The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: alien

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 859: TOKO THE TERRIBLE

    (Whirlwind Comics 001, 1940)

    In the far future of 1980 CE, Earth is under threat of conquest from space. A mysterious ray has dissolved the nation of Slovania, and now a being called Toko the Terrible, Emperor of Saturn has issued an ultimatum: surrender to him or the entire Earth will suffer the same fate.

    This of course will not stand, and Earth sends their best guy (Bruce Barlow), to deal with the threat of Toko.

    Barlow, being a man of action, immediately attacks Toko and calls him insane, getting himself thrown into the very cool-sounding Prison of Invisible Bars for his trouble. This proves not to be a terrible, species-ending blunder by a real meathead as it might have originally appeared but instead a masterstroke of strategy, as while stewing behind (invisible) bars, he meets Professor Jenkins, first human on Saturn and the original inventor of the Ultra-Dissolvo-Raygun, bane of Slovania. Together, they bust Bruce out of jail, prevent the dissolving of Earth and turn the ray on Toko himself, which has the knockon effect of freeing the citizens of Saturn from his vile influence. Plus he had already conquered the rest of the Solar System, so they all get freed too!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 859: TOKO THE TERRIBLE

    (Whirlwind Comics 001, 1940)

    In the far future of 1980 CE, Earth is under threat of conquest from space. A mysterious ray has dissolved the nation of Slovania, and now a being called Toko the Terrible, Emperor of Saturn has issued an ultimatum: surrender to him or the entire Earth will suffer the same fate.

    This of course will not stand, and Earth sends their best guy (Bruce Barlow), to deal with the threat of Toko.

    Barlow, being a man of action, immediately attacks Toko and calls him insane, getting himself thrown into the very cool-sounding Prison of Invisible Bars for his trouble. This proves not to be a terrible, species-ending blunder by a real meathead as it might have originally appeared but instead a masterstroke of strategy, as while stewing behind (invisible) bars, he meets Professor Jenkins, first human on Saturn and the original inventor of the Ultra-Dissolvo-Raygun, bane of Slovania. Together, they bust Bruce out of jail, prevent the dissolving of Earth and turn the ray on Toko himself, which has the knockon effect of freeing the citizens of Saturn from his vile influence. Plus he had already conquered the rest of the Solar System, so they all get freed too!

  • MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 060

    Some of those reeeeal obscure guys today. 

    Craig Carter:

    Archaeologist Craig Carter wants to give up all the stuffy academia and become a crime fighter, and since he lives in a comic book universe, the very day he tells his girlfriend about this objectively bad decision he receives a magical ring in the mail from an old colleague whose life he had saved. This ring grants its wearer the ability to summon the gods of antiquity to aid them – in Carter’s two adventures he summons Zeus, Mercury, Thor and Pluto, plus he gets Zeus to summon Pegasus for him, so presumably a whole world of magical beasts was also at his fingertips. Carter’s second adventure ends with Pluto deciding not to return to the ring, which presumably would have set him up as a long-term antagonist. Alas this was not to be, as his second appearance was also his final appearance.

    The ring is also hilariously sensitive with regards to its touch-activation, as seen here when a simple hand-pat causes Zeus to blow up the club. (Wham Comics 001, 1940)

    Detecto:

    Jack Strand is a radio scientist who has invented Detecto, a “wonder beam” that has “four unlimited powers”: the ability to send and receive short wave radio, an engine killing effect, a force field and the ability to paralyze living things. As in a few other cases that we have encountered, the line between Detecto as a beam and Detecto as a kind of ambient energy field is a bit blurry, but whatever it is, Strand installs a transmitter in his car, making it into what is essentially a magical object. Would he be better off with a more portable version of Detecto, particularly as at least one of the powers, the radio, is commonly possessed by many cars already? Maybe. Am I sad that this was the only story about Detecto? Certainly, particularly as this was very much a tale of highway-based crime and I would love to see Detecto go up against someone in an airplane or maybe a building. (Wham Comics 001, 1940)

    Blue Fire:

    Blue Fire is actually scientist Jack Knapp, who acquired his powers through the ever-popular method of an unexpected explosion in his chemistry laboratory. Please note also that he was about to drink an unspecified formula just before this explosion occurred – is it the same as the explosive chemical that gave him his powers or was he about to unlock an entirely different suite of abilities?

