(Weird Comics 004, 1940) The Wizard of Zoro really takes the prize for the Most Charming Atrocity of 1940 when he swoops down on a small town and turns everyone into the kind of semi-anthropomorphic giant frogs that you get in Victorian greeting cards. Do I love that he then enslaves the frogs? No. Do I endorse the fact that he singles out an attractive young woman for special torment by turning her boyfriend into a snake? Of course not….
We’ve hit a rich seam of aliums this month. Mermaid/ Reptile-Men: This city of Reptile-Men is ruled over by a Mermaid queen, and I am forced to contemplate, and not for the first time, whether this is an instance of a member or group of one species ruling over another or if it’s one of extreme sexual dimorphism. Whichever one it is, I do appreciate that the Reptile-Men have that really goofy wide stance going on with their lizard legs….
(Weird Comics 003, 1940) The Wizard is the first of five villains to challenge the Sorceress of Zoom for the role of top villain in her own dang feature. He is unique among that group for being the only villain in the story he appears in, as while the rest of his peers come at the Sorceress while she is engaged in some nefarious activity, the Wizard shows up while she is peacefully hanging out with her friend Allan. Once…
You wouldn’t believe how many of these I have. Unnamed Planetoid-Dwellers: Blast Bennett and his pal Red run into these guys on a planetoid somewhere between Venus and Mercury and exclusively refer to them as “savages” even though they fly around in their own spaceship. Get off their planetoid, weirdos. (Weird Comics 003, 1940) the Brainmen: The Brainmen of the planet Larz are a bunch of large-headed jerks who have conquered… Earth? some time around the Year 5000, when Whiz…
(Weird Comics 001, 1940) The Sorceress of Zoom is just what it says on the tin: a sorceress from Zoom, which is a magical flying city that she lives in and controls. She’s another of the Golden Age’s surprisingly large number of headlining super-villains, only instead of being a mad scientist or a more conventional crook she is a mercurial magic woman who just kind of flies around harassing people. Sometimes she’s almost okay and other times she’s one of…
You won’t believe these guys. the Mermen: Some undersea jerks who capture explorer Typhon and his crew. Their leader is a real creep named Neptune who has a nigh-fetishistic plan to freeze the crew – and particularly sole female crewmember Cecelia – into blocks of ice and then breathe fire on them. Luckily for all who might venture beneath the waves, he drowns (?) during Typhon’s escape. (Weird Comics 002, 1940) the Beaked Men: The Beaked Men of Mercury’s mountains…
(Weird Comics 002, 1940) Space adventurers Blast Bennett and his pal Red are tooling around the Solar System one day when they are hailed by and then hauled aboard an enormous space vessel. This vessel is Plane-City, the mobile headquarters of the space pirate Zom. Actually, I don’t know if “space pirate” is quite the right label for Zom, as his main passion seems to be taking and keeping prisoners rather than the more traditional piratical pursuit of taking prisoners…
Lookit’m go! Thor: This particular version of Thor, Norse God of Thunder invests mortal man Grant Farrel with his powers, but while most ancient gods who get up to that sort of thing in comics are looking for an agent to fight against or promote a cause or agenda, Thor seems to just seems to want to see his powers being used in adventures. It’s kind of wholesome! Please also note the weird discs on Thor’s helmet. What the heck…
(Weird Comics 001, 1940) During the inaugural voyage of his super submarine the A-14, oceanic explorer Typhon encounters a remarkable monster: a mass of eels with a central woman’s head and the attractive power of a siren. Though the creature kills several of his crew, Typhon is able to use his magic ring to kill its heads, which reveals that the girl-head in the centre is actually a human woman who has been mind controlled and used as a monster-part for…
(Weird Comics 001, 1940) Here’s the thing about the Stone Man: I have no idea what his deal is, aside from the fact that he’s a creep. See, the Bird Man is just flying around the desert one day, as is his wont, when he runs into some guys searching for one of the guys’ daughter. After flying around for a bit, he discovers her in an isolated canyon, being sexually menaced by a weirdo and his animal companions. Why…