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Category: dead

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 150: BELDAME GAFFY & TRYGG

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 150: BELDAME GAFFY & TRYGG

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(All-Star Comics 001, 1940) A couple of magic users, Beldame Gaffy (curse-caster) and Trygg (necromancer) team up to steal the lands that rightfully belong to Trygg’s niece and nephew so that he could get rich via a zombie-staffed mining operation. Things go well until Hawkman shows up to explode them to death. Also, these are the first (only?) Welsh super-villains we have (will ever?) encountered! Ordinarily in a two-person set-up like this I would designate one as the boss and…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 147: THE LEADER

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 147: THE LEADER

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(All American Comics 025, 1941) A masked man running a gang of saboteurs to ruin production of war goods as a US steel plant in the name of a vague Cause – at this time most likely fascism – is pretty run-of-the-mill for 1941, but it turns out that the Leader’s real scheme is to drive down the steel mill’s stock price so that he can gain a controlling interest and make big bucks! He’s just duping the fascists-or-maybe-anarchists-or-communists into doing…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 143: THE CAMERA EYE

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 143: THE CAMERA EYE

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(Adventure 066, 1941) Mr Cuthbert Cain, the Camera Eye (and I call him that because it’s what he himself signs on an ominous note – at various points in the story he is called the Camera Fiend and the Camera Criminal) is part of a long tradition of super-villains who take a recent technological or cultural trend and extrapolate it into a criminal gimmick – in this case, candid photography. Using black magic and photographic equipment, Cain captures souls and…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 134: THE GHOST

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 134: THE GHOST

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(Action Comics v1 039, 1941) The Ghost is one of Superman’s earliest superpowered foes, being Brett Bryson, a chemist who was accidentally irradiated while conducting an experiment and, having found himself with both a burning radium touch and a short time left to live, set out to steal enough in the time he had left to provide for his family once he was finally gone. But there is a twist to the Ghost’s story! The lab accident? Planned by Bryson’s…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 133: THE BIG BOSS

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 133: THE BIG BOSS

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(Action Comics v1 037) Just a society playboy who puts on a mask to run his crooked casino empire. He might just be my new example of the bare minimum that I need to consider someone a super-villain – nobody is even surprised when his identity is revealed, but he has the barest film of anonymity along with a secret boat dock and a moderately cool name. Also he gets hit by a boat.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 131: THE ADDER

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 131: THE ADDER

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(Action Comics v1 035, 1941) Yet another spy encountered by Clip Carson, the Adder was interested in blowing up the Panama Canal for unclear reasons. Much more interestingly, he took his name from a snake-shaped ring which both fatally poisoned those he punched with it and left a cool snake mark on the spot he hit, and evidently he used it enough that his men spoke of him in hushed terms as “the Child of Death,” which is an amazing…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 129: MISTER Z

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 129: MISTER Z

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(Action Comics v1 032-033, 1941) Mister Z is actually plantation owner Grasso, who is actually X-11, notorious agent of a “hostile government” whose schemes are placed in jeopardy when a mineral deposit is discovered near his hideout in Colombia. His efforts to shut down the incipient mining operations bring in adventurer Clip Carson but he meets his actual end when he’s gunned down by a young boy whose father he had killed.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 128: THE ANT QUEEN

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 128: THE ANT QUEEN

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(Slam-Bang Comics 006, 1940)  If there’s one thing that leavens my disdain for jungle comics, it’s that there are some real fun villain tropes in ’em, and one of the best is “human raised by animals who disdains civilization”, and the Ant Queen is one of the most fun She was raised by giant ants! That’s so great! She controls them with her lil antennae! I love her! I mean I guess you could look at the “traitor to your…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 127: THE SKY DEMON

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 127: THE SKY DEMON

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(Slam-Bang Comics 006, 1940)  The Sky Demon is a heretofore-unseen old enemy of Diamond Jack who starts strong with an overall Satanic look and a little skull on the front of his trunks – just the right amount of accessorizing to make a pretty basic super-outfit pop. I also love his plot to conquer Earth and/or wipe out humanity: get some gorillas, give them wings and revolvers and let them loose. I can’t say whether or not his plan would…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 125: THE GORILLA MAN

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 125: THE GORILLA MAN

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(Slam-Bang Comics 005, 1940)  A jewel thief who dresses up in a gorilla costume to commit crimes, what really stands out about the Gorilla Man is that he does so for no real reason? He just likes it? Hell, if anything it makes him more likely to get caught since he has pulled this sort of job before and the gorilla costume is a bit of an attention getter. Is it reasonable to call this fictional character from more than…

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