The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: terrorist

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 550: THE NUMBERS

    (Smash Comics 004, 1939)

    The real heyday of the capital-a Anarchist as societal boogeyman was in the 1920s by my reckoning and so you don’t get them in anything like the numbers of pseudo-Nazis and Yellow Perils in the comics of the 1930s, and then of course in the 1940s you get your Axis villains, followed by your dastardly Commies and this is all to say that I enjoy these fellows for their novelty if nothing else.

    As for their specifics, well, they’re anarchists, aren’t they? Anarchists are devoted to the goals of blowing up infrastructure for no stated ideological reason other than unquestioning loyalty the their leader, right? Because that’s what these guys do and so they’re anarchists and they’re anarchists so that’s what they do. Simple.

    Anyway, they manage to get themselves infiltrated by not one but two undercover operatives from Scotland Yard, because the anonymity of the hooded robe is a fickle mistress, particularly if you’re always gathered in a big clump in a previously-established location.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 550: THE NUMBERS

    (Smash Comics 004, 1939)

    The real heyday of the capital-a Anarchist as societal boogeyman was in the 1920s by my reckoning and so you don’t get them in anything like the numbers of pseudo-Nazis and Yellow Perils in the comics of the 1930s, and then of course in the 1940s you get your Axis villains, followed by your dastardly Commies and this is all to say that I enjoy these fellows for their novelty if nothing else.

    As for their specifics, well, they’re anarchists, aren’t they? Anarchists are devoted to the goals of blowing up infrastructure for no stated ideological reason other than unquestioning loyalty the their leader, right? Because that’s what these guys do and so they’re anarchists and they’re anarchists so that’s what they do. Simple.

    Anyway, they manage to get themselves infiltrated by not one but two undercover operatives from Scotland Yard, because the anonymity of the hooded robe is a fickle mistress, particularly if you’re always gathered in a big clump in a previously-established location.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 522: THE NIGHT RIDERS

    (Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940) 

    There are plenty of Ku Klux Klan- inspired groups in comics and thusfar we’ve encountered a few: the Blue Devils, the Horned Masks, even the Purple‘s gang of idiots. All of those examples share one thing: they’re just gangs that operate in the country using the intimidation tactics of the KKK but without the goals of reinforcing white supremacy – they’re just regular comic book gangs, only in the country.

    There’s a part of me that wants to say that the Night Riders are closer to being the KKK than the rest of these groups but if I’m honest that’s because they have no clear goals – they just go around the countryside abducting, beating and killing people for getting into their business without any clear indication of what that business is. It could just as easily be organized insurance fraud as domestic racial terrorism, because the real reason the Night Riders are doing all this is so that they can beat up newspaper photographer Paul Patton and inspire him to become the Fox.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 483: THE WEB

    (Big 3 004, 1941)

    As a Blue Beetle villain, the Web of course wants nothing more than to take over NYC York City and is particularly ruthless in his pursuit of that goal. He attacks essential services like power and water in order to sow confusion, while also attacking targets such as orphanages to spread terror.

    The Web also has an… intense relationship with his underlings. They seem to be some sort of BDSM cult? For lack of better terminology?

    The Web is definitely getting off on this. I dunno about the rest of these guys – they might be brainwashed? They reflexively chant “I obey, Web!” and “the Web is great!” at every opportunity and have no substantive reaction to being beaten and abused – at the very least it constitutes henchman abuse.

    But having a crack team of submissives will only take you so far and in a final pitched battle with the Blue Beetle the Web does a header onto a bomb and subsequently explodes to death. Presumably his henchmen needed a lot of therapy afterward. Unless it was consensual, of course.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 483: THE WEB

    (Big 3 004, 1941)

    As a Blue Beetle villain, the Web of course wants nothing more than to take over NYC York City and is particularly ruthless in his pursuit of that goal. He attacks essential services like power and water in order to sow confusion, while also attacking targets such as orphanages to spread terror.

    The Web also has an… intense relationship with his underlings. They seem to be some sort of BDSM cult? For lack of better terminology?

    The Web is definitely getting off on this. I dunno about the rest of these guys – they might be brainwashed? They reflexively chant “I obey, Web!” and “the Web is great!” at every opportunity and have no substantive reaction to being beaten and abused – at the very least it constitutes henchman abuse.

