The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: Captain Marvel

  • SUPER-HERO 001 UPDATE: CAPTAIN MARVEL (1941)

    Just a few notes on developments in the character of Captain Marvel in 1941: 

    In Whiz Comics 014, Captain Marvel contends with a Dr Sivana who has worked out a mathematical formula for passing through solid matter, and thanks to the Wisdom of Solomon is able to replicate this feat. Even more remarkably this power turns up again in Whiz Comics 016 after Captain Marvel is sealed up in a pit by Smasher Spy. It’s virtually unprecedented to see something like this crop up again, even if it only happens once (though with this specific power it’s easy to see why one might refrain from using it too much, as it eventually took such a toll on Sivana’s physical form that he dissipated into a thin mist).

    Whiz Comics 022 introduces the character of Whitey Murphy to Captain Marvel’s supporting cast after making his initial debut in the Adventures of Captain Marvel movie serial, making him the first character to make their way into the comics after being introduced in another media, to my knowledge (the nameless office boy who would become Jimmy Olsen does already exist at this point but doesn’t gain his radio counterpart’s name and attributes for a few months yet).

    More unusually, Whitey is presented as being both the same character as in the movie serial and as having participated in the making of the movie in which that character debuted. I suppose that the events of the movie might have occurred and then been dramatized? Regardless, Whitey here is going to be in Captain Marvel’s orbit for the next year or so.

    Also in Whiz Comics 022, in not so much a new power but a new application of power, Captain Marvel reveals that thanks to the Wisdom of Solomon he is able to speak all languages. 

    And finally, a little name-dropping: Captain Marvel claims to be pals with cowboy stars Buck Jones and Gene Autry. (Whiz Comics 023, 1941)

  • DIVINE ROUND-UP 026

    I’ve finally caught up on my god backlog so these are all piping fresh deities for you to peruse.

    Itzalotahui:

    On an expedition to Guatemala to locate their missing friend John Malcolm, Billy Batson and Whitey Murphy make camp in the lost temple of the monkey god Itzalotahui and are awoken from their slumber by the god himself, flaming and steaming and flailing about.

    After an initial panic and an in-retrospect-embarassing fistfight, Captain Marvel discovers the truth: Itzalotahui is not alive but is in fact a cunningly-designed ball and socket arrangement in which the lower torso/socket is connected to a natural gas source and periodically ignites and wiggles around thanks to gas pressure.

    This issue is real study in contrasts: though the name of the fictional god is literally It’s a Lot of Hooey (in keeping with 1940s contempt for non-Christian or Classical religion), Captain Marvel actually seems to respect the cultural value of the site rather than just smashing it up like so many characters might. Meanwhile, the presence of natural gas means the probability of oil as well, but both Malcolm and Marvel advocate for leaving the area free from the hell of oil extraction, even if they do so in the most patronizing/patriarchal language possible.

    God Style: Idol (Whiz Comics 022, 1941) 

    the Angry God: 

    The
    Angry God, aka the Dark Spirit, is a near-forgotten entity whose last
    remaining priest has thrown in with the villain Half-Man and his Hitler
    stand-in boss the War Lord to lend mystical power to the armies of the
    Axis forces. The Angry God requires not just human sacrifice but the
    sacrifice of “great men,” which might go some way toward explaining his
    low levels of worshipper-retention. Please also note the fun imp-swarm
    that seems to accompany the worship of this particular god – they must
    be very distracting. 

    The
    Angry God’s status as a real entity and current diminished circumstances are
    both illustrated in the fact that it animates its idol in an attempt Ibis the Invincible from killing its priest and then itself falls dead once it is deprived of that one last worshipper.

    God Style: Real (Whiz Comics 023, 1941)

    Balka: 

    Balka
    is the guardian tiger spirit of the ruling line of the Asian country of
    Balkania, and whether the country was named after the tiger or vice
    versa is left unexplored in-text. What is made clear is that the
    old legends about the statue of Balka coming to life to avenge the death
    of murdered Balkanian monarch are absolutely true, as experienced by regicidal
    dictator and fashion maven Carnov after he kills good King Banok.

