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Category: 1940

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 818: THE FACELESS PHANTOM

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 818: THE FACELESS PHANTOM

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(Thrilling Comics 001, 1940)  Here’s a nice picture of the Faceless Phantom from his second appearance, before we delve into the muddy fiche images of his first. Scientific hero Doc Strange is just walking down the street one day when he hears a cry for help that leads him to an encounter with his first super-villain (the Faceless Phantom) as well as his long-term love interest (Virginia Thompson). The Faceless Phantom, it turns out, has just kidnapped Virginia’s father Professor…

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 055

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 055

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Some more super-folk for your delectation.  Doc Strange: Doc Strange (called “Dr Strange” for the first half dozen or so of his appearances, but why cause unnecessary confusion) is an almost prototypical scientist-hero: no real origin beyond being a well-known brilliant scientist who is primed and ready for adventure having just perfected Alosun, a “formula distilled from sun-atoms.” After taking his first dose of Alosun in his initial adventure, Strange has super-strength and invulnerability sufficient to take on an entire…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 817: ELENA

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 817: ELENA

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(The Spirit Section, 9 June, 1940) Elena is Mr Mystic’s recurring female foe, the Tigress to his Zatara. Unlike the Tigress, however, Elena isn’t in it for the money but rather as an agent of chaos out to maximize the amount of war and bloodshed in the world, as in her first appearance, in which she is acting as the power behind the throne of fascist dictator Karoly Gore. The final confrontation between Elena and Mr Mystic is also the…

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DIVINE ROUND-UP 004

DIVINE ROUND-UP 004

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Can you ever have enough made-up gods?  the Goddess of Fire:  Crooks Raoul and Victor Ladron hatch a scheme while hiding out on the South Pacific island of Kumoni: since the idol of the local Goddess of Fire looks identical to former super-villain Elena they will engineer her kidnapping, hypnotize her into impersonating the goddess and then kill her to prove that they are more powerful than her and thus deserve to make off with the temple gold. This plan…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 816: THE MASTERMIND

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 816: THE MASTERMIND

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(The Spirit, “the Mastermind Strikes”, 6 October, 1940) The Mastermind is really Joel Kenner, a mayoral candidate who tries to get his Tough on Crime campaign a boost by murdering both of his campaign managers and blaming the deaths on the Spirit. This ends poorly for Kenner, who ends up stabbing himself with his own knife like a complete dolt.

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 005

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 005

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We got your aliens, plus some so forth.  Moon Men:  The Moon Men of 2050 CE seem to be just another part of the future Solar System society until they enter an alliance with magic super-crook Sarku so that their Moon King Tan Tan can meet his historical crush Elena. This of course brings them into conflict with Mr Mystic, as Elena is his fiance and he’s just not that into her being kidnapped into the future.  The Moon Men…

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NOTES: JULY 2025

NOTES: JULY 2025

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The Fates of Various Nazi Warships:  Given the penchant for featuring even quite famous and obvious things under false names in comics, I always end up noticing when something or someone shows up under their own moniker, which is why I was very surprised when Royal Navy submarine captain Tom Niles, aka the Undersea Raider, is responsible for sinking several real Nazi warships in this 1940 comic. The casualties include the cruiser Admiral Scheer (sunk in 1945 in our world)…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 814: SARKU

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 814: SARKU

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(The Spirit Section, 25 August, 1940) I’ve mentioned before that the foes faced by magical Golden Age super-heroes break down into roughly three types: 1) regular crooks who are there to be clowned upon, 2) legitimate threats with equivalent magical power of their own and 3) crooks with a little magical power, who provide a Iof a challenge but are ultimately also clowned upon. Sarku is the third type, and has set out, fresh out of prison, to get revenge on those…

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DEMONIC ROUND-UP 001

DEMONIC ROUND-UP 001

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I think that demons and devils are the only category of comic book guy I don’t have a running round-up for yet (and having said that I’m sure that there will be more), so here we go: Satan:  If we’re going do do demons, why not start with the one with the most name recognition of all: Satan. As seen here he has been vexing jodhpured adventurer Tippy Taylor in the form of a mad scientist, only to be defeated…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 813: YAGOR

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 813: YAGOR

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(The Spirit, “The Death Dolls”, 4 August, 1940) In terms of villainy, Yagor ain’t much. Formerly chief engineer at the Battle Arms Co, Yagor murdered the inventor Kalin and stole his inventions and is trying to sell them on when the Spirit tracks him down in a small New England town. Though he gets the drop on the Spirit and captures him when he shows up to take him in, Yagor is undone by his own poor salesmanship and the…

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