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Category: 1940

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 017

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 017

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Buncha mooks this time. The ship that picked up scientist-adventurer Dean Denton and his pals from the island of Baron Blood just so happened to have a pseudo-Nazi spy (fake name Lieutenant James, code name K-192, real name unknown) committing murders on it for unclear reasons. Despite composing a crime scene to contain nothing but clues pointing to other members of the crew Denton rounds him up pretty quickly. (Masked Marvel 003, 1940) Pilot Prop Powers has to defend his…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 692: THE MASTER

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 692: THE MASTER

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(Pep Comics 008, 1940)  It’s an old story, even this early in the history of comics: someone has developed a method for mass murdering people and is attempting to use it to extort money from a city, or else. In this case that person calls himself the Master and that method is some sort of electrical wave. The Comet of course is not cool with this kind of blatant super-villainy, particularly as he is still trying to rebuild his reputation…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 691: THE CLAW

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 691: THE CLAW

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(Pep Comics 007, 1940)  The Press Guardian’s only recurring villain, the Claw has what can only be described as an eclectic career: In his first appearance he’s a sort of freelance spy chief working to aid the I-assume-European country of Shironia in its attempt to conquer neighbouring Lanfia by committing acts of sabotage in the US and framing Lanfia as the perpetrator so that America will withdraw its support of Lanfia. The Press Guardian exposes the scheme and sends the…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 690: VULCAN

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 690: VULCAN

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(Pep Comics 006, 1940) A man working in a London steam plant dies by falling into an industrial furnace. A horrible thing to happen! Why am I showing you this horrible thing? I am showing it to you because it is not in fact a horrible accident but a horrible murder, and we know that because the murderer left a horrible little bit of doggerel in order to crow about what he did, and he signed it “Vulcan.” Our old…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 689: THE MAN-MONSTER OF LONDON

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 689: THE MAN-MONSTER OF LONDON

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(Pep Comics 005, 1940)  The Man-Monster of London, aka Monk, doesn’t actually play that big a part in the plot of this Bentley of Scotland Yard story. I mean, he’s in a lot of it, but he doesn’t have a lot of volition of his own. In brief, the Rajah of Inrak (which is probably meant to be an Indian province or kingdom and not a whole country of its own) is in London to discuss some sort of treaty…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 688: THE HUNCHBACK HORROR

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 688: THE HUNCHBACK HORROR

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(Pep Comics 004, 1940) We open on Inspector Bentley in the midst of a cocktail party to celebrate the engagement of his friend the Earl of Crackenthorpe. By way of entertainment, the Earl recounts the legend of the Crackenthorpe Curse: a thousand years ago, the progenitor of the Crackenthorpe line made his fortune the old-fashioned way, by summoning a demon and asking it for riches. Ever since, the brides-to-be of the heirs to the Crackenthorpe title must present themselves to…

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SUPERCUT: PEARL HARBOR

SUPERCUT: PEARL HARBOR

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All the times prior to December 1941 that someone in comics tried to blow up Pearl Harbor and the fleet therein: Russian-analog villains the Mosconians make an attempt but are foiled by the Shield (Pep Comics 004, 1940) Rance Keane deals with some pseudo-Nazis who try to weaponize an innocent-seeming schooner to do the job. (Feature Comics 044, 1941) This is a weird one: the Germans attempt to trick the Japanese into attacking Pearl Harbor one year before the actual…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 687: PRINCESS LING FOY

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 687: PRINCESS LING FOY

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(Pep Comics 004, 1940) Princess Ling Foy probably belongs in the Problematic Round-Up with all of Fu Chang’s other enemies (and Fu Chang himself, of course) – she’s just as steeped in racist tropes as any of them, right down to her dumb name. But… I have to say that I like her hat. I also like her minions, the Warriors of Brass, which strongly resemble robots but which are by all accounts magical creations. Let’s spit the difference and…

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PROBLEMATIC ROUND-UP 003

PROBLEMATIC ROUND-UP 003

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This edition of the Problematic Round-Up is devoted to minor MLJ character Fu Chang and his foes. Fu Chang: Reading Charlie Chan comics has absolutely messed my head up in a specific way: because Charlie Chan is so clearly a project with the set goal of having a Chinese character who is not an overt racist Yellow Peril stereotype (while, yes, being pretty racist in a bunch of other ways) I give it more of the benefit of the doubt…

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