The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: mass murderer

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 598: THE DEMON

    (Fantastic Comics 003, 1940)

    The Demon is a pretty straightforward Stardust enemy: he thinks that there are too many people on Earth and so is going to destroy cities until he gets that number under control. Exactly why he thinks that there are too many people (fear of overcrowding? an ahead-of-his-time radical environmentalist? simple misanthropy?) is not explored.

    This is of course exactly the sort of thing to draw Stardust the Super Wizard like a magnet. Importantly, this happens before the Demon manages to destroy NYC but after he has wrecked an ocean liner, so that he might be punished in an appropriately Stardustian manner. The apprehension of the Demon is also notable for being the first time that Stardust performs his signature move of picking up a villain in one hand and having them crumple up like they’re made of sponge rubber, though this is presumably a stylistic choice rather than an actual effect that Stardust’s big mitts have on the criminal fraternity.

    Stardust… I was going to say “of course does not allow NYC to be obliterated” but in a different Fletcher Hanks comic it might have happened. But no. He throws the Demon into the wave to be killed by roiling water, then disintegrates both Demon and wave. He also says a famous line, from the title of that one Paul Karasik book about Fletcher Hanks!

    The Demon’s assistant Max, oddly, seems to get away scot-free. Stay out of trouble, Max!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 598: THE DEMON

    (Fantastic Comics 003, 1940)

    The Demon is a pretty straightforward Stardust enemy: he thinks that there are too many people on Earth and so is going to destroy cities until he gets that number under control. Exactly why he thinks that there are too many people (fear of overcrowding? an ahead-of-his-time radical environmentalist? simple misanthropy?) is not explored.

    This is of course exactly the sort of thing to draw Stardust the Super Wizard like a magnet. Importantly, this happens before the Demon manages to destroy NYC but after he has wrecked an ocean liner, so that he might be punished in an appropriately Stardustian manner. The apprehension of the Demon is also notable for being the first time that Stardust performs his signature move of picking up a villain in one hand and having them crumple up like they’re made of sponge rubber, though this is presumably a stylistic choice rather than an actual effect that Stardust’s big mitts have on the criminal fraternity.

    Stardust… I was going to say “of course does not allow NYC to be obliterated” but in a different Fletcher Hanks comic it might have happened. But no. He throws the Demon into the wave to be killed by roiling water, then disintegrates both Demon and wave. He also says a famous line, from the title of that one Paul Karasik book about Fletcher Hanks!

    The Demon’s assistant Max, oddly, seems to get away scot-free. Stay out of trouble, Max!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 586: THE RED BLIGHT

    (Exciting Comics 003, 1940)

    Technically, the Red Blight is a ray weapon developed by mad scientist Dr Hodl on behalf of ideologically nonspecific aggressor General Pasko in order to facilitate the conquest of Europe, but just like when a guy with a regular name is tooling around in a vehicle with a cool codename I reckon that the good name should take precedence, particularly as 1) Dr Hodl never returns and 2) people make reference to the Red Blight as an entity more than once during the course of the story.

    Besides, the Red Blight is a super-weapon worth being named after: a ray that rapidly corrodes inorganic matter with a range of at least 2000 kilometres (Hodl’s Transylvanian castle to the North Sea) – why sleep on that, Hodl? Be the Red Blight!

    Dr Hodl spends most of his time attempting to eliminate John “Son of the Gods” Thesson, who he correctly views as his only real opposition. Why, before Thesson shows up, none of the authorities concerned with the Red Blight’s attacks even thought about discovering his location by triangulation. Clearly this is a case where the villain is right: the hero is the only thing standing between him and complete victory.

    Ultimately, Hodl and the Red Blight come up against the real problem with the weapon of mass destruction as an all-purpose tool: it’s very hard to select your targets. Despite an army of spies attempting to stymie him at every turn, the Son of the Gods makes his way to Hodl’s castle and chucks him off a wall.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 586: THE RED BLIGHT

    (Exciting Comics 003, 1940)

    Technically, the Red Blight is a ray weapon developed by mad scientist Dr Hodl on behalf of ideologically nonspecific aggressor General Pasko in order to facilitate the conquest of Europe, but just like when a guy with a regular name is tooling around in a vehicle with a cool codename I reckon that the good name should take precedence, particularly as 1) Dr Hodl never returns and 2) people make reference to the Red Blight as an entity more than once during the course of the story.

