The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: Standard/Better/Nedor

  • ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 015

    ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 015

    A veritable bounty of aliens for your perusal.

    People of Venus, the Jibbering Giant of Jupiter, Weird Inhabitants of the Strange Planet: 

    Blast Bennett has lost his little pal Red, and his solution is to just kind of bop around from planet to planet, asking random aliens if they have seen a red-headed guy. I’ve grouped these alien together because they all represent a very boring alien design trend of the 40s and 50s (and beyond!): the alien as just some guy. The Venusians are short, bald guys; the Jovian is a really big guy and the weird inhabitants of the strange planet are guys who could use a shower. (Weird Comics 004, 1940)

    Ceresians:

    During an unscheduled stop on then-asteroid/now-dwarf planet Ceres for water, Ted Hunt and Jane Martin, aka the Star Rovers, stumble into a conflict between the underground-dwelling native Ceresians and gargoyle-like invaders known as the Harpies.

    This is a pretty classic setup! The planet full of generic white guys vs some horrible space monsters scenario is a surefire way to engender sympathy in an early 20th Century American audience! It does however leave you with some fairly uninteresting humanoid aliens – I do appreciate the seeming shift in Ceresian society from a Medieval to more of a Roman aesthetic as they are forced to abandon their castles for retrofuturistic bunkers, but that’s about it. (Exciting Comics 005, 1940)

    Harpies: 

    The Space Rovers make their way to the Harpy home on Asteroid Nunda and are almost immediately captured after being incapacitated by the thin Nundan atmosphere. They find that rather than being simple predators, the Harpies have an advanced society that places great value in both science and the democratic process. They are, sadly, complete Harpy chauvinists who don’t recognize the humanity harpianity shared intelligent experience of other species, which is why they’re so happy to raid Ceres for fun and food.

    Ted and Jane escape this fate due to the Harpies’ scientific curiosity about them, and manage to parley that into a successful escape attempt. Once back in their ship and armed with superior firepower, perhaps they will be able to force the Harpies to stop their vicious ways at the barrel of a gun!

    Just kidding! As a nonhuman species who pose a threat to a world of white guys, the Harpies are of course fair game for utter and total annihilation – I’m talking blow up their cities and hunt down all of the survivors. But don’t feel bad, because as Jane says, “they’re nothing but enormous, blood-thirsty bats!” Now the Ceresians are free to go back to inventing feudalism or whatever. (Exciting Comics 005, 1940) 

    Lunaris:

    The way I do these Alien Round-Ups is that the first entry is from whatever comic I’m reading at the moment and then I pluck the rest from a big ol’ spreadsheet that I’ve been maintaining for years, which is why it’s a pretty fun coincidence that the the next aliens on my list after the Ceresians were the Cold Men, who rule the surface of an unnamed icy moon while a race of white guys called the Lunaris hide in tunnels below. Once Ray Darrow, aka the Star Rover (another little coincidence there) stumbles into this conflict he of course sides with the noble Lunaris against the horrible Cold Men, and it doesn’t hurt that the Lunaris Queen is somehow descended from Earth humans, so that Darrow can feel okay with being attracted to her, I guess. (Doc Savage Comics v1 003, 1941)

    Cold Men: 

    Cold Man society isn’t quite as fleshed out as the Harpies’ was, but Darrow’s conclusion is the same: to ensure the continued safety of the much more familiar-looking Lunaris, the Cold Men must be utterly annihilated – sure hope that the newly surface-dwelling Lunaris don’t find the headquarters of some sort of Cold Man organization dedicated to fostering peace between the species or they might end up feeling guilty about their role in this genocide some day. 

    … I do like that the Cold Men seem to actually be made of snow or ice. (Doc Savage Comics v1 003, 1941) 

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 025

    Buncha rude crude dudes for ya. 

