(More Fun Comics 058, 1940) I love this guy, for all that he’s unnamed. He kills an immortal snake that lives in the Nile in order to steal the magic book that it guards. The first spell he tries summons all of the wealthy men in a wide radius and compels them to give up their cash to him. The second spell he tries starts to tear the world apart, though it’s unclear whether that was his goal or if…
(More Fun Comics 057, 1940) Mango is a magician who fancies himself tough enough to go up against Dr Fate and quickly finds out that even though he can summon globes of flame and the undead legions of the Styx he is no match for the big man. This sort of thing happens to magical Golden Age characters pretty often – penny ante magical shitheels seem to have this urge to Peter Principle themselves against all comers, but whereas in…
(More Fun Comics 053-057, 1940) Comic books love the Order of Assassins – it’s a ready-made group tough enough to tackle most heroes, plus they’re all foreign and such. They crop up all over the place – it’s like that thing where so many remnants of Atlantis exist that it’s hard to imagine that anyone died, but instead when the power of the Assassins was shattered each individual member went off and founded their own new Order. This bunch of Assassins…
(More Fun Comics 056, 1940) It’s somewhat weird, but this is the second guy named the Skull to operate out of the Belgian Congo in 1940. I say somewhat because it’s one of a handful of places that name-checked in comics set in Africa at the time. Once you get past Belgian Congo, Egypt, Libya, Algeria or South Africa it’s pretty much Jungle or Desert as locations, and half of those countries made the list because there were a bunch…
(More Fun Comics 055, 1940) The Wolf Man: – has a bunch of trained wolves – wears a wolfskin outfit complete with wolf head cowl – constantly refers to himself as the Wolf Man – exclusively robs prospectors in the Canadian wilderness. The Wolf Man puts in too much effort, in other words.
(More Fun Comics 055, 1940) An economics professor who dresses in a bat-winged robe and injects college students with experimental “artificial blood” while they sleep, the Bat is probably more the story of a man’s mental breakdown than a super-villain.
(More Fun Comics 055, 1940) Zor is from pretty early in the Spectre’s run, back when his concept was “resurrected dead guy” rather than “literal embodiment of the Wrath of God”. More specifically but also vaguely, he was an “earth-bound ghost” which was never really defined but was a pretty powerful thing to be. Zor was also an earth-bound ghost, only he was older and thus more powerful than the Spectre, and also evil: Zor makes a couple of Golden Age appearances…
(More Fun Comics 054, 1940) If a crooked importer named Crandall hatches a scheme to kill off his business rivals and then makes up a villain named the Cloak to blame the crimes on, is he in fact that villain? This correspondent says yes.
(Feature Comics 032-037, 1940) Of the dozen or so heroes and villains named the Voice, this is the best of them all, hands down. Let’s review: -shipwrecked on an island in 1790, lives off of special herbs that extend the human lifespan and empower the body -finally picked up in 1940, moves to NYC at 150-something years old -successfully synthesizes the herb’s properties, ensuring that his life will continue indefinitely. Decides to fight crime -learns ventriloquism and close-up magic The…
(Feature Comics 034, 1940) What is interesting about them? The Black Mask is about as basic as a mask-and-code-name guy can get, but he’s the only thing approaching a super-villain to fight the Voice, which gives me an excuse to talk about that very fun guy in the next entry. Also, 100 minor super-villains! Congratulations, Black Mask, it’s more honour than you deserve.