    Blue Fire takes his name from the halo of blue flames that surrounds him when his powers are active, Contrary to this external signifier, however, he does not have any kind of heat or flame based abilities but rather is an intangibility guy. This is by far the best thing about Blue Fire, by the way, and not just because of the name/power fakeout but because Blue Fire creator Louis Glanzman has effortlessly answered all of the nitpicky questions about intangibility (why can they still breathe? why don’t they fall through the floor? why can they pick things up?) by establishing that Jack Knapp is effectively the opposite of ooblek: he functions as if tangible until enough force is exerted by or on his body, so that he can pick up a book but that same book will pass right through him if thrown. It’s very neat and tidy!* 

    Blue Fire has to drink some of the chemical created in the initial explosion to activate his powers, after which he has them for two whole hours. This is an interesting twist to the whole question of a secret identity, lying somewhere between the Hulk’s “uncontrollable change for an indeterminate amount of time and the usual Archie Andrews-style running around in different hats that Superman and co. get up to. I’m surprised that I can’t think of another character with this kind of life-complicating power setup. (Wham Comics 002, 1940)

    *I am of course immediately imagining horror scenarios in which Blue Fire cannot breathe in a high wind or a high pressure atmosphere, where he jumps down from a small platform and then falls to the centre of the Earth, etc 

    Solarman: 

    Solarman and his mentor, the bat-eared Quino, are aliens from the enlightened planet Saturn who have been observing Earth for some time. Quino is so depressed over the crime and evil that is rampant on our planet that he almost heat-rays the entire thing before his Saturnian enlightenment kicks in and he reconsiders. Instead, the two hit upon a plan wherein Solarman will be blasted to Earth to fight crimes that the two have spotted via their viscopes and x-rayscopes.

    Though Solarman is said to have “many powers” by Quino, the only one he displays while on his sole recorded mission to Earth is some moderate super strength. Still, this is more than enough to beat up gangster Al Ravoni’s entire suite of henchmen and bring the fugitive himself to justice. Hopefully this kind of thing is enough to satisfy Quino’s righteous bloodlust. (Wham Comics 002, 1940)

  • MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 060

    Some of those reeeeal obscure guys today. 

    Craig Carter:

    Archaeologist Craig Carter wants to give up all the stuffy academia and become a crime fighter, and since he lives in a comic book universe, the very day he tells his girlfriend about this objectively bad decision he receives a magical ring in the mail from an old colleague whose life he had saved. This ring grants its wearer the ability to summon the gods of antiquity to aid them – in Carter’s two adventures he summons Zeus, Mercury, Thor and Pluto, plus he gets Zeus to summon Pegasus for him, so presumably a whole world of magical beasts was also at his fingertips. Carter’s second adventure ends with Pluto deciding not to return to the ring, which presumably would have set him up as a long-term antagonist. Alas this was not to be, as his second appearance was also his final appearance.

    The ring is also hilariously sensitive with regards to its touch-activation, as seen here when a simple hand-pat causes Zeus to blow up the club. (Wham Comics 001, 1940)

    Detecto:

    Jack Strand is a radio scientist who has invented Detecto, a “wonder beam” that has “four unlimited powers”: the ability to send and receive short wave radio, an engine killing effect, a force field and the ability to paralyze living things. As in a few other cases that we have encountered, the line between Detecto as a beam and Detecto as a kind of ambient energy field is a bit blurry, but whatever it is, Strand installs a transmitter in his car, making it into what is essentially a magical object. Would he be better off with a more portable version of Detecto, particularly as at least one of the powers, the radio, is commonly possessed by many cars already? Maybe. Am I sad that this was the only story about Detecto? Certainly, particularly as this was very much a tale of highway-based crime and I would love to see Detecto go up against someone in an airplane or maybe a building. (Wham Comics 001, 1940)

