The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: murderer

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 928: THE DOMINO

    (Silver Streak Comics 009, 1941)

    Dominic Leonetti, aka the Domino, is a nightclub owner/gang boss with what I would call a moderate commitment to his chosen theme. Sure, he plays a game of dominoes with his victims before killing them, and sure he leaves a domino in the hand of whoever he kills, but where’s the domino tie pin or domino-handled knife or even that old standard the domino mask? Even his nightclub is called the Red Rouse, which is so much not a domino term that it doesn’t seem to mean anything. Call it the Red Pip!

    The Domino’s attempt to murder his underling Chick Biro is foiled when it turns out that Biro has been replaced by Presto Martin and that Martin is wearing a bulletproof vest (and this has officially happened often enough that the crooks in Martin’s version of NYC should be headshot-only at this point). The gang manages to escape thanks to Martin’s bumbling assistant Sergeant Murphy, but they have to take it on the lam.

    Being on the run means that the Domino is unable to run his nightclub, to which he objects. What, I ask you, is the most logical and straightforward way for him to get back to his preferred lifestyle? All answers are wrong because what Leonetti decides to do is start killing cops in alphabetical order (leaving a domino behind so that the police can be sure it’s him), with the explicit threat that the killings will continue until the charges against him are dropped and he is left alone. Is this the least thought-out plan in comics history? It’s certainly the worst one that I personally can think of.

    Presto Martin solves this problem like he solves all problems: by dressing up like the Domino’s next most probably victim and tanking a tommy gun clip thanks to his presumably magical bulletproof vest. A few well-placed bullets drives the gang’s car off the road, followed by a few well-placed punches to send them to sleep, and the reign of the Domino is over.

    Categorized in: Activities (Games), Day Job (Nightclub Owner), Location (NYC)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 927: THE HIGH ONE

    (Silver Streak Comics 009, 1941)

    The High One is a fascist spy chief cum mad scientist who has been using an advanced poison to wage a surprisingly successful campaign to kill of the upper echelons of the US government. This has brought him into conflict with Bart Benson, aka Secret Agent X-101, who is soon captured by the High One’s agents and bundled off to his HQ in the small town of Newburgh to be gloated at and then executed.

    Though the High One is clever, he ultimately falls prey to pride: X-101 is able to lure him close enough by insulting him to get ahold of him, get free and chuck him out one of his ostentatiously huge windows. After that it’s a simple matter of bringing down a planeload of poison before it gets to Washington DC and the whole operation is over.

    I would like to note that before the High One is taken out he does manage to kill the US Secretary of State, which is a bit more of an impact than even super-villains are usually able to pull off. Is this in fact Henry L. Stimson or just some generic comic book man? Impossible to say unless we treat the Lev Gleason Comics Universe as a coherent thing and he shows up in, like, a Daredevil story some day.

    The High One is also notable for having employed a femme fatale spy named Sandra who served as a recurring foil for Secret Agent X-101 and who is a part of that rarefied sisterhood of recurring female villains who ultimately get away with it because the feature that they appear in has been cancelled. So long Sandra; have fun hanging out with Fraulein Doktor’s Daughter and Illyria, Queen of Spies.

    Categorized in: Alphanumeric (One), Espionage (Crypto-Fascist Spies), Real Folk (Henry L. Stimson)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 927: THE HIGH ONE

    (Silver Streak Comics 009, 1941)

    The High One is a fascist spy chief cum mad scientist who has been using an advanced poison to wage a surprisingly successful campaign to kill of the upper echelons of the US government. This has brought him into conflict with Bart Benson, aka Secret Agent X-101, who is soon captured by the High One’s agents and bundled off to his HQ in the small town of Newburgh to be gloated at and then executed.

    Though the High One is clever, he ultimately falls prey to pride: X-101 is able to lure him close enough by insulting him to get ahold of him, get free and chuck him out one of his ostentatiously huge windows. After that it’s a simple matter of bringing down a planeload of poison before it gets to Washington DC and the whole operation is over.

    I would like to note that before the High One is taken out he does manage to kill the US Secretary of State, which is a bit more of an impact than even super-villains are usually able to pull off. Is this in fact Henry L. Stimson or just some generic comic book man? Impossible to say unless we treat the Lev Gleason Comics Universe as a coherent thing and he shows up in, like, a Daredevil story some day.

