The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: Whiz Wilson

  • MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 028

    These guys use science for crime and evil, for which we excoriate them, but they also make entertaining villains, for which we celebrate them. 

    Dr Stone:

    Dr Elijah Stone has a calling and it is in creating and disseminating deadly plagues upon mankind. This, however, is the kind of passion that society frowns upon and Stone is locked away in the State Mental Hospital. Unfortunately for mankind, the State Mental Hospital seems to be one of those places that contracts its security out to the lowest bidder, because Stone escapes in no time flat.

    Sure enough, there is soon a hot new Dr Stone plague ravaging humanity. This quiet New England Town is absolutely screwed, and the rest of the world is soon to follow if someone doesn’t do something soon.

    Enter time/space explorer Whiz Wilson, who pops into the future to a time when there simply must be a cure and is referred to the Medical Center on Mars. His quest hits a small speedbump when the Martian doctor turns out to actually be Dr Stone in disguise – it seems that when not making plagues Stone has dabbled in chronal physics and has independently developed Futurescope technology. He has been using the future as a home base to culture up enough plague germs to wipe out 1941 humanity in one fell swoop, after which he will enjoy some alone time on an unpopulated planet. 

    Whiz Wilson smashes Stone’s Futurescope and makes off with his personal supply of anti-plague serum but is forced to let the man himself escape. Both Stone and the text boxes set up Dr Stone as an upcoming recurring nemesis for Whiz to deal with, presumably in different time periods, but his evil plans are foiled by the fact that this is the final Whiz Wilson story. (Lightning Comics v2 004, 1941)

    Professor Hanley:

    Professor Hanley is one of the many comic book scientists whose development of a means of making artificial diamonds is seen as dangerous and/or criminal by a super-hero. Hanley is at least attempting to pass artificial diamonds off as natural ones so I guess this counts as selling counterfeit good, but I still think that this is not worth your time, the Angel. (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 014, 1940)

    Howland:

    Howland, the second and final foe faced by Sky Wizard, has been causing mass chaos by sending out his army of humanoid robots to loot and kill. He also has a real “evil Vulcan” look that I appreciate.

    In addition to the extremely nifty robots (called the Robot Terrors by one and all, though I suspect that Howland just adopted the very cool name after he heard Sky Wizard use it), Howland is notable for creating these deathtraps that kill their victims by dropping slats out from under their feet at a rate of one per five seconds and then leaving them to dangle and strangle thanks to the tight neck shackle. This is pretty gruesome, but it’s also very quick, and Howland still manages to be out of the room when Sky Wizard and his aide Keeshan manage to escape. 

    Let’s be clear: I was already worked up about this before I noticed that he says how many slats there are because even at, say, one hundred slats that’s only eight and a half minutes, but no, it’s six slats. That’s thirty seconds, Howland. You’re too busy to wait thirty seconds for a super-hero to die? I don’t even feel sorry for you that you eventually die at the cold metal hands of your own robots, because I only feel contempt. (Miracle Comics 004, 1941)

    Captain Kiddlaw:

    Captain Kiddlaw, the Wizard-Pirate, is a scientific scoundrel who vexes the Super Police of the far-flung year 2023. His scheme involves dragging passing cruise ships to the bottom of the ocean for loot and slaves and is never technically foiled due to the cancellation of the “Super Police 2023” serial. They probably get him eventually, though. (New Fun Comics 002, 1935)

  • MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 028

    MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 028

    These guys use science for crime and evil, for which we excoriate them, but they also make entertaining villains, for which we celebrate them. 

    Dr Stone:

    Dr Elijah Stone has a calling and it is in creating and disseminating deadly plagues upon mankind. This, however, is the kind of passion that society frowns upon and Stone is locked away in the State Mental Hospital. Unfortunately for mankind, the State Mental Hospital seems to be one of those places that contracts its security out to the lowest bidder, because Stone escapes in no time flat.

    Sure enough, there is soon a hot new Dr Stone plague ravaging humanity. This quiet New England Town is absolutely screwed, and the rest of the world is soon to follow if someone doesn’t do something soon.

