The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: costume party heroes

  • NOTES – NOVEMBER 2025

    Honours – Captain Marvel: 

    Not only does Billy Batson win the award for Outstanding Radio Work of the Year, but he has his ver own fan club! (Whiz Comics 015, 1941) 

    Honours – Smasher Spy:

    Spy Smasher, turned evil and sometimes but mostly not known as Smasher Spy, is doing such a good job of sabotaging America that he is offered a medal and a position from the euphemistically-named War Lord by two Nazi stereotypes. If there’s one thing that Smasher Spy is, however, it’s an equal-opportunity hater, and he rejects a fascist government just as vociferously as a democratic one. (Whiz Comics 018, 1941)

    Super-Heroes Attending Costume Parties as Themselves: 

    Not only does Captain Marvel attend this party as himself but Billy Batson also came in just his street clothes and a mask. The height of arrogance for a young celebrity, and a radio-based one at that! 

    Please also note the horrible off-brand Mickey Mouse costume worn by Billy’s assistant Whitey Murphy. (Whiz Comics 023, 1941)

  • NOTES – OCTOBER 2025

    Cops Shooting Fleeing Suspects in the Back: 

    I’ll grant these cops this: Steel Sterling did just steal one of their motorcycles. I still don’t think that that warrants a  “SHOOT TO KILL!” and three bullets in the back. (Zip Comics 001, 1940)

    Even less of a reason to shoot someone in the back: because you heard a different person shooting at them and assumed that they were a thief. Both because you are wrong and the person you are shooting at is actually super-hero Mr Satan and because theft is not punishable by death. (Zip Comics 007, 1940) 

    Not only do the cops try to blow the Scarlet Avenger away here, but they also allow real culprit Mr Nimbus to make a getaway. (Zip Comics 009, 1940) 

    Honours: 

    Rambunctious pilots Tim and Tom Shane, aka the Devils Twins, are decorated for valour. (Zip Comics 001, 1940)

    Super-Heroes Going to Costume Parties as Themselves: 

    Dudley Bradshaw, aka Mr Satan, attends a very costume-heavy Mardi Gras parade in costume as himself. (Zip Comics 005, 1940)

    Both Mr Scarlet and his enemy Bluebeard attend the same costume party in character. (Wow Comics 004, 1941)

    (Pinky is there too, of course) 

    Vigilante also attended a costume party as himself in 1941 and I completely neglected to note it before now. (Action Comics v1 042, 1941) 

  • NOTES – OCTOBER 2025

    Cops Shooting Fleeing Suspects in the Back: 

    I’ll grant these cops this: Steel Sterling did just steal one of their motorcycles. I still don’t think that that warrants a  “SHOOT TO KILL!” and three bullets in the back. (Zip Comics 001, 1940)

    Even less of a reason to shoot someone in the back: because you heard a different person shooting at them and assumed that they were a thief. Both because you are wrong and the person you are shooting at is actually super-hero Mr Satan and because theft is not punishable by death. (Zip Comics 007, 1940) 

    Not only do the cops try to blow the Scarlet Avenger away here, but they also allow real culprit Mr Nimbus to make a getaway. (Zip Comics 009, 1940) 

    Honours: 

    Rambunctious pilots Tim and Tom Shane, aka the Devils Twins, are decorated for valour. (Zip Comics 001, 1940)

    Super-Heroes Going to Costume Parties as Themselves: 

    Dudley Bradshaw, aka Mr Satan, attends a very costume-heavy Mardi Gras parade in costume as himself. (Zip Comics 005, 1940)

    Both Mr Scarlet and his enemy Bluebeard attend the same costume party in character. (Wow Comics 004, 1941)

    (Pinky is there too, of course) 

    Vigilante also attended a costume party as himself in 1941 and I completely neglected to note it before now. (Action Comics v1 042, 1941) 

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 837: THE SKULL

    (Top-Notch Comics 009, 1940)

     

    The Skull is the recurring foe of the Golden Age Black Hood, and as is common for such characters he is a kind of generalist super-villain willing to dabble in everything from theft to kidnapping to espionage to murder as circumstances dictate. He even indulges in a little housebreaking on occasion, and it is while doing so that he is interrupted by police officer Kip Burland, who he frames for the crime and then eventually attempts to have murdered when he refuses to give up on proving himself innocent. 

    This of course is the origin of the Black Hood, as Burland recovers and trains under the tutelage of one of the Skulls other victims. Accidentally creating your own nemesis is one of the occupational hazards of being a successful super criminal, after all, and the Skull is so successful as he kind of did it twice, as Kip Burland’s mentor is a different lawman who the Skull framed and ruined who swore revenge on him but then took too long preparing and had to be content with weaponizing another to do the deed.

