Costumes: I don’t really feel like doing a whole entry for the Spider. Maybe someday. For now I just want to point out one detail of his costume: Little spiders on his boots! Heroes Going to Costume Parties as Themselves: Batman! And he wins Most Original Costume! (Batman Comics v1 001, 1940) Speaking of awards and such, after Batman and Robin save an unnamed small town somewhere in America from a cabal of crooks they are honoured with a statue:…
Another collection of those middling muddlers who didn’t quite make it to the minor leagues: the generic costumed villains! Silas Greer: Tried to kill his own nephew to get his fortune but was walloped by the Clock (and the Orchid!) for his troubles. (Crack Comics 002, 1940) Trag: A gentleman with the unlikely name of Trag dressed up in this unusual mask in an attempt to frame a guy with the only slightly less unusual name of Doctor Prowl before…
(Crack Comics 001, 011 & 012, 1940-1941) The Cricket, leader of the Crickets, is a fairly undistinguished gang boss notable only for his brutality, the fact that he was the first foe of hard done-by hero the Spider and that he made two subsequent appearances! His first two appearances are nothing to write home about, though I do note a repeated armchair theme. The man loves to be comfortable. Sadly for him, he was shot down by the Spider before…
(Crack Comics 008, 1940) Kind of a weird and somewhat problematic case – Stuporman, like the Largest Man in the World before him, is a superhuman man of limited intelligence who is used as a living weapon by crooks until being killed by the hero of the piece, in this case the Clock. He comes from Mongolia, which is, like, the most remote and mysterious place that 1940s comics writers could think of. Frankly, the only real reason I include Stuporman…
(Crack Comics 007, 1940) There is no textual evidence for this, but since this guy is dressed exactly like the unnamed boss of the Skull Gang (plus some rad horns) and uses the very similar tactic of dosing his minions (the Robbers from Hades – good name) with toxins that make them all shriveled and weird (and in this case more pliable and obedient), I like to think that it’s the same guy back for another shot at making his fortune…
(Crack Comics 001-022, 1940-1942) Madam Fatal is the alter ego of one Richard Stanton, famous actor and female impersonator. Shortly after retiring to settle down, Stanton’s young daughter was kidnapped by a vengeful enemy and his wife died of grief. Going undercover as the elderly Madam Fatal in order to avoid recognition Stanton spent the next nine years looking for his child. In the first Madam Fatal adventure, he finds the kidnapper but not the kid and since the kidnapper…
(Crack Comics 007, 1940) This is a weird guy. I’m not entirely sure what his deal is, to be honest. He’s developed some sort of revolutionary hydroelectric generator and some sort of lightning projector and claims that they are “useless commercially” but doesn’t really outline why. He extorts men with the last name Garr for some reason. I mean, it seems like it should be that the Garrs all got together and quashed his funding because he threatened their own…
(Crack Comics 007, 1940) Comics set in the future feature a lot of villains who would be suitable for inclusion here if it weren’t for the fact that they are rendered unremarkable by context. Rock Braddon of the Space Legion, hero of this piece, has for instance faced off against several very villainous space pirates and alien conquerors over the prior six issue of Crack Comics, but the Master Brain is his first foe to make the cut. The Master Brain…
(Crack Comics 006, 1940) What makes them a super-villain (group)? They’re a gang of thieves who are so devoted to this generic hooded guy that they all take small doses of arsenic to give themselves an emaciated skeletal appearance! The penalty for not thieving enough is death! What a dumb thing to dedicate your life to! Absolutely they qualify as a team of very stupid super-villains. SKULL SCORE: 1/5 Bald guys with gritted teeth just don’t cut the mustard, I’m afraid.
(Crack Comics 006, 1940) The best thing about the Master is absolutely his henchmen, the Kite Men. Identical shirtless bald guys who shoot lightning from their bracelets as they soar above unnamed, probably American cities, the Kite Men are some terrific weirdo henchmen. They all get blasted by the Black Condor by the end of the story, but until then they have a good run. The Master himself is your typical world conqueror, whose motivation seems to be that he’s…