    The Rio Kid is after another gang of masked bandits, and this time they’re in league with a crooked sheriff and led by a corrupt political boss aptly named the Boss. Nothing really remarkable here but I do dig the Boss’ hat. (Thrilling Comics 010, 1940)

    Jose Gonzales, star football player for Sornora University of Mexico, is visiting Carson University with two aims in mind: hit the ol’ gridiron and slap on a mask and steal a newly developed super-explosive for his father, a fascist politician back home. Star Carson U quarterback Dan Duffy foils his hopes on both counts. (Thrilling Comics 011, 1940)

    Sneaky, a “notorious” gangster with poor dentition, is featured in the teaser panel at the end of the Firefly story in Top-Notch Comics 009, with the implication that he is going to be a real thorn in the Firefly’s side in issue 010. How disappointing, then, to find that he is a mere flunky working for the murderous scientist Henry Falcon. (Top-Notch Comics 010, 1940)

    Though the “Danny Dash” feature only lasted two issues, it’s pretty clear that creator Erwin L Hess had a lot of medium-to-long-range plans for the story. In the first instalment, Danny and his pal Shamrock “Mac” McGlynn (!!) have a run-in with the the Grey Hordes from the Center of the Earth who have been bombing London for unclear reasons, while the second sets up Charon, an escaped handsome madman who has been roaming Paris murdering people in the belief that he is actually the ferryman of the Styx, ushering souls into the afterlife.

    Charon’s latest victim is the future brother-in-law of Dash’s friend Georges Barnett, and the never-seen third Danny Dash adventure would have involved them searching for Charon and, if I’m any judge of Golden Age plots, finding a connection between him and the Grey Horde. Alas, it’s just another thing we will likely never know. (War Comics 002, 1940)

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 025

    Buncha rude crude dudes for ya. 

    The Rio Kid is after another gang of masked bandits, and this time they’re in league with a crooked sheriff and led by a corrupt political boss aptly named the Boss. Nothing really remarkable here but I do dig the Boss’ hat. (Thrilling Comics 010, 1940)

    Jose Gonzales, star football player for Sornora University of Mexico, is visiting Carson University with two aims in mind: hit the ol’ gridiron and slap on a mask and steal a newly developed super-explosive for his father, a fascist politician back home. Star Carson U quarterback Dan Duffy foils his hopes on both counts. (Thrilling Comics 011, 1940)

    Sneaky, a “notorious” gangster with poor dentition, is featured in the teaser panel at the end of the Firefly story in Top-Notch Comics 009, with the implication that he is going to be a real thorn in the Firefly’s side in issue 010. How disappointing, then, to find that he is a mere flunky working for the murderous scientist Henry Falcon. (Top-Notch Comics 010, 1940)

    Though the “Danny Dash” feature only lasted two issues, it’s pretty clear that creator Erwin L Hess had a lot of medium-to-long-range plans for the story. In the first instalment, Danny and his pal Shamrock “Mac” McGlynn (!!) have a run-in with the the Grey Hordes from the Center of the Earth who have been bombing London for unclear reasons, while the second sets up Charon, an escaped handsome madman who has been roaming Paris murdering people in the belief that he is actually the ferryman of the Styx, ushering souls into the afterlife.

    Charon’s latest victim is the future brother-in-law of Dash’s friend Georges Barnett, and the never-seen third Danny Dash adventure would have involved them searching for Charon and, if I’m any judge of Golden Age plots, finding a connection between him and the Grey Horde. Alas, it’s just another thing we will likely never know. (War Comics 002, 1940)

  • PROBLEMATIC ROUND-UP 005

    PROBLEMATIC ROUND-UP 005

    Some day we will hit Peak Problematic and I can’t decide if it will be soon or in a decade or so. 

    the White Leader: 

    Our last Problematic Round-Up featured a lot of white guys dressing up like Yellow Peril villains in order to lead Chinese gangs, something that we will unfortunately be seeing plenty more of. This here fellow follows a different path: not putting on yellowface in order to lead a Chinese gang and in fact leaning hard the other way by having them call him “the Great White Leader” or just “the White Leader” the whole time. Is this technically better? I suppose it is. Is it not by much? Certainly!

    Anyway, the White Leader is really wealthy playboy Anthony Clare, who turns out to be wealthy because he is a drug kingpin. Until he gets pinched by Detective Sergeant Burke, of course. (Startling Comics 001, 1940) 

    the Voa:

    Roger Barrow and his nephew Phillip Acton have just returned from a diamond-buying trip to Africa, and they must have been on their best behaviour because the local inhabitants of wherever they were doing their business sent them home with what is essentially a curse on their heads: the promise that the death-god Voa will follow them back.