    Enter time/space explorer Whiz Wilson, who pops into the future to a time when there simply must be a cure and is referred to the Medical Center on Mars. His quest hits a small speedbump when the Martian doctor turns out to actually be Dr Stone in disguise – it seems that when not making plagues Stone has dabbled in chronal physics and has independently developed Futurescope technology. He has been using the future as a home base to culture up enough plague germs to wipe out 1941 humanity in one fell swoop, after which he will enjoy some alone time on an unpopulated planet. 

    Whiz Wilson smashes Stone’s Futurescope and makes off with his personal supply of anti-plague serum but is forced to let the man himself escape. Both Stone and the text boxes set up Dr Stone as an upcoming recurring nemesis for Whiz to deal with, presumably in different time periods, but his evil plans are foiled by the fact that this is the final Whiz Wilson story. (Lightning Comics v2 004, 1941)

    Professor Hanley:

    Professor Hanley is one of the many comic book scientists whose development of a means of making artificial diamonds is seen as dangerous and/or criminal by a super-hero. Hanley is at least attempting to pass artificial diamonds off as natural ones so I guess this counts as selling counterfeit good, but I still think that this is not worth your time, the Angel. (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 014, 1940)

    Howland:

    Howland, the second and final foe faced by Sky Wizard, has been causing mass chaos by sending out his army of humanoid robots to loot and kill. He also has a real “evil Vulcan” look that I appreciate.

    In addition to the extremely nifty robots (called the Robot Terrors by one and all, though I suspect that Howland just adopted the very cool name after he heard Sky Wizard use it), Howland is notable for creating these deathtraps that kill their victims by dropping slats out from under their feet at a rate of one per five seconds and then leaving them to dangle and strangle thanks to the tight neck shackle. This is pretty gruesome, but it’s also very quick, and Howland still manages to be out of the room when Sky Wizard and his aide Keeshan manage to escape. 

    Let’s be clear: I was already worked up about this before I noticed that he says how many slats there are because even at, say, one hundred slats that’s only eight and a half minutes, but no, it’s six slats. That’s thirty seconds, Howland. You’re too busy to wait thirty seconds for a super-hero to die? I don’t even feel sorry for you that you eventually die at the cold metal hands of your own robots, because I only feel contempt. (Miracle Comics 004, 1941)

    Captain Kiddlaw:

    Captain Kiddlaw, the Wizard-Pirate, is a scientific scoundrel who vexes the Super Police of the far-flung year 2023. His scheme involves dragging passing cruise ships to the bottom of the ocean for loot and slaves and is never technically foiled due to the cancellation of the “Super Police 2023” serial. They probably get him eventually, though. (New Fun Comics 002, 1935)

  • ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 055

    More aliens? Just how many more can there be?

    Fantasans:

    When time/space traveller Whiz Wilson visits Earth of the year 4400 CE, he finds that it is being bombarded by comets originating from the far-off planet Fantasa. Going there with the aid of his trusty Futuroscope, he learns that Molla, the rightful ruler of Fantasa, has been deposed by the wicked Gorano and that Gorano has a fanatical (and unexplained) hatred of humanity that is his reason for the comet attack. One quick Futuroscope-aided counter-coup later and Fantasa is back in more peaceful hands and Earth is safe. (Lightning Comics v2 003, 1941)

    Mercurian Cave-People:

    The very first outer space adventure of the Space Rovers sees them taking an unexpected rocket trip and being forced to make a landing on Mercury to get their bearings. Once they disembark they discover that the fire caused by their landing has been taken as a sign that the local deity (the Fire God, God-Style: Animistic) is angry and demands sacrifice. Ted and Jane pitch in to save the poor sacrifice, and in a rare happy ending for such people she gets to haul ass across the river to marry a dude named Kulu. (Exciting Comics 002, 1940)

    Mercurians of Thian:

    Having ruined the sacrifice, Ted is next up for being burned at the stake, and to make matters worse, Jane is hauled off by a giant bird (which turns out to be called a Mercurian Roc) before she can free him.

