The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: fake undead – mummy

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 004

    They’re back! They’re costumed! They’re generic!

    Shorty Jones/ Generic Mummy: 

    It’s a sad day for me but I fear I have to classify this fake mummy as a generic costumed villain, even though he has a shortsword, one of the top swords. Ultimately, he’s just a thief named Shorty Jones who robs the museum every night and even with the power of the fake mummy on his side Shorty just isn’t interesting enough to qualify as a minor super-villain. (Detective Comics v1 053, 1941)

    Gritter: 

    Doc Savage battled this guy (real name the pretty good Gritter; posing as the amazingly-named Captain Blackstone Toy) who had a very complicated plan to blackmail the US Armed Forces. Also his chief henchman was named Fuzzy. (Doc Savage Comics 004, 1941)

    Deputy Cal: 

    This lady bandit is in fact Deputy Cal of the Twin Forks Sheriff’s office. His idea to crossdress as a major part of his holdup persona totally pays off, but unfortunately for him he completely fails to disguise himself in any other way – same distinctive horse, same clothes, a very confrontational attitude to anyone looking into the holdups rather than keeping his head down – and he swiftly gets run in by the Fargo Kid. (Feature Comics 048, 1941)

    Unnamed Killer: 

    This unnamed stablehand is that most banal of killers, a jilted suitor going after the romantic rival. But he goes to such effort! It takes two tries – with a remote-controlled sailboat and a sniper rfle – to get the guy, at which point the Red Bee impersonates him and is attacked with battleaxe, scythe, pitchfork and trap door.

    Plus he dresses up as Death for one attempt! Truly this man was as close to non-generic as it’s possible to be while still being completely forgettable. (Hit Comics 014, 1941) 

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 248: THE GOLDEN MUMMY

    (Flash Comics v1 017, 1941)

    It’s the Golden Mummy! As I have previously stated, I love fake mummies and had read this issue before, so I was anticipating this fellow’s appearance with some joy, and it is with great sadness that I must announce that he’s a complete disappointment.

    My threshold for fake mummy appreciation is quite low – usually they just steal a few antiquities before getting tripped up by Archie and Jughead or the Scooby Gang, after all – but the Golden Mummy’s only admirable quality is his dedication to theme. He has the costume, a cave hideout, a bunch of gangsters that he paid well enough to paint themselves gold and pretend to be called the Sect of the Golden Mummy (and of course the only thing better than henchmen in themed costumes is when they also have a cool name). 

    . He even dies lamely, by stumbling into a trap set for Hawkman.

    So why do I dislike this guy so much? The reason is twofold: firstly, the whole Golden Mummy thing is just some incel shit: he’s a guy named Dr Selkirk getting revenge on his ex-fiance for dumping him by murdering her. This is one of those motivations that sucks some of the fun out of super-villain analysis.

    Secondly: the Golden Mummy is a completely unnecessary affectation. He kills her as she’s onstage singing opera, via a poisoned blowdart. The Mummy and his Sect spend the entire adventure coping with Hawkman, and it kind of seems like Selkirk made up the persona expressly because he was afraid of Hawkman – I don’t know if he’d have gotten away with it by not calling attention to himself with cryptic warnings and golden men but it couldn’t have hurt.

    Boo to the Golden Mummy. Booo!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 174: THE LIMPING MUMMY

    (Bulletman 002, 1941)

    I cannot tell a lie: I love a fake mummy. I can’t help it – there’s something about a crook going to the trouble of wrapping themself up in old linen that is very endearing to me. And as with our friend here, they often have a modifier to distinguish them from the workaday mummies that you see everywhere. They’re a Golden Mummy or a Missing Mummy, or, as with our boy here, a Limping Mummy.

    The actual reason for mummying up is usually the same: disguise yourself so that you can rob a museum or steal some Egyptian artifacts or steal some Egyptian artifacts from a museum. The reason our guy is a limping mummy is that he decided to add another layer to his disguise and throw suspicion on Benhurst the museum director, who walks with a cane.

    And then, he attempts a third layer of obfuscation by using his civilian identity, newspaper editor Jason Hilder, to slam the police for not being able to deal with all these mummy crimes! This is actually a terrible idea, since Hilder wasn’t at all involved before and he actually ends up getting caught because he takes it too far and attacks Sergeant Kent of the police for… some reason? The Limping Mummy’s plot doesn’t really hold together is I guess what I’ve been trying to lay out here.