    But having a crack team of submissives will only take you so far and in a final pitched battle with the Blue Beetle the Web does a header onto a bomb and subsequently explodes to death. Presumably his henchmen needed a lot of therapy afterward. Unless it was consensual, of course.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 364: THE BLACK DRAGON SOCIETY

    (Master Comics 021, 1941)

    The Black Dragon Society is nothing new: a bog standard Yellow Peril spy and sabotage ring that has a couple of weeks of success before being trounced by Minute-Man.

    The one interesting thing about them is that they were based on an actual Japanese secret society that was still extant at the time the comic was published. Despite the fact that the story is just as disseminating as pre-Pearl Harbor comics usually are about the exact country of origin of the Society, the fact is that this is our first Japanese super-villain, even if it’s a bunch of spies and even if it’s a technicality. History!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 364: THE BLACK DRAGON SOCIETY

    (Master Comics 021, 1941)

    The Black Dragon Society is nothing new: a bog standard Yellow Peril spy and sabotage ring that has a couple of weeks of success before being trounced by Minute-Man.

    The one interesting thing about them is that they were based on an actual Japanese secret society that was still extant at the time the comic was published. Despite the fact that the story is just as disseminating as pre-Pearl Harbor comics usually are about the exact country of origin of the Society, the fact is that this is our first Japanese super-villain, even if it’s a bunch of spies and even if it’s a technicality. History!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 295: RED SKULL II

    (Captain America Comics 001 & 003, 1941)

    When I started this here blog I tried to put a little bit of thought into the tagging system, and specifically tried to work out how to deal with the fact that a lot of super-villain types have the same names. The solution I came up with is that everyone named, say, the Skull gets the same tag but legacy characters who are adopting a specific persona that another has used get appended with Roman numerals (skull II, Skull III, etc). And here I am breaking that rule the very first time I have the chance.

    Well, kind of. See, this is the original Red Skull so far as appearance in print is concerned. About 4 issues after he dies in his second appearance, the Red Skull returns, but a different Red Skull. This second Skull is the one that continues to appear to this day and the fellow I’m writing about here has been retroactively relegated to the status of Regional Franchise Red Skull. It’s all about not having to bother typing that extra ‘II’ in the tags for the next 80 years worth of appearances, honestly.

    So: the Red Skull (II)! Pretty much the perfect Nazi creep villain complete with a red skull calling card, taunting notes and a gimmick wherein he convinces his victims that he is killing them with his stare when in fact he is sneakily injecting them with poison. Why does he do this? For his own Nazi creep pleasure I guess.

    And just who is this retroactive knockoff? Why, it’s none other than George Maxon, aircraft manufacturer, who sold out the US to Hitler for the promise of high office. Boo this man!

    Maxon seemingly kills himself with his own syringe at the end of his first appearance and his body is shown being examined by the FBI afterward, they evidently just… left him to rot in his secret lair? Which works out pretty well for him, to be honest, since like any good poison-user he is immune to his own weapon.

    This time around, the Skull goes for a touch of death rather than a gaze, which involves a) an electrified costume and b) getting punched in the face a bunch. He seems to enjoy it, so I guess winning is worth a sock in the jaw to him.

    This second adventure sees this Red Skull’s greatest triumph as he steals the designs for a drilling vehicle and uses it to smash up part of NYC in one of those huge cataclysms that happened so often in the 40s. Marvel Universe New York must be simply awash in commemorative plaques detailing them all.

    Unfortunately for George Maxon and his super-villain legacy, this issue also sees his lowest moment, as he mistakes a couple of con artists for the real Captain America and Bucky despite one million signs that they aren’t. Frankly getting blown up with a round bomb a few pages later must have been a bit of a relief from the embarrassment of it all.

    (Maxon also shows up in Young Allies 001 the same year but it’s a weird appearance that has since been retconned pretty thoroughly for good reasons but in a way that has caused me a lot of annoyance when reading fan wikis. An ignominious end to be sure)

    SKULL SCORE: It’s just the eyes, which merits a healthy score of 4! Minus one point for being a mask makes the total come to 3.