The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: Fate of…

  • NOTES: JULY 2025

    The Fates of Various Nazi Warships: 

    Given the penchant for featuring even quite famous and obvious things under false names in comics, I always end up noticing when something or someone shows up under their own moniker, which is why I was very surprised when Royal Navy submarine captain Tom Niles, aka the Undersea Raider, is responsible for sinking several real Nazi warships in this 1940 comic. The casualties include the cruiser Admiral Scheer (sunk in 1945 in our world) and the battleships Bismarck (scuttled in 1941), and Scharnhorst (sunk in 1943). I had thought that the Admiral Graf Spee was another of these anachronistically early kills, but this depiction of it’s scuttling off of Montevideo, Uruguay is broadly accurate, except that it happened in 1939. A wild time for naval combat. (Thrilling Comics 004, 1940)

    The Fate of Rome:

    Specifically, the fate of Rome during the Great Fire of 64 CE. There are a lot of theories about how and why the fire was started, but very few of them revolve around it accidentally being started by magician/adventurer the Ghost and his companions while attempting to escape Emperor Nero’s soldiers with the help of an electric ray projector. (Thrilling Comics 008, 1940) 

    Honours – Doc Strange: 

    Doc Strange is given an unspecified medal by FDR for foiling a plot to bomb Washington DC. (Thrilling Comics 010, 1940) 

    The next issue, Doc gets a parade for saving NYC from being bombed into dust. (Thrilling Comics 011, 1940) 

    Honours – the Firefly: 

    Harley “the Firefly” Hudson was Intercollegiate Pole Vault Champion during his time at NYU – plus he went to NYU! Very exciting to know exactly where a super-hero got his education. (Top-Notch Comics 009, 1940) 

    Honours – Fran Frazer: 

    Magazine photographer Fran Frazer receives a medal from the country of Murania for preventing a Nazi invasion. (Top-Notch Comics 010, 1940) 

    Alternate Identity: 

    Doc Strange, while suffering from amnesia, boxes world heavyweight champion Bull Gallagher under the identity of the Unknown. (Thrilling Comics 001, 1940) 

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 578: SEMMURABI

    (Champion Comics 010, 1940)

    Have you ever wondered what happened to the Chaldeans, the ancient Mesopotamian people whose height was from the 9th to 6th centuries BCE, who were mentioned frequently in the Bible and whose name was lent to a Babylonian dynasty? Well wonder no longer! They were merely tucked away in a little hidden city less than a day’s travel via horse from Jerusalem! At least until 1940, that is, because that’s when the city’s leader, a fellow named Semmurabi, made the mistake of being too horny. Or maybe he’d been kidnapping clueless tourists (sincerely clueless: they were roped in by an offer to show them the remains of Noah’s Ark on Mt Arrarat) to add to his harem forever and this was just the first time he’d done it to someone who knew a super-hero.

    In Semmurabi’s defense (for not knowing to keep a lower profile, not for kidnapping women) this is a very early Dr Miracle adventure and he can be excused for assuming that he wouldn’t meet opposition from a tuxedoed magic-man (but again, he will not be excused for the kidnapping). This also might explain why he makes the classic mistake of challenging a more powerful opponent to a magical duel in the astral realm: because he simply didn’t know better.

    Ignorance is no excuse in magic as in law and Semmurabi meets his end in the depths of a star. Sorry, Chaldea. You were ruled by a dope and now you pass into history. (Champion Comics 010, 1940)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 578: SEMMURABI

    (Champion Comics 010, 1940)

    Have you ever wondered what happened to the Chaldeans, the ancient Mesopotamian people whose height was from the 9th to 6th centuries BCE, who were mentioned frequently in the Bible and whose name was lent to a Babylonian dynasty? Well wonder no longer! They were merely tucked away in a little hidden city less than a day’s travel via horse from Jerusalem! At least until 1940, that is, because that’s when the city’s leader, a fellow named Semmurabi, made the mistake of being too horny. Or maybe he’d been kidnapping clueless tourists (sincerely clueless: they were roped in by an offer to show them the remains of Noah’s Ark on Mt Arrarat) to add to his harem forever and this was just the first time he’d done it to someone who knew a super-hero.

    In Semmurabi’s defense (for not knowing to keep a lower profile, not for kidnapping women) this is a very early Dr Miracle adventure and he can be excused for assuming that he wouldn’t meet opposition from a tuxedoed magic-man (but again, he will not be excused for the kidnapping). This also might explain why he makes the classic mistake of challenging a more powerful opponent to a magical duel in the astral realm: because he simply didn’t know better.

    Ignorance is no excuse in magic as in law and Semmurabi meets his end in the depths of a star. Sorry, Chaldea. You were ruled by a dope and now you pass into history. (Champion Comics 010, 1940)

  • 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)

  • THE FATE OF…

    (Flash Comics v1 016, 1941)

    Have you ever wondered what happened to the ancient Dravidians and their kingdom of Dravidia? No, because they’re an extant ethnic group and that would be a bit like wondering about the fate of the Caucasians and their fabled land of Caucasia? Excatly. But nevertheless, here’s Hawkman flying into Dravidia, somewhere in Mongolia.

    Furthermore, the Dravidian king claims that his people originally came from a now-sunken land called Eden. An intriguing concept – that Eden is truly lost because it sank into the sea. Nothing comes of it though.

    The really interesting thing to come out of this adventure is the idea that a prior incarnation of Hawkman might have ruled Dravidia as Keft, known as Icaro, the Redeemer. My experience with Golden Age Hawkman is limited to his JSA appearances, so I don’t know if the exploration of his prior incarnations is a running topic or if this is a weird outlier, decades before the idea of Hawkman and Hawkgirl being endlessly reincarnated gained steam.

  • THE FATE OF…

    (Flash Comics v1 016, 1941)

    Have you ever wondered what happened to the ancient Dravidians and their kingdom of Dravidia? No, because they’re an extant ethnic group and that would be a bit like wondering about the fate of the Caucasians and their fabled land of Caucasia? Excatly. But nevertheless, here’s Hawkman flying into Dravidia, somewhere in Mongolia.

    Furthermore, the Dravidian king claims that his people originally came from a now-sunken land called Eden. An intriguing concept – that Eden is truly lost because it sank into the sea. Nothing comes of it though.

    The really interesting thing to come out of this adventure is the idea that a prior incarnation of Hawkman might have ruled Dravidia as Keft, known as Icaro, the Redeemer. My experience with Golden Age Hawkman is limited to his JSA appearances, so I don’t know if the exploration of his prior incarnations is a running topic or if this is a weird outlier, decades before the idea of Hawkman and Hawkgirl being endlessly reincarnated gained steam.