Here’s to all the crooks who just didn’t have enough oomph. the Despot: The Despot (not really his name, but literally the only thing he is called throughout the story) has the magic power to transform himself and others into living plants and animals, a power which he uses to trap Camilla and Sir Champion in his mountain fastness after luring them there on a magical golden road. Thus stripped of its leaders, the Lost Empire proves no match for…
I’ve threatened to do it for long enough, it’s time for the creatures to have their day. Alligator Men: Our very first creatures are also our first tough call. Steel Sterling fights these Alligator Men in Brazonia, South America while on the trail of Dr Yar (aka the Black Knight), and with any group of intelligent humanoids there is the question: did our villain make them using the power of mad science, or did he find them in the jungle…
Once again we point and go “Hey. It’s that guy.” Adolf Hitler: Captain Courageous has to deal with a few pseudo-Nazis working for Hitler-alike Hinkler. (Banner Comics 003, 1941) Real Hitler takes a scheme-foiling by Vulcan pretty hard. (Four Favorites 001, 1941) Devil’s Island: Captain America and Bucky infiltrate Devil’s Island to free a prisoner who is not only a victim of carceral justice taken to unjust extremes but also as an arm of the Nazi government in France. (Captain America Comics…
Yesterday we met Tuk, caveboy of the year 50 000 BCE. Today we meet all the various humanoids and hominids that populate his world. Shaggy Ones: The Shaggy Ones are a kind of Missing Link-style ape man species that we don’t really get too much of a sense of because Tuk’s foster father Ak is the very last one. If we extrapolate the whole species out from him, Star Wars-style, they were a fairly altruistic species, if a bit given…
There really are a lot of these guys, aren’t there? Hurricane: As presented, Hurricane is a real mythological mash-em-up: “son of Thor” but also “last descendant of the Ancient Greek immortals,” and arch-enemy to the Roman god Pluto. Pantheism, baybee! Hurricane’s whole deal is in being super fast, like mythically fast. The fact that he has a divine opponent is quite nice, in that it offsets some of the tendency of speedster characters to walk all over their opponents as…
(Captain America Comics 009, 1941) The Black Talon is honestly such a disappointing character. Two-thirds of him is composed of concepts that I love, but that remaining third is very rough. A hard character to endorse. First good Part: The Black Talon, aka Pascal Horta, is a mad artist who kills both as a way of eliminating his rivals and as a means of deriving inspiration for his series of horror-themed portraits. I always love seeing the mad arts represented…
If comics are reflections of the real world then why should we be surprised to find them so full of real people? Adolf Hitler: Hiller is the “mad dictator” who inspires Hercules to reincarnate and eventually become Marvel Boy. He’s about as close as you get to putting a Hitler in your comic as you can get without actually saying the name. The whole name. The “t” part. (Daring Mystery Comics 006, 1940) This otherwise-unnamed Fuehrer of a likewise nameless…
Now that’s entertainment. Magazines: Are magazine titles in comics more likely to be plays on real ones than other forms of media? Perhaps. We’ll just have to see how many variations on Life and Time we can find over the years. Pretending to work for Living has enough caché that it gets these fascists into a secure aircraft plant – how long has it been since magazines were so relevant? (Big Shot Comics 014, 1941) Movies: I never actually mentioned it in the entry on the Hunchback of…
(Captain America Comics 001, 1940) I probably wouldn’t have thought of this before writing so many entries about Golden Age super-heroes and their hastily shoehorned-in boy companions, but Bucky really is a top-tier sidekick, conceptually. Probably not the top, since Robin really set the gold standard, but close! Consider: In terms of the How Does He Acquire the Boy aspect of things, it couldn’t be simpler. There’s no need for some contrived (or ridiculously omitted) adoption process because Bucky is the…
(Captain America Comics 001, 1940) Captain America! Hitler-Puncher Number One! Quite possibly in the top five of super-heroics’ most well-known origins – a young man, physically unfit for the military but wishing to serve his country, is transformed into a super soldier with a combination of chemicals and radiation. The scientist responsible for this is murdered by an enemy spy rendering the young man a unique hero rather than the first of many. His first act as a hero is…