The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: Novelty Press

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 516: THE GHOST CROOK

    (Blue Bolt v2 003, 1941) 

    Sergeant Spook’s actual jurisdiction as a ghost cop is both broad and vague, but when he opens up his presumably black market mortal paper one day and learns that a ghost is seemingly wreaking havoc among the living it’s a no-brainer: he’s on the case. And it seems that he’s up to the task of tracking the Ghost Crook down, because just about as soon as he steps foot in the mortal world he happens across a spooky mugging!

    It doesn’t take long for Sergeant Spook to discover that the Ghost Crook is not, in fact, a ghost but an invisible man of some kind. So not a criminal ghost but something just as bad: a criminal besmirching the good name of ghosts everywhere!

    Sergeant Spook seemingly just starts visiting all of the supernatural-adjacent locales in town and once more gets incredibly lucky as his first port of call is the theatre at which Suez, Master Magician and Super Spiritualist is performing and Suez is in fact the Ghost Crook. Why is he named the overwhelmingly-Egyptian-associated Suez when he is touted as being from “the mystery shrouded land of India”? My money is on him being a white guy who chose his name on vibes. My evidence? The history of entertainment.

    This is where things get a bit confusing. Once the Ghost Crook is revealed to be a stage magician there is some effort to reframe his invisibility as mere slight-of-hand, whether via trickery with mirrors and clouds of dust or the old standby explanation of mass hypnosis. But… we saw the Ghost Crook be fully invisible! He was running down a city street in broad daylight! And just like every time hypnosis is wheeled out in a Zatara story to explain all his wild powers, the sheer scope of what Suez could supposedly do (hypnotize everyone with eyes on him in a city street, including a ghost that he could not see and was not aware of who had just showed up while he was busy wresting a bag from a man’s hand) is so wildly over-the-top that merely turning invisible via magic is by comparison mundane.

    This question is not resolved, by the way. The Ghost Crook is felled with a spectral sock to the jaw and carted off by mortal police. Who then had to figure out if he really was an Indian citizen, presumably.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 515: DR ZORKA

    MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 515: DR ZORKA

    (Blue Bolt v2 002, 1941)

    Dr Zorka is a probably-mad scientist who gets up to experiments in reanimating the dead on a small island off the coast of Cuba, like Dr Bruno Varoz before him. Unlike Dr Varoz, Dr Zorka has no overt intention of unleashing his creations on an unsuspecting populace.

    It’s too bad for him, then, that this is a Sergeant Spook comic and in a Sergeant Spook comic the dead are likely to, for example, make a long journey North to Ghost Town in order to recruit the Ghost Law for your Crimes Against Ghosts. Which is exactly what happens when Dr Zorka attempts and fails to reanimate the corpse of a man named Kola.

    It’s at first unclear why Kola has such a problem with Zorka if his mortal shell is not in fact shambling around on its own but once they (and Dr Sherlock) arrive on the island everything becomes clear. While the the bodies of Zorka’s subjects are animated their spirits are doomed to wander the Earth as something much closer to a traditional ghost than Sergeant Spook and his contemporaries.

    Further, Dr Zorka has developed technology that allows him to see ghosts and a chemical that theoretically is able to destroy them but is not tested because Zorka is a Classic Nerd and unable to throw worth a damn. This is big stuff! And as with all of the other game changing revelations about the nature of life and death that occur in Sergeant Spook comics it is forgotten once the immediate threat is over and done.

    But no, the fundamental nature of the relationship between humanity and its dead is not altered, ushering in a new era of peaceful coexistence between all sentient beings. Instead Dr Zorka releases a gorilla in a futile last ditch attempt to kill what turn out to be three gorilla-proof ghost and is left to undo his zombifications under the watchful eye of Kola.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 514: THE GHOST OF ROCK ROOK

    (Blue Bolt v2 001, 1941)

    “Rock” Rook is a gangster with an incredibly annoying name: hard to parse, seems like it should mean something but doesn’t, plus its’ always written as “Rock Rook” and that’s probably just a quirk of early 20th Century English but it makes me think that his last name isn’t even Rook and that makes me think that it means something again but it still doesn’t.

    Anyway, he is sentenced to and executed in the electric chair, ostensibly for murder but his annoying name must have contributed some judicial bloodthirstiness.

    As this is a Sergeant Spook story, Rook’s vow to revenge himself on the judge and jury is not carried out by the traditional methods (fake your own death, hire a mad scientist to resurrect your corpse or put your brain in a gorilla, die but have your secret twin pretend to be your ghost, etc) but rather by his coming back as an actual, factual ghost.

