(Mystic Comics v1 001, 1940) The Green Terror gets off on the right foot with me, let me tell you. Sure he’s a mysterious figure who sends goons out to kidnap healthy young New Yorkers for unknown but surely sinister purposes, but those goons are dressed in green costumes and drive around in a green car with a green smokescreen and if there’s one thing I love, my friend, it’s a villain who sticks to a theme. The Green Terror…
(Mystic Comics v1 001, 1940) Spencer Keen AKA the Blue Blaze is an interesting character. His origin for example has a couple of classic elements that were not yet classic at the time because it was 1940. Or rather it was 1852 because Spencer Keen is from the Past. Costume: like Barbara Gordon twenty-odd years later, the reason that the Blue Blaze has a super-suit ready to go is that he was on the way to a costume party when…
(Mystic Comics v1 001, 1941) Professor Maluski is the first foe faced by the Blue Blaze after his hibernative period and while he has a lot of cool stuff (huge underground base full of crazy machines, gangster henchmen, a weird gem that flies under its own power and drags its target along in a tractor beam, etc) the real reason that he is getting his own entry rather than being tossed in the next Mad Science Round-Up is the same…
(Mystic Comics v1 001, 1940) It’s Flexo the Rubber Man! A rubber robot filled with some sort of gas created and remote controlled by scientist brothers Joel and Joshua Williams! Flexo can make huge gas-filled jumps and bound across the cityscape! Flexo can stretch! Flexo can squeeze through tight spaces and absorb small arms fire without harm! He can also expel his gas to subdue his foes! Truly Flexo is a marvel of the age! Flexo is also the recipient…
More mad science than criminal science or vice versa? You be the judge! This guy, who seems to be neither bald nor ironically hairy enough for his name of Baldy Fluger to make sense, has a hypnotic ray and a plan: to use that hypnotic ray for crime. The Green Mask and Domino the Miracle Boy have something to say about that. (Mystery Men Comics 021, 1941) If there was any more to these three (respectively named Boris, Oscar and…
Good reactions by the people in this crowd to Amazing-Man passing through in his Green Mist form – people usually treat it as if he’s invisible but this is much more satisfying. (Amazing-Man Comics 014, 1940) Origins: The Shark is not just the son of Father Neptune, he’s part of a long line of father/ son Neptunes and Sharks! I was right in my belief that the Shark was more interesting than most ocean dwelling super-heroes! (Amazing-Man Comics 014, 1940)…
(Tip-Top Comics 054-056, 1940) The Glove here is the head of a gang of international criminals that come to the attention of super-hero brothers the Triple Terror when they make off with a load of radium. Why the radium, you ask? Why, so that the Glove and his pal Mr Mario (good name) could run their death ray cannon. Unfortunately for the Glove he only ever managed to capture 2/3 of the Triple Terror. The final confrontation does reveal the…
(Shadow Comics v1 004, 1940) Yo, it’s the Head! The Head is a mystic oracle that takes the form of a spooky head in a box and uses his position as a popular upper crust medium to gather info on crime targets, then sends out gangsters (named things like Squint, Chipmunk and Beak Thungle) to plunder them. The Head is also Zovex, a bulletproof cube-man who is supposedly just a servant of the Head but is mostly just a pile…
(Shadow Comics v1 003, 1940) Here is a list of elements that are in the three-issue story that Kar the Destroyer is the antagonist of: -a dissolving gas called the Smoke of Eternity -a diving bell repurposed as a deathtrap -multiple pirate ships -Thunder Island, a place with a prehistoric remnant ecosystem complete with dinosaurs -Doc Savage Here is how the story made me feel: -bored It’s a real shame because love most of those things! I love Kar’s look!…
(Mystery Men Comics 016, 1940) As our story opens, huge diamonds are raining down on Earth. Upon contact with a human, they expand to engulf and imprison them. Earth authorities sensibly contact space hero Rex Dexter of Mars who has once again been sidetracked in his seemingly straightforward quest to travel from Earth to his home planet. In a nice change of pace from most Rex Dexter adventures, Rex and his pal Cynde have not stopped due to some mortal…