    This is of course a classic setup for a Woman in Red whodunnit mystery, with one of the six possible suspects bumping off the rest for those sweet, sweet diamonds. It’s a classic solution to such a problem!

    To give this comic the tiniest amount of benefit of the doubt I think that the false Voa that shows up to start killing people (aka Phillip Acton, the nephew) is dressed up like some sort of mahogany idol, but what that all adds up to is that while he is not technically doing blackface, he certainly appears to be doing blackface. It’s not better, I’ll say that right now.

    Anyway, he was going to murder his whole family in order to get his hands on some stupid diamonds, so it’s not like we were under the impression that he was a good person. About the only fun thing about this one is that Acton’s chosen weapon is a blowgun that shoots poisoned crystal shards. (Thrilling Comics 005, 1940)

    Princess Ah-Ku:

    Princess Ah-Ku is a recurring villain of Bob Phantom’s and she’s just kind of generic: generically villainous, generically Yellow Peril… she even adopts an extremely generic alter ego called the Master in her first appearance. Most of her schemes involve smuggling. (Top-Notch Comics 004, 1940)

    Princess Ah-Ku returns in Top-Notch Comics 005 under yet another identity, as the Doctor, leader of a gang of kidnappers. As always, the surgical outfit-as-costume is a very strong look, though something about the reveal of Ah-Ku as the real identity of the Doctor makes me think that this was a last-minute change to spice up the adventure a bit.

    Top-Notch Comics 006 involves Ah-Ku doing some opium smuggling, with a sideline in trying to figure out who Bob Phantom is so that she can kill him off. This allows for the hilarious old bit where she captures Walt Whitney in order to grill him for information on his own alter ego.

    In her final appearance in Top-Notch Comics 009, Princess Ah-Ku attempts to take over Chinatown by killing off the Council of Seven who apparently have been running it. She manages to get it down to a Council of Four before Bob Phantom catches wise and steps in.

    Princess Ah-Ku is finally brought to justice thanks to Bob Phantom’s unexpected skill with the throwing axe. Perhaps it’s for the best – at the rate her Yellow Peril levels were rising, the next time we saw Ah-Ku she might have sported a fu manchu.

    the Brahmins: 

    Kardak the Mystic and his gal-pal Lorna are just kind of wandering around the Louisiana bayous when they stumble across a Siva-worshipping cult of fanatics in a weird mystical pocket dimension. They foil the Brahmins’ initial attempts to destroy human civilization (and acquire a new companion named Balthar in the process) and then spend the remainder of 1940 on a voyage through various other magical lands on the way to confront the Brahmins’ masters, conveniently named the Master Brahmins. Look out for them in a 1941 edition of this very Round-Up. (Top-Notch Comics 006, 1940)

  • PROBLEMATIC ROUND-UP 005

    PROBLEMATIC ROUND-UP 005

    Some day we will hit Peak Problematic and I can’t decide if it will be soon or in a decade or so. 

    the White Leader: 

    Our last Problematic Round-Up featured a lot of white guys dressing up like Yellow Peril villains in order to lead Chinese gangs, something that we will unfortunately be seeing plenty more of. This here fellow follows a different path: not putting on yellowface in order to lead a Chinese gang and in fact leaning hard the other way by having them call him “the Great White Leader” or just “the White Leader” the whole time. Is this technically better? I suppose it is. Is it not by much? Certainly!

    Anyway, the White Leader is really wealthy playboy Anthony Clare, who turns out to be wealthy because he is a drug kingpin. Until he gets pinched by Detective Sergeant Burke, of course. (Startling Comics 001, 1940) 

    the Voa:

    Roger Barrow and his nephew Phillip Acton have just returned from a diamond-buying trip to Africa, and they must have been on their best behaviour because the local inhabitants of wherever they were doing their business sent them home with what is essentially a curse on their heads: the promise that the death-god Voa will follow them back.

    This is of course a classic setup for a Woman in Red whodunnit mystery, with one of the six possible suspects bumping off the rest for those sweet, sweet diamonds. It’s a classic solution to such a problem!

