The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: murderer

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 355: MR MURDER

    (Master Comics 015, 1941) 

    Mr Murder is your “pay or die” style of extortionist and a) has a pretty great name and b) is presumably in an early stage of his career as there is a lot more “die” going on than “pay”.

    Mr Murder also has a great understated costume: tunic, hat, cape, scarf, gloves. Just a bit off of what you might see someone actually wearing – nice and menacing in a Shadow sort of way.

    And of course Mr Murder turns out to be Reilly, the loudmouthed lawyer from the beginning of the story, presumably using his position to determine opportune targets for extortion and employing my fave the rubberoid mask to disguise his identity. It’s a fine outing over all but nothing special. The interesting stuff comes with Mr Murders further appearances:

    Mr Murder reappears in Master Comics 027, 1942 and there are several weird things going on. The least of these is his decision to incorporate the rubberoid mask into his costume despite his identity no longer being a secret, but I guess that’s no weirder than villains who continue to wear regular style masks in such circumstances.

    More interesting is the fact that there seems to have been a Mr Murder/ Bulletman clash some time in between, during which a) Mr Murder found out Bulletman’s secret identity and b) Bulletman was thought to have killed Mr Murder. As far as I can tell, this story was never published (I reckon that it’s equally likely that a story was produced but never published or someone misremembered Mr Murder being in a story he wasn’t), but the upshot of it is that Mr Murder is out for revenge and armed with the knowledge to do the deed. He kidnaps Jim Barr and almost succeds in bumping him off but has seemingly forgotten about the existence of Bulletgirl, leading to him getting his but kicked and dying for real.

    OR DID HE? This marks our first encounter with the CRIME EXCHANGE, an organization run by future Minor Super-Villain the Crime Broker, the details of which are not germane other than the fact that at one point the Exchange members petition the Crime Broker to bump off Bulletman, a petition consisting mostly of deceased Bulletman villains. It’s madness! A huge (dead) portion of Bulletman and Bulletgirl’s rogues gallery, returned to life (or, less incredibly, sprung from prison) in a single panel! Madness!

    Okay, maybe this is more exciting to me than anyone else but it is neat. And as someone whose official stance is that super-villains are more interesting when they’re still alive I heartily approve.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 346: THE DRAGON

    (Master Comics 011, 1941)

    It’s our second villain named the Dragon and our second Dragon who turns out to be a white dude in yellowface. Will it happen again? Only time will tell.

    The only really interesting thing about this guy is that a key part of his plan was to divert suspicion from himself by repeatedly sending his gang to kill his own secret identity (see above). Whether he was banking on Zoro the Mystery Man to show up and keep him alive is unspoken but if he wasn’t it’s a frankly baffling plan.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 346: THE DRAGON

    (Master Comics 011, 1941)

    It’s our second villain named the Dragon and our second Dragon who turns out to be a white dude in yellowface. Will it happen again? Only time will tell.

    The only really interesting thing about this guy is that a key part of his plan was to divert suspicion from himself by repeatedly sending his gang to kill his own secret identity (see above). Whether he was banking on Zoro the Mystery Man to show up and keep him alive is unspoken but if he wasn’t it’s a frankly baffling plan.

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 006

    MORE! MORE!

    Another Nazi spy-cell headed by a guy in a cloth mask called the Leader, this time in Switzerland for a bit of variety. (Captain America Comics 009, 1941)

    Having just read a year’s worth of Jumbo Comics, I can tell you that this guy here, name of Sam Bradford, is the closest thing to a super-villain in them and it’s mostly because of the decent outfit. He’s an agent who kills a producer or something because of professional reasons – strictly snoozeville. (Jumbo Comics 033, 1941)

    This creep is Mark Giddings, who kidnaps Eve Scott, daughter of NYC Mayor Scott because she turned down his advances. Somehow he thought that extorting the mayor to resign via threats of dismembering his daughter would net him both the job and the girl but in reality he just got socked by Bulletman. (Master Comics 011, 1941)

    This fella answers to the name of Operator G-6, and he’s the very first foe faced by patriotic hero Minute-Man. Also the first person summarily thrown off a train to his death by Minute-Man. (Master Comics 011, 1941)

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 006

    MORE! MORE!

    Another Nazi spy-cell headed by a guy in a cloth mask called the Leader, this time in Switzerland for a bit of variety. (Captain America Comics 009, 1941)

    Having just read a year’s worth of Jumbo Comics, I can tell you that this guy here, name of Sam Bradford, is the closest thing to a super-villain in them and it’s mostly because of the decent outfit. He’s an agent who kills a producer or something because of professional reasons – strictly snoozeville. (Jumbo Comics 033, 1941)

    This creep is Mark Giddings, who kidnaps Eve Scott, daughter of NYC Mayor Scott because she turned down his advances. Somehow he thought that extorting the mayor to resign via threats of dismembering his daughter would net him both the job and the girl but in reality he just got socked by Bulletman. (Master Comics 011, 1941)

    This fella answers to the name of Operator G-6, and he’s the very first foe faced by patriotic hero Minute-Man. Also the first person summarily thrown off a train to his death by Minute-Man. (Master Comics 011, 1941)

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 006

    MORE! MORE!

