The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: great costumes

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 339: THE FIREHAWK

    (Master Comics 004, 1940)

    The Firehawk is an extortionist of the particular kind that you get in comic book stories that have to clock in at under 5 pages: a dumb one. See, he has a pretty good threat to hold over the heads of his victims in that he can seemingly set them on fire at will. Since he’s operating on a movie set, he does so by mixing up batches of thermite-impregnated makeup that presumably self ignites after a set time. Like I said, a good threat. The problem lies with his timing: he dopes all of the makeup at once so that the actors are just igniting one after the other – there isn’t even enough time for them to consider paying up. Plus there’s the matter of his secret identity, the fourth lead in a film in which numbers 1 through 3 were set to be destroyed, which is at least a bit suspect.

    For all that, I love this guy for his costume if nothing else. “Green anthropomorphic cartoon bird” is an underrepresented theme in super-villainy.

    ****

    While thinking about this guy I suddenly had a revelation: in any given super-hero universe there would be a podcast about the super-villains of Old Hollywood. Without question! The only real question is just how many episodes would each villain generate. Sadly for the Firehawk, even though he is the genesis for the idea of the Super-Villains of Hollywood Podcast (an idea so powerful that it has propagated backward through the blog) he probably wasn’t fodder for more than one episode – neither Zarrow/ the Firehawk nor any of his victims seemed especially noteworthy in a “lurid true crime podcast” sense so I’ afraid that for the inaugural 

    Number of episodes of the “Super-Villains of Hollywood” podcast: segment, the answer must be one.

  • MINOR SUPER-HERO 039: THE DEVIL’S DAGGER

    (Master Comics 001-020, 1940-1941)

    Devil’s Dagger! I love this guy. He has a lot of familiar things going on: a wealthy young man named Ken Wyman who works as a reporter in order to get the latest crime news and heads out at night in his souped-up car (the excellently named Speed Ghost) to kick butt accompanied by Pat Gleason, ex boxer and member of the surprisingly large Chauffeur/ Sidekick club.

    There are two really interesting things about the Devil’s Dagger: 1. really good costume. 2. he’s a mission-driven vigilante. Once he rids Carterville of the sinister Jeff Marlowe… he finds out about Jeff’s boss, Mr H. But once he gets rid of him, that’s it! Wyman unmasks, retires, maybe takes the job at his father’s bank, who knows? It’s so rare for a super-hero to have a finite career, not just in the Golden Age but any time! How refreshing!

    Of course after saying that I would be a monster to suggest that the Devil’s Dagger be brung back, and I am not! I do however think that the identity would make for quite a fun legacy hero! Picture it: Carterville has once again become a crime-ridden hellhole, perhaps even under the thumb of a superannuated Mr H (or a corrupted Ken Wyman!), and someone stumbles across the unpublished memoirs of Ken Wyman and takes inspiration from them – maybe an underpaid employee at the Daily Blade, now stripped of assets by venture capital and printing a ten-page synopsis of the top clickbait of the week? Heck, maybe this time it’s a whole group of dagger-wielding vigilantes. Fun!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 243: CRIME & CORRUPTION INC

    (Flash Comics v1 013, 1941)

    I almost didn’t include these guys because Johnny Thunder lives in a heightened cartoon reality that only exists within the same world as the Spectre or Hawkman because of the technicality of them all being in the same club and hanging out together. But then, is the fact that New York is full of goofy-ass cartoon people in Johnny’s reality any more implausible than Alexander the Great blowing up a portion of the city without apparent consequence in Hawkman’s? I say thee nay. Besides, Johnny’s adventures almost never verge into super-villain territory… we gotta strike while we can!

    So: we find Johnny and his best gal Daisy Darling attending a production of “the Creep”, starring actor Jan Marrimore (!) as the titular Creep (a stand-in for a real person playing a fictional villain in a super-hero universe: all my very specific interests are colliding!).

    At the end of the play, Marrimore reveals that the show is a stunt designed to publicize the existence and uniform of a crime syndicate operating in the city. Johnny of course immediately encounters one of these men, does not recognize him and is pickpocketed by him. After some back and forth involving ridiculous magic powers, the pickpocket swears to reform and all is well. OR IS IT?

    It’s not! The remaining members of the gang (which we only now learn the name of – thanks for nothing, Marrimore) swear bloody vengeance and set out to murder Johnny. It’s only the fact that he’s juiced up on Badhnisian thunderbolt magic that saves the poor oaf.

    And that’s that, really. Just a gang of costumed crooks, but they’re Johnny’s gang and he almost never gets to fight proper villains. Since they’re comedy characters they end up as paper-thin props for Johnny to bounce around, so there’s not much to say about them beyond what I will always say about the suit/cape combo: that I love it.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 243: CRIME & CORRUPTION INC

    (Flash Comics v1 013, 1941)

    I almost didn’t include these guys because Johnny Thunder lives in a heightened cartoon reality that only exists within the same world as the Spectre or Hawkman because of the technicality of them all being in the same club and hanging out together. But then, is the fact that New York is full of goofy-ass cartoon people in Johnny’s reality any more implausible than Alexander the Great blowing up a portion of the city without apparent consequence in Hawkman’s? I say thee nay. Besides, Johnny’s adventures almost never verge into super-villain territory… we gotta strike while we can!