    Unfortunately for Rock Rook the freedom to be a ghostly murderer comes with a major catch: your victim’s ghost can call the ghost cops on you. Sergeant Spook is on the case faster than Rock Rook can line up his next target.

    After that it’s just a matter of experienced ghost vs inexperienced ghost and Rock Rook finds himself in the ghost-proof jail lickety-split.

    Sergeant Spook is still a comic searching for its sweet spot and and for my money this kind of ghost-on-human crime is where it should focus, particularly if it involves stuff like the murder victim calling the ghost cops on the murderer.

    JUDGE AND JURY REVENGE KILLER SCORE: 1/19+ (very weak showing from a unstoppable killing machine)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 514: THE GHOST OF ROCK ROOK

    (Blue Bolt v2 001, 1941)

    “Rock” Rook is a gangster with an incredibly annoying name: hard to parse, seems like it should mean something but doesn’t, plus its’ always written as “Rock Rook” and that’s probably just a quirk of early 20th Century English but it makes me think that his last name isn’t even Rook and that makes me think that it means something again but it still doesn’t.

    Anyway, he is sentenced to and executed in the electric chair, ostensibly for murder but his annoying name must have contributed some judicial bloodthirstiness.

    As this is a Sergeant Spook story, Rook’s vow to revenge himself on the judge and jury is not carried out by the traditional methods (fake your own death, hire a mad scientist to resurrect your corpse or put your brain in a gorilla, die but have your secret twin pretend to be your ghost, etc) but rather by his coming back as an actual, factual ghost.

    Unfortunately for Rock Rook the freedom to be a ghostly murderer comes with a major catch: your victim’s ghost can call the ghost cops on you. Sergeant Spook is on the case faster than Rock Rook can line up his next target.

    After that it’s just a matter of experienced ghost vs inexperienced ghost and Rock Rook finds himself in the ghost-proof jail lickety-split.

    Sergeant Spook is still a comic searching for its sweet spot and and for my money this kind of ghost-on-human crime is where it should focus, particularly if it involves stuff like the murder victim calling the ghost cops on the murderer.

    JUDGE AND JURY REVENGE KILLER SCORE: 1/19+ (very weak showing from a unstoppable killing machine)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 513: DOKTOR KARNO AND SIMBA

    (Blue Bolt v2 001, 1941)

    Twelve issues into the story of Dick Cole, Wonder-Boy, a wrinkle is introduced: another Wonder-Boy! And rather than the usual thing where an evil lab assistant etc. steals Professor Blair’s research for his own use, this story introduces the concept of the double-thought wave. This is a theory that all the times in history that two people have had the same idea at the same time are not as a result of coincidence but rather some sort of psychic connection and thus when Professor Blair had his idea to raise a perfect boy the villainous Doktor Karno in Vienna had it too, and while Blair raises Dick to be a paragon of virtue, Karno is raising his Wonder-Boy Simba to be the perfect criminal.

    This would be a parable of nurture over nature if Simba wasn’t also specified to be the orphan child of two convicted murderers by the very chatty nun that Karno gets him from. As it stands we have two Wonder-Boys, ignorant of one another, one min/maxed for physical prowess and one with a more morality-heavy build.

    Eventually, Karno and Simba hit the Big Apple and are immediately made aware of Dick’s exploits. Simba has an immediate hatred for Dick so they hit upon the idea of doing some robberies while dressed as him – frame your rival/ make a few bucks at the same time!

    The first hint of a rift in the Doktor Karno/ Simba team come when Simba is so taken with Dick Cole’s military school uniform that he insists on joining the school himself.

    Meanwhile, Dick is subjected to torture by the local idiot cops until they bother to check his alibi and learn that it is watertight. His initial effort having failed, Simba settles in at Farr Military Academy in what amounts to a bully role with occasional forays into crime with Doktor Karno. In both capacities he regularly gets beaten up by Dick Cole.

    Eventually, one of those beatings must have knocked something loose, because Simba realizes that what he really wants is not to destroy Dick Cole but befriend him. 

    To that end, Simba tries to reform but Karno blackmails him into one last job, with the clear implication that this will continue ad nauseam. Simba confesses to Dick who helps him go straight – he’s put on probation in the school’s care and Karno is arrested. A happy ending for all!

    BUT HOLD ON KARNO GETS OUT and uses brain surgery to return Simba to his former amoral state!

