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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 760: THE FIRE-MEN

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 760: THE FIRE-MEN

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(Speed Comics 004, 1940)  The Fire-Men make an impressive debut: dressed in bulletproof suits and wielding powerful flamethrowers, they carve a path of destruction through both New York City and the tank division that is sent to bring them to heel. Nothing seems able to stop these mysterious marauders! Nothing, that is, until Landor, Maker of Monsters emerges from the shadows to offer his creature-based services to the US government. He’ll fight on the side of law and order for…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 759: THE IRON HAND

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 759: THE IRON HAND

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(Master Comics 006, 1940) While monitoring the world for trouble one day (using his Troublescope, natch), Master Man spots, in quick succession: an auto-gyro creating green rainclouds, a collection of mysteriously paralyzed wildlife, a full-fledged paralysis epidemic dubbed “the Living Death” in a nearby city, and the news that the preeminent scientist working to cure the plague has been murdered. He takes what I would say is a surprising amount of time to put two and two together and determine…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 758: THE WIZARD

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 758: THE WIZARD

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(Smash Comics 017, 1940) The Wizard is your classic big-headed smart guy gang boss (his head is on the smaller end of the bighead spectrum but he accentuates it perfectly with the most unpleasant hairstyle I have ever seen). He and his gang (the Wizard Gang, natch) have been lying low for long enough that one of them starts getting squirrely and talking about leaving, with deadly consequences. The Wizard shoots him, is what I’m saying. And what a shame,…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 757: THE MASTERMIND

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 757: THE MASTERMIND

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(Smash Comics 017, 1940)  The Mastermind, mysterious head of a jewel theft and smuggling ring, is actually Jason White, prominent jeweller, but he is also Rufus Kane, pawnbroker and fence. White established Kane as a patsy identity to absorb all of the suspicion of being the Mastermind until things get a little too hot, at which point Kane and the Mastermind disappear and Jason White is free and clear to enjoy his ill-gotten gains. And it works! Rufus Kane manages…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 756: THE MOLE

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 756: THE MOLE

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(Smash Comics 017, 1940)  The Mole is an eccentric inventor who has developed one of the all-time greatest examples of technology that would net more safe profit if marketed for industrial purposes than if used for crime: the drilling machine. Rather than approaching the mining or construction industreis, the Mole opts for the rush inherent in stealing high-value, hard-to-fence objects like the unspecified crown jewels on display in New York’s Maiden Lane. In addition to the sheer digging power of…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 755: STRADIVOUS

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 755: STRADIVOUS

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(Smash Comics 017, 1940) There are a lot of comic book characters who derive their powers from or express them through music, but Stradivous here is the only one I know of who does so using a clarinet. This is going to be huge if we ever want to draft an all-star comics orchestra someday. He also has a really terrific look, with an eccentric choice in every single aspect of his head and facial hair – I’ll even grudgingly…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 754: BELA JAT

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 754: BELA JAT

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(Smash Comics 016, 1940) It’s a classic setup: the embittered villain is released from prison and swears vengeance on those who put them there. In this case, the recently released figure is the mystic Bela Jat, who has just spent seven years behind bars for killing someone in a magical experiment and is mighty unhappy about it. Joining him are his excellently named and very loyal henchmen Shimego and Gar. Jat sets out to capture and kill the three men…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 753: THE GHOST GANG

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 753: THE GHOST GANG

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(Smash Comics 015, 1940)  The Ghost Gang have a winning formula: commit a robbery and then high-tail it back to the Old Abandoned Peters Mansion (charmingly referred to a couple of times as the Haunted Hide-Out), where they transform into ghosts and can murder cops and/or drive them insane with impunity. It’s not a foolproof scheme, however. For one thing, you really have to complete that first step and actually get to the house, as evidenced by this poor fellow…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 752: CADAVA

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 752: CADAVA

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(Smash Comics 015, 1940) As we meet Cadava, he is all dressed up and off to attend a costume party, with some pretty harsh words and feeling for humanity in general and a lady named Diane in particular – seems that he has been shunned and rejected after some sort of accident. Also his little friend Soo Choo is there. Also in attendance – in his super-hero costume, no less! –  is the Ray, and luckily for Diane he is…

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 042

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 042

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Boys! Boys! Boys! Super powered boys! Magno:  Magno, aka the Miracle Man, aka the Magnetic Man, aka Tom Dalton, was a power line worker who died when he was shocked with 10 000 volts DC and then revived when he was shocked again with 10 000 volts AC. As a result, Dalton developed electromagnetic powers that he used to fly, simulate super strength when dealing with metal and create magnetic force fields. Not a bad deal. Magno’s Golden Age career…

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