The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: Standard/Better/Nedor

  • 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.

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 024

    None of these guys are ever going to be in a movie. 

    It’s been a while since we’ve seen any masked cowboys, so here’s a particularly well-dressed bunch about to have a scrap with the Rio Kid. He doesn’t get the upper hand in this particular encounter, but by gum he eventually brings rancher John Wendel and his whole gang of rustlers to justice. (Thrilling Comics 002, 1940)

    Likewise, it’s been a while since we’ve seen a masked Nazi spy, and even though we only get one panel of X-5 aka Captain Clarke here, he fits the bill as he arranges to frame Tom Niles, the Undersea Raider, for espionage. (Thrilling Comics 006, 1940) 

    This completely unnamed masked killer is actually Violet Parsons, who has an especially poor reaction to being cut out of her father’s will: she murders her brothers Frank and Henry and tries to pin the killings on her insane brother Robert. She is ultimately undone by the fact that a person, even one who has had a nervous breakdown, won’t automatically turn into a ravening beast man if you lock them in a room until they grow a long beard. The Woman in Red triumphs once more. (Thrilling Comics 008, 1940)

    Someone has been murdering everyone who stays in the De Luxe Suite of the Hotel Metropolis, and the Woman in Red is on the case. The murderer turns out to be Mr Bascom, the hotel manager who used to be the hotel’s owner, who couldn’t stand to see the hotel’s new owner make a success out of a business he failed at. He only shows up in this mask for a few panels, but I would like to point out it’s unusual length, required so as to cover up Bascom’s mustache. (Thrilling Comics 009, 1940)

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 024

    None of these guys are ever going to be in a movie. 

    It’s been a while since we’ve seen any masked cowboys, so here’s a particularly well-dressed bunch about to have a scrap with the Rio Kid. He doesn’t get the upper hand in this particular encounter, but by gum he eventually brings rancher John Wendel and his whole gang of rustlers to justice. (Thrilling Comics 002, 1940)

    Likewise, it’s been a while since we’ve seen a masked Nazi spy, and even though we only get one panel of X-5 aka Captain Clarke here, he fits the bill as he arranges to frame Tom Niles, the Undersea Raider, for espionage. (Thrilling Comics 006, 1940) 

    This completely unnamed masked killer is actually Violet Parsons, who has an especially poor reaction to being cut out of her father’s will: she murders her brothers Frank and Henry and tries to pin the killings on her insane brother Robert. She is ultimately undone by the fact that a person, even one who has had a nervous breakdown, won’t automatically turn into a ravening beast man if you lock them in a room until they grow a long beard. The Woman in Red triumphs once more. (Thrilling Comics 008, 1940)

    Someone has been murdering everyone who stays in the De Luxe Suite of the Hotel Metropolis, and the Woman in Red is on the case. The murderer turns out to be Mr Bascom, the hotel manager who used to be the hotel’s owner, who couldn’t stand to see the hotel’s new owner make a success out of a business he failed at. He only shows up in this mask for a few panels, but I would like to point out it’s unusual length, required so as to cover up Bascom’s mustache. (Thrilling Comics 009, 1940)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 829: LOBELO

    (Thrilling Comics 008, 1940) 

    Lobelo is a modern day pirate, as you might guess from the splash panel above, and while my strong pro-pirate bias means that he was an easy inclusion in the ranks of the minor super-villain he is also a source of great frustration to me.

     

    First, though, I will note one thing that I really like about Lobelo and that is his array of costumes. Not only does he wear two distinct pirate outfits during the course of the adventure but he wears a separate classic early-1940s suit-cape-and-mask number while he is robbing the Metroploitan Museum in New York. This is clearly a man who loves an outfit – it’s like he’s padding out an action figure line over here.

    My problem with Lobelo is that he goes into piracy because he is the descendant of the famous 16th Century pirate Redhand. He sets up his headquarters on Redhand’s Crossbones Island and he is hunting for Redhand’s treasure with the help of Redhand’s map, which he stole from the museum. So why the heck doesn’t he call himself Redhand, or Redhand II, or something other than his own last name? The gall of it!