    To give this comic the tiniest amount of benefit of the doubt I think that the false Voa that shows up to start killing people (aka Phillip Acton, the nephew) is dressed up like some sort of mahogany idol, but what that all adds up to is that while he is not technically doing blackface, he certainly appears to be doing blackface. It’s not better, I’ll say that right now.

    Anyway, he was going to murder his whole family in order to get his hands on some stupid diamonds, so it’s not like we were under the impression that he was a good person. About the only fun thing about this one is that Acton’s chosen weapon is a blowgun that shoots poisoned crystal shards. (Thrilling Comics 005, 1940)

    Princess Ah-Ku:

    Princess Ah-Ku is a recurring villain of Bob Phantom’s and she’s just kind of generic: generically villainous, generically Yellow Peril… she even adopts an extremely generic alter ego called the Master in her first appearance. Most of her schemes involve smuggling. (Top-Notch Comics 004, 1940)

    Princess Ah-Ku returns in Top-Notch Comics 005 under yet another identity, as the Doctor, leader of a gang of kidnappers. As always, the surgical outfit-as-costume is a very strong look, though something about the reveal of Ah-Ku as the real identity of the Doctor makes me think that this was a last-minute change to spice up the adventure a bit.

    Top-Notch Comics 006 involves Ah-Ku doing some opium smuggling, with a sideline in trying to figure out who Bob Phantom is so that she can kill him off. This allows for the hilarious old bit where she captures Walt Whitney in order to grill him for information on his own alter ego.

    In her final appearance in Top-Notch Comics 009, Princess Ah-Ku attempts to take over Chinatown by killing off the Council of Seven who apparently have been running it. She manages to get it down to a Council of Four before Bob Phantom catches wise and steps in.

    Princess Ah-Ku is finally brought to justice thanks to Bob Phantom’s unexpected skill with the throwing axe. Perhaps it’s for the best – at the rate her Yellow Peril levels were rising, the next time we saw Ah-Ku she might have sported a fu manchu.

    the Brahmins: 

    Kardak the Mystic and his gal-pal Lorna are just kind of wandering around the Louisiana bayous when they stumble across a Siva-worshipping cult of fanatics in a weird mystical pocket dimension. They foil the Brahmins’ initial attempts to destroy human civilization (and acquire a new companion named Balthar in the process) and then spend the remainder of 1940 on a voyage through various other magical lands on the way to confront the Brahmins’ masters, conveniently named the Master Brahmins. Look out for them in a 1941 edition of this very Round-Up. (Top-Notch Comics 006, 1940)

  • REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 017

    Guest stars from reality! 

    Arthuriana: 

    Galahad is an ongoing feature inthe 1940 issues of Top-Notch Comics, which always means that we’re going to have a variety of very on- and off-brand characters from Arthuriana in supporting roles. King Arthur here functions mainly as a questing hub for Galahad to report to between missions, for instance. (Top-Notch Comics 005, 1940)

    Sir Kay, meanwhile, is very comfortably fulfilling his role as a low-level knight who can be defeated as a demonstration of basic competency. He also says his own name quite a lot. (Top-Notch Comics 005, 1940)

    According to my copy of The Arthurian Companion, Lady Lynette appealed to King Arthur on behalf of her sister Lyonors, whose castle was being laid siege to by the evil Sir Ironsides and who was sent away with the green-around-the-ears Gareth rather than her preferred choices of Launcelot or Gawaine. Here, newly-minted knight Galahad stands in for Gareth and it is Lynette’s own land that is under threat, (Top-Notch Comics 005, 1940)

    The Second Galahad adventure features Queen Guinevere as the victim of a robbery: her possibly-magical Golden Chalice has been stolen. (Top-Notch Comics 006, 1940)

    The culprit in the chalice theft is the Earl of Pellam, and I’m just going to assume that these names aren’t just random collections of appropriate-sounding syllables. King Pellam features in a version of the tale of the Fisher King, which makes this a pretty ironic crime for him, with the grail of it all. (Top-Notch Comics 006, 1940)

    Further, in the Pellam version of the Fisher King story, the Dolorous Stroke responsible for his eternal wound is dealt to him by the not-quite-a Knight of the Round Table Sir Balin le Sauvage, and so while it’s a bit unusual to find a Sir Balin here in the Earl of Pellam’s employ, it is perhaps on-brand that he ends up striking down his boss while trying to retrieve the Golden Chalice from Galahad. (Top-Notch Comics 006, 1940)

