The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: MLJ

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 986: THE ZOMBIE MASTER

    (Jackpot Comics 001, 1941)

    Zarro, the Zombie Master, is yet another take on an evil Haitian voodoo practitioner: we’ve seen ’em before and we’ll see ’em again. He is recruited by a couple of pseudo-Nazis named Karl Bezdek and Hugo Kempf for help in setting up a factory that uses zombies as workers in the production of war material for the Axis. Like the other Zombie Master we have covered, this one is a vibrant shade of green, just like a cartoon zombie, though I’m not entirely sure when that particular colour association started.

    I am going to lay out Karl and Hugo’s plan before telling you why I’m mad about it:

    1. Pose as magazine photographers in order to get total access to the defense factories in the as-yet unnamed city that Mr Justice calls home (the risk of targeting a city with a super-hero is leavened by the fact that it has the world’s most gullible mayor).

    2. Photograph as many workers as possible.

    3. Zarro uses the photographs as sympathetic magic links to the workers (plucking them out of the photographs = very cool) and kills them.

    4. The worker’s bodies are stolen and shipped to Haiti for use in the factory.

    So why does this plan make me mad? Because I want to critique it but I can’t. See, it’s a bad and inefficient plan with a lot of unnecessary steps, but only if the only goal is to make money. But that isn’t the goal! Karl and Hugo are spies for a fascist nation! Their goal is to hamper US war production while simultaneously boosting that of their own country using the Haitian zombie factory, and they have done both! It’s maddening! The only real flaw I can find is that the graverobbing and body shipping are a bit involved but I can’t really think of a good alternative that doesn’t introduce more points of failure to the plan.

    The risk of super-hero vs reward of gullible mayor calculation that we discussed earlier does in fact prove to be the trio’s downfall, as Mr Justice is able to make his way to Haiti (and please note the surprisingly grody-looking zombies that he finds there) thanks to a minor kidnapping subplot and strangle the Zombie Master, which in turn restores the workers to life. One smashed up Axis factory later, everyone is on the way back to [CITY NAME NOT FOUND].

    Categorized in: Generica (Masters), Powers (Magic (Create Zombies)), Supranormal Beings (Zombies))

  • MEDIA IN COMICS 010

    Is the media in comics any good, do you think? Do super-heroes get to watch good movies?

    Movies:

    Arizona Nights is a Western being produced by King Studios when a climactic gunfight scene is used as cover for a real-life murder. Detective Sergeant Carey clears up the mystery (it was the cameraman) but we never learn if the footage of a man dying in real life was used for the added verisimilitude. (More Fun Comics 052, 1940)

    Call of the North, a Mounted Police picture by Pioneer Films, is not marred by murder, but if the Quality Universe IMDb userbase is on the ball the trivia section for the movie includes the fact that several of the mountie actors were used as backup by RCMP Sergeant Reynolds in the apprehension of a kidnapper. (Feature Comics 037, 1940)

    Dread Castle has a place in comic book history as the film that drove Basil Karlo over the edge and into the persona of Clayface, as he saw the attempt to remake a movie that he saw as one of his greatest roles as an insult to him personally. Both Dread Castles are medieval films about a murderous hunchback called the Terror – not a terribly exciting prospect without the excitement of all the real-life murder that went on during production of the second one. (Detective Comics v1 040, 1940)

    The other Basil Karlo role that we learn about in his initial appearance is the one that he takes his criminal moniker and appearance from, a movie seemingly also called Clayface. (Detective Comics v1 040, 1940)

    Music:

    Is “Star Dust” Clark Kent’s favourite song as he claims it is while big-dogging this club maître d’? I sure hope so. No idea what kind of song it is, but you can slow dance to it. (Superman Comics v1 007, 1940)

    Newspaper Columns:

    “Town Talk” is the kind of snotty gossip column that inspired a thousand murder mystery plots. In this case, columnist Walt Willard turns up dead and Steel Sterling has to comb through the wealth of suspects to figure out whodunnit. (Jackpot Comics 004, 1941)