    (I’m also somewhat put out that the comic features a costume party and Doc Strange attends in a tuxedo rather than his super-suit. I suppose that Lobelo is attending in (one of) his super-villain outfit(s) at the very least)

    Lobelo has a pretty good run thanks to some poison he feeds Doc Strange at the party having a long-term weakening effect but ultimately comes up against the simple fact that he is a man armed with a sword versus a man who is completely invulnerable to harm and able to powerbomb a battleship. Lobelo is so outmatched here that maybe Doc Strange doesn’t need to kill him like a bear swatting a salmon, and yet he does. So long, Redhand Lobelo.

  • FASCIST GOON CLEARING HOUSE 010

    Will we ever run out of fascist goons? 

    the Green Shirts:

    The Green Shirts’ claim to fame is their army of the resurrected dead, which they employ in their attempted takeover of the US. Or it would be, that is, if the test run of the resurrection device hadn’t resulted in the death of its inventor and incidentally the creation of the super-mummy Mystico, who ultimately ends up destroying the Green Shirts in a very satisfyingly cyclical kind of way. (Startling Comics 001, 1940)

    the Group/ the Superior Council: 

    The Group, a home-grown collection of fascist malcontents, acts as a front and recruiting arm for the Superior Council, the US arm of the espionage corps of the nation of Zatvia, a classic Nazi Germany stand-in. US secret agent Q-13 successfully infiltrates both groups in succession and foils them so hard that head honcho Miltor explodes. (Super Mystery Comics v1 002, 1940)

    the Green Tie Society: 

    Despite the Green Tie Society’s better-than-average name they’re just another miserable little German-American Bund analog who manage to drag out an adventure with the new, human-faced White Streak for three interminable issues before being rounded up and tossed in the klink. They don’t even have the good graces to wear green ties! (Target Comics v1 010, 1940)

    the Guardists: 

    A fifth column attempting to capture Aruba’s oil fields for the Nazis under the command of Dutch traitor Captain Kliefer, the Guardist movement is smashed by American ace the Lone Eagle. (Thrilling Comics 009, 1940)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 828: THE BLACK TERROR

    (Thrilling Comics 006, 1940)

    The Central Art Museum has a problem: a cloaked figure who creeps through the halls at night, murdering the guards and making off with their bodies. To make things worse, the investigation is being led by the boorish Inspector Cavanaugh, the Woman in Red’s new and very annoying comic foil, who I regret to inform you is a permanent addition to her cast.

    But speaking of the Woman in Red, she is also on the case. As Peggy Allen, she works as secretary to the museum director Dr Grier while patrolling the museum at night in her costumed identity… while Cavanaugh gets in the way to the extent that he prevents her from saving the Black Terror’s second victim. 

    It’s not a particular surprise when the Black Terror turns out to be the assistant museum director, Mr Tyler, as the story has only two real suspects, him and Dr Grier. Tyler turns out to have adopted the Black Terror persona in order to cover for some jewel thefts that nobody had actually cottoned on to yet – I can only conclude that he had the (fairly elaborate) costume ready to go and was just looking for an excuse, because this is definitely the kind of crime that isn’t helped by a series of high-profile murders.

  • MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 019

    MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 019

    Science for all! Whether they want it or not! 

    Doctor Ivan has been pursuing a scheme in which he is systematically taking out insurance policies on everyone he knows and then having them murdered, and he is extremely smug about it. Now, I’m no expert in insurance fraud, but I have to say that I am certain that it requires a bit more subtlety than that, even if you’re doing it as a one-off. Forget the fact that the Flame shows up after the third murder; I would expect some raised eyebrows down at the insurance company after the second. (The Flame 003, 1940)

    Dr Gung is an old associate of magical arch-criminal Elena, and is the one who saves her from execution after the Karoly Gore affair by means of some death-simulating drugs. 

