Browsed by
Category: Fox Features

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 096

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 096

Comments 0 comment

Even the most minor of super-heroes gets the chance to shine brightly in the Round-Up. Super-American: I can’t decide if I’m surprised or not that the development of the archetype of the patriotic hero was so rapid as to produce a character called “Super-American” less than a year after the debut of Captain America. He’s simultaneously straight out to the sketchbook of a 60s underground comix guy (or indeed a more modern edgy comics guy) and a perfectly ordinary 1940s…

Read More Read More

REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 026

REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 026

Comments 0 comment

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…

Read More Read More

REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 025

REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 025

Comments 0 comment

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…

Read More Read More

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 043

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 043

Comments 0 comment

You give a guy access to a mask and some super-science and how does he repay you? Crime! Karno: The dapper Karno has a cool flying submarine, a metal-melting weapon and a plan to combine the two and do some old-fashioned piracy with them. He thinks that this scheme will be enhanced by the expert submarine piloting skills of Sub Saunders, but quickly learns the same lesson that all villains do upon incorporating a hero into their plans: it’s more hassle than…

Read More Read More

DIVINE ROUND-UP 031

DIVINE ROUND-UP 031

Comments 0 comment

It’s a wide-ranging and complicated theological world out there.  the Death Orchid: Once again we have a giant flower – in this case a carnivorous one – that is being worshipped as a god. Interestingly, the people doing so are Lamas, which I think might be being incorrectly used as a general term for Tibetans of a religious inclination, unless there are some major aspects of Tibetan Buddhism that I haven’t heard about. Adventure aviator Captain Kidd flies a fellow named Professor…

Read More Read More

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 971: THE MONSTER

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 971: THE MONSTER

Comments 0 comment

(Fantastic Comics 023, 1941) The comic opens in media res, as a (the) Monster bursts into the hotel room of art critic Iona Hall and carries her off into the night. Cut to the Gorman Art Gallery the next day, where we see… Iona Hall!? As you might have guessed, this isn’t the real Iona Hall, and “famous art connoisseur” Dan Kenneth spots this when he is introduced to the false Hall by gallery owner Gorman. When Kenneth attempts to discover…

Read More Read More

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 048

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 048

Comments 0 comment

Gosh! How alien they are! Frog-Men: These two Frog-Men cause trouble for Sub Saunders when they steal his ship for a little joyriding/ piracy session. They are undone by the fact that neither of them know how to drive, and are ultimately head-konked into submission after crash landing. What this tells us about Frog-Man society is unclear – if this were a Star Wars then the Frog-Men would end up being a race of car thieves, of course, but most…

Read More Read More

MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 025

MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 025

Comments 0 comment

I feel like we could avoid some of this unpleasantness if we made the Mad Arts a required part of the curriculum again. Unnamed Sorcerer: The Golden Knight and Alice are up to some good old-fashioned adventure, as they travel into the land of Kongola to seek out the cause of mysterious disappearances of people in adjoining Kooran. Just where are Kongola and Kooran? I’m going to say somewhere in what is now the United Kingdom since that that is…

Read More Read More

PROBLEMATIC ROUND-UP 008

PROBLEMATIC ROUND-UP 008

Comments 0 comment

Once again I must regretfully inform you that some comic books are problematic. Like, racially. the Laughing Hyenas:  Hey, it’s our first racial hate group, and I think I’m just going to preemptively file these under “problematic” because they’re a) not fun to talk about and b) necessitate talking about hate-crimes even if I, for example, choose not to use the panels with lynchings in them. The Laughing Hyenas are actually kind of a hate group by proxy, as they…

Read More Read More

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 047

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 047

Comments 0 comment

It’s more of those dastardly (and not-so-dastardly) aliens! Zutarians: One day while on a trip to visit his magic brother in-law who lives on the sun, the Golden Knight and Alice are thrown off course and crash on planet Zutarn, where they are picked up by some friendly-yet-threatening Zutarians. As is often the case in Golden Age comics, the exact location of Zutarn is not stated – for bookkeeping reasons I’m going to say it’s in an unspecified star system,…

Read More Read More