    Ted manages to free himself, and the two both end up in the city of Thian, which is populated by a second kind of Mercurian who are possessed of more advanced technology than the Cave-People but who look absolutely terrible. They aren’t even particularly good hosts, as can be seen here when they drug and capture the Star Rovers before the main course arrives.

    And just what is the reason that these Mercurians had for treating their guests so rudely? Because they only live for twenty years and they need people from more long-lived species to study (i.e. vivisect) so that they can live to a somewhat riper old age. 

    Since these particular tests subjects are space heroes, things go poorly from here. Head Scientist Flaedo gets electrocuted, the Star Rovers escape on Roc-back and the Mercurians of Thian hopefully reconsider their commitment to scientific ethics. (Exciting Comics 002, 1940) 

    Mercurians:

    Time adventurer Stuart Taylor and his companions Dr and Laura Hayward encounter this society of possibly human-derived Mercurians when they voyage to the year 4000 in pursuit of a man named Rogro who has stolen Dr Hayward’s time technology. The major difference between Mercurians and humans is the fact that the former all have “synthetic blood” which makes them vulnerable to extreme heat and must be quite inconvenient for someone living on what is generally acknowledge to be a pretty hot planet.

    Though the Mercurian society seems peaceful when they arrive, things go south quickly once Rogro promises the Mercurian king that he can engineer new blood for everyone if he can use the blood inside of Stuart and his friends as raw materials. The time travellers only survive the resulting riots by smashing up the protective dome over the Mercurian city (and note the fact that the writer now says that the Mercurians have a problem with oxygen instead of heat. Why? Who knows). (Jumbo Comics 019, 1940)

  • ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 054

    ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 054

    Comic book aliens: one of the few inexhaustible resources.

    Martians:

    Just as Doc Strong and his followers are starting to get the post-apocalyptic, WWII-lasted-a-century world of 2041 sorted out, a bunch of robot-looking Martians show up to ruin things by invading their territory on the Isle of Right. It’s just one thing after another with that year.

    Though they are fairly generic hostile invaders, these fellows really distinguish themselves among their class by immediately abandoning whatever plans that they had for Earth in order to indulge in a rager of a party. They want meat and they want booze, in that order and plenty of it. And as a bonus, the fact that the colourists at Blue Ribbon never really settled on a consistent colour scheme for these fellows means that the Party Issue is also the issue in which the Martians all look like they are wearing leopardskin briefs.

    Everything works out okay, however. After Doc and his pals are taken back to Mars for judgment by the King of the Martians they learn that he is a mere robot shell built by friendly Earthman Stinky Jones, who is more than happy to lend his subjects’ might to the task of cleaning up the war-ravaged Earth. (Blue Ribbon Comics 007, 1940)

    Masters of the Pit:

    These inhabitants of the Pit of Horrors aren’t given a lot of characterization, seeing as they are acting as more of an extension of Fantomah’s rough justice than as a functioning society. They live in caves underneath the liminal Jungle and can shape stone with a word and a gesture, and that’s all we really get. (Jungle Comics 007, 1940)

    Melubians:

    The interesting thing about planet Melubia is the fact that they use gravity control technology to surround their world with hundreds of small artificial satellites on which are built small cities or individual dwellings. The less interesting thing about Melubia is the fact that there are two intelligent species living on it, one of whom (the Melubians) want to overthrow the rule of the other (the unnamed, more humanoid species headed by King Molat). We never really get a sense of whether this is a colonial situation or if the two groups evolved on Melubia in parallel, but either way, time/space traveller Stuart Taylor and his pals are quick to uphold the established power structure and put down the rebellion. (Jumbo Comics 016, 1940) 

    Mongonians:

    The Mongonians, inhabitants of the planet Mongo (but a different Mongo than the Flash Gordon one) are some cool four-armed aliens with an unfortunate streak of paranoid xenophobia running through their society, as can be seen in their interaction with time/space traveller Whiz Wilson when he visits their planet in the year 2300 CE.