    So: we find Johnny and his best gal Daisy Darling attending a production of “the Creep”, starring actor Jan Marrimore (!) as the titular Creep (a stand-in for a real person playing a fictional villain in a super-hero universe: all my very specific interests are colliding!).

    At the end of the play, Marrimore reveals that the show is a stunt designed to publicize the existence and uniform of a crime syndicate operating in the city. Johnny of course immediately encounters one of these men, does not recognize him and is pickpocketed by him. After some back and forth involving ridiculous magic powers, the pickpocket swears to reform and all is well. OR IS IT?

    It’s not! The remaining members of the gang (which we only now learn the name of – thanks for nothing, Marrimore) swear bloody vengeance and set out to murder Johnny. It’s only the fact that he’s juiced up on Badhnisian thunderbolt magic that saves the poor oaf.

    And that’s that, really. Just a gang of costumed crooks, but they’re Johnny’s gang and he almost never gets to fight proper villains. Since they’re comedy characters they end up as paper-thin props for Johnny to bounce around, so there’s not much to say about them beyond what I will always say about the suit/cape combo: that I love it.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 209: THE PANTHERMAN

    MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 209: THE PANTHERMAN

    (Crackajack Funnies 031-033, 1941) 

    The first costumed foe to face Dell Comics’ answer to Batman, the Owl, Pantherman strikes a very impressive figure and knows how to make an entrance. He does seem to be a very sloppy operator, however, as he initially attracts the attention of the Owl after mind controlling a man into stealing his own jewels but not somehow thinking to keep him from calling in the police (and renowned private investigator Nick “the Owl” Terry, natch) afterward.

    Subsequent issues reveal that the Pantherman’s sloppiness is more a recent thing, as he has been operating out of the city’s sewers for at least the past 4 years and is well on his way to uniting the underworld with himself at the head. It doesn’t take much to ruin a promising crime career, however, and once the Owl is on the case, Pantherman is soon caught.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 209: THE PANTHERMAN

    MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 209: THE PANTHERMAN

    (Crackajack Funnies 031-033, 1941) 

    The first costumed foe to face Dell Comics’ answer to Batman, the Owl, Pantherman strikes a very impressive figure and knows how to make an entrance. He does seem to be a very sloppy operator, however, as he initially attracts the attention of the Owl after mind controlling a man into stealing his own jewels but not somehow thinking to keep him from calling in the police (and renowned private investigator Nick “the Owl” Terry, natch) afterward.

    Subsequent issues reveal that the Pantherman’s sloppiness is more a recent thing, as he has been operating out of the city’s sewers for at least the past 4 years and is well on his way to uniting the underworld with himself at the head. It doesn’t take much to ruin a promising crime career, however, and once the Owl is on the case, Pantherman is soon caught.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 203: BLACKBEARD

    (Crack Comics 016, 1941)

    I keep saying that space pirates are too thick on the ground to include every one despite my inclinations but Blackbeard here overruled me on several fronts, including:

    -Overall look: that’s basically a perfect look for a futuristic pirate (it’s not obvious from this image but I reckon that he’s shirtless under the coat, btw). Maybe swap the beret out for a more traditional hat but that would be the only thing I’d change.

    -Name: can’t go wrong with a classic.

    -Henchmen:

    Blackbeard’s crew are the Outlaws of Jupiter, and their names are things like One-Arm Ganz, Patch-Eye Tork and Half-Face McGurk. And Gilene, of course, who seems not to have suffered any sort of nickname-worthy injury.

    It’s all great stuff, even though Blackbeard’s only attempted crime – hijack a shipment of ray guns – is foiled immediately by the Space Legion.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 120: THE BLUE DEVILS

    (Nickel Comics 006, 1940)

    A costumed gang that managed to take over a small town under the direction of head devil Lucifer. Not the most distinguished costumed gang ever but you gotta give them credit for trying. And not only do they have devil horns on their hood but there’s a skull-and-crossbones on both the hood and the chest! Sartorially speaking, they’re years ahead!

    Anyway, most of them get drowned by Bulletman.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 120: THE BLUE DEVILS

    (Nickel Comics 006, 1940)

    A costumed gang that managed to take over a small town under the direction of head devil Lucifer. Not the most distinguished costumed gang ever but you gotta give them credit for trying. And not only do they have devil horns on their hood but there’s a skull-and-crossbones on both the hood and the chest! Sartorially speaking, they’re years ahead!

    Anyway, most of them get drowned by Bulletman.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 086: THE MASTERMIND OF CRIME

    (Blue Beetle Comics 003, 1940)

    A lot of these early Blue Beetle villains are real basic so I’m not even going to bother with the questions.

    Mastermind of Crime: very good hood, attempts to take over NYC York City, turns out to actually be the civic reformer who has been raising a stink over all this organized crime all over the place.