    Alas,
    Carnov is not torn asunder by Balka but spared by rightful heir Kelo (aka the Jungle Prince) so
    that he can face more conventional justice. Balka then returns to statue form to await the next threat to Balkania. (The Arrow 003,
    1941) 

    Quetzalcoatl: 

    Jungleman
    and his lover Louise Carson stumble upon a hidden Aztec city while
    searching for Louise’s father. Jungleman is briefly worshipped as
    Quetzalcoatl as per the legend about Hernán Cortés, while Louise is slated for sacrifice by a jealous high
    priestess. They manage to extract themselves from this situation with minimal fuss, for a 1940s adventure comic, and even find Louise’s father just kind of hanging around the temple on their way out. (Champion Comics 012, 1941)

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 033

    GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 033

    Just another buncha jerks.

    John Elton: 

    This fellow brings us right back to the roots of the Generic Costumed Villain Round-Up, being a businessman who puts on a mask to run a gang and kill off the other officers of his company so that he can buy up all their shares and make a fortune. Plus, his name is John Elton, which doesn’t mean anything but is still a fun coincidence. Dan Dare gets ‘im. (Whiz Comics 016, 1941)

    the War Lord:

    Like the War Maniac before him, the War Lord is a generic and unseen stand-in for Adolf Hitler with a good enough villain name that I had to highlight it. A whole passel of his agents feature in the story in which Smasher Spy goes back to being Spy Smasher and get beaten up by Spy Smasher, Smasher Spy and Captain Marvel. 

    It’s not particularly germane to anything but this panel of Spy Smasher flying out a window into the arms of the War Lord’s agents after almost being blown up looks very nice and I had nowhere else to use it. (Whiz Comics 018, 1941)

    The War Lord returns to vex Spy Smasher in Whiz Comics 019, in a rare return appearance for a generic Axis dictator. In fact, he is also the power behind the fascist group the Blitzys and Ibis the Invincible foe Half-Man as well – he’s one of the most prolific Hitler stand-ins of the Golden Age!

    The War Lord finally shows up in person in Whiz Comics 024 and while he is clearly just a straight-up stand-in for Hitler his main character trait seems to be in expressing himself like a disappointed father. He sticks around just long enough to instill a deep sense of despair in the Half-Man, leaving him vulnerable to being turned to the side of good by a bit of kindness from Ibis the Invincible. Once again being a bad boss fails to pay off!

    Puni, God of Fire: 

    The above text box precedes the Lance O’Casey story in Whiz Comics 018 and let me tell you: none of that stuff happened in the prior issue. We are very much dropped in media res on the tropical Antarctic island populated by cannibals and also lost explorer Hiram T. Wallis – I don’t know if this is some remnant of a never-published story or just an attempt to shake things up again (EDIT: it happens, in fact, in Whiz Comics 019. The two-part story was just published in the wrong order).

    Lance and his ever-expanding supporting cast (including Hiram T. Wells, old-timey pirate Dan’l Doom and not one but two monkey sidekicks) are venturing into a volcano to get some gold that Wells had found there when they are confronted and menaced by the self-proclaimed Puni, God of Fire, who is in actuality Marino, a sailor shipwrecked at the same time as Wells and presumably driven insane by ten years of living in a volcanic cave. Puni/Marino never manages to get very close to killing the party but he does try in his way, and by gar can he belt out a villainous pronouncement.

    Everything ends up okay, as Marino has the kind of insanity that can be cured via a solid smack to the jaw and a dunk in the ocean. 

    This adventure also features a giant treasure-guarding parrot, just one of the many cool creatures that do their best to convince me to add the truly life-ending task of chronicling all comic book monsters to my already overloaded to-do pile. (Whiz Comics 018, 1941)

    Herculo Svenson: 

    This is Herculo Svenson, pirate, Doctor Voodoo antagonist for several issues and man in the running for best name in comics certainly for 1941 and possibly for all time. He kills a whole valley full of giants, kidnaps their regular-sized queen and makes off with magical McGuffin the Golden Flask before eventually getting killed by bigger villain Black Marco. (Whiz Comics 022, 1941)

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 033

    GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 033

    Just another buncha jerks.

