The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: fascist

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 364: THE BLACK DRAGON SOCIETY

    (Master Comics 021, 1941)

    The Black Dragon Society is nothing new: a bog standard Yellow Peril spy and sabotage ring that has a couple of weeks of success before being trounced by Minute-Man.

    The one interesting thing about them is that they were based on an actual Japanese secret society that was still extant at the time the comic was published. Despite the fact that the story is just as disseminating as pre-Pearl Harbor comics usually are about the exact country of origin of the Society, the fact is that this is our first Japanese super-villain, even if it’s a bunch of spies and even if it’s a technicality. History!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 364: THE BLACK DRAGON SOCIETY

    (Master Comics 021, 1941)

    The Black Dragon Society is nothing new: a bog standard Yellow Peril spy and sabotage ring that has a couple of weeks of success before being trounced by Minute-Man.

    The one interesting thing about them is that they were based on an actual Japanese secret society that was still extant at the time the comic was published. Despite the fact that the story is just as disseminating as pre-Pearl Harbor comics usually are about the exact country of origin of the Society, the fact is that this is our first Japanese super-villain, even if it’s a bunch of spies and even if it’s a technicality. History!

  • FASCIST GOON CLEARING HOUSE 001

    There are various groups of fascist goons in comics and doing an individual entry for each bunch would be a slog, so it’s time for another grouping of jerks!

    The Yellowshirts here put in a better showing than most and almost manage to take over NYC before they get beaten down by the Patriot. (Human Torch v1 004, 1941)

    Do the Brown Hoods sound kind of like how the Mafia was described in the 30s? Yes. Is that going to stop me from including them here? No. (More Fun Comics 036, 1938)

    The Yellow Battalion are most notable for their fancy hats, as they end up getting the tar beat out of them in roughly three panels by Red, White and Blue… (All American 005, 1939)

    … who also obliterate the slightly-more-organized Black Cross a couple of issues later (All American 008, 1939)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 077: THE MASTER

    (All American Comics 010, 1940)

    The Master, in one of those escapades that causes a lot of trouble for folks who feel compelled to work out what’s in continuity and what isn’t, briefly took over NYC using an electricity projector, killed hundreds if not thousands of people, and mobilized a full fascist organization before being stopped by G-2 operatives Red, White and Blue and Doris West.

    Which, to be fair, is the answer. You have to explain whether or not Namor actually sank the Italian fleet or Batman killed Carl Kruger but there are legions of Golden Age characters whose troublesome exploits can be excised willy-nilly and Red, White and Blue are some of the most thoroughly forgotten of the bunch for all that they appeared in four or five different books at various times during the early 40s.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 016: THE HOODED HORDES

     (Detective v1 017, 1938)

    If there’s one thing that Golden Age comics have in great supply, it’s US fascist groups seeking to (variously) undermine the country’s war production, keep the US out of WWII, draw the US into WWII, or take over the country outright. And while most of these groups are just some guys called the Purple Shirts who rough up a shopkeeper for not loving the Fatherland more than his adopted land of AMERICA, a few, like the Hooded Hordes here, get their act together enough to be minor super-villain organizations.

    I mean, they don’t really get up to much more than the hypothetical Purple Shirts – mostly disrupting war production in a bid to take over the US – but there’s a lot to be said about doing so in a sheet ghost outfit with a skull and crossbones on the chest.