    It may be that the Mongonians are on to something, however, as they are attacked by hostile inhabitants of the planet Zania just after they toss Whiz – along with two hapless explorers from Earth – into their jail. Everything eventually resolves nicely, as the explorers’ spaceship makes an excellent weapon against the relatively fragile ranks of the Zanian Balloon Corps and peaceful Earth/Mongo relations are established. (Lightning Comics v2 001, 1941)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 1001: BARON KRAWMAN

    (Lightning Comics v1 005, 1941)

    Whiz Wilson and his Futuroscope are once again engaging in the Doctor Who style of time travel, in which you just kind of pop into a random time and place and ask a bystander how things are going. In this case he has ended up in Florida in the year 3000, and the vest-wearing Florida Man he speaks to is pretty smug about how great things have been for the past thousand years. Perhaps he is rounding up or thinking extremely locally, because previous Whiz Wilson stories have established a general civilizational collapse in 2040 CE and a more localized one in South America around 2500 CE.

    More importantly, as if summoned by the words “these are wonderful times,” this is the moment that a squad of giant robots attack the city.

    Whiz Wilson is as ever a man of action and takes advantage of a poorly-secured access hatch on the back of one of the robots to get inside and beat up the pilot. This in turn causes the over-cautious leader of the robot pilots, now revealed to be a man named Baron Krawman, to recall his forces.

    Joining the queue of robots in his newly-commandeered ride, Whiz follows them to a domed underwater city “about ten miles” off the Florida coast.

    A quick and stealthy search of the city leads Wilson to an imprisoned woman who introduces herself as Betty Walters, Krawman’s former assistant. She tells him that a) the city is part of the lost continent of Atlantis that Krawman stumbled upon (though how it was missed during a thousand years-plus of intensely ocean-facing Florida life is beyond me) and b) that he is bent on destroying civilization because they laughed at him. Annoyingly, she does not explain why all of Krawman’s minions are nigh-identical bearded beefcakes, because that is all that I am asking about. Was he experimenting with cloning? Are these the descendants of lost Atlantis? Does he just have a type? 

    Whiz and Betty return to the commandeered robot and engage Krawman in thrilling robot-hand-to-robot-hand combat for the future of Florida, a combat that ends with Krawman dead and his city flooded. Once again Whiz Wilson has saved the people of a time period so far in his own future that his bones are naught but dust. Hooray!

    Categorized in: Accessories (Giant Robots), Origins (Villains of the Future), Royalty (Barons)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 1001: BARON KRAWMAN

    (Lightning Comics v1 005, 1941)

    Whiz Wilson and his Futuroscope are once again engaging in the Doctor Who style of time travel, in which you just kind of pop into a random time and place and ask a bystander how things are going. In this case he has ended up in Florida in the year 3000, and the vest-wearing Florida Man he speaks to is pretty smug about how great things have been for the past thousand years. Perhaps he is rounding up or thinking extremely locally, because previous Whiz Wilson stories have established a general civilizational collapse in 2040 CE and a more localized one in South America around 2500 CE.

    More importantly, as if summoned by the words “these are wonderful times,” this is the moment that a squad of giant robots attack the city.

    Whiz Wilson is as ever a man of action and takes advantage of a poorly-secured access hatch on the back of one of the robots to get inside and beat up the pilot. This in turn causes the over-cautious leader of the robot pilots, now revealed to be a man named Baron Krawman, to recall his forces.

    Joining the queue of robots in his newly-commandeered ride, Whiz follows them to a domed underwater city “about ten miles” off the Florida coast.

    A quick and stealthy search of the city leads Wilson to an imprisoned woman who introduces herself as Betty Walters, Krawman’s former assistant. She tells him that a) the city is part of the lost continent of Atlantis that Krawman stumbled upon (though how it was missed during a thousand years-plus of intensely ocean-facing Florida life is beyond me) and b) that he is bent on destroying civilization because they laughed at him. Annoyingly, she does not explain why all of Krawman’s minions are nigh-identical bearded beefcakes, because that is all that I am asking about. Was he experimenting with cloning? Are these the descendants of lost Atlantis? Does he just have a type? 

    Whiz and Betty return to the commandeered robot and engage Krawman in thrilling robot-hand-to-robot-hand combat for the future of Florida, a combat that ends with Krawman dead and his city flooded. Once again Whiz Wilson has saved the people of a time period so far in his own future that his bones are naught but dust. Hooray!