    John Elton: 

    This fellow brings us right back to the roots of the Generic Costumed Villain Round-Up, being a businessman who puts on a mask to run a gang and kill off the other officers of his company so that he can buy up all their shares and make a fortune. Plus, his name is John Elton, which doesn’t mean anything but is still a fun coincidence. Dan Dare gets ‘im. (Whiz Comics 016, 1941)

    the War Lord:

    Like the War Maniac before him, the War Lord is a generic and unseen stand-in for Adolf Hitler with a good enough villain name that I had to highlight it. A whole passel of his agents feature in the story in which Smasher Spy goes back to being Spy Smasher and get beaten up by Spy Smasher, Smasher Spy and Captain Marvel. 

    It’s not particularly germane to anything but this panel of Spy Smasher flying out a window into the arms of the War Lord’s agents after almost being blown up looks very nice and I had nowhere else to use it. (Whiz Comics 018, 1941)

    The War Lord returns to vex Spy Smasher in Whiz Comics 019, in a rare return appearance for a generic Axis dictator. In fact, he is also the power behind the fascist group the Blitzys and Ibis the Invincible foe Half-Man as well – he’s one of the most prolific Hitler stand-ins of the Golden Age!

    The War Lord finally shows up in person in Whiz Comics 024 and while he is clearly just a straight-up stand-in for Hitler his main character trait seems to be in expressing himself like a disappointed father. He sticks around just long enough to instill a deep sense of despair in the Half-Man, leaving him vulnerable to being turned to the side of good by a bit of kindness from Ibis the Invincible. Once again being a bad boss fails to pay off!

    Puni, God of Fire: 

    The above text box precedes the Lance O’Casey story in Whiz Comics 018 and let me tell you: none of that stuff happened in the prior issue. We are very much dropped in media res on the tropical Antarctic island populated by cannibals and also lost explorer Hiram T. Wallis – I don’t know if this is some remnant of a never-published story or just an attempt to shake things up again (EDIT: it happens, in fact, in Whiz Comics 019. The two-part story was just published in the wrong order).

    Lance and his ever-expanding supporting cast (including Hiram T. Wells, old-timey pirate Dan’l Doom and not one but two monkey sidekicks) are venturing into a volcano to get some gold that Wells had found there when they are confronted and menaced by the self-proclaimed Puni, God of Fire, who is in actuality Marino, a sailor shipwrecked at the same time as Wells and presumably driven insane by ten years of living in a volcanic cave. Puni/Marino never manages to get very close to killing the party but he does try in his way, and by gar can he belt out a villainous pronouncement.

    Everything ends up okay, as Marino has the kind of insanity that can be cured via a solid smack to the jaw and a dunk in the ocean. 

    This adventure also features a giant treasure-guarding parrot, just one of the many cool creatures that do their best to convince me to add the truly life-ending task of chronicling all comic book monsters to my already overloaded to-do pile. (Whiz Comics 018, 1941)

    Herculo Svenson: 

    This is Herculo Svenson, pirate, Doctor Voodoo antagonist for several issues and man in the running for best name in comics certainly for 1941 and possibly for all time. He kills a whole valley full of giants, kidnaps their regular-sized queen and makes off with magical McGuffin the Golden Flask before eventually getting killed by bigger villain Black Marco. (Whiz Comics 022, 1941)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 906: THE VENGEFUL FOUR

    (Whiz Comics 021, 1941)

    The Vengeful Four is an example of a phenomenon that I am not sure is common enough that I need to come up with a special name for it: the big-name villain (in this case Dr Sivana) teaming up with a selection of nobodies as if they were equals. The Four Cards represent one other example of this, and the Penguin is a part of another called the Birds of a Feather that we will cover once we hit the year 1942. Are there more? Will I need to make up a term for this? We shall see.

     

    The non-Sivana members of the Vengeful Four include gang boss Biggy Brix, who crawls away from his busted-up getaway car and straight into an opportunity to get revenge on Captain Marvel for busting it up;

    Captain Death, a heavily cloak-based villain who I posited might be the same as the Captain Marvel foe and pirate submariner of the same name nearly three and a half years ago and I’m still not sure either way;

    And finally Herr Geyer, one of the not-quite Nazis from the end of the Smasher Spy saga, who seems to have taken Captain Marvel’s interference much harder than the several beatings he got from Spy Smasher both before and after he recovered his moral compass.

    Since Dr Sivana already knows that Captain Marvel is actually Billy Batson, he hits upon a plan that is brilliant in its simplicity: send his three compatriots out into the city to find and kidnap Billy. Honestly, he should be doing this constantly, and frequently is, come to think of it.