    “Around the Town with Joe E. Brown” is your standard gossip column-as-exposition-vector, though why the writer has the same name as an old-time film comedian is unknown to me. (Special Edition Comics 001, 1940)

    Paul Pryer, writer of the imaginatively-titled “Paul Pryer’s Column” is one of those comic book celebrities who I am certain is based on a real person, but whether it’s just someone like Walt Winchell or there’s a Paul Prowler out there just waiting for me to learn about him is up to chance. (All-Star Comics 003, 1940) 

    Meanwhile: “Society,” the most pragmatically-named society column of all time. (Batman Comics v1 001, 1940)

    We don’t get to actually see “Tom Peeping’s Column” in this Minute Movies strip, but I like to imagine that it features a cheeky little cartoon of the writer with big binoculars at the top. (Flash Comics 004, 1940)

    Newsreels:

    I don’t know enough about newsreels to know if they normally had titles, but the Ace Films company is trying to capitalize on their beautiful camerawoman “Dot Daring,” aka Beautia Sivana and so chooses to call this one Flirting with Death. (Whiz Comics 010, 1940)

  • CATALOGUE OF WOUNDS 012

    If I keep at this long enough then we will find the super-hero with the most comically-long list of wounds sustained in the course of their adventures. Currently in the lead: the Green Mask! Unless we’re talking about head traumas, in which case I must direct your gaze to the Blue Beetle.

    Domino the Miracle Boy:

    Shot in the right shoulder by Dr Moru while heroically leaping in front of a gun to save the Green Mask. (Mystery Men Comics 029, 1941)

    the Green Mask:

    Slashed on the left side of his head by the Manx’s weird wrist-claw. (Mystery Men Comics 026, 1941)

    Mr Justice:

    Mr Justice is a ghost-type super-hero, so his origin involves a gruesome death, in this case being hacked to pieces by some historically-questionable Englishmen. (Blue Ribbon Comics 009, 1941)

    It’s not quite as universal a trait, but Mr Justice also maintains a human form for times when he is not engaging in super-heroics, and since he’s already dead it doesn’t matter how often he sustains mortal wounds, such as this instance of him being riddled with bullets. (Blue Ribbon Comics 009, 1941)

    Or here, when he is fatally blasted by a beam. (Blue Ribbon Comics 010, 1941)

    (and again a few minutes later)

    Or just plain shot in the head. It’s just a shortcut to the emergence of Mr Justice from his mortal shell. (Jackpot Comics 002, 1941) 

    Sergeant Spook: 

    And speaking of ghostly super-heroes and their fatal origins, here’s Sergeant Spook blowing himself up with his poor lab safety. (Blue Bolt v1 001, 1940)

    Simba:

    Simba, newly-reformed nemesis of Dick Cole, gets his skull creased with a bullet by Dr Karno (Blue Bolt v2 006, 1941)

    Sub-Zero:

    Sub-Zero also gets his skull creased, but since he’s so cold he’s bulletproof Professor X has to use a white-hot bullet to do it. (Blue Bolt Comics v1 005, 1940)

    the Wraith: 

    Finally we have the Wraith, who becomes a ghost thanks to being riddled with bullets during a drive-by.  (Mystery Men Comics 027, 1941)

  • REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 027

    Real people? In comic books? Now I’ve seen everything.

    Abu Khan:

    I sincerely cannot tell if this Black Knight foe is supposed to be Abu Sa’id Bahadur Khan, last ruler of the Mongol Ilkhanate, or if they just pulled a couple of syllables out of the air and added “Khan” to the end and called it a day. On the one hand, the real Abu Khan never tried to invade Egypt, as the Black Knight is trying to prevent him from doing, but on the other he is from about the right time to be a Black Knight character, i.e., within about two hundred years of all the other elements of the comic. (The Funnies 059, 1941)

    Adolf Hitler:

    Pays for the services of super-villain the Artist to facilitate the invasion of Tomania with his soul-stealing powers. (Jackpot Comics 004, 1941)

    Al Capone:

    “Scar Lapone,” used as a generic gangster name. (Green Mask v1 005, 1941)

    Jean Lafitte:

    A false vision of Lafitte is summoned by a fake medium. (Green Mask v1 007, 1941)

    Napoleon Bonaparte:

    Viewed through a time machine’s viewscreen by the Black Hood. (Jackpot Comics 003, 1941)

    Nero:

    Kim Hale and the Purple Zombie, blasted back in time, are condemned to death by Emperor Nero for telling him about things that he hadn’t heard of before. (Reg’lar Fellers Heroic Comics 008, 1941)

    Though the duo make it out of the gladiatorial arena okay, they almost get caught up in the Great Fire of Rome before being shunted to another time zone by their allies. Unusually, Nero is not shown fiddling at all. (Reg’lar Fellers Heroic Comics 009, 1941)

    Nero, or at least his ghost, appears in a very different form after being summoned by the would-be necromancer Ford. Is this barbaric Nero a reflection of how the Emperor saw himself, or did the artist just kind of wing it? (Jackpot Comics 003, 1941)

    Paul Revere:

    Minor comic book protagonist Paul Revere Jr is awfully smug for someone who just has the name of a famous patriot, and that goes double for his friends Betsy Ross and Patrick Henry.

    His father Paul Revere Sr is at least out there writing a column called “America, Awake!” and putting himself in the crosshairs of local fascists. (Banner Comics 003, 1941)

    Sherlock Holmes:

    Yet another comedy Holmes analog with a terrible if intriguing name. Foreclose is just close enough to a play on Sherlock to be particularly maddening. Featuring: a Watson analog named Batsin Belfry. (Great Comics 001, 1941)

    Walter Winchell:

    He only appears as a corpse, but gossip columnist Walt Willard is a clear play on Walt Winchell. (Jackpot Comics 004, 1941)

  • REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 027

    Real people? In comic books? Now I’ve seen everything.

    Abu Khan:

    I sincerely cannot tell if this Black Knight foe is supposed to be Abu Sa’id Bahadur Khan, last ruler of the Mongol Ilkhanate, or if they just pulled a couple of syllables out of the air and added “Khan” to the end and called it a day. On the one hand, the real Abu Khan never tried to invade Egypt, as the Black Knight is trying to prevent him from doing, but on the other he is from about the right time to be a Black Knight character, i.e., within about two hundred years of all the other elements of the comic. (The Funnies 059, 1941)

    Adolf Hitler:

    Pays for the services of super-villain the Artist to facilitate the invasion of Tomania with his soul-stealing powers. (Jackpot Comics 004, 1941)

    Al Capone:

    “Scar Lapone,” used as a generic gangster name. (Green Mask v1 005, 1941)

    Jean Lafitte:

    A false vision of Lafitte is summoned by a fake medium. (Green Mask v1 007, 1941)

    Napoleon Bonaparte:

    Viewed through a time machine’s viewscreen by the Black Hood. (Jackpot Comics 003, 1941)

    Nero:

    Kim Hale and the Purple Zombie, blasted back in time, are condemned to death by Emperor Nero for telling him about things that he hadn’t heard of before. (Reg’lar Fellers Heroic Comics 008, 1941)

    Though the duo make it out of the gladiatorial arena okay, they almost get caught up in the Great Fire of Rome before being shunted to another time zone by their allies. Unusually, Nero is not shown fiddling at all. (Reg’lar Fellers Heroic Comics 009, 1941)

    Nero, or at least his ghost, appears in a very different form after being summoned by the would-be necromancer Ford. Is this barbaric Nero a reflection of how the Emperor saw himself, or did the artist just kind of wing it? (Jackpot Comics 003, 1941)

    Paul Revere:

    Minor comic book protagonist Paul Revere Jr is awfully smug for someone who just has the name of a famous patriot, and that goes double for his friends Betsy Ross and Patrick Henry.