    Besides, the Red Blight is a super-weapon worth being named after: a ray that rapidly corrodes inorganic matter with a range of at least 2000 kilometres (Hodl’s Transylvanian castle to the North Sea) – why sleep on that, Hodl? Be the Red Blight!

    Dr Hodl spends most of his time attempting to eliminate John “Son of the Gods” Thesson, who he correctly views as his only real opposition. Why, before Thesson shows up, none of the authorities concerned with the Red Blight’s attacks even thought about discovering his location by triangulation. Clearly this is a case where the villain is right: the hero is the only thing standing between him and complete victory.

    Ultimately, Hodl and the Red Blight come up against the real problem with the weapon of mass destruction as an all-purpose tool: it’s very hard to select your targets. Despite an army of spies attempting to stymie him at every turn, the Son of the Gods makes his way to Hodl’s castle and chucks him off a wall.

  • MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 007

    The mad scientists are usually up to something criminal, but the criminal scientists are often completely rational.

    Like a fair few of the scientists I speak of here, Dr Hayles here talks a big game but gets caught in the planning stages before he has the chance to prove to the world that he was right all along. In Hayles’ case it was kidnapping a bunch of boys that got him in trouble and operating on young boys’ brains in order to make them geniuses that he never got to prove before he was corralled by Marvelo, Monarch of Magicians. (Big Shot Comics 002, 1940)

    This here Count Alexis fellow is an agent of an unspecified foreign power who employs his extremely cool fleet of giant flying magnifying glasses in an attempt to destroy Boston. This, in turn, will cow the States into serving said unnamed country. It’s a bit of a flimsy plan, especially once you see Skyman beat the tar out of the mere two men operating one of the lenses and using that lens to melt the other four three (almost forgot that he captures two of them, as well as Count Alexis himself) 

    Count Alexis also lives in Vermont and is 100% the only villain on this blog as it currently stands to do so. Congratulations, Vermont! You made it! (Big Shot Comics 007, 1940)

    This unnamed scientist developed a steerable electrically-charged tornado called a “Force-Top” and attempted to extort the US into buying it but got pinched by Jeff Cardiff, Spy-Chief basically as soon as he put his plan into motion. (Big Shot Comics 007, 1940)

    As far as ways to extort the US (in this case into acclaiming Our Villain here as dictator), freezing entire cities solid isn’t a bad way to go, and Norgo goes for some big targets after his initial test freeze of a Florida beach: Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, St Louis and Washington DC. He might have gotten in with a chance if it hadn’t been for Skyman completely owning his plan and unfreezing all the cities in about half an hour – though the fact that he does so by exploding balls of “atomic power” over each city is at least a bit concerning. (Big Shot Comics 008, 1940)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 481: DE STRUCTO

    (Big 3 002, 1940)

    De Structo (properly “Master-Mind” de Structo, but he’s only referred to in that way the once in-story) is a man with a dream, and that dream is to kill everyone in the US in a position of authority so that he can step in and take over society. To that end, he has his gang (grandiosely referred to as “Troopers”) distribute an “oxygen destroying ray” in vials (and here we’re going to have to assume that this is a “ray” in the sense of a radiation rather than a beam or that these are some amazing vials) near his targets in order to release them all simultaneously for maximum impact.

    And this is a thorough coup d’etat: not only is de Structo attempting to wipe out the government, state and local police, the intelligence services and the military but also publishers, bankers, industrialists, and doctors. I’ve heard of power vacuums but this is ridiculous. Fortunately for society, Stardust the Super Wizard shows up in time to save… most people.

    We’ve seen the cartoonish evil that is the hallmark of any good Fletcher Hanks comic and now it’s time for the over-the-top ironic punishment! First, de Structo is mutated until he is just an enormous head.

    As the giant spaceman says: this is because he attempted to destroy the heads of society.

    De Structo is then flung into the Space Pocket of Living Death, where the Headless Headhunter, the “hugest giant in the Universe” – who appears to be maybe 25 feet tall at most – eagerly absorbs him. It’s not quite an ironic punishment but it is gruesome – just what we expect from a Fletcher Hanks comic.