    (there is a part of me that objects to the concept of Sivana sharing this valuable information with just anyone, but I must acknowledge that this is as a result of decades of poisoning by comic book writing. Of course the best thing to do with a super-hero’s secret identity is to spread it far and wide, and jealously guarding it is something that only serves to keep the status quo. Still feels weird to read, though)

    Thanks to the fact that there is an unofficial Billy Batson convention going on in town, all three junior members of the Vengeful Four, though successful in grabbing a Billy Batson, do not get the Billy Batson. Though a setback, this does provide them with three ready-made hostages to draw the fourth Billy in and soon all available Billys Batson are loaded into a classic industrial deathtrap: the sawmill.

    The Vengeful Four, to their extremely small credit, don’t stick around to watch four teenage boys get bisected. This allows the Billys the opportunity to escape by pooling their voices and sending out a combined “SHAZAM” that is louder than the sawmill, thus not only allowing Original Billy to transform but incidentally transforming the other three into the Lieutenant Marvels thanks, presumably, to some lazy spell-writing on the wizard Shazam’s part. 

    The small aircraft that the Vengeful Four are travelling in is no match for four speeding super-guys and is soon nothing but a pile of smouldering wreckage – this is after all during the early part of Captain Marvel’s career when he has no problem with killing a sufficiently dangerous foe. Dr Sivana will of course return, but for Biggy Brix, Captain Death and Herr Geyer this is the end of the line.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 906: THE VENGEFUL FOUR

    (Whiz Comics 021, 1941)

    The Vengeful Four is an example of a phenomenon that I am not sure is common enough that I need to come up with a special name for it: the big-name villain (in this case Dr Sivana) teaming up with a selection of nobodies as if they were equals. The Four Cards represent one other example of this, and the Penguin is a part of another called the Birds of a Feather that we will cover once we hit the year 1942. Are there more? Will I need to make up a term for this? We shall see.

     

    The non-Sivana members of the Vengeful Four include gang boss Biggy Brix, who crawls away from his busted-up getaway car and straight into an opportunity to get revenge on Captain Marvel for busting it up;

    Captain Death, a heavily cloak-based villain who I posited might be the same as the Captain Marvel foe and pirate submariner of the same name nearly three and a half years ago and I’m still not sure either way;

    And finally Herr Geyer, one of the not-quite Nazis from the end of the Smasher Spy saga, who seems to have taken Captain Marvel’s interference much harder than the several beatings he got from Spy Smasher both before and after he recovered his moral compass.

    Since Dr Sivana already knows that Captain Marvel is actually Billy Batson, he hits upon a plan that is brilliant in its simplicity: send his three compatriots out into the city to find and kidnap Billy. Honestly, he should be doing this constantly, and frequently is, come to think of it.

    (there is a part of me that objects to the concept of Sivana sharing this valuable information with just anyone, but I must acknowledge that this is as a result of decades of poisoning by comic book writing. Of course the best thing to do with a super-hero’s secret identity is to spread it far and wide, and jealously guarding it is something that only serves to keep the status quo. Still feels weird to read, though)

    Thanks to the fact that there is an unofficial Billy Batson convention going on in town, all three junior members of the Vengeful Four, though successful in grabbing a Billy Batson, do not get the Billy Batson. Though a setback, this does provide them with three ready-made hostages to draw the fourth Billy in and soon all available Billys Batson are loaded into a classic industrial deathtrap: the sawmill.

    The Vengeful Four, to their extremely small credit, don’t stick around to watch four teenage boys get bisected. This allows the Billys the opportunity to escape by pooling their voices and sending out a combined “SHAZAM” that is louder than the sawmill, thus not only allowing Original Billy to transform but incidentally transforming the other three into the Lieutenant Marvels thanks, presumably, to some lazy spell-writing on the wizard Shazam’s part. 

    The small aircraft that the Vengeful Four are travelling in is no match for four speeding super-guys and is soon nothing but a pile of smouldering wreckage – this is after all during the early part of Captain Marvel’s career when he has no problem with killing a sufficiently dangerous foe. Dr Sivana will of course return, but for Biggy Brix, Captain Death and Herr Geyer this is the end of the line.

