MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 117: THE SKULL
(Mystery Men Comics 015, 1940) Yet another crypto-Nazi spy/saboteur with a skull face operating in the US, but this one has an electron-gun! SKULL SCORE: 5/5 full skull; full marks.
MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 116: THE SKULL
(Mystery Men Comics 014, 1940) Once more we meet a Skull, and this time he’s a supposed-to-be-a-Nazi-but-it’s-1940-so-we-won’t-actually-say-it who spends his time bombing bridges in the Blue Beetle’s eventually-just-going-to-be-New-York-City-but-we’re-still-pretending-it-isn’t-for-some-reason. SKULL SCORE: 2/5 Pretty skully for an actual human but this is comics we’re talking about. You’re going to have to shave off that glossy black hair if you want to get ahead in this game.
MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 115: THE LIGHT
(Mystery Men Comics 011, 1940) I just really appreciate the low-effort mystique that can be generated by sitting behind a bright light in a dark room. Of course, nothing prevents a foe from shooting into the light at roughly leg-height, as Lt Drake of Naval Intelligence demonstrates in this story, so perhaps the bright light shouldn’be your only line of defense should you choose to use it.
MINOR SUPER-HERO 016: THE MOTH
(Mystery Men Comics 009, 1940) The Moth might just be the platonic ideal of a certain kind of super-hero. Specifically, the kind that would be equally likely to show up for three issues during the height of the Golden Age hero boom and also in a super-hero parody any time from the 60s to today. I sincerely think that if I spent an afternoon looking through every issue of normalman and What The-! and so forth that I could find (or if…
MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 114: THE WEATHER KINGS
(Mystery Men Comics 010, 1940) It’s the Moth vs. the Weather Kings, the very definition of a great name wasted on some run-of-the-mill weather controlling chumps and really I’m only bringing them up to roundly condemn the wasting of such a good name on such jabronis. The only good thing about them really, is that they’ve remained unused for more than 80 years so the name is basically up for grabs.
MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 089: SCRAG
(Blue Beetle Comics 005, 1940) Scrag attempts to extort (New) York City using remote controlled bombers – not a terrifically unique plan but he’s just so gleeful about his evil that I love him. Blown up while battling the Blue Beetle.
MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 088: THE BLACK-ROBED MAN
(Blue Beetle Comics 004, 1940) It’s fairly unsupported right now as the only other example of a crossdressing villain so far is the Coin, but trust me when I say that an older woman adopting a younger male identity for crime is a comparative rarity as compared to the opposite. I may find myself compelled to note all of the times that non-super gangster types do it, just to lend weight to my claims. Anyway, the Black-Robed Man. Runs a…
MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 087: BLITZ
(Blue Beetle Comics 004, 1940) Blitz: by far the best thing about this probably-meant-to-be-German spy is his collection of henchmen, who include a maniacal dwarf and Ax, who is somewhat unsurprisingly obsessed with his signature weapon. Love a henchman who goes all-in on their bit.
MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 086: THE MASTERMIND OF CRIME
(Blue Beetle Comics 003, 1940) A lot of these early Blue Beetle villains are real basic so I’m not even going to bother with the questions. Mastermind of Crime: very good hood, attempts to take over NYC York City, turns out to actually be the civic reformer who has been raising a stink over all this organized crime all over the place.
MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 085: BOSS X
(Blue Beetle Comics 002, 1940) What makes them a super-villain? In thinking about this question I realized just how close comic book-style organized crime comes to supercrime to begin with and that Boss X represents the bare minimum of extra oomph required to make the leap to the super-villain designation: the name and the fact that he works out of a secret underground lair on an island.