(Wonderworld Comics 004, 1939) Firstly: re the first panel, I really struggled with whether to call these guys the Deadly Council of Vampires or just the Council of Vampires. Still doubting myself. Secondly: I am going to lay out these guys’ whole deal up front in order to properly critique them in the manner I am compelled to: they are not, despite the name, vampires. Instead, they are what seems to be a cult devoted to a vampire named Anya…
(Wonderworld Comics 004, 1939) We (and the Flame) start in media res, as a young woman unsuccessfully attempts to flee a car full of hooded goons, is captured and brought back to an ominous manor in the woods. The Flame cottons on to this and follows them. Inside we find Doxol! Doxol is a wizened green fellow who is using mind control drugs (mystic ones!) to create his own little crime cult. This is where the slice-of-life nature of the…
(Wonderworld Comics 003, 1939) Maybe it’s because the MLJ version of the Devil is so fresh in my mind but… this is an underwhelming version of the Devil. He teams up with Death – and it’s a measure of how lacklustre this Devil is that I’m going to deal with the Death separately rather than treat them as a duo – to eliminate their common enemy Yarko the Great. Death does all the legwork toward this goal so we’ll discuss…
Once again we take you to the world of the minor super-hero. See them dance for your amusement. the Mystic: Later known as Kardak the Mystic, the Mystic is a stage magician who uses stage magic to battle crime, specializing in fraudulent mediums etc. His stage magic eventually gets rounded up to real magic, of course. (Top-Notch Comics 001, 1939) the Phantom o’ the Hills: The Phantom o’ the Hills is an otherwise unnamed masked cowboy who rights wrongs in…
(Wonder Comics 001, 1939) A gun runner doing business with rebel forces in the probably-South American country of Mauchako, the Mask doesn’t bring a lot to the table beyond a fairly snazzy take on the low-effort costume. He’s also the first foe faced by super-spy K-51 (is his original callsign of K-5, as you may have noticed). He’s also a US Senator, which is a heckuva job to split your attention from – also, weirdly he’s not our first one….
(Speed Comics 001, 1939) Landor, Maker of Monsters is a fellow who hangs out in a castle and – no big surprise – makes monsters. He’s also the title character of his feature, which is not unprecidented in Golden Age comics but worth noting whenever it’s the case. Landor is just about finished with his very first monster when socialites Tony Torrence and his fiance Marcia NoLastName show up at his door seeking shelter from the stormy night. Just why…
(Speed Comics 001, 1939) Baron von Kampf! Major recurring Shock Gibson villain and aspiring world conqueror. He’s exactly the sort of evil, sneering gloating villain that I love to see vex the heroes of yesteryear, and due to the fact that his appearances are concentrated in the early days of the super-hero medium that’s about all the characterization he gets. He wants to rule the world and he’s a dick about it. But who needs characterization when you’ve 1. got…
Some real niche characters this time. the Lone Star Rider: An Old West hero so generic he only appeared once and never even got to track down the owlhoots who killed his parents in order to steal their land. Good gloves. (Smash Comics 002, 1939) Shock Gibson: Like Barry Allen after him, Charles (later Robert) Gibson is a young scientist working late into a stormy night when he is simultaneously struck by lightning and bathed in chemicals. Though he is…
(Smash Comics 004, 1939) It’s a classic set-up: squat in some out-of the-way location – an isolated island, a desert, or as in this case the mountains of Alaska – bring down planes or draw in ships using a big magnet or fake monster or as here an engine-killing ray, and bingo bango bongo you have your own fleet. You can supply your own crew or save even more money like the Mad Professor by subjecting the existing crew to…
(Smash Comics 004, 1939) The real heyday of the capital-a Anarchist as societal boogeyman was in the 1920s by my reckoning and so you don’t get them in anything like the numbers of pseudo-Nazis and Yellow Perils in the comics of the 1930s, and then of course in the 1940s you get your Axis villains, followed by your dastardly Commies and this is all to say that I enjoy these fellows for their novelty if nothing else. As for their…