    Categorized in: Accessories (Giant Robots), Origins (Villains of the Future), Royalty (Barons)

  • REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 028

    Mostly a case of the Usual Suspects today here in the Real Person Round-Up, I’m afraid.

    Adolf Hitler:

    The bulk of the comic this panel comes from is MIA as far as people without hundreds of dollars of Buy Golden Age Comics money are concerned, and this is the only real look we get of this slightly off-brand Hitler and Goering. I might not have bothered to include them here devoid of other context except for…

    … the splash page for the story, featuring our Hitler-alike in a beast-man form and commanding a horde of Hitlerian minions that are probably both allegorical but which are very representative of the “mad-dog” framing that he was being given in a lot of the comics of the time. Presumably air ace Bill Barnes really scuttles his plans. (Bill Barnes America’s Air Ace Comics 002, 1941)

    This husky Hitler look-alike is the head of a fascist force that almost manages to destroy the US military presence in Alaska but is himself destroyed by the Liberty Guards. (Man of War Comics 001, 1941)

    Here time/space traveller Whiz Wilson encounters a particularly low-rent Hitler-alike named Raggo. (Lightning Comics v1 006, 1941)

    Cordell Hull:

    When Bill Barnes needs two hundred jeeps to defend the Panama Canal, who does he call? Secretary of State Cordell Hull, that’s who! (Bill Barnes, America’s Air Ace Comics 005, 1941)

    Franklin Roosevelt:

    A more on-model  (and more face-forward) version of Roosevelt than we usually see in comics learns of the existence of the Liberty Scouts from their sponsor, retired patriotic millionaire Patrick Henry (who named himself such after immigrating to the US as a young man). (Liberty Scouts Comics 002, 1941)

    FDR returns in the second Liberty Scouts comic to tour the very on-the-nose Fort America (Liberty Scouts Comics 003, 1941)

    Hermann Goering:

    Orders the destruction of Bill Barnes. (Bill Barnes America’s Air Ace Comics 004, 1941)

    Hollywood Shuffle:

    It’s another classic case of mixing up first and last names of movie stars to make all-new ones, in this case Tyrone Taylor (Tyrone Power/ Robert Taylor, probably), and Myrna Rogers (Myrna Loy/ Ginger Rogers, almost certainly). (Detective Comics v1 046, 1940)

    Leopard Men:

    Since I recently realized that I had failed to be curious enough and that the Leopard Men were not just a fanciful idea that people kept coming up with but in fact a vilified version of real African secret societies, they now get a place in the Real Person Round-Up. These particular Leopard Men are just as bloodthirsty and savage as the rest of their fictional ilk, but are distinguished by being some of the few to not wear some sort of leopard-head cowl. Possibly because the Red Panther already has that bit of fashion sewn up. (Jungle Comics 020, 1941)

  • REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 028

    Mostly a case of the Usual Suspects today here in the Real Person Round-Up, I’m afraid.

    Adolf Hitler:

    The bulk of the comic this panel comes from is MIA as far as people without hundreds of dollars of Buy Golden Age Comics money are concerned, and this is the only real look we get of this slightly off-brand Hitler and Goering. I might not have bothered to include them here devoid of other context except for…

    … the splash page for the story, featuring our Hitler-alike in a beast-man form and commanding a horde of Hitlerian minions that are probably both allegorical but which are very representative of the “mad-dog” framing that he was being given in a lot of the comics of the time. Presumably air ace Bill Barnes really scuttles his plans. (Bill Barnes America’s Air Ace Comics 002, 1941)

    This husky Hitler look-alike is the head of a fascist force that almost manages to destroy the US military presence in Alaska but is himself destroyed by the Liberty Guards. (Man of War Comics 001, 1941)

    Here time/space traveller Whiz Wilson encounters a particularly low-rent Hitler-alike named Raggo. (Lightning Comics v1 006, 1941)

    Cordell Hull:

    When Bill Barnes needs two hundred jeeps to defend the Panama Canal, who does he call? Secretary of State Cordell Hull, that’s who! (Bill Barnes, America’s Air Ace Comics 005, 1941)

