radio waves originating from the Axes government. Which seems to indicate that the Iron-Jaw was merely operating as the mouth and hands of one or more spymasters in some comic book pastiche of Germany, which in turn means that this is one of the few times in Golden Age comics in which the villain gets away at the end!* Neat!

    *excluding all of the recurring villains who get away all the time, of course. 

    Finally, Silver Streak and Whiz get to meet FDR to get his congratulationss, plus a Congressional Medal of Honor!

    Categorized in: Body (Jaws), Elements (Iron), Origins (Robots) 

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 925: THE IRON-JAW

    (Silver Streak Comics 009, 1941)

    The US is being rocked by a series of explosions targeting munitions factories and other facilities contributing to national defense, and not even the speed of the Silver Streak is enough to combat the organizational skills and coordination of the mysterious mastermind behind them. It is only by sheer coincidence that he happens upon an imperilled security guard from a plant in Georgia and learns from him that the men who blew up his workplace were under command of a mysterious figure called “Iron-Jaw” and that they all work for the “Axes Government”.

    Even with this information under his belt, the Silver Streak still loses two more factories to the Iron-Jaw before finally running down some of his men in Boston and discovering the secret of their great organizational abilities: a super-miniaturized (for the 40s) radio set used to relay orders to the Axes forces in America. By following the instructions coming from a captured unit, the Streak and Whiz are finally able to get the jump on the Iron-Jaw’s men and prevent the destruction of a plant in Pittsburgh, though the mastermind remains on the loose.

    The Iron-Jaw returns in Silver Streak Comics 010 with a new set of goals – the focus is now on shutting down media criticism of the Axes. To that end, the Silver Streak is drawn away via a report of a potential bombing in Chicago while Iron-Jaw is grabbing the real target, broadcaster Kitty Doyle, in NYC.

    This is Silver Streak we’re talking about here, so he returns in time to interrupt the kidnapping in progress. the mysterious Iron-Jaw is revealed to be a moderately cool-looking/ moderately goofy-looking/ fairly spiky humanoid robot. With a gold finish, no less – so much for thematic consistency.

    Though Iron-Jaw briefly gets the upper hand, even a super strong, very pointy robot is no match for the world’s fastest man and it takes a fatal header onto the streets of Manhattan below.

    Here’s something about the Iron-Jaw: in its first appearance, all it does is talk, while in its second it is completely mute. This dovetails interestingly with something that Kitty reports after its defeat, that investigation of the robot indicates that it was controlled by trans-oceanic radio waves originating from the Axes government. Which seems to indicate that the Iron-Jaw was merely operating as the mouth and hands of one or more spymasters in some comic book pastiche of Germany, which in turn means that this is one of the few times in Golden Age comics in which the villain gets away at the end!* Neat!

    *excluding all of the recurring villains who get away all the time, of course. 

    Finally, Silver Streak and Whiz get to meet FDR to get his congratulationss, plus a Congressional Medal of Honor!

    Categorized in: Body (Jaws), Elements (Iron), Origins (Robots) 

  • NOTES: FEBRUARY 2026

    Costume Materials: 

    The Daredevil’s mask is made out of rubber. (Silver Streak Comics 017, 1941)

    Cops Shooting at Fleeing Suspects: 

    The NYPD attempts to gun down Nightro (and his dog!) for fleeing the scene of a suicide. (Daredevil Comics 003, 1941)

    Honours – Dash Dillon: 

    University sports hero Dash Dillon captures a U-Boat off the coast of Connecticut and receives a whole host of awards. (Daredevil Comics 004, 1941) 

  • NOTES – JANUARY 2026

    Honours: 

    Aviator Cloud Curtis and his pals are personally thanked by FDR for stopping a spy plot against the US. (Silver Streak Comics 007, 1941) 

    Decorations: 

    Check out Presto Martin’s portrait of Silver Streak and Whiz! (Silver Streak Comics 011, 1941)