    The High One is also notable for having employed a femme fatale spy named Sandra who served as a recurring foil for Secret Agent X-101 and who is a part of that rarefied sisterhood of recurring female villains who ultimately get away with it because the feature that they appear in has been cancelled. So long Sandra; have fun hanging out with Fraulein Doktor’s Daughter and Illyria, Queen of Spies.

    Categorized in: Alphanumeric (One), Espionage (Crypto-Fascist Spies), Real Folk (Henry L. Stimson)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 926: THE WINGERS

    (Silver Streak Comics 009, 1941)

    One day while noodling around in his super plane, Cloud Curtis comes across a crashed plane in Death Valley, with near-dead pilot speaking of snow on the wings. What could this mean?

    Cloud and his entourage check in with Mr Richmond, owner of the plane, and find that it is the latest in a series of crashes and disappearances. This is all highly suspicious, and what’s even more suspicious is the brick with a note wrapped around it that comes smashing through the window as they discuss it, containing an extortion demand from a group calling themselves the Wingers (and signed with a cool little winged skull).

    Cloud determines that the surest way to ferret out the Wingers is with a decoy plane that he even goes to the trouble to stuff full of passenger-dummies for some reason. Sure enough, the gang show up in a high-powered plane equipped with what amounts to a snow cannon, which they use to ice up the decoy’s wings. Not only does this explain the “snow in Death Valley” thing, but also the reason why they call themselves the Wingers – because they attack wings!

    The Wingers are admirably well-prepared to deal with Cloud Curtis: their plane is not only bulletproof but treated with some sort of low friction coating that prevents the Golden Bullet’s robot grappling arms from working on it. This comes back to bite them, as Curtis, out of other ideas, just ends up blowing them up with a hand grenade rather than continuing to try to capture them.

    Categorized in: Body (Nonhuman Parts), Extortion (Corporate), Location (Death Valley)

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 037

    For the first time in a very long time: the generic costumed villains all have costumes! 

    Unnamed Costumed Gang: 

    This unnamed gang has gone to a heckuva lot of trouble to steal the Kalaka Emerald from millionaire Byron Nelson: they’ve dug out a secret lair under his weird mesa-top home, murdered several of his guests in order to create terror and of course dressed up like the background characters in a costume party scene, presumably also in order to create terror.

    Sadly for them, they have failed to reckon with two important facts: 1) that Nelson has already stolen his own gem in order to do a little insurance fraud and 2) that he has hired adventurer Lance Rand to protect the emerald and throw a bit of suspicion off of himself. Rand cleans up the costumed crew with ease, and bags Nelson to boot. (Cat-Man Comics 003, 1941)

    Puggsy Sloane: 

    When famed gorilla Monstro escapes from the Jenks Bros. Circus, the unnamed city is gripped with terror. And the terror is seemingly justified, as citizen after citizen is murdered by an ape and the police are unable to prevent it despite expending all of their manpower in order to do so. Lance Rand is once again on the case, however, and thanks to a tip-off that Monstro is in fact harmless from the circus owner is able to piece together the fact that it is not the gorilla doing the murders but gorilla-suited gang boss Puggsy Sloane. Why is he doing so? Why, to stretch the police force to the limit and distract them from all of the robbing that his gang was getting up to, of course. (Cat-Man Comics 004, 1941)

    Categorized in: Accessories (Style (Gorilla Costume)) 

    Dr Carl Resdale: 

    Dr Resdale, a famous plastic surgeon, has been operating a face-changing service for criminals out of the old disused family manor for the last twenty years and NOW the rest of the family is looking to use the manor and he has to scare them off by sneaking around in a mask and getting up to spookiness. And not only does he have to keep his young relatives from living in his place of work but he must conceal the fact that he killed his own brother in the manor twenty years before (this is why it’s disused). 