    Blue Fire:

    Blue Fire is actually scientist Jack Knapp, who acquired his powers through the ever-popular method of an unexpected explosion in his chemistry laboratory. Please note also that he was about to drink an unspecified formula just before this explosion occurred – is it the same as the explosive chemical that gave him his powers or was he about to unlock an entirely different suite of abilities?

    Blue Fire takes his name from the halo of blue flames that surrounds him when his powers are active, Contrary to this external signifier, however, he does not have any kind of heat or flame based abilities but rather is an intangibility guy. This is by far the best thing about Blue Fire, by the way, and not just because of the name/power fakeout but because Blue Fire creator Louis Glanzman has effortlessly answered all of the nitpicky questions about intangibility (why can they still breathe? why don’t they fall through the floor? why can they pick things up?) by establishing that Jack Knapp is effectively the opposite of ooblek: he functions as if tangible until enough force is exerted by or on his body, so that he can pick up a book but that same book will pass right through him if thrown. It’s very neat and tidy!* 

    Blue Fire has to drink some of the chemical created in the initial explosion to activate his powers, after which he has them for two whole hours. This is an interesting twist to the whole question of a secret identity, lying somewhere between the Hulk’s “uncontrollable change for an indeterminate amount of time and the usual Archie Andrews-style running around in different hats that Superman and co. get up to. I’m surprised that I can’t think of another character with this kind of life-complicating power setup. (Wham Comics 002, 1940)

    *I am of course immediately imagining horror scenarios in which Blue Fire cannot breathe in a high wind or a high pressure atmosphere, where he jumps down from a small platform and then falls to the centre of the Earth, etc 

    Solarman: 

    Solarman and his mentor, the bat-eared Quino, are aliens from the enlightened planet Saturn who have been observing Earth for some time. Quino is so depressed over the crime and evil that is rampant on our planet that he almost heat-rays the entire thing before his Saturnian enlightenment kicks in and he reconsiders. Instead, the two hit upon a plan wherein Solarman will be blasted to Earth to fight crimes that the two have spotted via their viscopes and x-rayscopes.

    Though Solarman is said to have “many powers” by Quino, the only one he displays while on his sole recorded mission to Earth is some moderate super strength. Still, this is more than enough to beat up gangster Al Ravoni’s entire suite of henchmen and bring the fugitive himself to justice. Hopefully this kind of thing is enough to satisfy Quino’s righteous bloodlust. (Wham Comics 002, 1940)

  • ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 018

    It’s time to return to spaaaaaace! 

    Urolians and Urians: 

    The “Blast Bennett” feature is set far enough in the future (5940 CE, according to the caption on a single panel that I’m taking as gospel until contradicted) that I generally assume that all of the human-looking aliens that Blast and his pal Red encounter are representative of far-flung Earth colonies rather than of lack of alien design imagination, but I just had to point out the fact that the two planets in this comic are named Urol and Ur. It’s very annoying!

    Anyway, Blast’s pal Red falls into the hands of the bearded and hostile peoples of Urol, then Blast shows up and frees both him and the princess of Ur, traditional enemies of the Urolians, and ultimately helps the Urians (never actually called that in-comic, but we must have a demonym) defeat the slow-but-powerful Urolian space fleet, ensuring peace at the barrel of a ray gun. (Weird Comics 008, 1940)

    Dwarf Men of Mars: 

    Flick Falcon (famously later changed to Flip because “Flick” and “Fuck” look very similar in comic book lettering) is a character who does all of his adventuring by jumping into an interdimensional teleporter in his laboratory and tooling around the universe. The first time he does this he ends up blasted to Mars so hard that his organs end up on the opposite sides of his body.