    Simba is almost doomed to be Karno’s criminal tool forever but lucky for him Dick gets word, stops him from stealing a mess of radium and forces Karno reverse the operation. Karno is sent packing and the next time he’s heard from it’s because he’s died. Finally a happy ending for everyone! Except Doktor Karno!

    Going forward in the Dick Cole strip, Simba is just part of the gang – I just checked and he’s in Blue Bolt v10 002, the final issue of the series. Just a second super-powered boy palling around with the first one, though given Novelty Press’ commitment to removing all elements of unreality from their comics Simba is eventually just a regular guy with a very weird backstory. Still, it’s all very wholesome, although my Been On the Internet Too Much sense tells me that if it were a thing today I’ll bet the shippers would have their filthy mitts all over its unintentional homoeroticism.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 513: DOKTOR KARNO AND SIMBA

    (Blue Bolt v2 001, 1941)

    Twelve issues into the story of Dick Cole, Wonder-Boy, a wrinkle is introduced: another Wonder-Boy! And rather than the usual thing where an evil lab assistant etc. steals Professor Blair’s research for his own use, this story introduces the concept of the double-thought wave. This is a theory that all the times in history that two people have had the same idea at the same time are not as a result of coincidence but rather some sort of psychic connection and thus when Professor Blair had his idea to raise a perfect boy the villainous Doktor Karno in Vienna had it too, and while Blair raises Dick to be a paragon of virtue, Karno is raising his Wonder-Boy Simba to be the perfect criminal.

    This would be a parable of nurture over nature if Simba wasn’t also specified to be the orphan child of two convicted murderers by the very chatty nun that Karno gets him from. As it stands we have two Wonder-Boys, ignorant of one another, one min/maxed for physical prowess and one with a more morality-heavy build.

    Eventually, Karno and Simba hit the Big Apple and are immediately made aware of Dick’s exploits. Simba has an immediate hatred for Dick so they hit upon the idea of doing some robberies while dressed as him – frame your rival/ make a few bucks at the same time!

    The first hint of a rift in the Doktor Karno/ Simba team come when Simba is so taken with Dick Cole’s military school uniform that he insists on joining the school himself.

    Meanwhile, Dick is subjected to torture by the local idiot cops until they bother to check his alibi and learn that it is watertight. His initial effort having failed, Simba settles in at Farr Military Academy in what amounts to a bully role with occasional forays into crime with Doktor Karno. In both capacities he regularly gets beaten up by Dick Cole.

    Eventually, one of those beatings must have knocked something loose, because Simba realizes that what he really wants is not to destroy Dick Cole but befriend him. 

    To that end, Simba tries to reform but Karno blackmails him into one last job, with the clear implication that this will continue ad nauseam. Simba confesses to Dick who helps him go straight – he’s put on probation in the school’s care and Karno is arrested. A happy ending for all!

    BUT HOLD ON KARNO GETS OUT and uses brain surgery to return Simba to his former amoral state!

    Simba is almost doomed to be Karno’s criminal tool forever but lucky for him Dick gets word, stops him from stealing a mess of radium and forces Karno reverse the operation. Karno is sent packing and the next time he’s heard from it’s because he’s died. Finally a happy ending for everyone! Except Doktor Karno!

    Going forward in the Dick Cole strip, Simba is just part of the gang – I just checked and he’s in Blue Bolt v10 002, the final issue of the series. Just a second super-powered boy palling around with the first one, though given Novelty Press’ commitment to removing all elements of unreality from their comics Simba is eventually just a regular guy with a very weird backstory. Still, it’s all very wholesome, although my Been On the Internet Too Much sense tells me that if it were a thing today I’ll bet the shippers would have their filthy mitts all over its unintentional homoeroticism.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 512: AGENT 17

    MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 512: AGENT 17

    (Blue Bolt v1 012, 1941)

    There are a lot of dastardly fascist spy chiefs in comics of the 1940s, so it’s nice when one has something to distinguish themself from the monocle-and-dueling-scar heavy pack. Agent 17’s gimmick, as stated by the dying Latonian agent Gonzales, is that he is a “young man with an old face.” How useful is this in the average spy mission? Moderately, I presume.

    Agent 17’s mission is to prevent the government of the South American nation of Latonia from learning before it’s too late that the nonspecific European fascist nation that they just signed a trade pact with is in fact planning to take over their country as a staging area for a full-scale invasion of South America. But though Agent 17 had managed to deal a fatal blow to Latonian secret agent Gonzales, Gonzales had not died before engaging the services of Venusian super-hero Sub-Zero.

