The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: honours – minor super-hero

  • NOTES – MAY 2024

    Cops Shooting: 

    I’ve been reading old Dick Tracy strips and while tracking all of the times that Tracy fires on a fleeing suspect would be a fool’s errand I would like to note that so far in the 1933 he has been responsible for the shooting deaths of two non-criminals.

    Nova Scotia:

    Speaking of Dick Tracy and filled with home-town pride: this July 1933 strip and the next week or so take place in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

    Honours:

    Black X declines a medal from the president. (Smash Comics 001, 1939)

    Names:

    Look kids, it’s Al Lirog, the racketeer! (Speed Comics 003, 1939)

  • NOTES – APRIL 2024

    Nazi Superweapon:

    There’s nothing terribly special about this giant dirigible that the Phantom Sub encounters after it starts to fly as well as submerge, but I do appreciate a dirigible that can not only camouflage itself as a stormcloud but has a proper old-school lightning cannon mounted underneath. And is filled with hydrogen, nuch to its later detriment. (Blue Bolt v2 007, 1941)

    Honours:

    Corporal Collins, Infantryman earns the French Croix de Guerre. (Blue Ribbon Comics 002, 1939)

    Rang-a-Tang the Wonder Dog is made a full-fledged policeman in the NYPD (Blue Ribbon Comics 001, 1939)

    Assuming that this guy knows what he’s talking about, Rang-a-Tang the Wonder Dog probably gets the Congressional Medal (maybe of Honor, maybe another one) (Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940)

    Rang-a-Tang the WOnder Dog gets place of honour in a circus parade. (Blue Ribbon Comics 013, 1941)

    Place Names:

    Hercules travels to Missiansas, only our second fake state after the Whip’s “New Texirona” (Blue Ribbon Comics 005, 1940)

    Costumes:

    Speaking of Hercules, this version of Zeus from his adventures might just be the greatest outlier in general dress and design I have ever seen (Blue Ribbon Comics 005, 1940)

    Aliens:

    Really enjoy the vibe of these Martian invaders. Screw cold rationalist aliens; bring on the party aliens! (Blue Ribbon Comics 008, 1941)

    Cops Shoot:

    The police of whatever town Mr Justice lives in attempt to summarily execute him for fleeing a third degree interrogation about him supposedly being bribed by a fake medium. (Blue Ribbon Comics 012, 1941)

    And over in whatever town Captain Flag calls home the cops attempt to gun him down as he breaks jail to stop the Black Hand from carrying out the scheme that he is in jail for due to those same cops being credulous morons. (Blue Ribbon Comics 018, 1941)

  • NOTES – APRIL 2024

    Nazi Superweapon:

    There’s nothing terribly special about this giant dirigible that the Phantom Sub encounters after it starts to fly as well as submerge, but I do appreciate a dirigible that can not only camouflage itself as a stormcloud but has a proper old-school lightning cannon mounted underneath. And is filled with hydrogen, nuch to its later detriment. (Blue Bolt v2 007, 1941)

    Honours:

    Corporal Collins, Infantryman earns the French Croix de Guerre. (Blue Ribbon Comics 002, 1939)

    Rang-a-Tang the Wonder Dog is made a full-fledged policeman in the NYPD (Blue Ribbon Comics 001, 1939)

    Assuming that this guy knows what he’s talking about, Rang-a-Tang the Wonder Dog probably gets the Congressional Medal (maybe of Honor, maybe another one) (Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940)

    Rang-a-Tang the WOnder Dog gets place of honour in a circus parade. (Blue Ribbon Comics 013, 1941)

    Place Names:

    Hercules travels to Missiansas, only our second fake state after the Whip’s “New Texirona” (Blue Ribbon Comics 005, 1940)

    Costumes:

    Speaking of Hercules, this version of Zeus from his adventures might just be the greatest outlier in general dress and design I have ever seen (Blue Ribbon Comics 005, 1940)

    Aliens:

    Really enjoy the vibe of these Martian invaders. Screw cold rationalist aliens; bring on the party aliens! (Blue Ribbon Comics 008, 1941)

    Cops Shoot:

    The police of whatever town Mr Justice lives in attempt to summarily execute him for fleeing a third degree interrogation about him supposedly being bribed by a fake medium. (Blue Ribbon Comics 012, 1941)

    And over in whatever town Captain Flag calls home the cops attempt to gun him down as he breaks jail to stop the Black Hand from carrying out the scheme that he is in jail for due to those same cops being credulous morons. (Blue Ribbon Comics 018, 1941)

  • NOTES – MARCH 2024 PART 2

    NOTES – MARCH 2024 PART 2

    I used up all the tags on the first one.