    Flick/Flip finds a Mars in conflict, with two native intelligent species under threat of conquest by invading aliens. He ends up allying with the so-called Dwarf-Men, who probably don’t call themselves that. They’re pretty standard humanoid aliens, with the obvious exception being their tininess. Plus they all wear hats with teacup handles on them for no stated reason. (Fantastic Comics 002, 1940) 

    Martian Slave-Giants: 

    The second of the Martian races are referred to as the Slave-Giants, as they have been subjugated by the invaders already. Their main duties seem to be wandering around looking for interesting things such as Flick Falcon to grab and throw toward the invaders’ headquarters. Please also note the wildly inconsistent scale.

    As mentioned in the last Divine Round-Up, the giants are controlled by way of their religious devotion, with the invaders delivering orders in the form of commandments issued by a radio receiver concealed inside of the idol of their goddess. Flick and his gal pal Adele disrupt this by smashing the idol and substituting her as a living replacement, and so the Giants are theoretically no longer enslaved. (Fantastic Comics 001, 1939)

    Three-Arm Invaders: 

    And what of the invaders themselves? These are appropriately known as the Three-Arm[ed] Invaders, and occasionally as the Three-Arm[ed] Ones, Tyrants, or at least once Swine. They are one or two steps more alien than the quite humanoid inhabitants of Mars, with little pig-trotter feet and tusks and that eponymous third arm emerging from their sternums. They also have the most distressing horns that I have ever seen, in that they are more akin to big hairy warts than anything else.

    The Three-Arm Invaders possess similar dimension-hopping technology to that used by Flick Falcon, which they intend to use to both comprehend and conquer the universe. They are held back somewhat by their comparatively frail physical forms, but I suppose that’s what the Slave-Giants are for.

    When the Three-Arm Invaders are last seen, they are reacting to the news of the Slave-Giants’ emancipation by raining hellacious destruction down on the Giants’ city in an attempt to destroy Flick and Adele. After escaping from this conflagration, the duo never bother to go back to Mars, so the struggle of the Martian peoples vs the Invaders is left unresolved. (Fantastic Comics 001, 1939)

     

    One more thing about the Three-Arm Invaders: they seem to be yet another species in which the males look like gross weirdos and the females like cute human women (they do have little pig trotter feet, but that can be cute!). Unfortunately for the Three-Arm women (who only have two arms, sure, but how else do I refer to them?) the whole deal with the Slave-Giants and their goddess means that having a bunch of cute girls around would only confuse things and break the Three-Arms’ control. Thus, the Three-Arm women are sealed inside of big fruits until they are too old to be cute any more. Three-Armed Invaders: not just evil conquerors, but also misogynists!

    The formerly fruit-bound Three-Arm woman in the above panels seems to be shaping up to be an ally to Flick Falcon, but somewhere in between issues 002 and 003 of Fantastic Comcis she disappears and Flick ends up allied with the formerly suspicious and hostile Dwarf-Men. Hopefully the unseen resolution to this whole invasion involves the liberation of the Three-Arm women, leading to an overthrow of Three-Arm society. (Fantastic Comics 002, 1940) 

  • ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 018

    It’s time to return to spaaaaaace! 

    Urolians and Urians: 

    The “Blast Bennett” feature is set far enough in the future (5940 CE, according to the caption on a single panel that I’m taking as gospel until contradicted) that I generally assume that all of the human-looking aliens that Blast and his pal Red encounter are representative of far-flung Earth colonies rather than of lack of alien design imagination, but I just had to point out the fact that the two planets in this comic are named Urol and Ur. It’s very annoying!