  • SUPER-VILLAIN 001 UPDATE: DR SIVANA (1941)

    Dr Sivana’s 1941 Whiz Comics appearances! What’s that lil’ scamp up to now?

    Sivana starts 1941 with a bang, by developing a liquid that can reduce someone’s age by up to 30 years. This is a surprisingly useful tool in the super-criminal’s arsenal, as a series of bank messengers, security guards, cops and Billy Batson soon find out.

    Dr Sivan’s ultimate goal is of course another attempt to take over the United States of America. He very reasonably assumes that, having dosed the bulk of the army and turned them into toddlers, he and his army of goons can just waltz in and take over. The flaw in his plan is revealed when Captain Marvel (Billy having found the antidote to the youth formula and escaped) rounds up a bunch of old Civil War vets and de-ages them to defend the country.

    (BONUS: there’s none of that “now return to the quiet dignity of being old” hogwash in this story: all of the youthened veterans stay young at the end and re-enlist to help with national defense in the face of WWII) (Whiz Comics 013, 1941)

    Dr Sivana’s next appearance features him being put on trial for repeatedly attempting to conquer the US. He is of course found guilty and sentenced to 77 consecutive life sentences totalling over 9000 years (and servable with the help of some of that youth serum). Two things happen at this trial: Dr Sivana demonstrates a new breakthrough in intangibility studies as he simply walks through a wall and away from his sentencing, but more importantly this is where we learn that his full name is Thaddeus Bodog Sivana!

    Unlocking the secrets of intangibility really seems to ignite Sivana’s love of the super-villain game. He embarks on a crime spree that includes bombings, espionage, the robbery of the “Fort Gnox” gold reserve and a series of kidnappings of high-level government officials that culminates in the capture of the dang President himself.

    He also kidnaps Billy Batson mid-radio broadcast, and transports him to a room hewn out of living granite, deep under a mountain before he can turn into Captain Marvel. 

    Capturing Captain Marvel turns out to be a classic case of villain’s hubris, as he is able to use the Wisdom of Solomon to work out just exactly how Sivana has been doing his intangibility trick: by mathematically calculating the positions of all of the atoms in a surface and then slipping his own atoms past them. While effective, this method of travel proves to be difficult to do properly when one is being chased by Captain Marvel, as Dr Sivana’s chin soon learns.

    This method of travelling through matter also turn out to have another drawback: every time you use it you end up leaving a little bit of yourself behind, and after an extended chase with Captain Marvel, Dr Sivana has lost so much of himself that he loses all molecular cohesion and dissipates. (Whiz Comics 014, 1941)

    A little thing like being turned into vapour can’t stop a guy like Dr Sivana, however. He returns, dressed in an extremely unfortunate Old Chinese Man outfit, and lures Billy Batson into his lair with the help of an unwitting Beautia. Billy is rendered powerless here by what I consider to be Sivana’s greatest invention: a little box that goes “ozzle ozzle” and drowns him out every time he tries to yell “Shazam.” It’s brilliant in its simplicity, and the kind of thing that only a villain who knows his enemy’s secret identity can come up with.

    Dr Sivana’s lastest scheme involves raising a horde of the froglike Venusian Glompers on Earth and then using them to take over not just the US but the entire planet.

    Billy eventually makes an escape attempt, and though he doesn’t get far the ozzlebox is broken. Dr Sivana attempts to counter Captain Marvel by unleashing his beefy son Magnificus, but this turns out to be a Bad Move, as their battle causes a rockslide and Sivana is beaned by a boulder that is the same size as him.

    Since Dr Sivana appears to be at death’s door, Beautia finally feels free to reveal his origin: he was once an idealistic scientist who wanted to improve the lot of all mankind but found himself hounded by greedy capitalists who benefited more from the current state of things. Bitter and disillusioned, he took his two young children – Beautia and Magnificus – and moved to Venus, where they grew into kind and decent physical paragons and he shrivelled up into the evil little scientist we all know and love.

    Sivana’s kids take him back to Venus, to die, presumably. (Whiz Comics 015, 1941)

    Dr Sivana returns without fanfare in the pages of Captain Marvel Adventures, and then back in his old stomping grounds of Whiz Comics he sets out to get revenge on Billy/Captain Marvel by mysteriously growing a big muscular body. Though he captures Billy without trouble, he again makes the classic villain’s mistake of leaving him tied up to deal with later rather than finishing him off without delay, which of course leaves an opening for a friendly organ grinder’s monkey to scuttle in and free him.

