World leaders and others. Adolf Hitler: I’m pretty sure that the “Navy Jones” strip is set in an undefined near-future time, which makes the Dictator of Europe here a future analog of Adolf Hitler rather than a stand-in for him. I’m almost certain that that’s the case. Anyway, he tries to invade the US with a fleet of amphibious tanks and gets his ass handed to him by Navy Jones and his fish men. (Weird Comics 008, 1940) Chiang Kai-shek and Soong…
(Whirlwind Comics 001, 1940) In the far future of 1980 CE, Earth is under threat of conquest from space. A mysterious ray has dissolved the nation of Slovania, and now a being called Toko the Terrible, Emperor of Saturn has issued an ultimatum: surrender to him or the entire Earth will suffer the same fate. This of course will not stand, and Earth sends their best guy (Bruce Barlow), to deal with the threat of Toko. Barlow, being a man…
A wretched and motley crew for ye this day. Mikal, leader of the undersea pirates, is an evocative figure who exists only to pad out the Typhon story that he appears in by a couple of pages. In an attempt to aid his ally, the king of the Sea Demons, he gets off one good hydro-jet blast at Typhon’s submarine before he and his entire undersea fortress are annihilated by the sub’s hydro-ray. (Weird Comics 005, 1940) Friends, I am…
(Wham Comics 002, 1940) Just after Blue Fire gets his powers and vows to use them to beat up “criminals, racketeers and foreign spies” he is served a chance to do so on a silver platter when his local newspaper carries an account of a ship at sea being sabotaged by a very cold man who just stood around in the engine room until everything broke. Making his way to the ship in question, Blue Fire uses his intangibility power…
Some of those reeeeal obscure guys today. Craig Carter: Archaeologist Craig Carter wants to give up all the stuffy academia and become a crime fighter, and since he lives in a comic book universe, the very day he tells his girlfriend about this objectively bad decision he receives a magical ring in the mail from an old colleague whose life he had saved. This ring grants its wearer the ability to summon the gods of antiquity to aid them –…
(Wham Comics 001, 1940) In what is sadly the final appearance of Speed Centaur, he and his pal “Reel” McCoy travel to the Arctic ruins of the City of Centaurs to explore Speed’s birthplace. Almost immediately upon setting foot inside, they are ambushed and captured by wild-eyed men who escort them to their leader, a man called the King, who unusually has gone with an eccentric hair choice in every available part of his face but the mustache zone, and…
(Famous Funnies 067, 1940) The Panther is a no-nonsense Western gang boss who actually avoids a lot of the common missteps of the average super-villain by running an extremely tight ship in her munitions-smuggling gang. Is maintaining workplace discipline with a bullwhip the best idea? No, but it is better than workplace explosions. The Panther’s downfall starts when she puts a little two much trust in her lieutenants, Luis and Ramon, and they immediately go out and do some unsanctioned train…
(Weird Comics 009, 1940) Gore, a mad scientist, has just escaped from an unspecified facility in an unnamed city in whatever part of Africa that Marga the Panther Woman hangs out, and while I appreciate how he looks like a little scamp while he’s stealing an airplane from Marga’s pal Ted, this young fellow would be heading straight to the next Mad and Criminal Scientist Round-Up if not for two fun things that he does and that I want to…
(Weird Comics 009, 1940) The Beast is the Eagle’s first and perhaps only recurring foe, and it’s unfortunate that he makes his first appearance at the very end of the 1940 run of Weird Comics because I really want to highlight the similarities between the Beast and his fellow Luis Cazaneuve creation the Rook, but danged if I have enough material for a real compare-and contrast on them yet. For now, we’ll just hit the obvious, such as the fact that they look…
You thought that I couldn’t keep doing it but I can. MORE SUPER-HEROES the Dart: On the one hand, the Dart is just another guy with cape and a mask who fights crime alongside his kid sidekick, but on the other, he has a few interesting twists on what is already a tried-and-true formula: In the first place, the Dart was originally an Ancient Roman named Caius Martius who was magically sealed in a block of stone by his enemies, only…