    Fear not for the younger Resdales, because Dr Miracle is on the case, the villain is soon deprived of his low-effort mask.  (Champion Comics 012, 1941)

    Brady: 

    A masked killer working for a gambling syndicate active in the Florida horse tracks, Brady’s signature weapon is a club with a horse shoe nailed to it to simulate a deadly horse kick to his victims’ heads. While a neat little murder weapon, this isn’t quite enough to help him when he comes up against Johnny Fox. (Champ Comics 015, 1941)

    Categorized in: Accessories (Weapons (Clubs)) 

  • SUPER-VILLAIN 002 UPDATE: CAPTAIN NAZI (1941)

    SUPER-VILLAIN 002 UPDATE: CAPTAIN NAZI (1941)

    Our second full-fledged super-villain is the odious Captain Nazi, and he had a short but busy run in 1941:

    After being deployed by Adolf Hitler himself as a foil to the threat of the American super-hero, Captain Nazi makes a very public appearance in Times Square in order to issue a challenge to Bulletman. This also attracts the attention of Captain Marvel, leading to the second Fawcett Comics character meetup of 1941 as they decide to team up and kick his ass together.

    In contrast to the bluster of his challenge, Captain Nazis’ activities in NYC are more sneaky sabotage than high-stakes public super-combat. Specifically, an attempt to derail a subway car is foiled by Captain Marvel, while an attempted Ferris Wheel disaster is effectively countered by Bulletman.

    Loathe as I am to praise Captain Nazi  I must admit that he is an effectively ruthless villain – if he didn’t have the misfortune of being pitted against two of the more powerful superhumans available he would be riding roughshod over US infrastructure instead of taking child-hostages and escaping into the shadows.

    After attempt to blow up the Brooklyn Naval Yards – foiled by Captain Marvel, natch – Captain Nazi demonstrates the trademark Fawcett character semi-awareness that he is in a comic book and leaves a note declaring his intent to come over to Whiz Comics to make life difficult there. (Master Comics 021, 1941)

    Sure enough, Captain Nazi returns as promised and continues his campaign of sabotage against a dam and an experimental aircraft.

    After being hurled into the ocean by Captain Marvel, Captain Nazi commits the act that he is most well known for as he repays the kindness of young Freddy Freeman’s grandfather by murdering him and making off with his boat, leaving Freddy himself for dead. This of course is the origin of Captain Marvel Junior, as the only way that Freddy survives is by being imbued with a fraction of Captain Marvel’s own power.

    Thus, the villain once again creates his own nemesis.

    (Whiz Comics 025, 1941)

    BODY COUNT: 3+

    END-OF-YEAR STATUS: At Large 

  • SUPER-VILLAIN 002 UPDATE: CAPTAIN NAZI (1941)

    Our second full-fledged super-villain is the odious Captain Nazi, and he had a short but busy run in 1941:

    After being deployed by Adolf Hitler himself as a foil to the threat of the American super-hero, Captain Nazi makes a very public appearance in Times Square in order to issue a challenge to Bulletman. This also attracts the attention of Captain Marvel, leading to the second Fawcett Comics character meetup of 1941 as they decide to team up and kick his ass together.

    In contrast to the bluster of his challenge, Captain Nazis’ activities in NYC are more sneaky sabotage than high-stakes public super-combat. Specifically, an attempt to derail a subway car is foiled by Captain Marvel, while an attempted Ferris Wheel disaster is effectively countered by Bulletman.

    Loathe as I am to praise Captain Nazi  I must admit that he is an effectively ruthless villain – if he didn’t have the misfortune of being pitted against two of the more powerful superhumans available he would be riding roughshod over US infrastructure instead of taking child-hostages and escaping into the shadows.

    After attempt to blow up the Brooklyn Naval Yards – foiled by Captain Marvel, natch – Captain Nazi demonstrates the trademark Fawcett character semi-awareness that he is in a comic book and leaves a note declaring his intent to come over to Whiz Comics to make life difficult there. (Master Comics 021, 1941)

    Sure enough, Captain Nazi returns as promised and continues his campaign of sabotage against a dam and an experimental aircraft.

    After being hurled into the ocean by Captain Marvel, Captain Nazi commits the act that he is most well known for as he repays the kindness of young Freddy Freeman’s grandfather by murdering him and making off with his boat, leaving Freddy himself for dead. This of course is the origin of Captain Marvel Junior, as the only way that Freddy survives is by being imbued with a fraction of Captain Marvel’s own power.

    Thus, the villain once again creates his own nemesis.