    Anyway, Blast’s pal Red falls into the hands of the bearded and hostile peoples of Urol, then Blast shows up and frees both him and the princess of Ur, traditional enemies of the Urolians, and ultimately helps the Urians (never actually called that in-comic, but we must have a demonym) defeat the slow-but-powerful Urolian space fleet, ensuring peace at the barrel of a ray gun. (Weird Comics 008, 1940)

    Dwarf Men of Mars: 

    Flick Falcon (famously later changed to Flip because “Flick” and “Fuck” look very similar in comic book lettering) is a character who does all of his adventuring by jumping into an interdimensional teleporter in his laboratory and tooling around the universe. The first time he does this he ends up blasted to Mars so hard that his organs end up on the opposite sides of his body.

    Flick/Flip finds a Mars in conflict, with two native intelligent species under threat of conquest by invading aliens. He ends up allying with the so-called Dwarf-Men, who probably don’t call themselves that. They’re pretty standard humanoid aliens, with the obvious exception being their tininess. Plus they all wear hats with teacup handles on them for no stated reason. (Fantastic Comics 002, 1940) 

    Martian Slave-Giants: 

    The second of the Martian races are referred to as the Slave-Giants, as they have been subjugated by the invaders already. Their main duties seem to be wandering around looking for interesting things such as Flick Falcon to grab and throw toward the invaders’ headquarters. Please also note the wildly inconsistent scale.

    As mentioned in the last Divine Round-Up, the giants are controlled by way of their religious devotion, with the invaders delivering orders in the form of commandments issued by a radio receiver concealed inside of the idol of their goddess. Flick and his gal pal Adele disrupt this by smashing the idol and substituting her as a living replacement, and so the Giants are theoretically no longer enslaved. (Fantastic Comics 001, 1939)

    Three-Arm Invaders: 

    And what of the invaders themselves? These are appropriately known as the Three-Arm[ed] Invaders, and occasionally as the Three-Arm[ed] Ones, Tyrants, or at least once Swine. They are one or two steps more alien than the quite humanoid inhabitants of Mars, with little pig-trotter feet and tusks and that eponymous third arm emerging from their sternums. They also have the most distressing horns that I have ever seen, in that they are more akin to big hairy warts than anything else.

    The Three-Arm Invaders possess similar dimension-hopping technology to that used by Flick Falcon, which they intend to use to both comprehend and conquer the universe. They are held back somewhat by their comparatively frail physical forms, but I suppose that’s what the Slave-Giants are for.

    When the Three-Arm Invaders are last seen, they are reacting to the news of the Slave-Giants’ emancipation by raining hellacious destruction down on the Giants’ city in an attempt to destroy Flick and Adele. After escaping from this conflagration, the duo never bother to go back to Mars, so the struggle of the Martian peoples vs the Invaders is left unresolved. (Fantastic Comics 001, 1939)

     

    One more thing about the Three-Arm Invaders: they seem to be yet another species in which the males look like gross weirdos and the females like cute human women (they do have little pig trotter feet, but that can be cute!). Unfortunately for the Three-Arm women (who only have two arms, sure, but how else do I refer to them?) the whole deal with the Slave-Giants and their goddess means that having a bunch of cute girls around would only confuse things and break the Three-Arms’ control. Thus, the Three-Arm women are sealed inside of big fruits until they are too old to be cute any more. Three-Armed Invaders: not just evil conquerors, but also misogynists!

    The formerly fruit-bound Three-Arm woman in the above panels seems to be shaping up to be an ally to Flick Falcon, but somewhere in between issues 002 and 003 of Fantastic Comcis she disappears and Flick ends up allied with the formerly suspicious and hostile Dwarf-Men. Hopefully the unseen resolution to this whole invasion involves the liberation of the Three-Arm women, leading to an overthrow of Three-Arm society. (Fantastic Comics 002, 1940) 

  • ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 017

    A panoply of wonders awaits.