    Honours:

    Dick Cole gets the Carnegie Hero Fund Medal for saving a baby and a shirtless lunatic (Blue Bolt v1 001, 1940)

    Dick Cole also saves the Princess of the fictional European nation of Dania from pseudo-Nazis and is awarded the Danian Order of the Exalted Knight for his efforts. (Blue Bolt v1 012, 1941)

    Sub-Zero saves the city of Centro from a volcano and gets a banquet in his honour (and more importantly goes from a wanted fugitive to a civic hero) (Blue Bolt v1 002, 1940)

    Ten issues later, Sub-Zero saves the South American nation of Latonia from invasion by crypto-Nazis and is given an unspecified medal (Blue Bolt v1 012, 1941)

    Train engineer Runaway Ronson gets a medal from the Governor of… some state for saving a town from a flood with his train – the story takes place in the Mississippi River Valley which is not exactly a precise geographical location. (Blue Bolt v1 003, 1940)

    Runaway Ronson and his pal Pat also get a personal visit from FDR after stopping some spies from their nefarious train-based plotting (Blue Bolt v1 006, 1940)

    Sergeant Spook is honoured by former President of the US and current president of Ghost Town, George Washington! (Blue Bolt v1 008, 1941)

    Trophy Room:

    Sub-Zero just gives away a huge ruby to his gal pal Janet Ware at the end of his encounter with the Great Green Turtle (Blue Bolt v1 004)

    Kid inventor Edison Bell wins the *checks notes* National Gas Midget Auto Race complete with a trip to the South Seas (Blue Bolt v2 004, 1941)

    Cops Shooting at Fleeing Suspects:

    PANG! PANG! The cops are trying to shoot fleeing teen Dick Cole in the back after he is framed for murder. (Blue Bolt v1 007, 1940)

    Twice!

    Crossdressing:

    Sub-Zero might just have the least amount of gender panic of any crossdressing Golden Age hero bar Madam Fatal. (Blue Bolt v2 003, 1941)

  • NOTES – MARCH 2024 PART 2

    I used up all the tags on the first one.

    Honours:

    Dick Cole gets the Carnegie Hero Fund Medal for saving a baby and a shirtless lunatic (Blue Bolt v1 001, 1940)

    Dick Cole also saves the Princess of the fictional European nation of Dania from pseudo-Nazis and is awarded the Danian Order of the Exalted Knight for his efforts. (Blue Bolt v1 012, 1941)

    Sub-Zero saves the city of Centro from a volcano and gets a banquet in his honour (and more importantly goes from a wanted fugitive to a civic hero) (Blue Bolt v1 002, 1940)

    Ten issues later, Sub-Zero saves the South American nation of Latonia from invasion by crypto-Nazis and is given an unspecified medal (Blue Bolt v1 012, 1941)

    Train engineer Runaway Ronson gets a medal from the Governor of… some state for saving a town from a flood with his train – the story takes place in the Mississippi River Valley which is not exactly a precise geographical location. (Blue Bolt v1 003, 1940)

    Runaway Ronson and his pal Pat also get a personal visit from FDR after stopping some spies from their nefarious train-based plotting (Blue Bolt v1 006, 1940)

    Sergeant Spook is honoured by former President of the US and current president of Ghost Town, George Washington! (Blue Bolt v1 008, 1941)

    Trophy Room:

    Sub-Zero just gives away a huge ruby to his gal pal Janet Ware at the end of his encounter with the Great Green Turtle (Blue Bolt v1 004)

    Kid inventor Edison Bell wins the *checks notes* National Gas Midget Auto Race complete with a trip to the South Seas (Blue Bolt v2 004, 1941)

    Cops Shooting at Fleeing Suspects:

    PANG! PANG! The cops are trying to shoot fleeing teen Dick Cole in the back after he is framed for murder. (Blue Bolt v1 007, 1940)

    Twice!