    By the time that Kip Burland is prepared to go into action as the Black Hood, the Skull has devised the first of what I now recognize as his signature: an overcomplicated scheme. Specifically, he has targeted the debut/masquerade ball being held for wealthy socialite Barbara Sutton, and has not only informed all of the guests that they must show up in their best jewelry so that he can steal it but has also announced his plans in the papers. I think that the intent is to ensure compliance through fear, but it really seems like he’s just introducing ways that his scheme can go wrong.

    The Skull’s instructions are clear: he will steal the jewels off of the guests during the party and they are to keep quiet about it. None of them manage this, and each victim ends up being killed via a blowgun dart tipped with a poison that turns the human head all green and corpsey. Plus – and this is hard to see but trust me – the dart leaves a little skull-shaped mark at the point of contact.

    The Black Hood eventually works out how the Skull is doing all this: he has disguised himself as hostess Mrs Sutton and has been shooting the darts out of a blowgun shaped like a cigarette holder. One dunk in an oversized decorative vase later, the case is solved!

    (also please note that the Black Hood is in attendance in costume as himself. It still counts even if this is his first public appearance in costume) 

    After the Black Hood turns the Skull in to the police at the end of his first costumed adventure, his ally the Hermit predicts that they will be unable to hold him, and what do you know but he’s right. The Skull dramatically breaks jail and immediately puts another overly complicated scheme into action. Major Quentin Duff has invented the unspecified-but-presumably-valuable Iota Ray, and the Skull wants it, but is not prepared to do anything so simple as to steal the plans. Instead, he implements a simple three-part plan:

    Step One: ambush Major Duff at his house and murder him just after he hands the Iota Ray plans over to Mrs Duff for safekeeping. 

    Step Two: While Mrs Duff and Barbara Sutton are taking the plans from Washington DC via train, kidnap Duff and gaslight Sutton into believing that she was never there. This requires at least a half-dozen confederates as well as an appearance by the Skull as a Dr van Luks, a backward name so annoying that I audibly groaned when I worked it out.

    Step Three: Once the plan falls apart, just try to murder everyone and take the plans off of Mrs Duff’s body. Please note that this step was an option from the start, and that the theft could have been committed using the Major’s gruesome murder as cover.

    As 1940 draws to a close, the Skull is left shaking his fist after a speeding train as the Black Hood escapes with the plans. We will see him again in 1941!

    SKULL SCORE: A very generous 2/5, considering that this particular Skull isn’t actually missing any facial features. The combination of his emaciated face, sunken eyes and perpetual rictus goes a long way nonetheless. Plus he’s green.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 829: LOBELO

    (Thrilling Comics 008, 1940) 

    Lobelo is a modern day pirate, as you might guess from the splash panel above, and while my strong pro-pirate bias means that he was an easy inclusion in the ranks of the minor super-villain he is also a source of great frustration to me.

     

    First, though, I will note one thing that I really like about Lobelo and that is his array of costumes. Not only does he wear two distinct pirate outfits during the course of the adventure but he wears a separate classic early-1940s suit-cape-and-mask number while he is robbing the Metroploitan Museum in New York. This is clearly a man who loves an outfit – it’s like he’s padding out an action figure line over here.

    My problem with Lobelo is that he goes into piracy because he is the descendant of the famous 16th Century pirate Redhand. He sets up his headquarters on Redhand’s Crossbones Island and he is hunting for Redhand’s treasure with the help of Redhand’s map, which he stole from the museum. So why the heck doesn’t he call himself Redhand, or Redhand II, or something other than his own last name? The gall of it!

    (I’m also somewhat put out that the comic features a costume party and Doc Strange attends in a tuxedo rather than his super-suit. I suppose that Lobelo is attending in (one of) his super-villain outfit(s) at the very least)

    Lobelo has a pretty good run thanks to some poison he feeds Doc Strange at the party having a long-term weakening effect but ultimately comes up against the simple fact that he is a man armed with a sword versus a man who is completely invulnerable to harm and able to powerbomb a battleship. Lobelo is so outmatched here that maybe Doc Strange doesn’t need to kill him like a bear swatting a salmon, and yet he does. So long, Redhand Lobelo.

