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Category: 1940

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 867: THE MASKED MAN

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 867: THE MASKED MAN

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(Wonderworld Comics 017, 1940)  Our story opens as a man named John Daniels approaches Yarko the Great after a show and requests his aid in preventing whatever fate befell his mysteriously missing brother James from also happening to him, as threatened by an ominous note. Yarko of course accepts. I wouldn’t call this the most clearly-plotted comic story of all time, so instead of laying everything out in sequence I’ll just introduce the cast of characters: John Daniels: Receiver of…

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 064

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 064

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Oh my gosh! It’s more minor super-heroes!  the Phantom Rider:  The Phantom Rider is Tex Maxon, who was already a wandering cowboy who meted out justice for a while before getting into the masked vigilante game. Where a lot of masked cowboy vigilantes are doing a classic secret identity or concealing their identity for more specific reasons like being wanted for a crime they didn’t commit, the Phantom Rider thing honestly just seems like a fashion choice on Maxon’s part,…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 866: THE SCAR

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 866: THE SCAR

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(Wonderworld Comics 014, 1940) The Scar is a fairly ordinary crypto-fascist spy chief – in his first appearance he is leading a gang of incompetents in a plot to blow up a Europe-bound supply ship, for example – but I’ll be danged if he isn’t well suited to his nickname. Most guys named Scar in 1940s comics are maybe rocking one big facial scar, while our friend here not only has three, but is missing at least one ear! Whatever happened…

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DIVINE ROUND-UP 017

DIVINE ROUND-UP 017

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You’ll never believe it: more gods.  the Serpent Gods:  While pursuing crook Rango in the African jungle, Yarko the Great comes across a couple being sacrificed to the Serpent Gods by being flung into a pit of sacred serpents. But are the serpents the Serpent Gods themselves? There is no further context given, so we must assume that they are. God style: Animist (Wonderworld Comics 015, 1940)  Gorm:  Gorm is the god of the villainous Hatchet Cult, a gang that…

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GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 029

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 029

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You’ll never believe how close these guys get to being name-brand super-villains!  The Great-Great-Grandson of Lafitte is a flamboyant character who runs a protection racket on coconut plantations on the US Virgin Islands. Is he really a descendant of the great pirate captain? Who can say, but what is certain is that he puts on a good show before getting his block absolutely knocked off by US Navy goofs Spark Stevens and Chuck Lawson. (Wonderworld Comics 009, 1940) Some classic…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 865: HANS VON LUNDBERG

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 865: HANS VON LUNDBERG

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(Wonderworld Comics 014, 1940) Our story begins in a very economical way, as Yarko the Great hears about a great plague ravaging Tanganyika (part of modern-day Tanzania, if you must know) and determines that it merits his attention enough to teleport directly to the scene.  Yarko uses his mental powers to trace the source of the disease to a very Transylvanian-looking spooky castle that is not explicitly said to either be or to not be in Tanganyika so I guess…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 864: THE BLOODY BARON

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 864: THE BLOODY BARON

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(Wonderworld Comics 010, 1940) The Bloody Baron was once Karek, Baron of the Duchy of Morziava, somewhere in the spooky part of Eastern Europe. Nine Hundred plus years ago he went off to war and came back a woman-killing creep and so his people burned him at the stake. Ever since, he’s been rising from the dead and carrying off a woman per year – that’s at least eight hundred women as of the story we’re talking about! Yarko the…

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MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 021

MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 021

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None of this science is mad or criminal peer reviewed.  This fellow attempts to blackmail Dynamo’s unnamed home city by various methods, including Causing and then threatening further widespread destruction with his “liquid air” freeze cannon and kidnapping city council members and then subjecting some of them to a frankly horrific bone liquefying ray.  The main problem with him is honestly the fact that he has no established name. He does go by “Miss Monda” while he is posing as…

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 063

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 063

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Pilots! Vexatious pilots! Will they give me no peace?   the Skull Squad:  Yet another gang of pilots with some pretty lacklustre skull theming to go with their name. The Skull Squad is an international affair, with American Jimmy Jones, Englishman Kent Douglas and Scotsman Jock “Sandy” MacGregor all flying a bomber for the RAF and predictably getting into wild and wooly scrapes. (Wings Comics 001, 1940) SKULL SCORE:  0.5/5  the Parachute Patrol: The Parachute Patrol are Tommy, Curly and Blimpo…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 044 UPDATE: THE MASK (REVISITED)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 044 UPDATE: THE MASK (REVISITED)

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(Whiz Comics 002-011, 1940)  I first wrote about the Mask back in the early days when I was trying to keep things short – a laudible goal and one I have not always stuck to, but there’s such a thing as too short, especially when talking about Spy Smasher’s only real enemy for about a year and a half. In the spirit of correcting that, here are some of the more interesting moments from the Mask’s 1940 appearances. To start, I had…

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