    Gung’s main line of inquiry is the use of his signature ray to destroy men’s minds and turn them into mindless robot soldiers, something that works perfectly well on regular guys sourced from the nearby populace but when tried on Mr Mystic goes badly enough that Dr Gung ends up shrunk to a few inches tall and then blown to smithereens along with his entire mansion. (The Spirit Section, 23 June 1940)

    Ghantse is one of those mad scientists who talk a lot about their grand plans but don’t actually get a chance to put them in motion, so it’s a real mystery whether he actually would have been able to fuse several human brains together into a single entity who would “know all” like he claimed or not, but he sure was willing to try. Along the way, he made two major mistakes: 1) targeting Mr Mystic for brain extraction and 2) somehow ending up with the Shadowman, the literal embodiment of death, on his payroll, the latter being compounded by the fact that the Shadowman hates Ghantse’s guts, and so not only releases Mr Mystic from his chemically-induced paralysis before Ghantse can extract his brain but also blows Ghantse’s entire base to kingdom come. (The Spirit Section, 22 September, 1940)

    Doctor Zorn, an eccentric roboticist living on Puerto Rico, is possibly the world record holder for escalation, as he manages to go from an argument about a late loan payment to unleashing his voice-controlled super robot (aka the Monster) to activating his lab’s self-destruct mechanism in the space of about half an hour. 

    Given that this is what he started shouting immediately after showing off his robot to a young woman, I do suspect that Doctor Zorn was primed for this kind of thing and was just looking for an excuse, like a man who has just bought a katana standing in his kitchen. (Thrilling Comics 005, 1940)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 827: MORGAN LE FAY

    MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 827: MORGAN LE FAY

    (Thrilling Comics 005, 1940) 

    Sometimes when I’m writing the original drafts of these entries I’m tired or rushed or the like and I go into Extreme Shorthand Mode, and sometimes that version of the writeup is very charming to me when I come back to it a couple of weeks later. Which is all to say that the younger, rushed version of me wrote “merlin stung by brutal own” to describe how the venerable wizard took being exposed as a fraud by the Ghost during one of his time-travel adventures, and I think it captures something. Is it enough to explain Merlin selling out Camelot to Morgan le Fay? Probably not, but it clearly was in the eyes of a 1940s comics book writer.

    Don’t worry, however, because the Ghost is still on hand and is most certainly not a charlatan. He conjures up a big pile of machine guns and grenades for the Knights of the Round Table, and s my past self put it: “modern weapons vs medieval is okay if its vs bad guys.”

  • REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 016

    REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 016

    Are you ready for some comic book versions of real life and fictional people? I sure hope so! 

    Adolf Hitler:  

    Premier Grahvin of the fictional African country of Cadiwa is a pretty broad pastiche of the Axis leaders, but the sheer speed at which he accelerates into full-blown dictator mode (before Mr Mystic turns up to reveal that he had not, in fact killed the king of Cadiwa and was not, in fact, in charge) must be highlighted. (The Spirit Section, 21 July, 1940)

    Likewise, Karoly Gore is an Axis dictator pastiche from a Mr Mystic story a few weeks earlier (but I read them out of order so it’s okay) (The Spirit Section, 9 June, 1940) 

    Axtrol here is a third in our series of Axis dictator pastiches, and he’s possibly the biggest shithead of the bunch. (The Spirit, “Dr Prince von Kalm”, 17 November, 1940)

    Nargoff, aka the Leader, is either a would-be North American dictator or the agent of a European one looking to set up a local franchise. Either way, the Spirit burns down his fake island/submarine base and then engineers a situation in which the might-makes-right philosophies espoused in Nargoff’s book “The New Order” are explored by way of Nargoff and his burly assistant Max being stranded on a small boat in the Caribbean with a limited amount of water. (The Spirit, “The Leader”, 29 December, 1940)

    Don Juan: 