    This is the first instance of Sivana becoming physically as well as mentally powerful and he really gets into it with some local bullies. It’s a pattern that will reoccur throughout the years – becoming a big strong tough guy becomes almost as much of a preoccupation for Sivana as conquering the US is at some points, and he always seems to have a ball once he achieves his goal.

    This time around, Sivana has achieved beefcake status by building himself a robotic exoskeleton, but sadly for him no mere machine is a match for the world’s mightiest mortal. Better luck next time, Thaddeus. (Whiz Comics 020, 1941)

    Dr Sivana makes one more appearance in Whiz Comics in 1941, but since it’s as a part of a team, we will be covering it in a separate entry.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 904: THE BLACK MAGICIAN

    (Whiz Comics 019, 1941)

    This story’s conflict is precipitated by Billy Batson dedicating his radio time one day to the subject of black magic and the nonexistence thereof, and while this dovetails nicely with the 40s and 50s US cultural project of promoting the supremacy of both scientific rationality and Protestant Christianity over superstition (which includes all other world religion, natch), it’s a bit rich coming from someone who got super powers from a wizard who lives in a magic cave.

    Billy’s broadcast also has an unintended consequence: it is heard by an actual black magician living in the hill country near New York Fawcett City, who gets a bit upset on behalf of his profession. This fellow and his son/apprentice Nip are of course examples of the pop culture hillbilly that we continue to encounter to this day but was really in full flower in the 1930s and 40s.

    The Black Magician is so insulted by Billy’s disrespectful comments about magic, in fact, that he and  Nip make two separate attempts to murder him, the first on their own and the second with the help of thugs paid for with magically-created money. These attempts fail thanks to Billy’s timely transformations into Captain Marvel, and also provide a fine illustration of that poor opsec that I always accuse Billy of having. Surely you could make it a little less clear that you and Captain Marvel are one and the same, Billy!

    Undeterred, the Black Magician next turns to sympathetic magic to strike down his enemy, fashioning a wax likeness of Billy and disabling his limbs and, crucially, his mouth and thus allowing Nip to capture him. Note, however, that the mouth thing is accidental and that despite all my complaining the majority of Captain Marvel’s enemies fail to put two and two together re: the relationship between him and Billy Batson.

    The Black Magician then learns one of those life lessons that are very situationally important, even though they don’t have a lot of day-to-day applicability, and that lesson is: don’t use cheese in your great work of magic if you have a cat or you will suffer Consequences, in this case in the form of Captain Marvel. I suppose the more universally useful version of this lesson would be If You Value Your Cheese, Don’t Leave It Out or the Cat Will Get It.

    In a fun twist on the idea of sympathetic magic, the link between Billy and his effigy is strong enough that the wax figure is transformed into a miniature Captain Marvel at the same time as Billy becomes the real thing, and both proceed to lay into the father-son duo.

    Once the pair are subdued, Captain Marvel consigns their book of magic to the flames, and this has the (presumably) unintended consequence of rendering both the Black Magician and Nip completely insane, in your classic 1940s “thinks he’s Napoleon” kind of way. We can only theorize at the dark pacts they must have signed to gain power and the terrible toll that breaking them must have taken. Sadly, they appear to have never recovered or at least were uncommonly willing to forego the traditional attempt at revenge if they did.

    TROPHY ROOM ADDENDUM: Captain Marvel keeps the effigy, still transformed but no longer animate after the burning of the book, as a souvenir.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 903: SMASHER SPY

    (Whiz Comics 015, 1941)

    As seen in his recent update, Spy Smasher’s arch-foe the Mask eventually gets a bit too good at villainy for his own sake. While he succeeds at warping Spy Smasher’s mind and turning him against the US government that he once sought only to defend, the Mask’s enthusiasm means that he is a bit too loose with his commands to “Kill! Kill! Kill!” meaning that the first that Spy Smasher does is to kill the Mask.

    Spy Smasher’s fervour for his new mission is intense, driven as it is by the Mask’s mind control. He starts blowing up arsenals and machine gunning defense meetings across the country, much to the despair of his erstwhile allies Eve and Admiral Corby.