    (Whiz Comics 025, 1941)

    BODY COUNT: 3+

    END-OF-YEAR STATUS: At Large 

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 910: HERR GLOOBELS

    (Whiz Comics 024, 1941)

    Herr Gloobels is a mysterious and somewhat gruesome figure who murders a motorcycle messenger in order to get ahold of some troop transport schedules and then murders a second one to get them again after Spy Smasher recovers them from the first theft. He does all of this using his Tornado Gun, a device that seems to be a ray gun but which actually fires beams of compressed air that can sink a ship as easily as perforate a hapless guard. 

    Herr Gloobels’ generally chaotic nature leaves us with a number of questions, the most narratively pressing of which is: is this guy a spy or what? There’s no real talk of the War Lord or any other Axis stand-in and Gloobels seems to be driven by scientific megalomania as much as any desire to advance the cause of world fascism. Maybe he’s just wacky.

    The second question is of course: what’s the deal with Gloobels’ assistant Hugo? Is he a trained gorilla? An ape-man? Something more racist? It’s never specified.

    Thirdly: just why does he look so much like a Basil Wolverton character in that last panel? Don’t get me wrong: it’s a good look! It’s just not quite what he looks like the rest of the time.

    After a spirited melee in Gloobels’ lighthouse HQ, Hugo ends up taking a Tornado Gun blast meant for Spy Smasher and is sent to his final reward. This seems to take the wind out of Gloobels’ sails and he surrenders without further incident – a surprising demonstration of affection for a henchman, particularly for a homicidal scientist type like Gloobels. The Tornado Gun is supposedly turned over to the US military for study, but as with all of these captured super-villain weapons they seemingly put their worst men on the job because the Allied forces continued to rely on plain old bullets.

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 033

    GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 033

    Just another buncha jerks.

    John Elton: 

    This fellow brings us right back to the roots of the Generic Costumed Villain Round-Up, being a businessman who puts on a mask to run a gang and kill off the other officers of his company so that he can buy up all their shares and make a fortune. Plus, his name is John Elton, which doesn’t mean anything but is still a fun coincidence. Dan Dare gets ‘im. (Whiz Comics 016, 1941)

    the War Lord:

    Like the War Maniac before him, the War Lord is a generic and unseen stand-in for Adolf Hitler with a good enough villain name that I had to highlight it. A whole passel of his agents feature in the story in which Smasher Spy goes back to being Spy Smasher and get beaten up by Spy Smasher, Smasher Spy and Captain Marvel. 

    It’s not particularly germane to anything but this panel of Spy Smasher flying out a window into the arms of the War Lord’s agents after almost being blown up looks very nice and I had nowhere else to use it. (Whiz Comics 018, 1941)

    The War Lord returns to vex Spy Smasher in Whiz Comics 019, in a rare return appearance for a generic Axis dictator. In fact, he is also the power behind the fascist group the Blitzys and Ibis the Invincible foe Half-Man as well – he’s one of the most prolific Hitler stand-ins of the Golden Age!

    The War Lord finally shows up in person in Whiz Comics 024 and while he is clearly just a straight-up stand-in for Hitler his main character trait seems to be in expressing himself like a disappointed father. He sticks around just long enough to instill a deep sense of despair in the Half-Man, leaving him vulnerable to being turned to the side of good by a bit of kindness from Ibis the Invincible. Once again being a bad boss fails to pay off!

    Puni, God of Fire: 

    The above text box precedes the Lance O’Casey story in Whiz Comics 018 and let me tell you: none of that stuff happened in the prior issue. We are very much dropped in media res on the tropical Antarctic island populated by cannibals and also lost explorer Hiram T. Wallis – I don’t know if this is some remnant of a never-published story or just an attempt to shake things up again (EDIT: it happens, in fact, in Whiz Comics 019. The two-part story was just published in the wrong order).

    Lance and his ever-expanding supporting cast (including Hiram T. Wells, old-timey pirate Dan’l Doom and not one but two monkey sidekicks) are venturing into a volcano to get some gold that Wells had found there when they are confronted and menaced by the self-proclaimed Puni, God of Fire, who is in actuality Marino, a sailor shipwrecked at the same time as Wells and presumably driven insane by ten years of living in a volcanic cave. Puni/Marino never manages to get very close to killing the party but he does try in his way, and by gar can he belt out a villainous pronouncement.

