Browsed by
Category: the

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 116: THE SKULL

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 116: THE SKULL

Comments 0 comment

(Mystery Men Comics 014, 1940) Once more we meet a Skull, and this time he’s a supposed-to-be-a-Nazi-but-it’s-1940-so-we-won’t-actually-say-it who spends his time bombing bridges in the Blue Beetle’s eventually-just-going-to-be-New-York-City-but-we’re-still-pretending-it-isn’t-for-some-reason. SKULL SCORE: 2/5 Pretty skully for an actual human but this is comics we’re talking about. You’re going to have to shave off that glossy black hair if you want to get ahead in this game.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 115: THE LIGHT

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 115: THE LIGHT

Comments 0 comment

(Mystery Men Comics 011, 1940) I just really appreciate the low-effort mystique that can be generated by sitting behind a bright light in a dark room. Of course, nothing prevents a foe from shooting into the light at roughly leg-height, as Lt Drake of Naval Intelligence demonstrates in this story, so perhaps the bright light shouldn’be your only line of defense should you choose to use it.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 114: THE WEATHER KINGS

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 114: THE WEATHER KINGS

Comments 0 comment

(Mystery Men Comics 010, 1940) It’s the Moth vs. the Weather Kings, the very definition of a great name wasted on some run-of-the-mill weather controlling chumps and really I’m only bringing them up to roundly condemn the wasting of such a good name on such jabronis. The only good thing about them really, is that they’ve remained unused for more than 80 years so the name is basically up for grabs.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 112: THE CRIME LORD/ THE BRAIN

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 112: THE CRIME LORD/ THE BRAIN

Comments 0 comment

(More Fun Comics 062, 1940)  An early iteration of the classic tale of a brain that is freed of its cranium and becomes both powerful and EVIL, originally just a man named Dexter with a skeletal system and all the organs, he then became a mysterious shadowy figure named the Crime Lord as he directed his minions toward an eventual takeover of the US. Upon being freed from his bell jar, the Crime Lord became the rapidly-expanding Brain, who similarly…

Read More Read More

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 111: THE SPECTRE

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 111: THE SPECTRE

Comments 0 comment

(More Fun 061,1940) Impersonating and framing a super-hero is not an uncommon thing to do, but Gustav Gilroy took the added step of adopting his target’s identity as his own in his campaign of turning his enemies to gold via chemical-laced free gum samples. Gilroy also faced the Spectre in the first year of his career and so didn’t really comprehend just how bad his choice of scapegoat was – the only surprising thing about his end is that he…

Read More Read More

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 110: THE NORNS

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 110: THE NORNS

Comments 0 comment

(More Fun Comics 060, 1940) Here’s the thing about these guys: they probably aren’t the Norns and they probably don’t call themselves the Norns. They’re three giant purple guys who hang out in a cave in the Catskills and send a flying saucer full of little green guys to attack NYC, ostensibly to conquer it. But! Earlier in the story: … Dr Fate is reading a book about the Fates when Inza comes to tell him about the saucer attack,…

Read More Read More

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 106: THE SOCIETY OF ASSASSINS

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 106: THE SOCIETY OF ASSASSINS

Comments 0 comment

(More Fun Comics 053-057, 1940) Comic books love the Order of Assassins – it’s a ready-made group tough enough to tackle most heroes, plus they’re all foreign and such. They crop up all over the place – it’s like that thing where so many remnants of Atlantis exist that it’s hard to imagine that anyone died, but instead when the power of the Assassins was shattered each individual member went off and founded their own new Order. This bunch of Assassins…

Read More Read More

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 105: THE SKULL

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 105: THE SKULL

Comments 0 comment

(More Fun Comics 056, 1940) It’s somewhat weird, but this is the second guy named the Skull to operate out of the Belgian Congo in 1940. I say somewhat because it’s one of a handful of places that name-checked in comics set in Africa at the time. Once you get past Belgian Congo, Egypt, Libya, Algeria or South Africa it’s pretty much Jungle or Desert as locations, and half of those countries made the list because there were a bunch…

Read More Read More

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 104: THE WOLF MAN

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 104: THE WOLF MAN

Comments 0 comment

(More Fun Comics 055, 1940)  The Wolf Man: – has a bunch of trained wolves – wears a wolfskin outfit complete with wolf head cowl – constantly refers to himself as the Wolf Man – exclusively robs prospectors in the Canadian wilderness. The Wolf Man puts in too much effort, in other words.

MINOR SUPER -VILLAIN 103: THE BAT

MINOR SUPER -VILLAIN 103: THE BAT

Comments 0 comment

(More Fun Comics 055, 1940) An economics professor who dresses in a bat-winged robe and injects college students with experimental “artificial blood” while they sleep, the Bat is probably more the story of a man’s mental breakdown than a super-villain.