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Category: 1940

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 047

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 047

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Astonishing super-heroes of the past! And future! the Invisible Avenger:  Teen radio enthusiast Buzz Allen discovers the secret of personal invisibility shortly after the death of his father at the hands of criminals and so is perfectly primed to become part of a super-vigilante duo alongside his friend Will Lawrence (if the issue of whether they should be the Invisible Avengers ever comes up then it is in the initial adventure which I alas cannot read).  Their adventures are structured…

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GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 020

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 020

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We’re stretching the definition of the term “generic” this week, folks. Carr, the self-styled Planetary Potentate, is released from the insane asylum that he is imprisoned in when a resurrected sub-sea dinosaur called the Amphisaur crashes into it. He sets out to claim his rightful place at the head of society, along with his friend/ companion/ army, the wild man Simeo. While murdering and robbing a gas station attendant, Carr learns of the Amphisaur and its role in their escape…

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NOTES – MAY 2025

NOTES – MAY 2025

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Cops Shooting at Fleeing Suspects:  The Raven, a nonviolent thief who crucial only steals ill-gotten gains from the wealthy and powerful, draws a lot of police fire over the course of his activities. (Sure-Fire Comics 002, 1940) Treasury agent blazes away at a fleeing diamond smuggler in the middle of NYC. (Target Comics v1 004, 1940) A Good Line to Exit A Burning Building With: Especially if you have no intention of being a waffle. (Sure-Fire Comics 002, 1940) Insufficiently…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 781: DR ANDERSON

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 781: DR ANDERSON

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(Super Spy 001, 1940) A series of bank robberies rock the community of Unnamed Comics Book City, USA. Witnesses place local physician Doc Anderson at the scene of each crime, but when detectives look into it they find that he has a terrible alibi for each one: he was home alone. It sounds like an open and shut case, but another robbery occurs while the police are at his house. Just what is happening? Could the fact that the title…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 779: THE CLOWN

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 779: THE CLOWN

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(Super-Mystery Comics v1 005, 1940) The Clown! One of the more prolific non-Marvel or DC/Fawcett/Quality super-villains of the Golden Age, and I’m kind of glad that he only made one appearance in 1940 because like his fellow crime clown the Joker, the Clown gets up to a wide variety of different schemes and plots and it’s nice to have the breathing room to just introduce his concept without having to detail a bunch of extra antics as well (and speaking…

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 046

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 046

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Enjoy these ancient delights! the Black Spider: Mild-mannered district attorney Ralph Nelson, like many comic book lawmen, sallies forth at night in order to deal with criminals that the law can’t touch. Nelson is despised by his colleague Police Inspector Stern for being too soft on crime/ dedicated to the letter of the law to allow the cops to torture confessions out of people, while the Black Spider is hated by Stern for showing up the police by being so…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 778: THE SKYWAYMEN

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 778: THE SKYWAYMEN

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(Super-Mystery Comics v1 004, 1940) Over the course of the last few years I’ve really beefed up the amount of images and words I use to describe the minor super-villains I so love, but sometimes you gotta hearken back to the old ways: When aviator Sky Smith heads to Alaska to help out his friend Tom Harris with a mysterious problem, he finds that a band of air pirates called the Skywaymen (fantastic name) led by a man named Rolf…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 777: EMBER, THE EMPRESS OF FIRE

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 777: EMBER, THE EMPRESS OF FIRE

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(Super-Mystery Comics v1 003, 1940) This is a bit of a weird one. Vulcan, the Volcanic Man, has just saved both a field of gasoline tanks and a government arson inspector named Grace Horner from being incinerated by “notorious arsonist-spy” Torchy Fargo, who then retires to a nearby castle* to report his failure to Ember, the Empress of Fire. Just what is the deal with these two, you ask? We shall explore that momentarily. *Vulcan is plausibly based out of…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 776: THE BLUE SPARK

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 776: THE BLUE SPARK

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(Super-Mystery Comics v1 002, 1940) In terms of crime, the Blue Spark is ambitious but not extraordinary: a little corporate extortion, some bank robbery, a few kidnappings. Nothing we haven’t seen a few hundred times by now.  When it comes to the trappings of super-villainy, however, the Blue Spark is on the cutting edge. Just look at that costume – it’s not quite the standardized super-villain getup we will eventually see on so many one-shot Batman villains but it’s pretty…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 775: THE OCTOPUS

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 775: THE OCTOPUS

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(Super-Mystery Comics v1 001, 1940) The Octopus! Leader of a nation-wide crime wave! Keenly interested in branding! His men slap little octopus stickers on cops and burgled vaults alike! And when the Octopus talks to his men, he is represented by what appears to be an animated octopus! As far as criminal operations go, this one is pretty slick. Unfortunately for the Octopus, nothing gold can stay and that includes excellent crime setups. While he might be able to outmanoeuvre…

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