Category: great costumes

(More Fun 045, 1939)

The Speaking Frog is possibly the most obscure villain in the DC Universe, and that’s including Fawcett, Quality and Charlton characters in the mix. This is a shame because simply based on their name and appearance they are the strongest BRING THEM BACK candidate I have ever encountered. 

Some backstory: in 1938 a strip called “Marg’ry Daw” began in More Fun Comics, running for just a few issues. A Little Orphan Annie knockoff, it featured the titular little girl and her dog having adventures with evil scientists and the like while being left alone by her wealthy but distracted father. Or it would have, but someone wasn’t feeling it and it was wrapped up in about four issues.

Flash forward a year and “Marg’ry Daw” is back. This time it involves a more attentive Luther Daw taking his daughter on a train trip across the country. Over the course of five installments the following happens:

-They befriend a Hindu mystic on the train. He has a vision of impending calamity and convinces them to disembark with him in Idaho. The train subsequently crashes.

-They accompany Ahm, the mystic, to his friend’s secluded mansion. There they meet Stephen Dean, a wealthy vegetarian technophile who collects mummies and Indian artifacts, wears a robe and chortles constantly. A wide array of other eccentric servants and houseguests are alluded to.

-Dean shows off his various gadgets to his new guests, including a voice-activated vault door and the Speaking Frog, a metal statue that talks if a specific object is placed in its mouth.

-A guest is shot in the gardens. Ahm goes for help. Dean disappears. Someone wearing the Frog as a headpiece threatens Luther Daw’s life. He knocks them out and looks under the mask but the person’s identity is not revealed on-panel. Subsequently Dean’s adopted daughter indicates that there may be multiple people in Speaking Frog outfits and tells Daw to kill the real one. (his easy willingness to do so, plus some talk of the Frog not being a man plus Dean being a tech nerd leads to my private theory that the Speaking Frog is meant to be a robot) 

AND THAT’S IT. The feature ends with Daw firing at a Speaking Frog and could have been intended either to wrap up immediately or go on for a dozen more episodes – if there’s a person alive who has any idea what was intended then I for one will be as shocked as any person has ever been.

That’s about it: all setup, no payoff. The perfect candidate for revival, as they could be anyone! The greatest costume of all time! The most obscure villain of the DCU is ready to walk again! 

(More Fun 045, 1939)

The Speaking Frog is possibly the most obscure villain in the DC Universe, and that’s including Fawcett, Quality and Charlton characters in the mix. This is a shame because simply based on their name and appearance they are the strongest BRING THEM BACK candidate I have ever encountered. 

Some backstory: in 1938 a strip called “Marg’ry Daw” began in More Fun Comics, running for just a few issues. A Little Orphan Annie knockoff, it featured the titular little girl and her dog having adventures with evil scientists and the like while being left alone by her wealthy but distracted father. Or it would have, but someone wasn’t feeling it and it was wrapped up in about four issues.

Flash forward a year and “Marg’ry Daw” is back. This time it involves a more attentive Luther Daw taking his daughter on a train trip across the country. Over the course of five installments the following happens:

-They befriend a Hindu mystic on the train. He has a vision of impending calamity and convinces them to disembark with him in Idaho. The train subsequently crashes.

-They accompany Ahm, the mystic, to his friend’s secluded mansion. There they meet Stephen Dean, a wealthy vegetarian technophile who collects mummies and Indian artifacts, wears a robe and chortles constantly. A wide array of other eccentric servants and houseguests are alluded to.

-Dean shows off his various gadgets to his new guests, including a voice-activated vault door and the Speaking Frog, a metal statue that talks if a specific object is placed in its mouth.

-A guest is shot in the gardens. Ahm goes for help. Dean disappears. Someone wearing the Frog as a headpiece threatens Luther Daw’s life. He knocks them out and looks under the mask but the person’s identity is not revealed on-panel. Subsequently Dean’s adopted daughter indicates that there may be multiple people in Speaking Frog outfits and tells Daw to kill the real one. (his easy willingness to do so, plus some talk of the Frog not being a man plus Dean being a tech nerd leads to my private theory that the Speaking Frog is meant to be a robot) 

AND THAT’S IT. The feature ends with Daw firing at a Speaking Frog and could have been intended either to wrap up immediately or go on for a dozen more episodes – if there’s a person alive who has any idea what was intended then I for one will be as shocked as any person has ever been.

That’s about it: all setup, no payoff. The perfect candidate for revival, as they could be anyone! The greatest costume of all time! The most obscure villain of the DCU is ready to walk again!