    Karnak’s Slaves: 

    This otherwise-unnamed race from an unnamed planet get a pretty raw deal: conquered and mind-controlled into servitude by scientist Karnak, they all seemingly die when he does. It’s a real shame. (Weird Comics 007, 1940) 

    the Deadly Plants: 

    It’s hard to say much about the so-called “Deadly Plants” of planet Vegeto, aside from the fact that they work together to capture a handful of prospective human colonists and dump them in a pit, and that for this act of moderate aggression the Red Comet dumps the entire termite population of Earth on them, seemingly wiping out their entire species. This is what we call “disproportionate response” but is in perfect keeping with the 1940s (and beyond!) view of the relative value of human life vs all other life. (Planet Comics 004, 1940)

    Dhakka Snail-Men: 

    Every undersea race in comics needs a selection of other undersea races to have conflict with, and Neptina’s Fish-Men are no exception. They are menaced by the Dhakkas, aka the Snail-Men, led by Prince Petor, who attempts to invade the territories of Amloza for no stated reason – I guess that’s just what you do when you have an army and an abyssal plain to march across. Unfortunately for Petor and his ambitions, Neptina and the Fish-Men are backed up by Brad Fletcher and his Super-Sub, which are enough to decisively turn the tide. 

    The Snail-Men also might be some of the least like their namesake of any of the [animal]-Men we have yet encountered. They ride snails, sure, but about the only thing that they themselves have in common with snails are some pretty modest eyestalks. (Champion Comics 009, 1940)

    Dragon-Lizard Men: 

    Encountered by detective Fu Chang as he searches for treasure on fabled Money Pit Island, the Dragon-Lizard Men are not so much guardians as obstacles on the way to wealth. The most remarkable thing about them is that if they are as Fu Chang asserts descended from the “lizard and dragons” left on the island by the treasure-burying pirates they managed to not only evolve into fully humanoid forms but also enough of a sense of shame to wear briefs over their mysterious lizard and/or dragon genitals. Nature is really amazing. (Pep Comics 009, 1940)

  • ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 016

    ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 016

    Love those aliens. And so forth. 

    the Sea Demons:

    The Sea Demons are a hostile underwater race of fish-men who look great but get very little character development as a society. Their main thing seems to be a deeps desire to attack and capture…

    the Sea Amazons:

    The Sea Amazons (described as “blonde Sea Amazons” at least twice in the text despite the fact that a pretty noticeable percentage of them – including their queen! – are brunettes) are about a (blonde) hair more well-developed than the Sea Demons. They are a race of amphibious women who live in the city of Mermea under the rule of Queen Bea (or possibly Mea) and who just hate being kidnapped by those dang Sea Demons. To that end, they have tamed a creature called the Guardian, and I must say that while I love the Guardian and its look I have an incredibly hard time figuring out its anatomy: its main component is an enormous humanoid head, yes, but is it stuck on the end of an eel body with a chin-mounted tentacle? Is it more like a giant slug? Are there two tentacles that I’m meant to picture churning through the water? 

    Though the Sea Demon and Sea Amazon societies are at odds, they do in fact have a lot in common, such as the Sea Demon’s own beast, the Seaclops, seen here battling the Guardian. They don’t really get around to exploring these similarities, however, as undersea hero Typhon ends up blowing up both the Seaclops and most of the Sea Demons. (Weird Comics 005, 1940)

    Crab Men: 

    These Crab Men from Mercury have been trapped on a derelict spaceship for twenty years – are they really vicious or just looking for help? Space adventurers Gale Allen and Jack North are taking no chances, and vaporize them with an artificial sun ray. (Planet Comics 008, 1940) 

    Cranians:

    Rex Dexter of Mars has the honour of encountering the Cranians, an alien race so goofy that even in-fiction they are believed to be just a myth. But what has brought the Cranians out of the mists of legend to aggress against the human race?

    It turns out that if you have a hand for a head and heads for hands, having that extra nose means that you will breathe twice as much and thus eventually use up all the oxygen on your planet, and rather than planting some extra forests, the Cranians have decided that the best solution to this problem is the conquest of Earth and its rich stores of O2.