    This very monk-like Merlin the Magician first shows up during the knight of the griffin affair and acts as and occasional magical support character thereafter. (Top-Notch Comics 007, 1940)

    King Pellinore shows up to help Arthur fight off a joint invasion by the kings of Ireland and Denmark. (Top-Notch Comics 008, 1940)

    The Lady of the Lake eventually shows up to give Galahad a magic sword, once he proves worthy to draw it, and she even gets a chance to do the whole “rising up out of the water with a sword” thing after Galahad loses it in a moat – when your whole raison d’etre is handing out swords you have to know all of these tricks. 

    The sword itself has the terrible name “Scabor,” and miiiiiiight be a reference to King David’s Sword, which it resembles solely in the fact that it too could only be drawn by a worthy knight and that only Galahad qualified. (Top-Notch Comics 009, 1940)

    Now for some non-Arthurian characters: 

    Christopher Columbus: 

    The Ghost and a couple of guys from the 20th Century end up in 1492 sailing the ocean blue with Columbus on the Santa Maria, and of course the Ghost is instrumental in making sure that the voyage to the New World is successful, which is a much less valorous achievement through modern eyes than it would have been in 1940. There’s a bit at the end where the Ghost is allowed to fly the ship back to Spain so that they can catch the time-beam home, which I think ties into an early 20th Century bit about the Santa Maria going missing during the voyage, even though as far as I can tell it just got damaged and left behind. (Thrilling Comics 007, 1940)

    George Washington: 

    During a jaunt to the American Revolution in Professor Fenton’s time machine, the Ghost not only helps deliver the news of the impending Hessian attack to Washington but both suggests the crossing of the Delaware and uses yogi magic to make it possible. (Thrilling Comics 009, 1940) 

    Nero: 

    This is the first time that Nero has shown up in the Real Person Round-Up and I’m gonna call it: it’s never going to be a flattering depiction when he does. This time, he orders the Ghost and his two time travel companions tossed in the Colosseum to die in glorious combat. (Thrilling Comics 008, 1940) 

    Oliver Cromwell: 

    During another of the Ghost’s jaunts into the past to recover some of the various Important Men that science-crook Professor Fenton had stashed away in Commonwealth-era England, he runs into the Lord Protector himself: Oliver Cromwell.

    Cromwell employs the Ghost’s talents to quash a rebellion by the Duke of Northumberland and I was all set to point out that the guy in the comic didn’t look anything like the real historical character but upon looking into it it seems that though there have been many Dukes of Northumberland at the point in time that this comic was set there had not been any for about a century and would not be another for at least twenty-five years. This isn’t as fun to point out! (Thrilling Comics 006, 1940) 

  • REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 017

    Guest stars from reality! 

    Arthuriana: 

    Galahad is an ongoing feature inthe 1940 issues of Top-Notch Comics, which always means that we’re going to have a variety of very on- and off-brand characters from Arthuriana in supporting roles. King Arthur here functions mainly as a questing hub for Galahad to report to between missions, for instance. (Top-Notch Comics 005, 1940)

    Sir Kay, meanwhile, is very comfortably fulfilling his role as a low-level knight who can be defeated as a demonstration of basic competency. He also says his own name quite a lot. (Top-Notch Comics 005, 1940)

    According to my copy of The Arthurian Companion, Lady Lynette appealed to King Arthur on behalf of her sister Lyonors, whose castle was being laid siege to by the evil Sir Ironsides and who was sent away with the green-around-the-ears Gareth rather than her preferred choices of Launcelot or Gawaine. Here, newly-minted knight Galahad stands in for Gareth and it is Lynette’s own land that is under threat, (Top-Notch Comics 005, 1940)

    The Second Galahad adventure features Queen Guinevere as the victim of a robbery: her possibly-magical Golden Chalice has been stolen. (Top-Notch Comics 006, 1940)

    The culprit in the chalice theft is the Earl of Pellam, and I’m just going to assume that these names aren’t just random collections of appropriate-sounding syllables. King Pellam features in a version of the tale of the Fisher King, which makes this a pretty ironic crime for him, with the grail of it all. (Top-Notch Comics 006, 1940)

