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Category: 1940

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 522: THE NIGHT RIDERS

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 522: THE NIGHT RIDERS

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(Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940)  There are plenty of Ku Klux Klan- inspired groups in comics and thusfar we’ve encountered a few: the Blue Devils, the Horned Masks, even the Purple‘s gang of idiots. All of those examples share one thing: they’re just gangs that operate in the country using the intimidation tactics of the KKK but without the goals of reinforcing white supremacy – they’re just regular comic book gangs, only in the country. There’s a part of me…

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 009

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 009

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All Archie/MLJ edition! Rang-a-Tang the Wonder Dog: The Wonder Dog is an uncommon but distinct type of comic book hero and Rang-a-Tang here is typical of the breed: essentially a dog with human intelligence. Rang-a-Tang escaped from a cruel but evidently very talented circus dog trainer and almost immediately teamed up with police Detective Hy Speed, who was perhaps lashing out at the world for his own moniker when he gave his new dog one of the all-time worst names….

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 521: RED DUGAN

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 521: RED DUGAN

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(Blue Ribbon Comics 003, 1940)  Red Dugan is a down-on-his-luck gang boss who turns to what will be a classic crime method in the Silver Age particularly: he kidnaps a scientist and forces him to science up a weapon for him to smite his enemies with. In this case, the scientist in question is one Dr Cardo, who seems oddly prepared for the task of making a Seafood Platter Man. Was he kidnapped just before embarking on his own reign…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 506: THE GHOST OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 506: THE GHOST OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

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(Blue Bolt v1 007, 1940) We have entered the era of Sergeant Spook battling villainous ghosts! It’s not quite as low stakes as Sergeant Spook just manhandling mortal crooks while they have no ability to affect him but since the worst that ghosts can do to each other in this fictional milieu is to knock one another out it’s still missing a bit of something. Still, the setting of Ghost Town is a fun one and we’re still getting lots…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 505: MARTO

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 505: MARTO

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(Blue Bolt v1 006, 1940)  Blue Bolt is a fine comic book character in the classic setting of a vast underground world full of sci-fi/fantasy concepts but 100% the best thing about him is that 10 or so of his first dozen appearances were by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon and boy does Marto here show it. Just look at this classic Kirby creation! Marto was originally Martin Hall, a scientist who accidentally bombarded himself with the very cosmic rays…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 504: PROFESSOR X

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 504: PROFESSOR X

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(Blue Bolt v1 005, 1940) Professor X has two of my favourite qualities in a minor super-villain: a famous name and a prior history. The first is the same kind of fun as when my friend named his cat after me. “What do you mean Professor X keeps getting up on the counter to steal ham?” I really love his Prohibition-Era villainy as well, particularly as I had it in my head that he specifically was a bootlegger and thus…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 503: THE GHOST OF JESSE JAMES

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 503: THE GHOST OF JESSE JAMES

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(Blue Bolt v1 005, 1940)  Sergeant Spook, while a fun concept, had a problem as a super-hero: as an intangible, invisible ghost able to interact with the physical world he was possibly the most overpowered foe that a regular-style gangster or even your average super-villain could encounter. He was running the risk of becoming a bit boring just a few issues in, when the obvious solution presented itself: ghost crooks! Yes, Jesse James and his gang are back at it…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 502: THE GREEN SORCERESS

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 502: THE GREEN SORCERESS

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(Blue Bolt v1 001, 1940)  The Green Sorceress! Possibly named Norzimo, absolutely the ruler of the underground kingdom of Voltor aka the Hidden Empire aka the Green Empire. Locked in a cold war with Dr Bertoff, leader of Deltos aka the Scientific City, as she wants the Deltosan radium fields in order to power her war machines and invade the surface while he wants to destroy her kingdom and everyone in it. According to Bertoff, the Green Sorceress is descended…

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MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 008

MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 008

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Mad or criminal, it’s the science that matters. This fellow is known only as “the hypnotist” and has an unspecified plan to do… something that involves taking control of flights of Army bombers and having them blow up targets of his choosing. If the details seem thin on the ground it’s because this fellow speaks precisely three words (see above) before being captured by Jeff Cardiff, Spy-Chief and so the only knowledge we have about his plans is that which…

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