(Mystic Comics v1 003, 1940)
Just a gang boss running an arson scheme, but a particularly ruthless one with a particularly great name.
Having a cool name doesn’t help you when a couple of brothers rock up with their super-powered rubber robot. Still, the Iron Duke! What a name!
(Mystic Comics v1 003, 1940)
Just a gang boss running an arson scheme, but a particularly ruthless one with a particularly great name.
Having a cool name doesn’t help you when a couple of brothers rock up with their super-powered rubber robot. Still, the Iron Duke! What a name!
(Marvel Mystery Comics v1 020, 1941)
This here is the Masked Chief, at least according to the caption boxes (welcome to the unofficial name club, fella), a fairly standard masked gang boss enhanced by several factors of variable wildness. First and least: he is yet another in the long line of Human Torch foes who choose to use arson as their modus operandi. Sure he’s not specifically challenging the Torch, but he must know that he’s employed by the city, right? The Jim Hammond identity is basically unused – even his partner on the police force calls him Torch for heaven’s sake.
Secondly, New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, though unnamed, is a major secondary character in this story. Fun in and of itself, but La Guardia is convinced (with some encouragement from the Masked Chief) that the attempt to ransom the city via arson is the work of recently eliminated corrupt NY politicians. Which means, unless this was a very specific reference that I couldn’t find, that Tammany Hall is the suspect? Whee!
Thirdly, and more perplexing than fun, the Human Torch is insanely mean to Toro throughout this story. Just a complete asshole. I’m not the world’s foremost Golden Age Human Torch expert but it seems wildly out of character for him – I guess we’ll see if I’m right about that going forward.
And finally: the Masked Chief is not, in fact, the 1941-era successor to Boss Tweed but rather the escaped convict that the Human Torch and Toro were hunting when the story began, a man with the fairly excellent name of Hawk Rivers.
(Captain Marvel Adventures 002, 1941)
The Arson Fiend! A simple villain conceptually: fire insurance salesman George D. Tweedle just can’t sell any fire insurance and so he starts what is nominally a protection racket but really seems to be an excuse for wholesale arson.
The twist in this particular tale is that Tweedle has somehow developed or otherwise gotten his hands on a formula that transforms him into the fire-spewing and fireproof Arson Fiend. Legitimately super-powered crooks being a bit underrepresented at this point, I am delighted by this development! I had honestly expected the Fiend to be an asbestos outfit with a flamethrower concealed in each sleeve. The secondary twist is that Tweedle finds out that Billy is Captain Marvel seemingly without effort, which I love. Finally a comic book character is being held accountable for their poor infosec.
Sadly, such a being cannot be long for a comics world. The Arson Fiend and Captain Marvel battle atop a large oil tank and it eventually turns out that however immune to fire you are, you still have to look out for the concussive force element of, say, an oil tank explosion if you want a long career in arson.
(Nickel Comics 003, 1940)
Spoilers for the end of this writeup: the Tenement Firebug is that most common of comic book villains, the property owner who burns down their own buildings for the insurance money and/or redevelopment. Ordinarily such a foe would be a regular guy with some hirelings and maybe a mask, but since he was set up as a foil to magic guy Warlock the Wizard the Tenament Firebug has been beefed up slightly.
First off is his pet lizard, which is a salamander. But! Not a real-world amphibian salamander, nor a modern fantasy style fire elemental – this one is the Medieval bestiary denizen that is immune to fire! A very exciting appearance of a discarded beast!
Secondly, the Firebug is both able to do comic book super-hypnotism and is adept enough at disguise that he manages to frame Warlock for the arsons. Again but!
He was wearing a rubberoid mask the whole time! Which means that he applied the Warlock disguise over his mask. Which is frankly much more responsible for my interest in and love of him as a villain than any old arson. Commitment to the bit is what I’d call it.