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Category: dead

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 170: THE BLACK SPIDER

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 170: THE BLACK SPIDER

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(Bulletman 001, 1941) What makes them a super-villain? The Black Spider is Jules Rey, a French crook who got caught in NYC and shipped back to France, where he was thrown in a dungeon, went blind, befriended the spiders in his cell and escaped. Now he’s back for revenge on those he blames for his circumstances, including Jim “Bulletman” Barr and his coworker and future father-in-law Sergeant Kent. Plus he dresses in a kind of low-rent Batman costume. What is…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 168: DR KRUG

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 168: DR KRUG

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(Blue Beetle Comics 008, 1941) Dr Krug! I cannot tell you his motives, because he never goes into them! Dr Krug! He wants to destroy NYC York City , and he’s going to do it with gorillas! Dr Krug! Specifically, explosive gorillas! Dr Krug! That’s really all there is to the guy. He somehow figured out how to make time-bombs out of gorillas and went from there. As far as I can tell from the action of the story his plan is…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 167: ARMO

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 167: ARMO

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(Blue Beetle v1 007, 1941) What makes them a super-villain? It’s the helmet! That kind of welder’s mask-looking helm is the key to my super-villain-appreciating heart. Otherwise, Armo is a gang boss who robs armoured cars and ends up launching himself into the sea while trying to run down the Blue Beetle. Honestly, Blue Beetle antagonists in this era are almost all guys in suits wearing masks but otherwise acting like standard gang bosses. If I didn’t include the filter…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 166: LUGO, THE HARPIE OF HORROR

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 166: LUGO, THE HARPIE OF HORROR

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(Blue Beetle Comics 006, 1941) I skip a lot of generic villains from the non-Marvel or DC families of comics, because everyone existing together in a big shared world is the thing about comics that makes me get out my spreadsheets and my extensive tagging system. A guy like Lugo, though, demands at least a little attention. One thing to know about him off the bat is: he’s an underwater guy. This happens a lot in comics starring underwater heroes…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 165: THE EEL

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 165: THE EEL

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(Blue Beetle v1 006, 1941) What makes them a super-villain? I’ll be honest. The Eel’s initial plot – take over NYC York City ‘s shipping industry in order to starve and thereby ransom the city – was, while ambitious, a bit old hat and I was going to write him off as another jagoff gang boss with a decent moniker. But then! He reveals his Room of Horrors(!) where he pickles his enemies alive(!!), and, well, how could I not?

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 161: THE BLACK WITCH

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 161: THE BLACK WITCH

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(Batman Comics v1 005, 1941) Batman and Robin’s first interdimensional jaunt took them to Fairyland, where they were tasked with rescuing the daughter of one Professor Anderson, who it seems he was using as a test subject for his narrative-dimensional travel device? There they face off against sundry giants and dragons and so forth before confronting the top evildoer of the realm: the Black Witch. One could argue that a villain whose existence is defined by peasant morality tales that…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 160: THE FOUR CARDS

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 160: THE FOUR CARDS

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(Batman Comics 005, 1941) A while ago I decided that groups were going to go into my lists (and charts and graphs) of super-villains. After all, if I was willing to accord one fellow who went around as the Masked Bandit, why should I spurn four guys who do exactly the same, only pluralized? Accordingly, masked gangs get as much credit as masked crooks, if they fulfil enough other criteria. The Four Cards, however, introduce a new wrinkle. Simply put: if…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 157: THE WIZARD

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 157: THE WIZARD

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(All-Star Comics 003, 1940) This is the kind of super-villain that you see magical heroes taking on a lot more often than other types: the preemptive striker. The likely cause of this is the status of so many magical heroes as the de facto head of Earth’s magical security, someone that a bad actor can take out and then be free to act with impunity. What’s interesting about this super-villain? The thing that appeals to me about this guy, who is primarily…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 155: MAZDA THE GREAT

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 155: MAZDA THE GREAT

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(All-Star Comics 003, 1940) Much of the information that we have on Mazda the Great comes from the mouth of one of his dying henchmen at the end of the story, but what reason would he have to lie? According to this man, Mazda was a scientist (I assume a vulcanologist. An enormous one!) who developed both technology to control/ redirect the energies of a volcano and also volcano-proof suits. Thus equipped, he set up shop in the crater of…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 154: THE YELLOW-FACED TERROR

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 154: THE YELLOW-FACED TERROR

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(All-Star Comics 002, 1940) What makes them a super-villain? He’s a money-mad maniac who murdered his own brother to steal a radiation-orb called the Life-Taker, which he uses to rob by the simple act of lobbing it into an area and waiting until it has killed any resistance. He also has a pretty great look, achieved via a crust of a sulphur/lead compound which shields him from his own orb’s radiations. What he doesn’t really have is a name, so I…

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