    For all that Agent 17 was going up against a cold-controlling super-hero armed with an old face he almost pulls it off! Latonia almost falls to the unspecified hordes of the enemy! Lucky for them, Sub-Zero manages to show up with a warning in the nick of time. Plus he gets to punch an old man in the face, guilt free!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 511: DR TRASK

    (Blue Bolt v1 011, 1941)

    Dr Trask is himself not much to speak of: a scientist who has taken over a village in the South American jungle, forced its inhabitants to pan gold and fight for him and killed anyone from the outside world who got too close, including Dr Martin, a scientist whose colleague Dr Howard has hired Sub-Zero to investigate just what is going on. Like I said, pretty standard comic book villain stuff, but his methods, oh boy!

    Dr Trask, you see, has developed so-called “vampire rats” that are said to attack human necks and suck out their blood. A fearsome legend that is only enhanced by just how small and cute the rats are. Look how adorably he foams at the mouth!

    Even better is the revelation that the rats are not actually vampires but instead are carriers of the Green Vampire Germ, a disease that merely makes rats aggressive but makes humans dead. And it looks like a little protoplasmic crocodile! This is unironically one of the greatest things I have ever seen.

    Anyway, Trask jumps on Sub-Zero in an attempt to kill him with Green Vampire Germ and gets frozen to death for his efforts. But not before creating two wonderful bastardizations of science, for which I salute him.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 510: FARGALL

    (Blue Bolt v1 010, 1941)

    Fargall is a scientist-cum-criminal operating out of Centro, Sub-Zero’s chosen home (well, it hasn’t actually been identified as Centro for about 7 issues or so and I’m afraid that it’s slowly transmogrifying into NYC like all unnamed comic book cities but until I’m told otherwise it’s Centro to me) who has taken up the challenge of operating out of a super-hero town by inventing heat ray guns that effectively counter Sub-Zero’s whole deal.

    If that were all that Fargall had going on he’d be lumped in with all of the other one-trick scientists in the round-up but no, Fargall has something that they lack: Fargall has style.

    When Fargall’s scheme goes off he and his guys put on tuxedos and paint the town red. And unlike his underlings, Fargall keeps on wearing that tuxedo as they set out to rob the Legally Distinct from the New York World’s Fair. Because he has style.

    Heck, even the goggles that Fargall and his guys wear to protects their eyes from heat rays look good.

    At this point it would be quite narratively satisfying for Fargall to be undone by his sense of style in some way but since that’s just something I have built up in my head it wasn’t on Bill Everett’s mind when he plotted the whole thing out. Instead, Fargall falls victim to that most pervasive pattern of super-villain hubris: gloating and sadistically taking so long in finishing the hero off that they are able to escape and beat you up. It’s very common!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 509: KING ROCKY THE FIRST

    (Blue Bolt v1 010, 1941)

    Some preamble: in Blue Bolt v1 007 the Green Sorceress managed to capture the Blue Bolt and thus in Blue Bolt v1 008 she was able to force Dr Bertoff to surrender to her forces. Her incompetent scientists subsequently triggered a series of devastating explosions while attempting to extract radium from Bertoff’s mineral fields, with the one positive effect of opening a passage to the surface world. The Green Sorceress then travelled to the surface to do espionage, followed by the Blue Bolt, who had escaped paralysis and freed Bertoff’s people since her departure.

    The Green Sorceress’ main surface henchman was gang boss Rocky Roberts, King of the Rackets, who got pretty thoroughly beaten up by the Blue Bolt but then manages to pop out of a little hatch in the Green Sorceress’ escape rocket and propose an alliance against Dr Bertoff and the Blue Bolt, to which the Sorceress agrees.

    This goes poorly! Rocky immediately takes over the Green Kingdom and declares himself King Rocky the Foist.

    Rather than rule in a traditional manner, King Rocky establishes himself as the head of a gang consisting of the Green Sorceress’ former army, with the citizens of the Green Kingdom being subjected to gang-style protection rackets, kidnappings, torture and garden-variety murder. This is a Jack Kirby idea, it has to be – even if he never made up another one to vex someone like Jimmy Olsen with the Sci-Fi Gangsterocracy is one of the most Kirby ideas I can think of.

    It’s tough to articulate but I respect King Rocky for his decision to murder the Green Sorceress. Believe it or not, it’s a refreshing change for a Golden Age villain, most of whom would see an attractive captive and start yelling about making her “my Queen!”

    But of course if you shoot at a super-villain you best not miss. King Rocky the Foist’s plans are interrupted by Blue Bolt and he meets the traditional end for a super-usurper: giant laser blast.