The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: DC Comics

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 382: THE MAN

    (More Fun Comics 066, 1941) 

    Out of nowhere one day, giant monsters attack Cliffland, New Jersey!

    After driving them off a couple of times, the Spectre manages to follow them back to their base of operations, a weird painting of unknown provenance hanging in a Cliffland museum. There he finds that the monsters reside in a metal city ruled over by a man referred to only as the Man.

    The Man is clearly modeled after the fascist dictators of the day and spends his time whipping his monstrous subjects into a frenzy prior to a wholesale invasion of the real world. While I don’t appreciate the attempted-destruction-of-humanity of it all I must admit that he has some wonderful turns of phrase. Maybe being a fictional entity allows you to tap into a poetical mindset more easily.

    The Man‘s schemes all come to nothing as the Spectre invades his world and decimates his forces, then overcomes the Man himself (despite the Man deploying not only a variety of magical powers but a surprise eleventh-hour monster transformation) and destroys both the painting and the world it contains.

    I have to say that despite not particularly loving the monster designs here I do love the idea of an outsider artist putting so much of themself into a work that it gains a life of its own. BRING BACK the Man, I say, whether in another work by the same artist or as a fictional parasite who appears in other paintings until he can find one that he can use as a portal to the real world. He would be a great addition to the ranks of the DCU’s magical weirdos.

  • FASCIST GOON CLEARING HOUSE 003

    More goons. Fascist goons? Yes.

    The Anti-American Party operated in the South American country of Santa Palos, home of the Red Gaucho, and got up to a lot of malarky at a fancy dress ball. Crucially, they disguised one of their agents as the Red Gaucho, leading to a lot of mixups between the agent, the Gaucho and a clueless dope who also came dressed as the hero (Nickel Comics 006, 1940)

    The Black Guard, agents of the Germany-analog country of Nordicha operating in neighbouring oil-rich country Ruina and foiled by Secret Agent X-5 (later G-5) (Hit Comics 002, 1940)

    Now that I’m revisiting them I reckon that the Green Gloves should have been a regular entry but it’s too late now. In contrast to all of the other fascist groups represented here so far, the Green Gloves are devoted to a guy amazingly named Glover Green with no allegiance to any foreign power. Green seems to be your garden variety megalomaniac with a real glove fixation, down to traitors to the group getting a green glove brand on their foreheads (Detective Comics v1 045, 1940)

    The Nastonian-American Society is just another German-American Bund analog (Adventure Comics 051, 1940)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 381: NYARL-AMEN

    (More Fun Comics 065, 1941)

    Okay, so the guy on the throne is Nyarl-Amen, AKA the Ancient One AKA the Lost Wisdom AKA the Wonder Wisdom. Fifty thousand years ago he ruled the world from beneath the waves as head of the Nyarl-Amen Dynasty.

    Nyarl-Amen has lived in the City of Nyarl-Amen for one hundred thousand years…

    His arsenal includes the Magic Eyes of Nyarl-Amen…

    And together with his minions the Fish Men of Nyarl-Amen he seeks to reconquer the world and presumably establish a Second Dynasty of Nyarl-Amen. Whatever you say about this civilization, “It has too many names,” can’t be one of them.

    The thing is, all this repetition has left me unsure just whether we’re dealing with an immortal fish-man sea-wizard attempting to reclaim his glory after 500 centuries or a city with an upstart ruler and bad imagination. I suppose whether it’s Nyarl-Amen the First or Nyarl-Amen the Six Hundred and Fifteenth doesn’t really matter since Dr Fate ends up blowing up every single Nyarl-Amen mentioned thusfar.

    These guys should 100% be BRUNG BACK for one simple reason: the best thing about Aquaman stories is the weird collection of pulp novel civilizations that coat the DCU seafloor and these fish-head weirdos would enhance that immeasurably.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 381: NYARL-AMEN

    (More Fun Comics 065, 1941)

    Okay, so the guy on the throne is Nyarl-Amen, AKA the Ancient One AKA the Lost Wisdom AKA the Wonder Wisdom. Fifty thousand years ago he ruled the world from beneath the waves as head of the Nyarl-Amen Dynasty.

