The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: Shining Knight

  • MEDIA IN COMICS 015

    Comics love to have media in them, and I love telling you about those media.

    Music:

    Though the radio debut Roger Midas and His Melodeers is a hopeful sign for the relationship between former absentee workaholic father and snob Harvey Midas and his progeny, one can’t help but be a little cynical about the sudden success of a rich man’s passion project. (Detective Comics v1 047, 1941)

    When I detailed the musical output of the Murder Maestro in the last Media Round-Up I somehow missed that a) “I’m Getting Up in the World” was in fact written not by the Maestro but by Johnny Quick as part of a plan to trap the villain and b) it was performed by a radio ensemble called the Bandoliers. (More Fun Comics 072, 1941)

    Newspaper Columns:

    Golden Age Marvel Comics detective Ferret writes a column called “Crime Doesn’t Pay” for the Tribune. (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 004 1940)

    Radio:

    If Lester Pry’s radio gossip column is called anything other than “Lester Pry” then we get no indication of it in this Slam Bradley story. (Detective Comics v1 051, 1941)

    “The Scarlet Terror” is our first radio show featuring a pulp-style action hero, the eponymous “red-cloaked man from the planet Jupiter!” Sounds like a hoot. (Hit Comics 010, 1941)

    “The Happy Hour” features live music to delight all (but bemuse the Shining Knight). Just why the singer is dressed in a “hack comedian” outfit is unexplained but probably would have made sense to someone from the 1940s. Featuring the real-life novelty hit “the Hut-Sut Song.” (Adventure Comics 069, 1941)

    I assume that “Uncle Dan’s Kiddie Hour” is more than just a venue for sending messages to specific children over the airwaves, but that’s the part of the broadcast that we get to see as it is used by Spy Smasher as a semi-secure channel to convey information to Eve and Admiral Corby. (Whiz Comics 024, 1941)

    Alan “Green Lantern” Scott moves from radio engineer to radio presenter after his boss notices his pleasant voice and sticks him on “Man on the Street” duty. (Green Lantern v1 002, 1941)

    Further Apex Broadcasting System programming includes “What’s Your Trouble?” which involves a jury of smug-looking experts giving advice to those with problems (explained in All-American Comics 030 and then actually seen in action in Green Lantern v1 002, 1941)

    Apex also broadcasts “You the Public,” a forum for community members to tell their own stories, though only those stories that involve absolutely no controversy, as illustrated here by the unnamed Apex head choosing to let a huge slave ring go uncommented-upon rather than invite a bit of legal trouble. (All-American Comics 024, 1941)

    “You the Public” returns in All-American Comics 033 as the venue for a discussion of an ongoing conflict between unionizing cab drivers and the mob.

  • MEDIA IN COMICS 013

    Today in Media in Comics, we’re all about the Movies:

    Movie star Dawn O’Dare returns to her home town of Holtville to premiere her new picture Love Me Forever! but the whole affair is almost undone when her understudy attempts to impersonate her and make off with the theatrical take, only to in turn be foiled by local copy boy Hap Hazard. (Lightning Comics v2 004, 1941)

    Angry Waves, a sea epic, features a found footage action scene as one of the Strange Twins rescues the other from drowning. (Hit Comics 016, 1941)

    It’s time for our first movie titled Crime Doesn’t Pay, starring police officer Sally O’Neil and featuring a real on-screen murder. (National Comics 010, 1941)

    I fear that we will only be able to evaluate all of the Gone with the Wind parody titles once we have enough of then together to compare. That said, Flown with the Breeze, here about to be attended by Allan “the Hunchback” Lanier and date, has to be one of the more goofy of the bunch. (Wow Comics 002, 1941)

    This adaptation of Ivanhoe had a troubled production thanks to an on-set protection racket. It is also distinguished by the fact that its arms and armour consultant was Justin Arthur, aka the Shining Knight. (Adventure Comics 068, 1941)

    Jungle Justice, another troubled production due to on-set criminals, boasts its own heroic consultant in the person of Congo Bill. (Action Comics v1 042, 1941)

    Though Red River Days managed to get made without any notable hiccups, its premiere in the actual town of Red River is marred by organized crime. (Adventure Comics 060, 1941)

    Thrills of Africa, is a jungle movie that gives one crook the opportunity to dress up in a gorilla suit and rob the theatre it’s playing in after posing as a statue in the lobby for who knows how long. Also, his two pals are there in blackface.

    While chasing these problematic miscreants, Hourman passes a poster for The Count of… something. Perhaps Monte Cristo? Whatever it is, it must be printed real small, given the size of that poster. (All-Star Comics 006, 1941)

    During the Dummy’s tenure ans one of the Five Fingers of the Hand, he heads off to Hollywood to run a kidnapping scheme, and of course this ends up involving a whole plethora of movies. To begin, we have Aircraft Carrier, the premiere of which is ruined when star Rex Mason is seemingly turned to stone but actually spirited away.

    Six-Gun Serenade, a Western, features occasional Vigigilante sidekick Billy Gunn as an extra.

    While Vigilante is visiting Billy on-set, he gets involved in the latest kidnap attempt on the nearby set of sports film Touchdown Blues.

    The crooks’ getaway then takes then through the set of Bars and Stripes, which may or may not be a patriotic prison movie.

    Finally, the Dummy’s men are run to ground on the set of jungle picture Tropic Doom. (Leading Comics 001, 1941)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 146: THE RED DRAGON

    (Adventure 069, 1941)


    An early example of quite a few villain tropes, the Red Dragon is a guy who turns to evil because he was rejected by society due to his deformed face (1). He then decides to set himself up in opposition to the heroic Shining Knight, choosing to become the Red Dragon – less dramatic than a Bizarro-style evil opposite situation but still an evil opposite situation (2).

    After his first (unsuccessful) foray into crime, he is recruited by the Hand to battle the Seven Soldiers of Victory as part of one of the earliest examples of a super-villain team-up (3), some years before the Injustice Society and such became commonplace.

    Pretty good for a fairly ordinary hooded villain.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 146: THE RED DRAGON

    (Adventure 069, 1941)


    An early example of quite a few villain tropes, the Red Dragon is a guy who turns to evil because he was rejected by society due to his deformed face (1). He then decides to set himself up in opposition to the heroic Shining Knight, choosing to become the Red Dragon – less dramatic than a Bizarro-style evil opposite situation but still an evil opposite situation (2).

    After his first (unsuccessful) foray into crime, he is recruited by the Hand to battle the Seven Soldiers of Victory as part of one of the earliest examples of a super-villain team-up (3), some years before the Injustice Society and such became commonplace.

    Pretty good for a fairly ordinary hooded villain.