(Detective v1 030, 1939) I like the Master because he is simultaneously brilliant enough to invent a mind control device capable of enslaving a significant portion of the US Government and dumb enough to brag about his machine to a federal agent not ten feet away from it. Machine smashing ensues.
(Adventure 044, 1939) Another early Sandman villain. A fairly standard master of disguise who was later reworked into an axe-wielding maniac in Sandman Mystery Theatre.
(Adventure 040, 1939) Standard masked crook, remarkable only for being the Sandman’s first foe. Shows up later in one or two crowd scenes. This story is also notable for being the only time Golden Age Wesley Dodds tucks in a little doll version of himself before heading out as Sandman, a charming bit that was later adopted as an ongoing thing in Sandman Mystery Theatre.
(Action v1 002, 1938) Love a fake undead villain – it’s a tossup between sheet ghosts and fake mummies for my absolute Number One, with fake skeletons and Flying Dutchmans and Headless Horsemen crowding onto the Bronze pedestal together – so much, in fact that I might be rounding this guy trying to haunt some folks off of some oil land up to super-villain undeservedly. But WHO’S GOING TO STOP ME IF I AM?
(Action v1 002, 1938) Early on in Tex Thomson’s adventuring career, he and his pal Bob Daly found themselves in a hidden city called, appropriately, the Sealed City. There they met the leader, or Gorrah, of that city and eventually discovered that he was an usurper who they quickly helped overthrow. There it would end for your average hidden-city-usurper but not this Gorrah, no sir. He came back half a dozen times, indulging in schemes such as: -turning people into…
(Action Comics v1 001, 1938) The Tigress was both Zatara’s first foe and his only real recurring villain, showing up a dozen times over 3 years. She acted in the role of what was occasionally called a “friendly enemy”: a villain of the opposite gender who the hero has a soft spot for, implicitly or explicitly because they’re horny for them. A Catwoman situation, in other words. Like Catwoman and Batman, the Tigress occasionally teamed up with Zatara against a…
(Feature Funnies 007, 1938) Our first Quality Comics super-villain! Otherwise, not very interesting – he doesn’t even wear the mask in the story, just tries to frame the Clock and finds out how far that kind of thing gets you in the comic book game.
(Detective v1 019, 1938) Nemesis of Inspector Kent of Scotland Yard with maybe three appearances – but he’s the kind of dreaded evil mastermind who shows up already the most wanted man of all time, so he feels more significant.
(Detective v1 017, 1938) If there’s one thing that Golden Age comics have in great supply, it’s US fascist groups seeking to (variously) undermine the country’s war production, keep the US out of WWII, draw the US into WWII, or take over the country outright. And while most of these groups are just some guys called the Purple Shirts who rough up a shopkeeper for not loving the Fatherland more than his adopted land of AMERICA, a few, like the…
(Detective v1 016, 1938) The Broadway Bandit is just a disgruntled actor who puts on a mask and robs box offices until Slam Bradley shows up to settle his hash but he might be out first illustration of the very basic level of super-villainy: a good name, a basic but distinctive costume and the commission of crimes while in the possession of both. SHOULD THEY BE BROUGHT BACK? No, but in a super-hero universe I reckon that there should be…