The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: Adventure Comics

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 146: THE RED DRAGON

    (Adventure 069, 1941)


    An early example of quite a few villain tropes, the Red Dragon is a guy who turns to evil because he was rejected by society due to his deformed face (1). He then decides to set himself up in opposition to the heroic Shining Knight, choosing to become the Red Dragon – less dramatic than a Bizarro-style evil opposite situation but still an evil opposite situation (2).

    After his first (unsuccessful) foray into crime, he is recruited by the Hand to battle the Seven Soldiers of Victory as part of one of the earliest examples of a super-villain team-up (3), some years before the Injustice Society and such became commonplace.

    Pretty good for a fairly ordinary hooded villain.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 146: THE RED DRAGON

    (Adventure 069, 1941)


    An early example of quite a few villain tropes, the Red Dragon is a guy who turns to evil because he was rejected by society due to his deformed face (1). He then decides to set himself up in opposition to the heroic Shining Knight, choosing to become the Red Dragon – less dramatic than a Bizarro-style evil opposite situation but still an evil opposite situation (2).

    After his first (unsuccessful) foray into crime, he is recruited by the Hand to battle the Seven Soldiers of Victory as part of one of the earliest examples of a super-villain team-up (3), some years before the Injustice Society and such became commonplace.

    Pretty good for a fairly ordinary hooded villain.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 145: THE MASK

    (Adventure 068, 1941)

    An orchestra conductor who goes off the deep end when he gets fired. Not a terribly deep concept, but he kills his replacements with an electrified conductor’s baton trap and he leaves comedy and tragedy mask symbols to show his involvement so there’s a lot for me, a themed crime enthusiast, to enjoy.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 144: PROFESSOR DOOMBIE

     (Adventure 067, 1941)

    Sometimes you have to admit to yourself that your judgement is subjective enough that you’re going to count an ordinary “I invented a shrinking formula and shall now crime” scientist as a super-villain just because you like the name “Doombie”.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 143: THE CAMERA EYE

    (Adventure 066, 1941)

    Mr Cuthbert Cain, the Camera Eye (and I call him that because it’s what he himself signs on an ominous note – at various points in the story he is called the Camera Fiend and the Camera Criminal) is part of a long tradition of super-villains who take a recent technological or cultural trend and extrapolate it into a criminal gimmick – in this case, candid photography.

    Using black magic and photographic equipment, Cain captures souls and enslaves folks to his will, embarking on a minor crime wave. He falls afoul of Starman when he enthralls his friend FBI agent Woodley Allen and subsequently dissolves into the netherworld after a struggle that ends with him accidentally taking his own picture with his black magic camera.

    SHOULD THEY BE BROUGHT BACK? Absolutely! Not only is Cuthbert Cain exactly the kind of smug little shit that makes a perfect villain but the idea of a black magician who faces the price for their power and then comes back is a really great seed for a story. Particularly as the last time he was seen he had become a photo negative version of himself.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 142: DR DARRK

     (Adventure Comics 065, 1941)

    Another in a long line of scientist-villains faced by Hourman, Dr Darrk has a moderately cool name, a lighthouse HQ and an invisibility ray but ultimately is overshadowed by his really excellent robot goon, Giganto:

    Just look at that cool robot!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 141: THE UNSEEN MAN

     (Adventure 064, 1941)

    The Unseen Man, aside from his pretty great name, is fairly run-of-the-mill: an art supply owner or employee who somehow develops an invisibility paint, he subsequently turns to crime and is captured by the Sandman.

    The reason that the Unseen Man gets such short shrift is that a lot of story real estate is taken up with a subplot of Dian Belmont wanting to be in on the adventure and generally getting in the way, despite discovering at least one key clue. It’s all fairly depressing, especially as her earlier, hypercompetent self was still showing up only a few issues prior and she mostly gets pushed out by Sandy the Golden Boy going forward.

    Anyway, a shame that the Unseen Man didn’t get more to do.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 141: THE UNSEEN MAN

     (Adventure 064, 1941)

    The Unseen Man, aside from his pretty great name, is fairly run-of-the-mill: an art supply owner or employee who somehow develops an invisibility paint, he subsequently turns to crime and is captured by the Sandman.

    The reason that the Unseen Man gets such short shrift is that a lot of story real estate is taken up with a subplot of Dian Belmont wanting to be in on the adventure and generally getting in the way, despite discovering at least one key clue. It’s all fairly depressing, especially as her earlier, hypercompetent self was still showing up only a few issues prior and she mostly gets pushed out by Sandy the Golden Boy going forward.

    Anyway, a shame that the Unseen Man didn’t get more to do.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 140: IKER

     (Adventure 064, 1941)

    Yet another Hourman mad scientist foe, Iker (properly Dr T.Z. Iker, but the only time that shows up is on a mailbox) is a classic Victim of Orthodoxy, having been kicked out of the Science Club by the hidebound Dr Orr for espousing “fake theories”.

    Said fake theories enable Iker to build a machine capable either of creating lifeforms out of energy drawn from the 5th Dimension or of drawing lifeforms from the 5th Dimension and giving them form – it’s explained in a bit of a rush in the second-last panel – and he uses them for a bit of crime and revenge before being driven mad by his technology’s destruction in the climactic battle of the adventure. The important part is that some of them are knife-wielding dwarves and one of them is a giant version of himself named Normo.

    SHOULD THEY BE BROUGHT BACK? is a moot question as I discovered when I did my customary check: he already has, in JSA v1 005, 1999, as a rehabilitated employee of Tylerco! 

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 140: IKER

     (Adventure 064, 1941)

    Yet another Hourman mad scientist foe, Iker (properly Dr T.Z. Iker, but the only time that shows up is on a mailbox) is a classic Victim of Orthodoxy, having been kicked out of the Science Club by the hidebound Dr Orr for espousing “fake theories”.

    Said fake theories enable Iker to build a machine capable either of creating lifeforms out of energy drawn from the 5th Dimension or of drawing lifeforms from the 5th Dimension and giving them form – it’s explained in a bit of a rush in the second-last panel – and he uses them for a bit of crime and revenge before being driven mad by his technology’s destruction in the climactic battle of the adventure. The important part is that some of them are knife-wielding dwarves and one of them is a giant version of himself named Normo.

    SHOULD THEY BE BROUGHT BACK? is a moot question as I discovered when I did my customary check: he already has, in JSA v1 005, 1999, as a rehabilitated employee of Tylerco!