    Crossdressing:

    Sub-Zero might just have the least amount of gender panic of any crossdressing Golden Age hero bar Madam Fatal. (Blue Bolt v2 003, 1941)

  • HONOURS: THE FLAME BADGE OF MERIT

    (Big 3 004, 1941) 

    In a change of pace from the usual heaping of honours on the various costumed do-gooders of comics we have here the Flame giving out an award called the “Flame Badge of Merit” to someone who helped out on a case. A fun twist!

  • NOTES – NOVEMBER 2023

    Fate of the Wreck of the Athenia

     

    Showing tremendous respect for the dead, the Blue Tracer uses the wreck of the Athenia as armour while attacking a Nazi battleship. (Military Comics 005, 1941) 

    Honours


    Marine pilots “Loops” McCann and “Banks” Barrows are “decorated for valor” after a barroom brawl in a Shanghai nightclub leads to the destruction of a Japanese spy cell (Military Comics 005, 1941)

    On Crypto-Fascism: 

    As I’ve said before, the US was officially Not Involved in WWII until the December 1941 Pearl Harbor attack and so a lot of pre-1941 comics feature generically Germanish or Japaneseish spies operating on US soil. Military Comics actually features a fair number of actual Nazis (and even some rare comic book appearances by Italian fascists) by having most of its features take place outside of the US. With issue 5 as an example: the Blckhawks battle Nazis in Oslo; the Sniper does the same in Austria; Shot & Shell vex them in a generic Europe; the Death Patrol liberates Nazi POWs as part of the RAF and the Blue Tracer does the same in the Atlantic.

    Loops & Banks, above, are US Marines and as such do not actually battle the Japanese in Shanghai. The most interesting contrast is between Miss America and Yankee Eagle, who both battle Nazi submarines that are preying on US shipping but since the Miss America Nazis are operating out of a New England base and the Yankee Eagle Nazis are based at sea only the latter are actually called Nazis.

    Comics in Comics:

    Inza Cramer meets a fan (More Fun Comics 063, 1941)

    Drawn Without Reference:

    I know that paleontology wasn’t quite as advanced in 1941 as it is today but that is a wild take on what a pterodactyl looked like (More Fun 067, 1941)

    Dynamic Action:

    Check out the dynamic action on adventurer Clip Carson! (More Fun Comics 068, 1941)

  • HONOURS

    (Master Comics 015, 1941) 

    Minute-Man receives the “highest award for valor” from the South American nation of Rinaldo for stopping a load of Nazi stand-ins from blowing up their Washington embassy.

    (Master Comics 016, 1941)

    The Companions Three receive the Decoration for Valor of the European nation of Cabarro for facilitating and then stopping the theft of their crown jewels.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 267: THE SHARK

    (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 012)

    The Shark is a submarine pirate, a thing that is fairly common in comic books and as far as I can tell has never actually happened in real life. He’s a bit more ambitious than most such guys, and at the beginning of this particular story is trying parlay a successful streak of piracy into a general toll on shipping. He’s also a pretty snappy dresser.

    The US, of course, does not take an extortion attempt at such scale lightly, and Professor Zog is brought in to send Electro after the scoundrels, leading to the Shark learning the second rule of having a hard-to-access undersea dome HQ (the first rule being that it rules): if a giant super-robot gets into your dome, there’s nowhere to run.

    The third rule of having a hard-to-access undersea dome HQ is that YOU NEED TO EVACUATE AT THE FIRST SIGN OF TROUBLE. Don’t try to capture the giant robot and put it in the atom-smasher. Do make a run for the submarine while your more expendable minions distract it. Otherwise you could end up like the Shark: smushed into jelly by the pressure of the ocean depths.

    BONUS HONOURS: Professor Zog gets a Congressional medal of some sort from FDR! They’re not just telegram pals anymore!

  • HONOURS – PROFESSOR ZOG

    (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 009, 1940) 

    Professor Zog is made an Honorary Knight of Ligra for his services in the war between the Lion-People and the Dragon-Men. If the Lion-Person in the background looks a bit disgruntled it is perhaps because Zog was originally coerced into fighting on the Dragon-Men’s side and really did a number on the Lion-People’s army before getting free. This is possibly why he only gets to be an honorary knight.