    Another Nazi spy-cell headed by a guy in a cloth mask called the Leader, this time in Switzerland for a bit of variety. (Captain America Comics 009, 1941)

    Having just read a year’s worth of Jumbo Comics, I can tell you that this guy here, name of Sam Bradford, is the closest thing to a super-villain in them and it’s mostly because of the decent outfit. He’s an agent who kills a producer or something because of professional reasons – strictly snoozeville. (Jumbo Comics 033, 1941)

    This creep is Mark Giddings, who kidnaps Eve Scott, daughter of NYC Mayor Scott because she turned down his advances. Somehow he thought that extorting the mayor to resign via threats of dismembering his daughter would net him both the job and the girl but in reality he just got socked by Bulletman. (Master Comics 011, 1941)

    This fella answers to the name of Operator G-6, and he’s the very first foe faced by patriotic hero Minute-Man. Also the first person summarily thrown off a train to his death by Minute-Man. (Master Comics 011, 1941)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 339: THE FIREHAWK

    (Master Comics 004, 1940)

    The Firehawk is an extortionist of the particular kind that you get in comic book stories that have to clock in at under 5 pages: a dumb one. See, he has a pretty good threat to hold over the heads of his victims in that he can seemingly set them on fire at will. Since he’s operating on a movie set, he does so by mixing up batches of thermite-impregnated makeup that presumably self ignites after a set time. Like I said, a good threat. The problem lies with his timing: he dopes all of the makeup at once so that the actors are just igniting one after the other – there isn’t even enough time for them to consider paying up. Plus there’s the matter of his secret identity, the fourth lead in a film in which numbers 1 through 3 were set to be destroyed, which is at least a bit suspect.

    For all that, I love this guy for his costume if nothing else. “Green anthropomorphic cartoon bird” is an underrepresented theme in super-villainy.

    ****

    While thinking about this guy I suddenly had a revelation: in any given super-hero universe there would be a podcast about the super-villains of Old Hollywood. Without question! The only real question is just how many episodes would each villain generate. Sadly for the Firehawk, even though he is the genesis for the idea of the Super-Villains of Hollywood Podcast (an idea so powerful that it has propagated backward through the blog) he probably wasn’t fodder for more than one episode – neither Zarrow/ the Firehawk nor any of his victims seemed especially noteworthy in a “lurid true crime podcast” sense so I’ afraid that for the inaugural 

    Number of episodes of the “Super-Villains of Hollywood” podcast: segment, the answer must be one.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 327: DR SMART

    (Human Torch v1 005a, 1941)

    I think I’ve mentioned the old three-act super-villain story structure of yore a couple of times, but there are a whole host of old comic book story styles that have fallen by the wayside and Dr Smart here stars in one of them: the book-length heist story. 

    Three pages into our tale, Smart and his crew, posing as a funeral procession, rob an armoured car. The remaining 38 or so pages concern the efforts of the Human Torch and Toro to capture the slippery little devil because to his credit Dr Smart is a guy who reads the paper and knows that the Torch is a cop and will be guarding the money he is after.

    Dr Smart’s entire scheme hinges on anti-Torch technology: asbestos suits; grenades that explode into asbestos bindings; super-cold liquid air bombs and smokescreens; thermite ammunition that won’t melt. The capper is a duo of tricked-out hearses equipped with asbestos linings and heatproof glass – a considerable portion of the issue is spent with Toro and the Torch either locked up in the back of one or fruitlessly trying to get Dr Smart and his henchmen out of the front. Smart might have gotten away with it if he hadn’t tried to be clever and bury the heroes with the loot – it was one too many things to juggle and he got pinched.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 320: THE LEGION OF THE DOOMED

    (Daring Mystery Comics 006, 1940)

    There’s not much substance to the Legion of the Doomed, but there’s a lot of cool ideas, so lets knock them out.

    a) a weird figure imposes a baby on a couple dwelling in haunted hill country. The baby, it is later revealed, cries with the voice of a man.

    b) subsequently, a killer begins stalking the streets of a nearby city, probably New York. Panic ensues! The Fiery Mask is on the prowl.

    c) somewhat unsurprisingly, the killer and the baby turn out to be one and the same! There’s a missed opportunity for more creepy adult-acting baby, one of my favourite comics tropes. The Fiery Mask witnesses this transformation and manages to stop the next murder…

    d) … and pursues the killer back to whatever level of Comic Book Hell they came from. The Legion of the Doomed are slain! The city is safe! No questions have been answered:

    Why do these killings? Not sure.

    Why the whole ruse with the baby? No idea.

    Has the Legion of the Doomed actually been stopped? Not saying.

    Which actually opens the possibility of these guys being BRUNG BACK. I mean, supernatural killers are a dime a dozen, but these guys bring a creepy baby to the mix, plus they’re very easy to kill. Say they’re on some sort of ~80-year sacrifice cycle and you’re good to go. And it’s a perfect chance to bring the current Fiery Mask out of limbo!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 316: THE VAMPIRE

    (Daring Mystery Comics 002, 1940) 

    The Vampire has the distinction of appearing in the only Golden Age featuring Mister E, possibly the biggest nonentity in the collection of heroes brought back in The Twelve. He’s whatever: he has a drug that makes your heart explode and his major plot involves trying to get control of an oil company (and marry a woman against her will after killing her father, in case you though he might be a bit sympathetic). He is one of the few comic book super-villains to dress like the villains from 1940s super-hero movies though, so that’s something.

    Probably the most interesting thing about the Vampire is the fact that like so many features in Daring Mystery Comics Mister E was a one-off, which means that he is still at large to this day. Fun! BRING BACK this very very old man and his old machinations! Mister E has retired – who can save us from the Vampire?