    His father Paul Revere Sr is at least out there writing a column called “America, Awake!” and putting himself in the crosshairs of local fascists. (Banner Comics 003, 1941)

    Sherlock Holmes:

    Yet another comedy Holmes analog with a terrible if intriguing name. Foreclose is just close enough to a play on Sherlock to be particularly maddening. Featuring: a Watson analog named Batsin Belfry. (Great Comics 001, 1941)

    Walter Winchell:

    He only appears as a corpse, but gossip columnist Walt Willard is a clear play on Walt Winchell. (Jackpot Comics 004, 1941)

  • MEDIA IN COMICS 006

    Now that’s entertainment. 

    Magazines: 

    Are magazine titles in comics more likely to be plays on real ones than other forms of media? Perhaps. We’ll just have to see how many variations on Life and Time we can find over the years. Pretending to work for Living has enough caché that it gets these fascists into a secure aircraft plant – how long has it been since magazines were so relevant? (Big Shot Comics 014, 1941)

    Movies:

    I never actually mentioned it in the entry on the Hunchback of Hollywood, but the anti-Nazi movie that incites the story’s action is called The Tyrant. Featuring Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes and Sergeant Duffy in minor roles! (Captain America Comics 003, 1941)

    Rang-a-Tang the Wonder Dog’s boy companion Richy (the Amazing Boy) never seemed to be that impressive to me, but Hollywood disagreed and he was made both the star and subject of a film called Riverfront Richy with lots of animal stunts. (Blue Ribbon Comics 011, 1941)

    There’s never any real indication of what Scoopin’ Jive is about – music seems likely – but it’s such a baffling name for a movie that I must celebrate it (Crackajack Funnies 036, 1941)

    Similarly, we never really learn what Wings Aflutter is about, other than being a “new Navy Air smash hit” with a terrible name. (Jumbo Comics 034, 1941)

    Theatre:

    Minor super-villain the Black Death of course takes his costume and MO from a character in a stage production called The Black Death. There’s not quite enough of the play’s plot in the story to know if the fictional Black Death is supposed to be a metaphor or something or some sort of slasher movie killer as it appears. I sincerely hope it’s the latter. (Thrilling Comics 010, 1940)

    One of Professor X’s attempts to get Sub-Zero involves attacking him in the audience of a big stage musical that his girlfriend Mary is appearing in as part of the “Living Chandelier”. “George Whyte’s Sandels” is a very specific-seeming reference, but I am unable to easily connect it to a show of the era. (Blue Bolt v1 006, 1940)

    Fuller Spunk, former star of stage and now Holmes-inspired detective, starred in the evocatively-named shows Hector’s Last Gulp and The Gripes of Raft. (Hyper-Mystery Comics 001, 1940)

    Waltz of the Vampires is a ballet performance that is narratively used to set off vampire Carlos Hubbelo’s bloodlust, but more importantly, it kind of rules? Comic book media is so often a version of something from the real world that it’s always very fun to see something like this that (as far as I can tell) is just a sincere depiction of a vampire ballet. (Blue Ribbon Comics 011, 1941)

  • MEDIA IN COMICS 005

    This is the stuff that my counterpart in a comic book universe is writing his little blogs about.

    Movies:

    Not only does this theatre feature an appearance by Lady Luck (an impostor, alas), but it has screenings of Boris Scarloff in Mummy Blood and Myrna Powell and William Loy in Thinner than the Thin Man! (Lady Luck, the Spirit Section 1940)

    The villainous Comrade Ratski might have founded Ratski Productions and filmed his opus The Great War as a cover for his espionage activities, but was it a real movie? Was he filming all of his crimes and if so who has the footage? (Speed Comics 009, 1940) 

    Ted Parrish, aka the Man With 1000 Faces stars in Thundering Hoofs, which might appear to be a generic Western to you and I but which nets him the 1941 Oscar for Best Actor – sorry, Jimmy Stewart. (Speed Comics 010, 1940)

    This is another Ted Parrish feature(, and though the title is partially obscured by that rude talking kid I am familiar enough with 1940s parody title conventions to confidently state that it is Went with the Gale. (Speed Comics 008, 1940)