    Nyarl-Amen has lived in the City of Nyarl-Amen for one hundred thousand years…

    His arsenal includes the Magic Eyes of Nyarl-Amen…

    And together with his minions the Fish Men of Nyarl-Amen he seeks to reconquer the world and presumably establish a Second Dynasty of Nyarl-Amen. Whatever you say about this civilization, “It has too many names,” can’t be one of them.

    The thing is, all this repetition has left me unsure just whether we’re dealing with an immortal fish-man sea-wizard attempting to reclaim his glory after 500 centuries or a city with an upstart ruler and bad imagination. I suppose whether it’s Nyarl-Amen the First or Nyarl-Amen the Six Hundred and Fifteenth doesn’t really matter since Dr Fate ends up blowing up every single Nyarl-Amen mentioned thusfar.

    These guys should 100% be BRUNG BACK for one simple reason: the best thing about Aquaman stories is the weird collection of pulp novel civilizations that coat the DCU seafloor and these fish-head weirdos would enhance that immeasurably.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 380: THE ASSASSINS

    (More Fun Comics 065, 1941)

    It’s another version of a revival of the Assassins! These Assassins are very into the accuracy of it all and have their own Alamut HQ and their own top guy named Hassan (presumably followed by Ibn Sabbah but it’s never said in full). Commitment to the bit is not quite enough to save them once second-rate Lawrence of Arabia Lance Larkin gets on the case, however.

    This group were based out of Iran, unlike the Order of Assassins or the Society of Assassins, our previous claimants to the title of The Order of Assassins, Returned, For Real. Of the three, these latest guys are the least assassin-y – they operate a bit more like your standard comic book desert bandits.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 379: THE BLUE FLAME

    (More Fun Comics 065, 1941)

    A fairly simple one, this. The Blue Flame is an eerie cloaked figure sheathed in, yes, blue flame, that embarks on a crime spree in Cliffland, New Jersey. His crimes are not quite but almost exclusively aimed at the attendees of shows by stage magician Dr Mephisto and there is even some indication that the Blue Flame is attempting to frame Mephisto.

    Unfortunately for the Blue Flame, Cliffland is home to the Spectre, and he is fairly swiftly revealed to actually be… Dr Mephisto! That’s right, the whole thing about the frame-up was a moderately clever ruse! That failed to take into account the fairly well-documented super-powered ghost-man constantly capturing costumed crooks, sure, but a plan is a plan and deserves acknowledgement.

    By far the best part of the story, at least for my money, is the Spectre’s encounter with Blue Flame henchman Jimmy “Knife” Groggins. Contrary to his no-nonsense buzzkill modern characterization, the Golden Age Spectre really seemed to have fun with his job and letting Knife throw his namesake only to turn it into a little necklace charm is a fairly good illustration of that. 

    Even better is this “monster of space” that the Spectre lets eat both himself and Knife as an advanced interrogation technique. Just look at that guy! A real top-notch monster! The Blue Flame can go kick rocks but BRING BACK this magnificent beast!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 379: THE BLUE FLAME

    (More Fun Comics 065, 1941)

    A fairly simple one, this. The Blue Flame is an eerie cloaked figure sheathed in, yes, blue flame, that embarks on a crime spree in Cliffland, New Jersey. His crimes are not quite but almost exclusively aimed at the attendees of shows by stage magician Dr Mephisto and there is even some indication that the Blue Flame is attempting to frame Mephisto.

    Unfortunately for the Blue Flame, Cliffland is home to the Spectre, and he is fairly swiftly revealed to actually be… Dr Mephisto! That’s right, the whole thing about the frame-up was a moderately clever ruse! That failed to take into account the fairly well-documented super-powered ghost-man constantly capturing costumed crooks, sure, but a plan is a plan and deserves acknowledgement.