    Further, in the Pellam version of the Fisher King story, the Dolorous Stroke responsible for his eternal wound is dealt to him by the not-quite-a Knight of the Round Table Sir Balin le Sauvage, and so while it’s a bit unusual to find a Sir Balin here in the Earl of Pellam’s employ, it is perhaps on-brand that he ends up striking down his boss while trying to retrieve the Golden Chalice from Galahad. (Top-Notch Comics 006, 1940)

    This very monk-like Merlin the Magician first shows up during the knight of the griffin affair and acts as and occasional magical support character thereafter. (Top-Notch Comics 007, 1940)

    King Pellinore shows up to help Arthur fight off a joint invasion by the kings of Ireland and Denmark. (Top-Notch Comics 008, 1940)

    The Lady of the Lake eventually shows up to give Galahad a magic sword, once he proves worthy to draw it, and she even gets a chance to do the whole “rising up out of the water with a sword” thing after Galahad loses it in a moat – when your whole raison d’etre is handing out swords you have to know all of these tricks. 

    The sword itself has the terrible name “Scabor,” and miiiiiiight be a reference to King David’s Sword, which it resembles solely in the fact that it too could only be drawn by a worthy knight and that only Galahad qualified. (Top-Notch Comics 009, 1940)

    Now for some non-Arthurian characters: 

    Christopher Columbus: 

    The Ghost and a couple of guys from the 20th Century end up in 1492 sailing the ocean blue with Columbus on the Santa Maria, and of course the Ghost is instrumental in making sure that the voyage to the New World is successful, which is a much less valorous achievement through modern eyes than it would have been in 1940. There’s a bit at the end where the Ghost is allowed to fly the ship back to Spain so that they can catch the time-beam home, which I think ties into an early 20th Century bit about the Santa Maria going missing during the voyage, even though as far as I can tell it just got damaged and left behind. (Thrilling Comics 007, 1940)

    George Washington: 

    During a jaunt to the American Revolution in Professor Fenton’s time machine, the Ghost not only helps deliver the news of the impending Hessian attack to Washington but both suggests the crossing of the Delaware and uses yogi magic to make it possible. (Thrilling Comics 009, 1940) 

    Nero: 

    This is the first time that Nero has shown up in the Real Person Round-Up and I’m gonna call it: it’s never going to be a flattering depiction when he does. This time, he orders the Ghost and his two time travel companions tossed in the Colosseum to die in glorious combat. (Thrilling Comics 008, 1940) 

    Oliver Cromwell: 

    During another of the Ghost’s jaunts into the past to recover some of the various Important Men that science-crook Professor Fenton had stashed away in Commonwealth-era England, he runs into the Lord Protector himself: Oliver Cromwell.

    Cromwell employs the Ghost’s talents to quash a rebellion by the Duke of Northumberland and I was all set to point out that the guy in the comic didn’t look anything like the real historical character but upon looking into it it seems that though there have been many Dukes of Northumberland at the point in time that this comic was set there had not been any for about a century and would not be another for at least twenty-five years. This isn’t as fun to point out! (Thrilling Comics 006, 1940) 

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 831: THE BLACK DEATH

    (Thrilling Comics 010, 1940)

    Perry Knight has a problem: instead of starring as the titular costumed antagonist of stage production “The Black Death” he has been jailed for murder. He can’t remember doing it, but evidently he gunned down his costar Tinker in cold blood during the dress rehearsal.

    Enter Peggy Allen, the Woman in Red, who quickly discovers that there is a second Black Death running around when they have a confrontation in the wings. Is this a foolish move on the part of the second Black Death, who presumably wants Perry Knight to be the sole suspect in the murder? Absolutely it is.

    Peggy manages to get Knight bailed out to continue the role of the Black Death as bait for the real killer, and indeed the false Black Death attempts to murder Tinker’s replacement at the same point in the show as before. The Woman in Red of course manages to prevent this second murder, and after some running around etc the Black Death is unmasked to reveal… Weber, the theatre owner!