    Newspaper Columns:

    “John Perry In the News,” with its sassy little “Perry Says….” opening is said to be and written like a gossip column but like Bob Phantom before him John “the Black Fury” Perry seems to mostly write about crime. Also please note that both of these clippings have “Daily Standard” down the side even though Perry is consistently said to work for the Daily Clarion. (Fantastic Comics 017, 1941)

    Martin Mitchell is another of these gossip columnist/ hard-core investigative journalist types, only he isn’t a super-hero and so when he starts writing about ongoing criminal activity in “Martin Mitchell About Town” he just gets murdered. (Rocket Comics 003, 1940)

    We don’t get anything more about “The Tattler” than its title, and even that is concealed beneath part of the Press Guardian’s name. Maybe Ted McCoy needs to dig up some hotter gossip. (Pep Comics 001, 1940)

    Radio: 

    Martin Mitchell (America’s most popular columnist!) also has a radio show, and since we never learn its name I’m going to assume that it is also named Martin Mitchell About Town. (Rocket Comics 003, 1940)

    We don’t learn too much about The Brady’s Better Bacon Program due to its star Biff Crossley being mixed up in a string of high-profile murders, but it certainly is well-attended. And it has a full orchestra!(Pep Comics 008, 1940)

    Theatre: 

    Tobacco Turnpike is one of those murder mystery plays that are so beloved of comic and television writers because of dramatic potential inherent in someone being murdered on-stage at the same time as they are supposed to be pretending to be murdered, as happens several times in this story before the Shield gets involved and reveals that the director is responsible and is trying to tank the play because he has sold half stakes in the play to at least four men and doesn’t want to pay out or go to jail.

    Tobacco Turnpike is such a specific name that I was sure that it was a reference to something. I almost gave up the quest for knowledge after my third unsuccessful search for a production of Cigarette Junction, before finally narrowing it down to a play called Tobacco Road. (Shield-Wizard Comics 002, 1940)

  • MEDIA IN COMICS 003

    We’ve hit a rich seam of comic book movies this time, by Jove.

    Movies:

    Eaglets of America is a film about flying cadets, filmed at the same field that aspiring pilot Lucky Byrd trains at. There is some unpleasantness with a lecherous leading man, alas, but it all gets sorted by the end. (Target Comics v1 002, 1940)

    The 1933 film the Prizefighter and the Lady, starring boxer Max Baer opposite Myrna Loy, was a real touchstone back during the heyday of boxing comics. Given enough appearances, and boxer would end up in Hollywood in a sports romance with a variably terrible name. Hot Fists and Hot Lips, starring Kayo Ward, might just have the worst title of them all. (Pep Comics 008, 1940)

    Much like all those times that two volcano movies or two asteroid movies come out in quick succession, Miracle Movies and Bee Pictures are each working on a “lion picture” at the same time, only while Leo, King of Beasts makes it to theatres o sink or swim on its own merit, Jungle King is never completed due to the fact that its producer resorts to murder to get his movie out first. (Fight Comics 007, 1940)

    There’s no romance plot (on-panel, at least), but Pardon My Glove starring Kayo Kirby is absolutely another riff on The Prizefighter and the Lady. (Fight Comics 004, 1940)

    The Mad Martian may not get anything approaching a plot synopsis, but it has the distinction of being the inspiration for villain Red Dugan to commission the creation of a monstrous minion. (Blue Ribbon Comics 003, 1940)

    Though it was announced as being the subject of the next instalment of actress Diana Deane’s comic, War Nurse never actually appeared due to the strip being cancelled. A shame as I was really curious about the amount of dripping blood and what that might presage. (Funny Pages v1 004, 1940) 

    Like long-running comic strip Minute Movies, the concept of ‘Fantastic Feature Films’ is that of a series of movies acted by a recurring stable of actors. It’s a very fun idea that only lasts a double handful of issues, alas.