    As a bonus, all of de Structo’s henchmen are rounded up and compressed into a single being (presumably to save time) who is subsequently fired into space. Do Not Sin When Stardust Is Near, Mortals.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 481: DE STRUCTO

    (Big 3 002, 1940)

    De Structo (properly “Master-Mind” de Structo, but he’s only referred to in that way the once in-story) is a man with a dream, and that dream is to kill everyone in the US in a position of authority so that he can step in and take over society. To that end, he has his gang (grandiosely referred to as “Troopers”) distribute an “oxygen destroying ray” in vials (and here we’re going to have to assume that this is a “ray” in the sense of a radiation rather than a beam or that these are some amazing vials) near his targets in order to release them all simultaneously for maximum impact.

    And this is a thorough coup d’etat: not only is de Structo attempting to wipe out the government, state and local police, the intelligence services and the military but also publishers, bankers, industrialists, and doctors. I’ve heard of power vacuums but this is ridiculous. Fortunately for society, Stardust the Super Wizard shows up in time to save… most people.

    We’ve seen the cartoonish evil that is the hallmark of any good Fletcher Hanks comic and now it’s time for the over-the-top ironic punishment! First, de Structo is mutated until he is just an enormous head.

    As the giant spaceman says: this is because he attempted to destroy the heads of society.

    De Structo is then flung into the Space Pocket of Living Death, where the Headless Headhunter, the “hugest giant in the Universe” – who appears to be maybe 25 feet tall at most – eagerly absorbs him. It’s not quite an ironic punishment but it is gruesome – just what we expect from a Fletcher Hanks comic.

    As a bonus, all of de Structo’s henchmen are rounded up and compressed into a single being (presumably to save time) who is subsequently fired into space. Do Not Sin When Stardust Is Near, Mortals.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 474: KING OF THE USA

    (Amazing-Man Comics 020, 1941)

    The King of the USA, not unlike the Emperor of America before him, is a weirdo megalomaniac who lives in a hole, with the major difference being that while the Emperor was of course known for being surrounded by hunks the King lives alone. Note that this means that he personally scurried up to this office boy and delivered his own unhinged manifesto.

    If the King of the USA did have a few hunks around then maybe one of them might have pointed out a potential flaw in his plan: that basing your operation out of sewer might lead to some complications related to eg, flooding when you do things like collapse major parts of New York’s infrastructure with your disintegrator. And this theoretical hunk would be right! It’s just such a flood that brings Minimidget and Ritty to his door!

    Even more to the point: after Our Small Heroes drug his coffee and tie him up he ends up drowning in his sleep due to a flood caused when he collapses the Chrysler Building. Drainage: just one of the many oft-overlooked aspects of successful villain lair design.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 470: THE FIEND

    (Amazing-Man Comics 014, 1940)

    Before we get into the Fiend I just want to highlight this guy. He is about to have a world-record bad day at work.

    The reason that his day is so terrible is that he has just introduced guest speaker Professor Zuraw who, it turns out, is completely insane. Zuraw turns the radio station’s antenna into a death ray broadcaster, killing millions, and not only does our friend the announcer end up dead but any account of this event will inevitably link him with Zurow. Terrible note to go out on.

    It’s very bad! This is when Zurow becomes the Fiend, and you can’t really argue with it.

    The Fiend makes some noise about ruling the world but he’s effectively trapped inside Radio Station WEEE with a handful of goons. He’s got a radio death ray field around the place but you can’t rule the world with a weapon that people have to tune in to to be effective.

    Most of the adventure is concerned with the Iron Skull bashing his way into the station to get the fiend out rather than the logistics of how the Fiend is going to do anything beyond squatting in a radio station until he starves to death or someone realizes that they can probably just cut the station’s power and with good reason! It’s a terrible plan! The Fiend should be happy that he gets thrown off a roof by the Iron Skull and not brought to trial and roasted for his poor planning.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 441: MAGOG

    (Mystery Men Comics 022, 1941)

    Magog clearly has some big plans – he repeatedly sends taunting notes to the police and announces his criminal debut by blowing up a playground full of children – but he is almost immediately baited into the open by a fake newspaper and dies in a struggle with the Blue Beetle so we will never know what they were.