    Mr Mystic and his fiance Elena encounter a whole castle full of ghosts in the woods of Spain, among whom is the spirit of the entirely fictional man Don Juan, who mistakes Elena for his missing wife Ysabel and almost kills her before himself being double-killed by Mystic. (The Spirit Section, 15 December, 1940)

    Khufu aka Cheops: 

    When Mr Mystic decides to go back in time to the creation of the Great Pyramid of Giza, he is mistaken for the god Ammon Ra and of course just immediately gets his grubby little mitts all over the progress of history. It’s kind of okay, though, because the history he’s in seems to already be a big mess – for instance, while Pharaoh Cheops is indeed the ruler supposed to have commissioned the building of the Great Pyramid c. 2600 BCE, the Babylonian invasion they’re worried about is tricky because a) Babylonia is dated from 1890 BCE b) the earliest Nebuchadnezzar I can find ascended to the throne in 1121 BCE and c) given the cultural milieu that this comic was written in they’re probably talking about Nebuchadnezzar II, the one from the Bible, who did invade Egypt a couple of times but didn’t come to power until 605 BCE. Like I said: a real mess. Plus, Amun didn’t even become associated with Ra until the 16th Century BCE!

    There’s also this guy, Prince Sargon of Babylonia, and while there’s a part of me that wants to say that he’s supposed to be Sargon II (the most famous Sargon, 722 BCE), I don’t reckon that Bob Powell, mad as he was with creative power when he wrote this story, would make someone the son of someone else born a hundred years after them. Right? (Sargon does return as a time-travelling mummy out for revenge in the next installment of Mr Mystic but this alas does nothing to clear up the puzzle of his identity) (The Spirit Section, 29 September 1940)

    Misc Arthurian Figures: 

    During one of his jaunts into the past, the Ghost finds himself in Camelot, where he meets a very small selection of Arthurian figures (all of the big name knights are away on the Crusades, we are told). These include Sir Kay, who acts like a weird creep (accurate) and gets beaten up for his efforts, King Arthur, an amiable doormat, and Merlin the Magician, who is portrayed as a fraud with no magical power who sells out Arthur as soon as he gets the chance. An interesting choice for a comic about a magic man, but perfectly in keeping with 1940s secular values. (Thrilling Comics 005, 1940) 

    Myrna Loy & William Powell: 

    A simple flip of the last names renders Myrna Loy and William Powell into Myrna Powell and William Loy on this marquee, with a bonus “Boris Scarloff” for Boris Karloff. (The Spirit Section, 10 November, 1940)

    Ty Cobb: 

    If there’s anything more tedious than a 1940s sports comic it’s a 1940s hillbilly comic, so trust me when I say that this one-off about a baseball-playing hillbilly named Obadiah “Pie” Gobb is one of the the worst things I have ever read. 

    What’s even more egregious is the fact that while Pie Gobb and his new teammate Moe de Muggio (the World’s Greatest Slugger, thanks to the fact that he eats his Fleeties every morning) are easy to identify as Ty Cobb and Joe DiMaggio, respectively, the rest of his team also have goofy names but as far as I can tell none of them are also puns on famous baseball players, meaning that I just spent all that time playing rhyming games on Wikipedia for no reason. (The Funnies 047, 1940)

  • REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 016

    REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 016

    Are you ready for some comic book versions of real life and fictional people? I sure hope so! 

