(Captain Battle Comics 002, 1941) The Sisters of Fear, a trio of witches who either are the Three Witches of “Macbeth” fame or who take a lot of inspiration from them, have a new scheme: to create a horrible creature to spread death and destruction across the face of the Earth. As part of the prep for this task they gather together all of their fiendish allies, the Demons of Land, Sea and Air, and I must commend them on being a…
(Silver Streak Comics 017, 1941) With Dr Dracula, Captain Battle has now faced four Nazi or Nazi-adjacent villains in a row whose plans involve gathering up a bunch of guys and pretending to be monsters, in this case vampires. Was there a meeting about this at the regional Nazi spy headquarters or is this one of those things like when Hollywood makes two volcano movies at the same time? Maybe one guy had a good idea and the other three…
(Silver Streak Comics 016, 1941) Professor Markusyi, the music teacher in question, is a man who is never seen at night and who *refuses* to go out at night, much to the amusement and consternation of those around him. There are plenty of reasons why one might not want to go out at night (nyctophobia, love of an early bedtime, a jealous spouse, etc) but only a few of them are worthy of being the focus of a comic book…
(Silver Streak Comics 014, 1941) After his initial defeat at the hands of Thun-Dohr, the villainous Sin Khaii is on the lookout for an ally in his war on humanity and he finds one in the pages of a tome called the Book of the Dead, and presumably it’s the Egyptian Book of the Dead because the candidate he lines up is called the Black Pharaoh, the only Pharaoh evil enough that he was cursed and sealed up in a pyramid to…
Criminals! Unnamed Gambler: Not much is revealed about this fellow, but what we do know for sure is that he has access to a super strength drink and that he has been using it to clean up on gambling by slipping it to boxers and race horses with long odds. He also relies on the potion to help him escape from the cops, which backfires on him because Presto Martin, having taken the place of one of the boxers, is…
(Silver Streak Comics 011, 1941) For the third issue in a row, a souped up super-plane takes to the skies of probably-California to menace law-abiding aviators. The Ripper, like the Heater before it, is a vehicle with a singular name being run by a group, which is a mildly interesting taxonomic trend that unfortunately does not continue to occur. Where the Wingers and the Heater were armed with sci-fi ray cannons, the Ripper relies on a comparatively low-tech blade that…
(Silver Streak Comics 010, 1941) Having so recently weathered the cold-based threat of the Wingers, the US aviation community is now faced with another elemental enemy in the form of the Heater, a mysterious plane that is attacking aircraft with a heat ray. Cloud Curtis, self-appointed defender of the airways, is of course keenly interested in this development. Unlike the Wingers, the Heater’s motivations are never explored. They could be spies, territorial smugglers, extortionists like their predecessors, any number of…
(Silver Streak Comics 010, 1941) The Beau is a piratical figure who uses his uncanny resemblance to the heroic Pirate Prince to take over the latter’s ship and make off with all the treasure he had gathered in order to buy slaves and set them free. Although his motivation seems to be 100% loot and 0% perpetuation of slavery I suppose that we must consider the impact of his theft on others and give him a few more Evil Points for…
Look anywhere and you won’t find finer minor super-heroes. That’s our guarantee! Dickie Dean, Boy Inventor **UPDATE**: Dickie Dean, Boy Inventor, continues to live up to his moniker and churn out the boy inventions in 1941. Some highlights: – several different models of remote controlled robot – an autopilot for ships -a code-breaking machine – a device for viewing the past – force rays – a drilling machine – a rope that is attracted to hair – indestructible metal –…
(Silver Streak Comics 009, 1941) The High One is a fascist spy chief cum mad scientist who has been using an advanced poison to wage a surprisingly successful campaign to kill of the upper echelons of the US government. This has brought him into conflict with Bart Benson, aka Secret Agent X-101, who is soon captured by the High One’s agents and bundled off to his HQ in the small town of Newburgh to be gloated at and then executed. Though the…