The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: Fiend

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 031

    They’re not good people and they’re not good at what they do and yet they still have a certain charm. 

    This guy is exclusively called “the Fiend” in narration boxes even though he is introduced as “the Great Master” and “Mako”. He practices voodoo and just sort of generically terrorizes the Haitian countryside until Yarko the Great comes at the behest of the intriguingly named Doctor Medico to settle his hash. And speaking of names, this issue features multiple characters referring to voodoo practitioners rather than their subjects as “zombies,” which is a new one on me unless of course you count the Grand Zombie. (Wonderworld Comics 019, 1940)

    Called “the Wolf” by detective Dr Fung as he is hunting him down, this masked fellow is actually Horace Bailey, a Wall Street financier who killed his partner to gain full control of their firm and made the mistake of involving a super-sleuth in the execution of his perfect murder. (Wonderworld Comics 020, 1940)

    Don Cervantes is a fellow who discovered silver in the hills near the small probably-Mexican town of Toranto and decided that the best way to keep it all to himself was to revive the practice of human sacrifice in the area. This does not prevent Nevada Jones from moving in and deposing him, of course. (Zip Comics 007, 1940)

    Comic books having cover illustrations that do not reflect the action in the book itself are nothing new, but this is the first time I have felt the need to highlight any of the characters on them whose adventures have gone unchronicled. Here’s to you, Executioner, Green Guy with Sickle Claw and Tiny Green Guy, I’m sure that you were very dastardly. (Zip Comics 008, 1940)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 470: THE FIEND

    (Amazing-Man Comics 014, 1940)

    Before we get into the Fiend I just want to highlight this guy. He is about to have a world-record bad day at work.

    The reason that his day is so terrible is that he has just introduced guest speaker Professor Zuraw who, it turns out, is completely insane. Zuraw turns the radio station’s antenna into a death ray broadcaster, killing millions, and not only does our friend the announcer end up dead but any account of this event will inevitably link him with Zurow. Terrible note to go out on.

    It’s very bad! This is when Zurow becomes the Fiend, and you can’t really argue with it.

    The Fiend makes some noise about ruling the world but he’s effectively trapped inside Radio Station WEEE with a handful of goons. He’s got a radio death ray field around the place but you can’t rule the world with a weapon that people have to tune in to to be effective.

    Most of the adventure is concerned with the Iron Skull bashing his way into the station to get the fiend out rather than the logistics of how the Fiend is going to do anything beyond squatting in a radio station until he starves to death or someone realizes that they can probably just cut the station’s power and with good reason! It’s a terrible plan! The Fiend should be happy that he gets thrown off a roof by the Iron Skull and not brought to trial and roasted for his poor planning.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 424: THE FIEND

    (Keen Detective Funnies v2 011, 1939)

    The Fiend is a mad scientist/ musician who has developed a supercharged organ capable of destroying structures such as the Brooklyn Bridge. And he does so, ostensibly as a showcase of his power in aid of his conquest of the world but possibly just as a whim – he’s your classic erratic comic book madman. G-Man Dan Dennis tracks him down with relative ease and the threat of the Fiend is ended forever.

    OR IS IT? No, it isn’t, because the next issue features something that is missing from a lot of Golden and Silver Age comic books: geopolitical ramifications. Specifically, all the nations of the world prick up their ears at the potential acquisition of a powerful new weapon of mass destruction and start mobilizing spies and secret agents to get after the Fiend’s technology. Including the US, whose attempt to negotiate with the Fiend for his schematics is foiled when some crooks make off with him.

    What everyone forgot, of course, is that the Fiend is a raving megalomaniac who turns on all of them at the first possible moment. Dan Dennis has to catch him all over again! Sadly for me, this is the end of the tale – I know that I would love to discover a long serial comic about the FBI managing negotiations with an erratic organist over his WMD but it seems like the good people at Centar Publications weren’t writing comics with me in mind.