    It turns out that Weber is in love with lead actress Linda Lytell and that this murder/framing/attempted murder/kidnapping (he kidnaps Lytell before the second murder attempt) is all part of an effort to get him out of the way so that Weber can woo her. A foolish plan, and not just because Weber does not appear to have shared his feelings with Lytell at any point, but because literally the first thing that happens in the story is Lytell rejecting Knight, something that Weber might have learned if he had engaged in some conventional human conversation and courtship before jumping straight to adopting a costumed persona.

    Also, the critics hate the play.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 831: THE BLACK DEATH

    (Thrilling Comics 010, 1940)

    Perry Knight has a problem: instead of starring as the titular costumed antagonist of stage production “The Black Death” he has been jailed for murder. He can’t remember doing it, but evidently he gunned down his costar Tinker in cold blood during the dress rehearsal.

    Enter Peggy Allen, the Woman in Red, who quickly discovers that there is a second Black Death running around when they have a confrontation in the wings. Is this a foolish move on the part of the second Black Death, who presumably wants Perry Knight to be the sole suspect in the murder? Absolutely it is.

    Peggy manages to get Knight bailed out to continue the role of the Black Death as bait for the real killer, and indeed the false Black Death attempts to murder Tinker’s replacement at the same point in the show as before. The Woman in Red of course manages to prevent this second murder, and after some running around etc the Black Death is unmasked to reveal… Weber, the theatre owner!

    It turns out that Weber is in love with lead actress Linda Lytell and that this murder/framing/attempted murder/kidnapping (he kidnaps Lytell before the second murder attempt) is all part of an effort to get him out of the way so that Weber can woo her. A foolish plan, and not just because Weber does not appear to have shared his feelings with Lytell at any point, but because literally the first thing that happens in the story is Lytell rejecting Knight, something that Weber might have learned if he had engaged in some conventional human conversation and courtship before jumping straight to adopting a costumed persona.

    Also, the critics hate the play.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 830: ROBERT W MARSH

    (Thrilling Comics 010, 1940)

    Fifth column activities are wreaking havoc on the US! Why, it’s so bad that the new National Defense Building has been bombed! Doc Strange is called in along with a crack team of industrialists to help solve the problem, and is pointed toward fellow committee member Henry Dallas by yet another member, Robert W Marsh. Could this be so easy a problem to solve?

    Henry Dallas kills himself rather than own up to working with the Nazis against American interests, but Doc Strange is able to trace his business dealings to the defunct Mammoth Automobile factory in the South, where he discovers a fascist tank-manufacturing setup. He also takes an explosive anti-tank shell to the back of the head, which is immaterial to the story, but it is fun to occasionally highlight just how powerful a super-hero is.

    Strange finally comes face to face with the leader of this operation (conveniently called the Leader) after both he and Virginia Thompson are captured by them, and unmasks him within minutes, revealing him to be… Robert W Marsh, who is coincidentally also the only other named character in the comic. I gotta say, I wish that the Leader facade had been maintained for longer, both because I always prefer referring to a guy by a codename rather than by what’s on his birth certificate, but also because that mask is a pretty sweet little number and I wish that Marsh had a reason to keep wearing it.

    Doc and Virginia of course escape from Marsh and prevent his bid to take over the US by bombing Washington DC into dust, but the former Leader is pretty conspicuously not among the casualties of that battle. And well he shouldn’t be, because he is also the antagonist of the next Doc Strange story:

    In Thrilling Comics 011, Marsh takes over the… Central?… American nation of Panamela to use as a staging area for another attempt to take over the US.

    (side note: it is pretty remarkable that Marsh is just a straight-up Nazi in 1940, albeit one with a reversed swastika. I suppose it’s possible that this is a small-n nazi, as a stand-in for fascist) 

    Marsh’s plan revolves around attacking the US using the Panamelan fleet and some new super-explosive artillery shells, but he is foiled when Doc Strange sabotages the explosive at the production stage. Pop! Plink!

    Though his fleet is blasted into oblivion by the US Navy, Marsh lives to fight another day. 

    I’ll be honest, I’m tired of the guy and I almost included his third appearance here to get him out of the way, even though it takes place in 1941. But when I started reading it to do just that I was startled to find out that it’s fun! There isn’t even any naval combat! Thus, I’m going to leave it as a treat for myself in the future.