    The plot of Dance of Death involves a plot to assassinate a Hitler analog using an exotic dancer’s prop bubble that has been filled with gas. Interestingly, the plot is less concerned with making sure that the plot succeeds than it is with trying to foil it so that the dancer doesn’t get into trouble. (Target Comics v1 003, 1940)

    Devil’s Dust concerns an outcast Frenchman whose harsh treatment has made him a misanthrope and who only turns his supply of metal-dissolving dust to the cause of world peace after a gregarious American calls him “pal.” (Target Comics v1 002, 1940)

    The Maskless Axeman is a very strange film about a tuxedo-clad executioner who works for a Hitler analog and who driven mad by a fake haunting in order to save the life of a dancer accused of spying. (Target Comics v1 001, 1940)

    Radio:

    I like a good DJ name, and I appreciate just how tired “Stay-Up Dan, the All-Night Music Man” looks. (The Face 001, 1941)

  • MEDIA IN COMICS 002

    Fictional books, fictional movies, fictional stage shows: it’s media in comics time! 

    Books:

    Dexter, a friend of Ellsworth “the Sphinx” Forrester, has written a book titled Who’s Who in Murder which is one of those grand exposes that causes everyone in crimedom to attempt to kill the author before they can publish. That’s gotta be great publicity. (Exciting Comics 010, 1941)

    While Guns Make Dust is very plot relevant in this Ellery Queen mystery, as a doped-up stamp thief hides his prize in one of three copies in a local bookstore and subsequently murders several people in search of the right one, we never learn much about the book itself. I think it’s a Western, personally. (Crackajack Funnies 024, 1940)

    We learn even less about Life of Lee, the book that gives DA Tom Kerry the idea that solves a big murder case. Could this be a biography perhaps? Of Robert E. Lee? (Big Shot Comics 007, 1940)

    As we have established, there are many faux Hitlers in comics. Much more rare is the Hitler-alike who has written his own Mein Kampf analog, but such a one is Nargoff, aka the Leader, whose book The New Order is ultimately weaponized against him by the Spirit. (The Spirit, “The Leader,” 29 December, 1940)

    Magazines:

    Roving photographer Fran Frazer works for Strife magazine, an obvious play on LIFE but one which neatly justifies the action-packed lifestyle of the comic book photog. (Top-Notch Comics 009, 1940)

    Movies:

    Real-life animal trainer Clyde Beatty plays some role in the fictional film Jungle Drama, but what it is we cannot say, other than the fact that it involves a lion. (Crackajack Funnies 023, 1940)

    “Gabby Scoops” was a short-lived strip that was an awkward hybrid of goofy humour and crime action that ended after the titular hero went Hollywood and starred in the movie It’s a Scoop! (Crackajack Funnies 030, 1940)

    Shadow Devils, an espionage thriller with an unusual name, is one of those comic book movies that goes on shooting even after female lead Norda Noll is shot dead on-camera. Detective Charlie Chan eventually sorts it all out: it’s all about horse racing somehow. (Big Shot Comics 001, 1940)

    Dick Cole, aka the Wonder Boy, is roped into doing the stunts for a movie called Shining Star over his summer vacation. Interpersonal conflicts and murder attempts stretch the filming over a couple of issues, but it does eventually get made. It’s even well received, despite being an incoherent hodgepodge of action setpieces! (Blue Bolt v1 005, 1940)

    Theatre:

    Like the movie that finishes production despite death an calamity, the play that continues its run while actor after actor is killed on stage is a real staple of the Golden Age mystery comic. Espionage is such a play, albeit with only one murder and a series of near-misses as the show’s conductor fires poisoned darts out of his baton at those who he sees as standing between him and his love of the female lead. (Keen Detective Funnies v2 007, 1939)

  • ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 034

    We got your aliens right here.

    Martians: 

    While I think that we might have a couple of Fletcher Hanks aliens in our future, the number is definitely going down at a fairly rapid clip, so let’s enjoy these here Martians while we have them. Like so many aliens, these guys are looking to conquer the Earth, and like so many Fletcher Hanks antagonists they have come up with a completely bonkers and over-the-top method of doing so: by stupefying the entire population with gas and then loading them all into individual rocket pods that are then shot into space to drift forever. This is a Whirlwind Carter adventure and thus set in an undefined future date, which means that the Earth’s population is effectively a big question mark, but the Martians have to be firing off billions of these things, right?

