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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 869: THE BLACK KNIGHT

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 869: THE BLACK KNIGHT

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(Zip Comics 001, 1940) Shortly after giving himself super powers, Steel Sterling gets word of a brutal bank robbery in the town of Beeville and sets out to bring the culprits to justice. Determining that the crooks must have been guided by a mastermind of some sort, he trails their plane to a mountaintop fortress. The bow-wielding guards outside the Black Knight’s fortress (spoiler: it’s the Black Knight’s fortress, but what were you expecting) are notable for being the one…

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PROBLEMATIC ROUND-UP 006

PROBLEMATIC ROUND-UP 006

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Every time I relax, another one emerges from the shrubbery. And what’s depressing is the fact that they will continue emerging at a more or less steady rate for the entire history of comics. Here’s the latest batch of Problematic Characters. the Voodoo Man:  When Dr Bob Warren heads to Haiti to practice medicine and “investigate voodoo”, he comes into conflict with the Voodoo Man, a zombie-raising, curse-spouting, doll-pinning collection of every voodoo trope and stereotype. As compared to other headlining…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 866: THE SCAR

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 866: THE SCAR

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(Wonderworld Comics 014, 1940) The Scar is a fairly ordinary crypto-fascist spy chief – in his first appearance he is leading a gang of incompetents in a plot to blow up a Europe-bound supply ship, for example – but I’ll be danged if he isn’t well suited to his nickname. Most guys named Scar in 1940s comics are maybe rocking one big facial scar, while our friend here not only has three, but is missing at least one ear! Whatever happened…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 864: THE BLOODY BARON

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 864: THE BLOODY BARON

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(Wonderworld Comics 010, 1940) The Bloody Baron was once Karek, Baron of the Duchy of Morziava, somewhere in the spooky part of Eastern Europe. Nine Hundred plus years ago he went off to war and came back a woman-killing creep and so his people burned him at the stake. Ever since, he’s been rising from the dead and carrying off a woman per year – that’s at least eight hundred women as of the story we’re talking about! Yarko the…

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DIVINE ROUND-UP 015

DIVINE ROUND-UP 015

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Hate and deception abound in this batch of deities. Wangwa, God of Hate:  Wangwa, God of Hate is the personal god of Okoro, medicine man of the Blancas and enemy of Doctor Voodoo. I’ve never decided if the Evil Medicine Man trope is mere condescension toward native spiritual practices or a porting over of the Evil Vizier archetype to jungle comics, and in all honesty it’s probably both. Anyway, Okoro fits the mould to a T and he worships the…

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GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 028

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 028

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Scoundrels! Mid-tier scoundrels!  Simon Rudd loves games and gambling and taking chances, and somehow that has led him to a South Pacific island where he wears a full tuxedo and bosses around a local tribe all day. When ocean adventurer Lance O’Casey and his companions wash up on his shores, Rudd engages in a little Most Dangerous Game action with them, presumably out of sheer boredom. This being a Lance O’Casey story, his ultimate fate is to be socked in…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 861: EMPEROR CORON

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 861: EMPEROR CORON

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(Whirlwind Comics 003, 1940) Earth in the far-off future of 1980 CE simply can’t catch a break! This time they’re being pelted with comets from somewhere in the vicinity of Jupiter and as per usual scientist-adventurer Bruce Barlow is on the case. And he’s a good choice, as evidenced by the fact that even when he has a rocket mishap and ends up going entirely the wrong way, crashing on Venus… … he still finds the source of the comets! This is…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 859: TOKO THE TERRIBLE

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 859: TOKO THE TERRIBLE

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(Whirlwind Comics 001, 1940) In the far future of 1980 CE, Earth is under threat of conquest from space. A mysterious ray has dissolved the nation of Slovania, and now a being called Toko the Terrible, Emperor of Saturn has issued an ultimatum: surrender to him or the entire Earth will suffer the same fate. This of course will not stand, and Earth sends their best guy (Bruce Barlow), to deal with the threat of Toko. Barlow, being a man…

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MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 020

MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 020

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If I’ve learned one thing from comics it’s to never turn your back on a scientist.  Henry Falcon is one of a trio of scientists, along with John Robin and John Sparrow, who have been made the beneficiaries of the whimsical will of millionaire Mortimer Bird. This is of course one of those special murder mystery wills in which the payout increases for any survivors as fellow inheritors are killed off, and Henry Falcon is all about getting that money…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 848: DR HSIN

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 848: DR HSIN

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(Weird Comics 005, 1940)  There are exactly two reasons why I gave Dr Hsin his own entry rather than sticking him in the next Mad and Criminal Scientist Round-Up, and the first one is his creation/henchman Mako, aka the Perfect Man. I just can’t resist a man with a tube coming out of his head, especially when that man is some sort of cyborg frankenstein. The second reason is that Hsin’s plan – to steal the blood from hundreds of…

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