    By far the best part of the story, at least for my money, is the Spectre’s encounter with Blue Flame henchman Jimmy “Knife” Groggins. Contrary to his no-nonsense buzzkill modern characterization, the Golden Age Spectre really seemed to have fun with his job and letting Knife throw his namesake only to turn it into a little necklace charm is a fairly good illustration of that. 

    Even better is this “monster of space” that the Spectre lets eat both himself and Knife as an advanced interrogation technique. Just look at that guy! A real top-notch monster! The Blue Flame can go kick rocks but BRING BACK this magnificent beast!

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 007

    The hits keep on coming:

    This Fellow’s name is Becker and he and his wife run a gang while pretending to be among its victims. An okay scheme, but not really up to foiling Bulletman and Bulletgirl. (Master Comics 014, 1941)

    This guy here is why I have such a hard time relegating masked Western bandits to the dregs of the generic costumed villains: he’s as by-the-numbers a bandit as they come, he robs one stagecoach total, he ends up dying because he falls off his horse… but he is frequently and consistently referred to a “Alkali, the Scourge of the Plains” which is as endearing as it is possible to be. (Master Comics 019, 1941)

    I’m overlooking the fact that this bundist-style not-exactly-German spy encountered by Miss America doesn’t actually wear a costume because a) he’s called the Leader, b) he lives in a wax museum and c) he has a pet gorilla named Gargo. (Military Comics 002, 1941)

    Captain Rajah, AKA the Master, was a jewel thief who ran up against Captain Desmo, in a story even more weirdly pro-colonial than Captain Desmo stories usually are – Captain Rajah is immediately suspicious for being an Indian officer in the Bengal Lancers, continued to be suspected throughout and then turned out to be the Master. The story is from before the invention of “defying expectations”. (More Fun Comics 065, 1941)

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 007

    The hits keep on coming:

    This Fellow’s name is Becker and he and his wife run a gang while pretending to be among its victims. An okay scheme, but not really up to foiling Bulletman and Bulletgirl. (Master Comics 014, 1941)

    This guy here is why I have such a hard time relegating masked Western bandits to the dregs of the generic costumed villains: he’s as by-the-numbers a bandit as they come, he robs one stagecoach total, he ends up dying because he falls off his horse… but he is frequently and consistently referred to a “Alkali, the Scourge of the Plains” which is as endearing as it is possible to be. (Master Comics 019, 1941)

    I’m overlooking the fact that this bundist-style not-exactly-German spy encountered by Miss America doesn’t actually wear a costume because a) he’s called the Leader, b) he lives in a wax museum and c) he has a pet gorilla named Gargo. (Military Comics 002, 1941)

    Captain Rajah, AKA the Master, was a jewel thief who ran up against Captain Desmo, in a story even more weirdly pro-colonial than Captain Desmo stories usually are – Captain Rajah is immediately suspicious for being an Indian officer in the Bengal Lancers, continued to be suspected throughout and then turned out to be the Master. The story is from before the invention of “defying expectations”. (More Fun Comics 065, 1941)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 378: THE THING

    (More Fun Comics 064, 1941)

    This is not a complicated one: Congo Bill is asked for help by his friend Jack Brent. Brent is trying to sell his plantation, one of the assets of which is his good relationship with the local labour pool. Just as he had found a buyer, a skull-headed goon called the Thing started murdering workers. It’s about par for course re: jungle comics portrayal of nonwhite folks and fairly standard otherwise and of course the Thing turns out to be Mr Tate the prospective buyer attempting to get a better price via wholesale slaughter. The one redeeming feature of the story is this:

    The Thing looks sick as hell. You’ll be hard pressed to find a better look than a skull in a hood and the cool dagger is a real bonus. The bulletproof vest is of course not visible but speaks to a thoughtfulness that is shamefully wasted in this grubby little scheme.

    And yes that is Congo Bill in blackface.