    Everything ends up okay, as Marino has the kind of insanity that can be cured via a solid smack to the jaw and a dunk in the ocean. 

    This adventure also features a giant treasure-guarding parrot, just one of the many cool creatures that do their best to convince me to add the truly life-ending task of chronicling all comic book monsters to my already overloaded to-do pile. (Whiz Comics 018, 1941)

    Herculo Svenson: 

    This is Herculo Svenson, pirate, Doctor Voodoo antagonist for several issues and man in the running for best name in comics certainly for 1941 and possibly for all time. He kills a whole valley full of giants, kidnaps their regular-sized queen and makes off with magical McGuffin the Golden Flask before eventually getting killed by bigger villain Black Marco. (Whiz Comics 022, 1941)

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 033

    GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 033

    Just another buncha jerks.

    John Elton: 

    This fellow brings us right back to the roots of the Generic Costumed Villain Round-Up, being a businessman who puts on a mask to run a gang and kill off the other officers of his company so that he can buy up all their shares and make a fortune. Plus, his name is John Elton, which doesn’t mean anything but is still a fun coincidence. Dan Dare gets ‘im. (Whiz Comics 016, 1941)

    the War Lord:

    Like the War Maniac before him, the War Lord is a generic and unseen stand-in for Adolf Hitler with a good enough villain name that I had to highlight it. A whole passel of his agents feature in the story in which Smasher Spy goes back to being Spy Smasher and get beaten up by Spy Smasher, Smasher Spy and Captain Marvel. 

    It’s not particularly germane to anything but this panel of Spy Smasher flying out a window into the arms of the War Lord’s agents after almost being blown up looks very nice and I had nowhere else to use it. (Whiz Comics 018, 1941)

    The War Lord returns to vex Spy Smasher in Whiz Comics 019, in a rare return appearance for a generic Axis dictator. In fact, he is also the power behind the fascist group the Blitzys and Ibis the Invincible foe Half-Man as well – he’s one of the most prolific Hitler stand-ins of the Golden Age!

    The War Lord finally shows up in person in Whiz Comics 024 and while he is clearly just a straight-up stand-in for Hitler his main character trait seems to be in expressing himself like a disappointed father. He sticks around just long enough to instill a deep sense of despair in the Half-Man, leaving him vulnerable to being turned to the side of good by a bit of kindness from Ibis the Invincible. Once again being a bad boss fails to pay off!

    Puni, God of Fire: 

    The above text box precedes the Lance O’Casey story in Whiz Comics 018 and let me tell you: none of that stuff happened in the prior issue. We are very much dropped in media res on the tropical Antarctic island populated by cannibals and also lost explorer Hiram T. Wallis – I don’t know if this is some remnant of a never-published story or just an attempt to shake things up again (EDIT: it happens, in fact, in Whiz Comics 019. The two-part story was just published in the wrong order).

    Lance and his ever-expanding supporting cast (including Hiram T. Wells, old-timey pirate Dan’l Doom and not one but two monkey sidekicks) are venturing into a volcano to get some gold that Wells had found there when they are confronted and menaced by the self-proclaimed Puni, God of Fire, who is in actuality Marino, a sailor shipwrecked at the same time as Wells and presumably driven insane by ten years of living in a volcanic cave. Puni/Marino never manages to get very close to killing the party but he does try in his way, and by gar can he belt out a villainous pronouncement.

    Everything ends up okay, as Marino has the kind of insanity that can be cured via a solid smack to the jaw and a dunk in the ocean. 

    This adventure also features a giant treasure-guarding parrot, just one of the many cool creatures that do their best to convince me to add the truly life-ending task of chronicling all comic book monsters to my already overloaded to-do pile. (Whiz Comics 018, 1941)

    Herculo Svenson: 

    This is Herculo Svenson, pirate, Doctor Voodoo antagonist for several issues and man in the running for best name in comics certainly for 1941 and possibly for all time. He kills a whole valley full of giants, kidnaps their regular-sized queen and makes off with magical McGuffin the Golden Flask before eventually getting killed by bigger villain Black Marco. (Whiz Comics 022, 1941)