    I personally do not think that a machine that controls Earth’s atmosphere such that oxygen levels can be cut in half near-instantly is a particularly good idea, but it turns out that I am a fool because not only does the far future Earth of 2000 AD have such a device but it proves integral to the defeat of the Cranian menace when Rex Dexter does just that. Live and learn, as they say. (Mystery Men Comics 017, 1940)

  • ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 015

    A veritable bounty of aliens for your perusal.

    People of Venus, the Jibbering Giant of Jupiter, Weird Inhabitants of the Strange Planet: 

    Blast Bennett has lost his little pal Red, and his solution is to just kind of bop around from planet to planet, asking random aliens if they have seen a red-headed guy. I’ve grouped these alien together because they all represent a very boring alien design trend of the 40s and 50s (and beyond!): the alien as just some guy. The Venusians are short, bald guys; the Jovian is a really big guy and the weird inhabitants of the strange planet are guys who could use a shower. (Weird Comics 004, 1940)

    Ceresians:

    During an unscheduled stop on then-asteroid/now-dwarf planet Ceres for water, Ted Hunt and Jane Martin, aka the Star Rovers, stumble into a conflict between the underground-dwelling native Ceresians and gargoyle-like invaders known as the Harpies.

    This is a pretty classic setup! The planet full of generic white guys vs some horrible space monsters scenario is a surefire way to engender sympathy in an early 20th Century American audience! It does however leave you with some fairly uninteresting humanoid aliens – I do appreciate the seeming shift in Ceresian society from a Medieval to more of a Roman aesthetic as they are forced to abandon their castles for retrofuturistic bunkers, but that’s about it. (Exciting Comics 005, 1940)

    Harpies: 

    The Space Rovers make their way to the Harpy home on Asteroid Nunda and are almost immediately captured after being incapacitated by the thin Nundan atmosphere. They find that rather than being simple predators, the Harpies have an advanced society that places great value in both science and the democratic process. They are, sadly, complete Harpy chauvinists who don’t recognize the humanity harpianity shared intelligent experience of other species, which is why they’re so happy to raid Ceres for fun and food.

    Ted and Jane escape this fate due to the Harpies’ scientific curiosity about them, and manage to parley that into a successful escape attempt. Once back in their ship and armed with superior firepower, perhaps they will be able to force the Harpies to stop their vicious ways at the barrel of a gun!

    Just kidding! As a nonhuman species who pose a threat to a world of white guys, the Harpies are of course fair game for utter and total annihilation – I’m talking blow up their cities and hunt down all of the survivors. But don’t feel bad, because as Jane says, “they’re nothing but enormous, blood-thirsty bats!” Now the Ceresians are free to go back to inventing feudalism or whatever. (Exciting Comics 005, 1940) 

    Lunaris:

    The way I do these Alien Round-Ups is that the first entry is from whatever comic I’m reading at the moment and then I pluck the rest from a big ol’ spreadsheet that I’ve been maintaining for years, which is why it’s a pretty fun coincidence that the the next aliens on my list after the Ceresians were the Cold Men, who rule the surface of an unnamed icy moon while a race of white guys called the Lunaris hide in tunnels below. Once Ray Darrow, aka the Star Rover (another little coincidence there) stumbles into this conflict he of course sides with the noble Lunaris against the horrible Cold Men, and it doesn’t hurt that the Lunaris Queen is somehow descended from Earth humans, so that Darrow can feel okay with being attracted to her, I guess. (Doc Savage Comics v1 003, 1941)

    Cold Men: 

    Cold Man society isn’t quite as fleshed out as the Harpies’ was, but Darrow’s conclusion is the same: to ensure the continued safety of the much more familiar-looking Lunaris, the Cold Men must be utterly annihilated – sure hope that the newly surface-dwelling Lunaris don’t find the headquarters of some sort of Cold Man organization dedicated to fostering peace between the species or they might end up feeling guilty about their role in this genocide some day. 

