(Action Comics 027, 1940) What makes them a super-villain? It’s 100% the name plus the fact that “air pirate” along with “submarine pirate” and for that matter “regular pirate” are styles of crime that just reek of super-villainy for me. What about them is interesting? Aside from the inherent romantic nature of the air pirate, the only real thing of note about the Blue Raider is that his plane is named Hank.
(Adventure Comics 052-054, 1940) A properly fun invisible villain, finally! In order: -great hat, great mustache -has to get nude -filled with hubris vis-à-vis just how much you can get done just by being invisible (world conquest?) Although to that last point they (they being heroic boxer Socko Strong) had to set a trap to electrocute him in order to stop him.
(Adventure Comics 049, 1940) The Tiger-Men are… contextually villains, I guess, in that they do arson and murder and are opposed by hero Steve Conrad. They are ALSO part of a pattern that emerges if you read a lot of old comics that take place in international locales: the hero rocks up and helps solve a problem between colonizers and the native population and the narrative frames what are usually pretty reasonable demands by the latter as rank villainy. In…
(Adventure Comics 046, 1940) The Coin is a few different super-villain clichés rolled into one. Firstly he’s an old college chum of Wesley “Sandman” Dodds, and “old schoolmate of hero turns out to be villain” is as much a recurring thing in comics as an old friend showing up and immediately dying. Which the Coin also does. Finally, the Coin is a man who dresses up as an old lady to do crime, which is a super-villain bit and also…
(Action Comics 030, 1940) I’ve decided to introduce a system for dealing with some of the more minor super-villains who do not incite as much excitement in me to vomit out more than a cursory sentence about them (slightly unfair to the Master, who is kind of interesting, but I am uninspired today) In such cases, we will be answering one or both of the following questions: What makes them a super-villain? In addition to his super-villain name, the Master…
(Action Comics 018-063, 1939-1943) The Three Aces consist of Gunner Bill (blonde, bland), Fog Fortune (fat, Cockney – the kind of character who starts out 1% comic relief and increases by increments until he is unrecognizable. In this case he gets fatter and more faux-Cockney until his word balloons are up to 1/2 apostrophe) and Whistler Will (dark haired ladies man – more on him in a moment). They’re fairly standard aviator type heroes except for a couple of things:…
(Action Comics 022, 1940) Whether the capital-D Demon is actually a lowercase-d demon is never actually resolved, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility. He shows up when a friend of Tex Thomson’s named Cary James ignores local superstitions to visit an island in the Indian Ocean, where he is quickly captured and murdered by the Demon, who then assumes his appearance and identity via fell majicks. The Demon’s only goal seems to be to murder everyone who knew…
(Action Comics 022, 1940) The Mask is your garden-variety master of disguise, con artist subtype: he assumes the identities of others in order to acquire monies from their banks and businesses. He is distinguished from the rest of his ilk in two ways: firstly in that he is our second villain to employ the aid of the Tigress and secondly in that he actually has his face surgically altered to make his impersonations. His downfall comes when he assumes the…
(Action Comics 021, 1940) The Master of the Moor is part of the kind of comic story that starts out overly complex – the corrupt sheriff and coroner of a small town in Sussex, England plot to replace local aristocrat Lord Ralway with a double in order to steal his lands – and with the addition of a few comic book elements becomes just completely untenable. To whit: -the man who they have recruited to be the double, the Master…
(More Fun Comics 049-050, 1939) Masked spy chief. After his first appearance is foiled by adventurer Biff Bronson he pulls one of the more major pivots in supercrime by opening one of those wax museums that doubles as a murder palace, where he himself is killed in a second encounter with Biff.