    Perhaps this is why these fellows look so satisfied as they look out over a conquered New York, because they have just put in a very hard day’s work to get it.

    Like I said: this is a Whirlwind Carter story, and the key thing about Whirlwind Carter is that he lives on Venus and is thus not present for the Martian gas attack. Carter rounds up the stranded Earthians and employs them as the crew of a space fleet to take back the planet using a combination of gas and hand-to-hand street combat.

    It makes only a brief appearance in the issue, but perhaps the most intriguing thing that we see in this issue is the Martian vapor arm that is deployed to kidnap Carter’s partner Brenda. Is it a creature? A technology? Something that Martians can just do? Throw these questions on the big Never To Be Answered pile. (Daring Mystery Comics 004, 1940)

    Hawk-Men:

    The people of Earth in the year 3090 CE are being troubled by a series of bright flashes in the clouds, and when troubleshooter Planet Payson flies up to investigate the cause he discovers a hitherto-unknown society of winged people called the Hawk-Men living in a floating city. The flashes turn out to be ray gun blasts, resulting from a war that the Hawk-Men are engaged in with a second, unnamed group of cloud-dwellers. It’s not entirely clear whether the Hawk-Men are a separate species, an offshoot of humanity or simply a group of humans who have bioengineered themselves some wings and taken to the skies, but what is clear is that they were pretty directly inspired by Vultan and the other Hawkmen of Flash Gordon fame. Just look at this Brian Blessed-ass Hawk Commander, for gosh sakes.

    Payson and his companions take it upon themselves to stop the war by invading the cloud city of the other side (unnamed, but led by a jerk named Buzzlark). They aren’t particularly successful, but while Buzzlark is gloating over them after sticking them in some clear tubes, the Hawk Commander is able to sneak in and assassinate him. War over on account of coup t’etat!

    Another technology shout-out: this zippy little one-man tank that Buzzlarks men patrol his city in. (Planet Comics 002, 1940)

    Hawkmen:

    Speaking of things that are pretty clearly inspired by Flash Gordon, I now realize that that is exactly what the Rocket’s adventures in and around the Diamond Empire are, and what would a Flash Gordon pastiche be without some Hawkmen? These particular Hawkmen are introduced in the person of Prince Falkar, who meets the Rocket and the Queen of Diamonds during a pitched battle with some Lizard-Men and becomes their staunch ally thereafter. After a brief interlude with some Ape-Men, he brings the duo back home to the Hawk Kingdom with him.

    Rocket and the Queen’s visit to the Hawk Kingdom causes some Big Problems: Falkor’s fiance Princess Abbie becomes in turn jealous of the Queen and then attracted to Rocket, and the latter’s rejection of her in favour of the former inspires her to assassinate the King and take the throne for herself. Falkor is forced to flee his home for the Diamond Empire, and as of the end of the series is still waiting for a little help in reclaiming his rightful throne. (Pep Comics 004, 1940)

    Headless Men:

    When scientists discover a weird new asteroid, space adventurer Buzz Crandall and his aide Sandra Curan are sent out to investigate. They discover a species of humanoids held in servitude by a bunch of big pitcher plants (who are not really ever given a name other than Plants, so that’s what we’ll go with).

    The Headless Men have been systematically bred by the Plants into small, low-intellect, easy-to-control  creatures by the Plants, but the downside to this is that they are now too feeble to fix a problem that has developed in the solar concentrators that the Plants derive sustenance from. Buzz fixes this problem under threat and is immediately betrayed, and he and Sandra are eaten by the Plant king.

    The Headless Men are not, it turns out, completely without volition, and rise up in defense of Buzz and Sandra. Under Buzz’ direction the solar concentrators are repurposed into heat weapons that fry the Plant population instead of feeding them. (Planet Comics 005, 1940)