The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: gorilla-based plans

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 220: THE IMP

    (Doc Savage Comics v1 004, 1941)

    An unnamed dwarf performer at the Famous Three Ring Circus, billed as the Smallest Man in the World, the Imp is even more remarkably able to secretly build himself a robotic gorilla-shaped exoskeleton in secret while travelling with said circus.

    As is so often the case when a comic character becomes a villain in response to societal scorn and rejection, the Imp ends up taking things too far by using his gorilla suit to rob banks and kidnap the object of his affection, ultimately leading to a confrontation with generic superguy Ajax the Sun Man and one of the more graphic on-panel suicides of the Golden Age.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 211: THE MAD MADESPOS

    (Crackajack Funnies 038-040, 1941)

    It’s my favourite Golden Age Batman knockoff the Owl again and this time he’s up against the Madespos, a whole family of homicidal maniacs with their very own gorilla pal!

    The Madespos had already been collared by the Owl (in an unseen adventure of his civilian guise of Nick Terry, PI) some time earlier, so our tale begins with their escape from Lenmoor Asylum for the Criminally Insane with the help of their well-dressed gorilla friend. 

    In addition to the gorilla the family consists of Ma Madespo and her four unnamed, nearly identical sons (one wears glasses and two are taller than the rest. This is not relevant). They’re armed to the teeth and have holed up in a fortified mansion supplied by…

    The Masked Ambassador! A surprise second Minor Super-Villain 212 (if just barely) and smarter-than-average fifth columnist from Axis-coded Yugonia who has weaponized the Madespos rather than risk his own hide in sabotaging the American military. If he wasn’t caught by the Owl literally one panel after putting on his mask he might just be the most effective villain on this list.

    Sadly for the Madespos, the Owl soon takes advantage of a police siege of their mansion to befriend the ill-treated gorilla and bring the whole lot of them in.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 168: DR KRUG

    (Blue Beetle Comics 008, 1941)

    Dr Krug! I cannot tell you his motives, because he never goes into them! Dr Krug! He wants to destroy NYC York City , and he’s going to do it with gorillas! Dr Krug! Specifically, explosive gorillas! Dr Krug!

    That’s really all there is to the guy. He somehow figured out how to make time-bombs out of gorillas and went from there. As far as I can tell from the action of the story his plan is to have the gorillas get arrested and then blow up the police stations they are taken to. This is simultaneously one of the weirdest and least cost-effective ways of destroying a city that I have ever encountered – I think he may have started with about eight gorillas, to boot. If he hadn’t fallen in the gorilla pit and exploded he would have been having a long hard talk with his gorilla supplier before long.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 168: DR KRUG

    (Blue Beetle Comics 008, 1941)

    Dr Krug! I cannot tell you his motives, because he never goes into them! Dr Krug! He wants to destroy NYC York City , and he’s going to do it with gorillas! Dr Krug! Specifically, explosive gorillas! Dr Krug!

    That’s really all there is to the guy. He somehow figured out how to make time-bombs out of gorillas and went from there. As far as I can tell from the action of the story his plan is to have the gorillas get arrested and then blow up the police stations they are taken to. This is simultaneously one of the weirdest and least cost-effective ways of destroying a city that I have ever encountered – I think he may have started with about eight gorillas, to boot. If he hadn’t fallen in the gorilla pit and exploded he would have been having a long hard talk with his gorilla supplier before long.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 127: THE SKY DEMON

    (Slam-Bang Comics 006, 1940) 

    The Sky Demon is a heretofore-unseen old enemy of Diamond Jack who starts strong with an overall Satanic look and a little skull on the front of his trunks – just the right amount of accessorizing to make a pretty basic super-outfit pop.

    I also love his plot to conquer Earth and/or wipe out humanity: get some gorillas, give them wings and revolvers and let them loose. I can’t say whether or not his plan would have succeeded because he was fatally prevented from carrying it out by Diamond Jack.

    Gorilla-based schemes aside, I really like the parallel of Diamond Jack the magic ring-powered hero vs the Sky Demon and his little magic cape. A sub-ecosystem of heroes and villains weilding magic items of various kinds sounds like it could be interesting comics fodder!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 127: THE SKY DEMON

    (Slam-Bang Comics 006, 1940) 

    The Sky Demon is a heretofore-unseen old enemy of Diamond Jack who starts strong with an overall Satanic look and a little skull on the front of his trunks – just the right amount of accessorizing to make a pretty basic super-outfit pop.

    I also love his plot to conquer Earth and/or wipe out humanity: get some gorillas, give them wings and revolvers and let them loose. I can’t say whether or not his plan would have succeeded because he was fatally prevented from carrying it out by Diamond Jack.

    Gorilla-based schemes aside, I really like the parallel of Diamond Jack the magic ring-powered hero vs the Sky Demon and his little magic cape. A sub-ecosystem of heroes and villains weilding magic items of various kinds sounds like it could be interesting comics fodder!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 054: SLAUGHTER SLADE

    (Special Edition Comics, 1940)

    Here is a list of pertinent details about Slaughter Slade:

    -He talks like Swamp Thing for no discernable reason

    -He is stronger and more intelligent than the human norm. Together with the prior point and some general odd behavior throughout the story this kind of leads one to think he might be revealed as a robot or alien or something. He is not.

    -He has three henchmen: a regular gangster named Butch, a weird little freak named Spider and an intelligent gorilla named Doctor Allirog. Oh, and a giant spider:

    -Doctor Allirog is not an intelligent gorilla at the beginning of the story, but his name is Doctor Allirog at the beginning of the story.

    -Slaughter Slade’s plan is to destroy the entire US government and install himself and Doctor Allirog as President and Vice-President, respectively.

    -Part of Slaughter Slade’s plan involves buying a book of knowledge from this man:

    Professor Universe is possibly the single-appearance character whose failure to make a return has hurt me personally the most. Just the idea of this mercenary genius living somewhere near Fawcett City is so delightful to me. Obviously I want them to BRING BACK everyone involved in this story, down to Butch and the two Spiders.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 054: SLAUGHTER SLADE

    (Special Edition Comics, 1940)

    Here is a list of pertinent details about Slaughter Slade:

    -He talks like Swamp Thing for no discernable reason

    -He is stronger and more intelligent than the human norm. Together with the prior point and some general odd behavior throughout the story this kind of leads one to think he might be revealed as a robot or alien or something. He is not.

    -He has three henchmen: a regular gangster named Butch, a weird little freak named Spider and an intelligent gorilla named Doctor Allirog. Oh, and a giant spider:

    -Doctor Allirog is not an intelligent gorilla at the beginning of the story, but his name is Doctor Allirog at the beginning of the story.

    -Slaughter Slade’s plan is to destroy the entire US government and install himself and Doctor Allirog as President and Vice-President, respectively.

    -Part of Slaughter Slade’s plan involves buying a book of knowledge from this man:

    Professor Universe is possibly the single-appearance character whose failure to make a return has hurt me personally the most. Just the idea of this mercenary genius living somewhere near Fawcett City is so delightful to me. Obviously I want them to BRING BACK everyone involved in this story, down to Butch and the two Spiders.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 037: THE GORILLA KING

    (Action v1 019, 1939)

    Classic mad scientist stuff here: work out a revolutionary technique to transplant human brains into gorillas and then aim no higher than sending your gorilla-men out on horseback to plunder Mexico. Blows himself up, as per the above image.