    … I do like that the Cold Men seem to actually be made of snow or ice. (Doc Savage Comics v1 003, 1941) 

  • ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 015

    ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 015

    A veritable bounty of aliens for your perusal.

    People of Venus, the Jibbering Giant of Jupiter, Weird Inhabitants of the Strange Planet: 

    Blast Bennett has lost his little pal Red, and his solution is to just kind of bop around from planet to planet, asking random aliens if they have seen a red-headed guy. I’ve grouped these alien together because they all represent a very boring alien design trend of the 40s and 50s (and beyond!): the alien as just some guy. The Venusians are short, bald guys; the Jovian is a really big guy and the weird inhabitants of the strange planet are guys who could use a shower. (Weird Comics 004, 1940)

    Ceresians:

    During an unscheduled stop on then-asteroid/now-dwarf planet Ceres for water, Ted Hunt and Jane Martin, aka the Star Rovers, stumble into a conflict between the underground-dwelling native Ceresians and gargoyle-like invaders known as the Harpies.

    This is a pretty classic setup! The planet full of generic white guys vs some horrible space monsters scenario is a surefire way to engender sympathy in an early 20th Century American audience! It does however leave you with some fairly uninteresting humanoid aliens – I do appreciate the seeming shift in Ceresian society from a Medieval to more of a Roman aesthetic as they are forced to abandon their castles for retrofuturistic bunkers, but that’s about it. (Exciting Comics 005, 1940)

    Harpies: 

    The Space Rovers make their way to the Harpy home on Asteroid Nunda and are almost immediately captured after being incapacitated by the thin Nundan atmosphere. They find that rather than being simple predators, the Harpies have an advanced society that places great value in both science and the democratic process. They are, sadly, complete Harpy chauvinists who don’t recognize the humanity harpianity shared intelligent experience of other species, which is why they’re so happy to raid Ceres for fun and food.

    Ted and Jane escape this fate due to the Harpies’ scientific curiosity about them, and manage to parley that into a successful escape attempt. Once back in their ship and armed with superior firepower, perhaps they will be able to force the Harpies to stop their vicious ways at the barrel of a gun!

    Just kidding! As a nonhuman species who pose a threat to a world of white guys, the Harpies are of course fair game for utter and total annihilation – I’m talking blow up their cities and hunt down all of the survivors. But don’t feel bad, because as Jane says, “they’re nothing but enormous, blood-thirsty bats!” Now the Ceresians are free to go back to inventing feudalism or whatever. (Exciting Comics 005, 1940) 

    Lunaris:

    The way I do these Alien Round-Ups is that the first entry is from whatever comic I’m reading at the moment and then I pluck the rest from a big ol’ spreadsheet that I’ve been maintaining for years, which is why it’s a pretty fun coincidence that the the next aliens on my list after the Ceresians were the Cold Men, who rule the surface of an unnamed icy moon while a race of white guys called the Lunaris hide in tunnels below. Once Ray Darrow, aka the Star Rover (another little coincidence there) stumbles into this conflict he of course sides with the noble Lunaris against the horrible Cold Men, and it doesn’t hurt that the Lunaris Queen is somehow descended from Earth humans, so that Darrow can feel okay with being attracted to her, I guess. (Doc Savage Comics v1 003, 1941)

    Cold Men: 

    Cold Man society isn’t quite as fleshed out as the Harpies’ was, but Darrow’s conclusion is the same: to ensure the continued safety of the much more familiar-looking Lunaris, the Cold Men must be utterly annihilated – sure hope that the newly surface-dwelling Lunaris don’t find the headquarters of some sort of Cold Man organization dedicated to fostering peace between the species or they might end up feeling guilty about their role in this genocide some day. 

    … I do like that the Cold Men seem to actually be made of snow or ice. (Doc Savage Comics v1 003, 1941)