The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: master of disguise

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 548: MADAME DOOM

    (Smash Comics 004, 1939)

    We will be seeing more of Madame Doom, as she is Black X’s only real recurring foe (I think), but as far as 1939 goes she made one appearance and this is it. 

    Madame Doom, a freelance spy, is working for “the dictators” in an attempt to steal US defense plans and prevent the signing of a pretty vague treaty that acts as a deus ex machina reason for war not to have broken out yet (war with the US, that is).

    In this first appearance Madam Doom is a very by-the-book Will Eisner femme fatale: a ruthless lady with the hots for the hero (reciprocated).

    Black X doesn’t quite let her go on purpose but he certainly doesn’t try very hard to catch her. This is a mistake! The bloom definitely wears off the rose in this relationship later on.

    UPDATE: Madame Doom 1940

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 234: THE WITCH

    (Flash Comics v1 005, 1940) 

    Long-running foe/ally/love interest of Golden Age master of disguise the King (or King Standish, if you want to go by his full name), the Witch probably deserves a more thorough examination than I’m going to give her, but the fact is that though she is a good character and an admirable foil to the King, the King himself is a bit dull. Sorry, Witchie.

    I will say that the New Orleans-set King story in World’s Finest 002, in which the Witch is revealed to be a descendent of pirate Jean Lafitte and that her father was actually a crook who had kidnapped her as a baby to spite a different crook and in which she loses not one but two fathers… is a good time, will read again.

    ADDENDUM: I don’t know if she’s telling the truth here, but the idea tht the Witch’s criminal upbringing was messed up enough that she doesn’t even have a name is enough to make me like her 10x more. (Flash Comics v1 009, 1940)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 175: THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE

    (Bulletman 002, 1941) 

    Gangster Scar Malone was convicted of murder and sentenced to the electric chair. He swore revenge against the judge and jury, as you do. And once you’ve done that kind of thing, you only have a few options: fake your own death so you can come back as a fake ghost to kill your enemies; arrange for your body to be taken to a scientist or magic man for post execution revival so you can slay your enemies; have your secret twin pose as your vengeful spirit to kill your enemies, or do what Malone opts for: simply escape while on the way from trial to prison, (optionally searing your face off with hot steam while doing so) and come back months later to kill your enemies.

    If I’m to judge (haha) a judge and jury revenge killer’s relative quality, it’s going to be a numbers game – just how many of their self-assigned targets did they manage to take out. Even though he was a master of escape and disguise, the Man Without a Face managed a mere 2/13 or 15% before being thrown off a roof by Bulletman. A poor showing indeed.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 060: THE MASK

    (Action Comics 022, 1940)

    The Mask is your garden-variety master of disguise, con artist subtype: he assumes the identities of others in order to acquire monies from their banks and businesses. He is distinguished from the rest of his ilk in two ways: firstly in that he is our second villain to employ the aid of the Tigress and secondly in that he actually has his face surgically altered to make his impersonations.

    His downfall comes when he assumes the identity of Zatara in order to claim some reward money that the magician had turned down, leading to this:

    It’s sometimes unclear whether Zatara ever reverses this kind of transformation, so I just go by what’s said and done on-panel. If he turns a crook to stone and says he’s going to come back for them later then he does. Otherwise, there’s a petrified wrongdoer in a field somewhere to this day. All this is to say: Zatara never gives any indication that he’s going to change the Mask back, so I imagine that he served his sentence for fraud and had to reintegrate to society looking like that.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 024: THE FACE

    (Adventure 044, 1939)

    Another early Sandman villain. A fairly standard master of disguise who was later reworked into an axe-wielding maniac in Sandman Mystery Theatre.