    Though he is mostly still called Spy Smasher throughout the four issues in which he is evilized, there are a couple of instances of “Smasher Spy” instead and so we shall be using that name for clarity’s sake.

    There’s a lot of cool and interesting stuff happening with regard to Smasher Spy: having a hero become a villain, having such a huge change to the status quo persist over several issues, plus the fact that Smasher Spy is technically a Captain Marvel villain due to the fact that Whiz Comics 016-018 are in fact a crossover event! How very exciting! 

    So: from Whiz Comics 016 to 018, both the “Captain Marvel” and “Spy Smasher” features are concerned with the ongoing efforts of the former to capture the latter and restore him to his heroic ways. A lot of it plays out like the above, with Captain Marvel showing up in time to foil but not capture Smasher Spy. Rather than detail each individual plot, here’s a list of Smasher Spy’s nefarious undertakings:

    – Organizing a mass breakout of Federal Penetentiary

    – Stealing plans from a defense committee meeting and leaving a bomb to kill the committee members

    – Delivering those plans to a fascist submarine (and then sinking that submarine when Captain Marvel turns out to be on board)

    – Stealing a super poison gas and attempting to wipe out the US Army with it

    – Kidnapping and hypnotizing a busload of factory workers into helping him develop super-weapons 

    – Building a fleet in order to conquer and destroy all national governments 

    – Attempted murders: Admiral Corby x2, Captain Marvel x5, Eve Corby x4, Sterling Morris x1

    – Misc destruction: one aircraft factory, two arsenals, two bridges, one dam, one train derailment, one warship sunk

    Captain Marvel eventually allows himself to be captured by Smasher Spy as an intelligence-gathering exercise and so finds out about the Mask’s hypno-chair/brain-o-graph when it is unsuccessfully used in an attempt to turn him evil too. (Whiz Comics 016, 1941) 

    Smasher Spy is also the inventor of the nefarious Banana Bomb, which he uses in one of his attempts to murder Eve Corby. (Whiz Comics 016, 1941)

    Perhaps the Smasher Spy’s greatest creation, this giant motorized lawnmower vehicle was intended to shred whole armies. Truly a magnificent entry into the ranks of the giant superweapon. (Whiz Comics 017, 1941)

    There’s only so long that even a crafty fellow like Smasher Spy can escape the World’s Mightiest Mortal, however, and after a quick Billy Batson trip up the Gyro-Sub’s torpedo tube he is in super-custody.

    In a last-ditch effort to stay true to his programming, Smasher Spy destroys the hypno-chair, but Captain Marvel’s determination to restore him is such that he unlocks a hitherto-unknown power of super-hypnosis and restores his mind by pure will alone.

     Smasher Spy is no more! A symbolic sunrise occurs as our heroes share a manly handshake! Huzzah!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 902: MAGNIFICUS SIVANA

    (Whiz Comics 015, 1941)

    After Captain Marvel foils a scheme to be described further in the next Dr Sivana update, he finds himself battling a beefcake named Magnificus.

    Though Magnificus is ultimately not a match for Captain Marvel, he is powerful enough to duke it out with him for several minutes, which is frankly just as impressive. Since they are doing so on the side of a mountain, however, this starts a landslide that seem like it might just spell the end of Dr Sivana for good after he is beaned by a particularly accurate boulder. 

    Since at the time it seems likely that Sivana will finally meet his end, his long-suffering aide Beautia now feels able to share the reason why she has stuck by him all this time despite her increasingly clear desire not to, which is incidentally also the origin of not only Dr Sivana but of her and Magnificus as well.

    This is of course when we learn that both Magnificus and Beautia are in fact Dr Sivana’s children who he brought with him to Venus after being disillusioned by cold-hearted capitalists who saw his attempts to better humanity as nothing but lost profits. Where Sivana became twisted and embittered over the years, his children instead grew up to be fundamentally good-hearted people who only help him out of a sense of filial affection. This is of course a fun bit right up until Dr Sivana’s other two children are introduced to bedevil Captain Marvel Jr and Mary Marvel and a real ugly = evil/ beautiful = good morality system is established.

    One thing about Magnificus that I had not expected was the fact that this is his only Golden Age appearance and that we will next see him during the integration of the Marvel Family into the DC multiverse. I guess that he is just better at establishing boundaries with his toxic parent than his sister is.