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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 696: QUORAK

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 696: QUORAK

(Planet Comics 001, 1940) Quorak, like Moloka before him, seems to have developed his planet-wrecking technology without a clear indication of how he was going to use it. The caption box mentions destroying “all traces of civilization” and Quorak himself speaks of becoming “the greatest power in the whole universe!” but there have to be a lot of steps in the flow chart with “????” and “work this out later” on them. He does look very menacing while sitting at…

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NOTES – JANUARY 2025

NOTES – JANUARY 2025

Heaven help me, I looked forward to the 1950s issues of Planet Comics to see what the Gale Allen feature ended up like and boy oh boy do I regret it. It’s one thing to only read comics from 1940, but seeing the improvements to the form after a decade or so makes it hard to go back. But I must soldier on! Happy New Year! Infographics: A conceptual drawing of a spaceship and some speculative facts about space travel…

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REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 008

REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 008

If they’re real then why are they in a comic book? Anastacio Somoza GarcĂ­a: The Shield meets with the President of Nicaragua and as per usual the artist did not bother to check what the President of Nicaragua actually looked like. (Pep Comics 006, 1940) Clark Gable: Boxer Kayo Ward stars in a movie (“Hot Lips and Hot Fists,” a riff on 1933’s “The Prizefighter and the Lady” starring real-life boxers Primo Carnera, Max Baer and Jack Dempsey) and the…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 693: THE TARANTULA

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 693: THE TARANTULA

(Pep Comics 010, 1940) A vile villain known as the Tarantula is extorting the young wealthy women of London and then murdering the ones who don’t pay up, and Inspector Bentley is on the case after two significant pieces of evidence fall into his lap: the latest body is left on the steps of Scotland Yard and then the latest extortion attempt is made against Deborah Morgan, whose father went to school with Bentley’s boss and you can’t beat the…

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GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 017

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 017

Buncha mooks this time. The ship that picked up scientist-adventurer Dean Denton and his pals from the island of Baron Blood just so happened to have a pseudo-Nazi spy (fake name Lieutenant James, code name K-192, real name unknown) committing murders on it for unclear reasons. Despite composing a crime scene to contain nothing but clues pointing to other members of the crew Denton rounds him up pretty quickly. (Masked Marvel 003, 1940) Pilot Prop Powers has to defend his…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 692: THE MASTER

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 692: THE MASTER

(Pep Comics 008, 1940)  It’s an old story, even this early in the history of comics: someone has developed a method for mass murdering people and is attempting to use it to extort money from a city, or else. In this case that person calls himself the Master and that method is some sort of electrical wave. The Comet of course is not cool with this kind of blatant super-villainy, particularly as he is still trying to rebuild his reputation…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 691: THE CLAW

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 691: THE CLAW

(Pep Comics 007, 1940)  The Press Guardian’s only recurring villain, the Claw has what can only be described as an eclectic career: In his first appearance he’s a sort of freelance spy chief working to aid the I-assume-European country of Shironia in its attempt to conquer neighbouring Lanfia by committing acts of sabotage in the US and framing Lanfia as the perpetrator so that America will withdraw its support of Lanfia. The Press Guardian exposes the scheme and sends the…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 689: THE MAN-MONSTER OF LONDON

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 689: THE MAN-MONSTER OF LONDON

(Pep Comics 005, 1940)  The Man-Monster of London, aka Monk, doesn’t actually play that big a part in the plot of this Bentley of Scotland Yard story. I mean, he’s in a lot of it, but he doesn’t have a lot of volition of his own. In brief, the Rajah of Inrak (which is probably meant to be an Indian province or kingdom and not a whole country of its own) is in London to discuss some sort of treaty…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 688: THE HUNCHBACK HORROR

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 688: THE HUNCHBACK HORROR

(Pep Comics 004, 1940) We open on Inspector Bentley in the midst of a cocktail party to celebrate the engagement of his friend the Earl of Crackenthorpe. By way of entertainment, the Earl recounts the legend of the Crackenthorpe Curse: a thousand years ago, the progenitor of the Crackenthorpe line made his fortune the old-fashioned way, by summoning a demon and asking it for riches. Ever since, the brides-to-be of the heirs to the Crackenthorpe title must present themselves to…

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PROBLEMATIC ROUND-UP 003

PROBLEMATIC ROUND-UP 003

This edition of the Problematic Round-Up is devoted to minor MLJ character Fu Chang and his foes. Fu Chang: Reading Charlie Chan comics has absolutely messed my head up in a specific way: because Charlie Chan is so clearly a project with the set goal of having a Chinese character who is not an overt racist Yellow Peril stereotype (while, yes, being pretty racist in a bunch of other ways) I give it more of the benefit of the doubt…

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