  • NOTES – JUNE 2025

    NOTES – JUNE 2025

    Letters to the Editor: 

    I rag on Novelty Press and their horrible and possibly fictional readership every chance I get, but I think I need to start presenting the letters they print in their comics so that I have some evidence to back up my grumbling. Here’s Clarence Pool of Seattle Washington advocating for the nice sensible adventures of an Army Air Force cadet who manages to foil a Fifth Column plot ever week over the exploits of a magic robot. (Target Comics v1 011, 1940)

    Skeletons with Jobs: 

    Driver is a job, certainly. Onto the pile! (The Funnies 047, 1940) 

    Honours: 

    Mickey Kelly, sidekick to swashbuckling newsreel cameraman Speed Martin, gets a medal from the French Army for foiling a spy. (The Funnies 048, 1940)

    Two issues later Mickey Riley (they forgot that he already had a last name, it seems) is decorated by the British for saving Gibraltar from the Axis. (The Funnies 050, 1940)

    Heroes Going to Costume Parties as Themselves: 

    Brenda Banks attends the Grand Costume Ball as Lady Luck, in an attempt to save a life. (The Spirit Section, “The Cinderella Murder Case”, 28 July, 1940)

    Mr Mystic also attends a costume party as himself in 1940, and a guy with no secret identity doing this might just be the most baffling thing I’ve read today, and this is the episode in which Mystic’s fiance is seduced by Death. (The Spirit Section, 22 December, 1940)

    Cops Shooting at Fleeing Suspects: 

    Sure, the Spirit has just confessed to a murder he did not commit for complicated reasons, but forgive me if I don’t agree with Mayor Aldrich here that that means that Commissioner Dolan has free license to shoot him in the back. (The Spirit “Eldas Thayer”, 21 July, 1940) 

    Interior Decoration: 

    This child’s ducky bed is just barely charming and not eerie. (The Spirit Section, 1 December, 1940) 

  • NOTES – JUNE 2025

    NOTES – JUNE 2025

    Letters to the Editor: 

    I rag on Novelty Press and their horrible and possibly fictional readership every chance I get, but I think I need to start presenting the letters they print in their comics so that I have some evidence to back up my grumbling. Here’s Clarence Pool of Seattle Washington advocating for the nice sensible adventures of an Army Air Force cadet who manages to foil a Fifth Column plot ever week over the exploits of a magic robot. (Target Comics v1 011, 1940)

    Skeletons with Jobs: 

    Driver is a job, certainly. Onto the pile! (The Funnies 047, 1940) 

    Honours: 

    Mickey Kelly, sidekick to swashbuckling newsreel cameraman Speed Martin, gets a medal from the French Army for foiling a spy. (The Funnies 048, 1940)

    Two issues later Mickey Riley (they forgot that he already had a last name, it seems) is decorated by the British for saving Gibraltar from the Axis. (The Funnies 050, 1940)

    Heroes Going to Costume Parties as Themselves: 

    Brenda Banks attends the Grand Costume Ball as Lady Luck, in an attempt to save a life. (The Spirit Section, “The Cinderella Murder Case”, 28 July, 1940)

    Mr Mystic also attends a costume party as himself in 1940, and a guy with no secret identity doing this might just be the most baffling thing I’ve read today, and this is the episode in which Mystic’s fiance is seduced by Death. (The Spirit Section, 22 December, 1940)

    Cops Shooting at Fleeing Suspects: 

    Sure, the Spirit has just confessed to a murder he did not commit for complicated reasons, but forgive me if I don’t agree with Mayor Aldrich here that that means that Commissioner Dolan has free license to shoot him in the back. (The Spirit “Eldas Thayer”, 21 July, 1940) 

    Interior Decoration: 

    This child’s ducky bed is just barely charming and not eerie. (The Spirit Section, 1 December, 1940) 

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 752: CADAVA

    (Smash Comics 015, 1940)

    As we meet Cadava, he is all dressed up and off to attend a costume party, with some pretty harsh words and feeling for humanity in general and a lady named Diane in particular – seems that he has been shunned and rejected after some sort of accident. Also his little friend Soo Choo is there.

    Also in attendance – in his super-hero costume, no less! –  is the Ray, and luckily for Diane he is a naturally nosy guy. He sees the knight kidnapping her while creeping on random conversations (I assume) and while he doesn’t quite manage to prevent it, he is now on the case.

    Back in Cadava’s sewer lair, he reveals his identity to Diane, causing her to faint and effectively removing her from the story. This is a real shame, because Diane was really our major potential source of information on Cadava’s whole deal. Is he a man who has been so hurt by circumstance and an uncaring world that he is lashing out like the Ugliest Man in the World, or was he always just a jerk? Regardless, I think that we can all agree that his decision to smash up what is probably NYC with some sort of earthquake ray is an unnecessary escalation.