    Adolf Hitler:  

    Premier Grahvin of the fictional African country of Cadiwa is a pretty broad pastiche of the Axis leaders, but the sheer speed at which he accelerates into full-blown dictator mode (before Mr Mystic turns up to reveal that he had not, in fact killed the king of Cadiwa and was not, in fact, in charge) must be highlighted. (The Spirit Section, 21 July, 1940)

    Likewise, Karoly Gore is an Axis dictator pastiche from a Mr Mystic story a few weeks earlier (but I read them out of order so it’s okay) (The Spirit Section, 9 June, 1940) 

    Axtrol here is a third in our series of Axis dictator pastiches, and he’s possibly the biggest shithead of the bunch. (The Spirit, “Dr Prince von Kalm”, 17 November, 1940)

    Nargoff, aka the Leader, is either a would-be North American dictator or the agent of a European one looking to set up a local franchise. Either way, the Spirit burns down his fake island/submarine base and then engineers a situation in which the might-makes-right philosophies espoused in Nargoff’s book “The New Order” are explored by way of Nargoff and his burly assistant Max being stranded on a small boat in the Caribbean with a limited amount of water. (The Spirit, “The Leader”, 29 December, 1940)

    Don Juan: 

    Mr Mystic and his fiance Elena encounter a whole castle full of ghosts in the woods of Spain, among whom is the spirit of the entirely fictional man Don Juan, who mistakes Elena for his missing wife Ysabel and almost kills her before himself being double-killed by Mystic. (The Spirit Section, 15 December, 1940)

    Khufu aka Cheops: 

    When Mr Mystic decides to go back in time to the creation of the Great Pyramid of Giza, he is mistaken for the god Ammon Ra and of course just immediately gets his grubby little mitts all over the progress of history. It’s kind of okay, though, because the history he’s in seems to already be a big mess – for instance, while Pharaoh Cheops is indeed the ruler supposed to have commissioned the building of the Great Pyramid c. 2600 BCE, the Babylonian invasion they’re worried about is tricky because a) Babylonia is dated from 1890 BCE b) the earliest Nebuchadnezzar I can find ascended to the throne in 1121 BCE and c) given the cultural milieu that this comic was written in they’re probably talking about Nebuchadnezzar II, the one from the Bible, who did invade Egypt a couple of times but didn’t come to power until 605 BCE. Like I said: a real mess. Plus, Amun didn’t even become associated with Ra until the 16th Century BCE!

    There’s also this guy, Prince Sargon of Babylonia, and while there’s a part of me that wants to say that he’s supposed to be Sargon II (the most famous Sargon, 722 BCE), I don’t reckon that Bob Powell, mad as he was with creative power when he wrote this story, would make someone the son of someone else born a hundred years after them. Right? (Sargon does return as a time-travelling mummy out for revenge in the next installment of Mr Mystic but this alas does nothing to clear up the puzzle of his identity) (The Spirit Section, 29 September 1940)

    Misc Arthurian Figures: 

    During one of his jaunts into the past, the Ghost finds himself in Camelot, where he meets a very small selection of Arthurian figures (all of the big name knights are away on the Crusades, we are told). These include Sir Kay, who acts like a weird creep (accurate) and gets beaten up for his efforts, King Arthur, an amiable doormat, and Merlin the Magician, who is portrayed as a fraud with no magical power who sells out Arthur as soon as he gets the chance. An interesting choice for a comic about a magic man, but perfectly in keeping with 1940s secular values. (Thrilling Comics 005, 1940) 

    Myrna Loy & William Powell: 

    A simple flip of the last names renders Myrna Loy and William Powell into Myrna Powell and William Loy on this marquee, with a bonus “Boris Scarloff” for Boris Karloff. (The Spirit Section, 10 November, 1940)

    Ty Cobb: 

    If there’s anything more tedious than a 1940s sports comic it’s a 1940s hillbilly comic, so trust me when I say that this one-off about a baseball-playing hillbilly named Obadiah “Pie” Gobb is one of the the worst things I have ever read. 

    What’s even more egregious is the fact that while Pie Gobb and his new teammate Moe de Muggio (the World’s Greatest Slugger, thanks to the fact that he eats his Fleeties every morning) are easy to identify as Ty Cobb and Joe DiMaggio, respectively, the rest of his team also have goofy names but as far as I can tell none of them are also puns on famous baseball players, meaning that I just spent all that time playing rhyming games on Wikipedia for no reason. (The Funnies 047, 1940)