(Silver Streak Comics 004, 1940) We open on a flashback, as this unnamed scientist and Captain Ken Keen of the Planet Patrol reminisce about the Comet of Death which has returned to the Solar System 100 years after it initially laid waste to the cities of Earth, Mars and Venus. And since the adventures of the Planet Patrol unlike many if not most Golden Age sci-fi comics is set in a defined time period, we know that that initial attack…
(Silver Streak Comics 004, 1940) The Panther! A murderous thief with a very cool look and a vicious set of claws! Well, okay, he does compliment his cool panther mask, panther paw gloves and shoes and pantherskin shirt with a pair of brown slacks so I’ll amend that to a mostly cool look. Moderately cool looking or not, the Panther has been doing his crimes in the nonspecific New York-esque city that Ace Powers calls home and so Ace is…
(Silver Streak Comics 003, 1940) Like his super-heroic enemy the Silver Streak, the Doc’s story is complicated somewhat by the fact that it begins as an effort by Jack Binder and ends as one by Jack Cole. In the former, the Doc is a mysterious figure who is orchestrating the deaths of the drivers of Silver Streak race cars via giant fly attacks. The reason for this? Never made clear. Once the Swami and his race crew are seemingly out…
Lev Gleason’s finest! Lance Hale: Lance Hale is a soldier of fortune and jungle adventurer who is notable mainly for the fact that in his first appearance he is given super strength by a fellow with the pleasing name of Dr Grantland Grey so that he can help out on an expedition to the stars, and then after returning to Earth he just… stops using the armband that gives him his enhanced strength. He keeps on adventuring, don’t get me…
(Silver Streak Comics 002, 1940) The Professor sits right on that dividing line between “super-villain” and “gang boss with a cool nickname” and what pushed him over the line for me was the fact that he makes three absolutely classic comic book super-villain mistakes in this issue. MISTAKE #1: The Professor lures the Wasp and his aide Bill Barnes to an isolated area to eliminate them before they interfere with his plans as they have in the past, but they…
(Silver Streak Comics 002, 1940) Normally I try to put things in my own words and really work out the ins and outs of the motivations of the super-weirdos I write about, but I gotta be honest: I have so little idea of what the Little Men’s problem is (problems are?) that I’m just going to point to the intro caption: they’re trying to rid the world of all beautiful women. Simple as that. Why are they trying to rid…
I hope you like the War of 1812 and its wacky cast of characters, because here they come! Dolley Madison: Seen saving the portrait of George Washington from the soon-to-be-burned White House. (Shield-Wizard Comics 002, 1940) Francis Scott Key: Meets Tommy the Super-Boy while both are imprisoned by the British, then is freed by the second Wizard in time to be inspired to write a national anthem. (Shield-Wizard Comics 002, 1940) James Madison: Seen periodically in the lead-up and progress…
The wartime exploits of the original Wizard, expressed as a series of encounters with famous figures from US history. Benedict Arnold: Very nearly captured by the original Wizard. (Shield-Wizard Comics 001, 1940) General Charles Cornwallis: Defeated by a coalition of the Americans, French and the original Wizard. (Shield-Wizard Comics 001, 1940) Admiral François-Joseph de Grasse: Helps defeat the British fleet at Chesapeake Bay but of course he couldn’t have done it without the original Wizard. (Shield-Wizard Comics 001, 1940) George…
We’re reading Shield-Wizard Comics, bay-bee, so here’s some stuff about the Shield and the Wizard. the Shield UPDATE: In our original write-up of the Shield, we noted that the origin of his powers shifted from being solely down to his super-suit to being more of an ingrained thing over time, and the time is now! Yes, Shield-Wizard Comics 001 provides a slightly tweaked version of the Shield’s origin, in which Joe Higgins’ father Tom was not just a US Army…
Get ready for a collection of MLJ’s finest racially-problematic villains. Yen Fat Sing: Yen Fat Sing’s deal is that he knows about a treasure buried on Fu Chang’s charity farm and, in an effort to grab that treasure for himself, has been murdering the workers using man-eating plants. He’s a pretty standard type of minor super-villain but because he is a Fu Chang foe he is of course a generic Yellow Peril character on top of that. A couple of…