    Cadava and Soo Choo manage to put in a pretty good showing against the Ray, considering the fact that they are two regular guys facing off against a man made of light, but ultimately he just up and drowns them both. He who lives by the sewer dies by the sewer, as they say.

  • MINOR SUPER-HERO 050: THE BLUE BLAZE

    (Mystic Comics v1 001, 1940)

    Spencer Keen AKA the Blue Blaze is an interesting character. His origin for example has a couple of classic elements that were not yet classic at the time because it was 1940. Or rather it was 1852 because Spencer Keen is from the Past.

    Costume: like Barbara Gordon twenty-odd years later, the reason that the Blue Blaze has a super-suit ready to go is that he was on the way to a costume party when his origin happened.

    Origin: while the Blue Blaze is possibly the earliest super-hero to have the costume party outfit origin (and a cursory search turns up Miss Fury as the only other contender), the origin of his powers was probably already a cliche in the pulps. My Science Dad Made a Thing and I Got Powers From It has to be one of the all-time most common origins (particularly once Science Moms start getting equal representation) – heck, you could probably include Superman’s origin in that category if you were feeling puckish.

    Spencer Keen’s Science Dad discovered a weird blue flame that killed whatever it touched, only for them to come back stronger after some time had passed. For slightly unclear reasons he had resolved to destroy this blue blaze (the name of the guy! that’s where it’s from!) but before he could do so a tornado ripped through the area. Spencer Keen was seemingly killed buy in actuality was blasted with blue flame.

    (the tornado also ties into the origin of the Blue Blaze’s costume, by the way. It killed so many people that they were all buried as quickly as possible, meaning that Keen went into the ground in fancy dress)

    Spencer Keen hibernates in his coffin for 88 years, then emerges as the Blue Blaze when he is disturbed by graverobbers working for Professor Maluski. As the Blue Blaze, Keen is generically physically and mentally enhanced and invulnerable to small arms. He also has some degree of telepathic power – he passively absorbs knowledge about the world while in hibernation and has some sort of sense of where and when danger is afoot. Initially, the Blue Blaze operated as a regular-style super-hero with a secret lair, a laboratory and a cool car, but his last adventure introduced the very cool concept of him returning to the grave once he had dispensed justice upon some fools and then reemerging in a new location when he is needed once again.

    I am honestly surprised that the Blue Blaze hasn’t been BRUNG BACK in some capacity yet. Not only is he conceptually interesting with his whole “emerge from the grave to smite evil” gimmick but he’s preloaded with an interesting state of being: a completely knowledgeable and up-to-date human whose social development stopped when he was early 20s at latest, in the 1850s. Rife with potential!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 279: THE CAT’S PAW

    (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 018-020, 1941)

    The Cat’s Paw gets a pretty classic intro: Dr Lin, the Angel’s old mentor and friend who was introduced in the previous issue, is ruthlessly murdered via high-speed application of poisoned dart. The Angel give chase, but fails to make the bust.

    The next day we see some of the Cat’s Paw’s scheme begin to emerge. She’s killing industrialists for some reason. But why?

    Here’s our first look at the villain in question, because I chose some odd images to clip. A couple of things about her stand out:

    -she’s our first example (if not necessarily Marvel’s first example – they’ve got a half-dozen other titles at this point) of a few things in a Marvel comic: a female super-villain, a proper costumed crook, themed weaponry in the form of a cat-claw launcher, and, kind of, a recurring villain.

    -on that last point: not really. Though the Cat’s Paw does appear in three issues worth of  Angel comics, it’s all one story, just decompressed a bit.

    -it is of course notable that she looks a bit like 90s Catwoman

    -most importantly: in the above image both the Cat’s Paw and the Angel are attending a costume party as themselves! A twofer! 

    Eventually, the Angel tracks the Cat’s Paw down to her HQ in one of the dozens of deserted castles that litter the mountains a short drive from NYC in any given comic book universe.

    Now for the disappointing news: the reason that the Cat’s Paw was killing all of those industrialists is that she was acting as a… catspaw for the Nazis in their bid to weaken US support for Britain (and here once more I must note that Marvel was really leading the pack on making Nazi villains for-real Nazis well before Pearl Harbor). She does rediscover her patriotism once her Nazi handler tries to bump her off, which is better than nothing, I suppose. 

    Here’s where I’d normally be decrying the comic for killing her off at the end, pointing out how ambiguous the “guess we’ll never find the corpse, oh well” nature of her death is, and call for her to be brung back as a legacy villain, but the Nazi collaboration is really sticking in my craw. Honestly if she hadn’t walked it back at the end I’d be all for the Cat’s Paw showing up as an Axis agent in period pieces going forward but as-is I reckon she can lie fallow.