The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: crossdress

  • MINOR SUPER-HEROES 007-014: AMAZING-MAN COMICS ROUNDUP 1939

    (Amazing-Man Comics 005-026, 1939-1942)

    All the ephemeral Golden Age heroes who stalked the pages of Amazing-Man Comics:

    The Iron Skull! I love him. His origin and so forth is doled out after a few issues so initially you don’t know that he is a cyborg war casualty in the far future world of 1970. The most important things are there from the start, though: his huge anime eyes and the fact that every bullet or attack made against him unerringly hit him in his invulnerable head.

    SKULL SCORE: 2/5 Not very skully but he gets a point for the lack of nose.

    Minimidget: Just a super-small guy with a problematic name. He and his galpal Ritty were shrunk and employed as henchmen by a pervert scientist before redeeming themselves via acts of public service. 

    Chuck Hardy: Chuck and Jerry, a couple of deep sea divers, end up in the subterranean land of Aquatania, beneath the Marquesas Islands. They turn out to be super-strong there for murkily-explained reasons and have adventures with the monstrous flora and fauna and the various near-human races. The best part is absolutely the little lobster antennae that all of the various types of Aquatanians have.

    Mighty Man is a huge dude who is the last descendant of folk who settled in a valley where everything is huge. After murdering a bunch of evil cowboys, he emerges from his valley to fight crime. Eventually he gets the power to change size.

    UPDATE 1940

    The Shark! A water-based hero who can talk to sea life and must hit the water regularly, which is about standard for water guys!

    ADDENDUM: Later on he meets his father Neptune and his adventures turn into father/son outings, which rules.

    UPDATE 1940

    Magician from Mars: Not only is Jane 6em35 an Earthian/Martian hybrid from an unspecified future, and not only was she accidentally irradiated as a baby in a way that activated a lot of vague superpowers (including flight, super-strength and a seemingly complete control over matter) but she is a practical and morally flexible hero who takes advantage of the chaos surrounding a rocket crash to make off with $3 million in gold before saving the day. Very fun. Plus: jodhpurs!

    The Cat Man: a very marginal entry on this list. In his first appearance, he develops his signature technique of dressing like an old lady and having his trained cat scratch people with poisoned claws to murder three former criminal confederates, which isn’t particularly heroic? His second appearance is in more of a vigilante role as he murders a gang of wanted men. How could I not include this loveable murderous scamp, really?

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 090: THE SPIDER

    (Detective Comics 036, 1940)

    The Spider, a notorious jewel thief, is in reality nightclub owner Durand. But Durand is in reality (shocked gasp) suburbanite Roberta Roberts!

    While the original thought process behind the character was likely no more complex than “I bet it would be fun to draw a lady in a bra and false mustache,” a few different narrative jump to the modern mind, the first being that Durand/ the Spider is the true identity of a trans man, with Roberta Roberts being maintained as a convenient cover story. Or perhaps Roberta simply has to adopt these male identities (including, it is mildly implied, a fictional husband) in order to succeed in the worlds of business and crime. Either version of this story could be pretty great in the hands of the right writer. BRING BACK the Spider, I say.

    I also find myself shipping two characters for maybe the first time ever? Speed Saunders is a rare Golden Age lawman character with a presence in (somewhat) modern comics, having been made cousin to the original Hawkgirl and grandfather to the 2000s version of same. There’s a non-zero if very low chance of him showing up in flashbacks to the 40s and 50s and I keep picturing him introducing “my associate, Durand” to people and thinking that it’s adorable. Is this what all the people on Tumblr see in making fictional characters kiss in their minds?

  • 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 gang out of a house that is technically owned by her niece, which is how the Blue Beetle gets involved, helping the damsel who is being run out of her home by dastards.

  • 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 gang out of a house that is technically owned by her niece, which is how the Blue Beetle gets involved, helping the damsel who is being run out of her home by dastards.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 069: THE COIN

     (Adventure Comics 046, 1940)

    The Coin is a few different super-villain clichés rolled into one. Firstly he’s an old college chum of Wesley “Sandman” Dodds, and “old schoolmate of hero turns out to be villain” is as much a recurring thing in comics as an old friend showing up and immediately dying. Which the Coin also does.

    Finally, the Coin is a man who dresses up as an old lady to do crime, which is a super-villain bit and also something that regular-style crooks are apt to do in the Golden and Silver Ages. Old women are such unlikely villains that everyone else poses as them – even Catwoman, in her first appearance.

    Anyway, he’s a counterfeiter.