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Category: crypto-fascist

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 998: THE CHIEF

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 998: THE CHIEF

(Liberty Scouts Comics 002, 1941) The Chief is one of two things, either a not-very-specific Hitler stand-in who is leading his forces from the front in an attempted invasion of the US, or the representative of such a figure in such an invasion. Either way, he is clearly a pseudo-Nazi. When we meet the Chief he is preoccupied with discovering the identities of the mysterious figures (who we know to be the Liberty Scouts) who have been thwarting his attempts…

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FASCIST GOON CLEARING HOUSE 015

FASCIST GOON CLEARING HOUSE 015

If there’s one thing I know it’s that the world has a seemingly-inexhaustible supply of odious little fascist worms. the All-American League: The All-American League is nothing so exciting as your Nazi spies trying to poison the reservoir or prevent and/or encourage the US entrance into WWII. Instead, they are the more banal type of fascism that is popular nowadays, in which patriotism is weaponized as a way to enrich and empower a few petty men (yes, yes that’s what…

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MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 027

MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 027

A series of cautionary tales for budding young scientists. Orid Dass: Orid Dass is your standard jungle scientist: he’s out there making apes into men and men into apes, all for the love of the ape-man game. He also has the distinction of being the only foe faced by Fantomah the one post-Fletcher Hanks adventure in which she is still kind of a jungle demigod rather than a jungle hero who knows some magic. In that capacity, Fantomah does a…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 986: THE ZOMBIE MASTER

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 986: THE ZOMBIE MASTER

(Jackpot Comics 001, 1941) Zarro, the Zombie Master, is yet another take on an evil Haitian voodoo practitioner: we’ve seen ’em before and we’ll see ’em again. He is recruited by a couple of pseudo-Nazis named Karl Bezdek and Hugo Kempf for help in setting up a factory that uses zombies as workers in the production of war material for the Axis. Like the other Zombie Master we have covered, this one is a vibrant shade of green, just like…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 979: PROFESSOR OCTOPUS

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 979: PROFESSOR OCTOPUS

(Four Favorites 001, 1941) Professor Octopus was honestly due for a trip to the next Problematic Update, but that is a place for characters who I feel should be acknowledged but who I don’t want to talk about too much. Who could resist talking about a guy like Professor Octopus, even if he is a weird sinister Asian spy caricature? Prof Octopus comes to the attention of Magno when his men round up Magno’s sidekick Davey for defending a too-inquisitive…

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MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 024

MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 024

Let’s spare a thought for all the mad lab assistants who do so much for so little credit.  Rokula: Rokula’s plan is simple: kidnap inventors and then use his mind control machine to force them to work for him. Hey, it’s a classic for a reason, but it’s also a plan with a high chance of attracting super-heroic attention such as that of Zongar the Miracle Man.   Rokula might be a fan of the classics but like so many of…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 964: THE SHARK

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 964: THE SHARK

(The Face 001, 1941) “Sparky Watts” was a long-running comic feature in Big Shot Comics and other Columbia publications about the eponymous Sparky Watts, a down-on-his-luck young man whose life turns around when scientist Doc Static gives him super powers using his cosmic ray machine. Having started out as a comic strip, Watts’ adventures tend to hew closer to the comic adventurous rather than the super-heroic. Still, every once in a while he encounters a minor super-villain such as the Shark. The…

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PROBLEMATIC ROUND-UP 007

PROBLEMATIC ROUND-UP 007

Damn their problematic hides! Rango:  A former Vaudeville magician who employs a magical gem and some rubberoid mask blackface to establish himself as medicine man/bandit chief in Africa, Rango aka Harrigan is ultimately unmasked by Yarko the Great. (Wonderworld Comics 015, 1940)  Unnamed Witch Doctor:  This unnamed Haitian witch doctor has a very unusual scheme: blind entire American cities with a floating vision of some of his men and then loot those same cities of all of their diamonds. Why…

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FASCIST GOON CLEARING HOUSE 013

FASCIST GOON CLEARING HOUSE 013

Another batch of dumb-dumbs for the fire. the Green Shirts: Though only mentioned by crooked political boss and aspiring fascist bigwig Pete Rosky, these Green Shirts are the same kind of palate-swap allusion to the Nazi Brownshirts and/or the Italian Blackshirts that we’ve seen so many times before. Their Rosky-led attempt to take over the US-government is nipped in the bud by the Human Meteor. (Champ Comics 012, 1941) Categorized in: Colours (Green), Ideology (Crypto-Fascists), Objects (Shirts) the Black Legion:…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 938: HERR SKULL

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 938: HERR SKULL

(Silver Streak Comics 014, 1941) Herr Skull is the leader of the Skull Men, a band of fascist saboteurs who dress up like ghoulish skeletons in order to facilitate their crimes. Why do they have spikes on top of their heads? I do not know the answer to that. Perhaps Herr Skull just thought the look needed a bit more to really pop. Spike aside, the plan works! The Skull Men are terrifying enough that their victims are caught completely…

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