    Franklin Roosevelt:

    A more on-model  (and more face-forward) version of Roosevelt than we usually see in comics learns of the existence of the Liberty Scouts from their sponsor, retired patriotic millionaire Patrick Henry (who named himself such after immigrating to the US as a young man). (Liberty Scouts Comics 002, 1941)

    FDR returns in the second Liberty Scouts comic to tour the very on-the-nose Fort America (Liberty Scouts Comics 003, 1941)

    Hermann Goering:

    Orders the destruction of Bill Barnes. (Bill Barnes America’s Air Ace Comics 004, 1941)

    Hollywood Shuffle:

    It’s another classic case of mixing up first and last names of movie stars to make all-new ones, in this case Tyrone Taylor (Tyrone Power/ Robert Taylor, probably), and Myrna Rogers (Myrna Loy/ Ginger Rogers, almost certainly). (Detective Comics v1 046, 1940)

    Leopard Men:

    Since I recently realized that I had failed to be curious enough and that the Leopard Men were not just a fanciful idea that people kept coming up with but in fact a vilified version of real African secret societies, they now get a place in the Real Person Round-Up. These particular Leopard Men are just as bloodthirsty and savage as the rest of their fictional ilk, but are distinguished by being some of the few to not wear some sort of leopard-head cowl. Possibly because the Red Panther already has that bit of fashion sewn up. (Jungle Comics 020, 1941)

  • ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 013

    You wouldn’t believe how many of these I have.

    Unnamed Planetoid-Dwellers: 

    Blast Bennett and his pal Red run into these guys on a planetoid somewhere between Venus and Mercury and exclusively refer to them as “savages” even though they fly around in their own spaceship. Get off their planetoid, weirdos. (Weird Comics 003, 1940)

    the Brainmen:

    The Brainmen of the planet Larz are a bunch of large-headed jerks who have conquered… Earth? some time around the Year 5000, when Whiz Wilson shows up using his Futuroscope. My uncertainty above is due to the fact that the focus of the issue is very much on the fact that Americans have been enslaved, which is probably not meant to be a deeply ironic commentary on the long history of forced labour in the Land of the Free but they can’t stop me from thinking it.

    Whiz manages to acquire and distribute the “N-Gas” antidote to the pacification gas used to render the Americans compliant, but even a peasants’ revolt is not enough to overthrow the might of the Brainmen, and he is forced to bring Brainman King Gar back to 1940 to use the threat of being beaten to death by a crowd of angry New Yorkers to ultimately win the day. (Sure-Fire Comics 003, 1940) 

    Brutes:

    Lumpy, oafish humanoid encountered by Jan and Wanda when they are blasted into another dimension by Dr Doom. Has no buttcrack. (Science Comics 008, 1940)

    Bugmen:

    The Bugmen are a belligerent species of insect-centaurs who occupy the Jovian jungles and regularly vex Auro, Lord of Jupiter until he bests their leaders, Ogre and Agh. I enjoy their huge tusks and also wonder just how much they get in the way. (Planet Comics 006, 1940)

  • REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 015

    REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 015

    Time for another round! Of round-up!

    Adolf Hitler: 

    When time traveller Whiz Wilson journeys to the far future world of 1960 CE he gets mixed up in a scheme hatched by agents of this fellow, ruler of “the dictator realms of Europe.” Is he meant to be Hitler or merely evoke him? Hard to say, but I for one think he’s supposed to be Old Hitler. (Sure-Fire Comics 001, 1940)

    He’s not that much of a Hitler, but Don Ruizen, dictator of the South American country of Bolita, is absolutely a little guy with a toothbrush mustache who has started a ruinous war for his own enrichment (at the insistence of an oil company, but still). (Target Comics v1 001, 1940)

    This is the back of Hitler’s head in all but name – there’s even a cut-off “fuhrer” in the first panel – from a fictional movie called The Maskless Axeman, about the dictator’s very well-dressed executioner. (Target Comics v1 001, 1940)

    Al Capone:

     Honestly not sure what percentage of guys like Boss Barone here are purposeful references to Al Capone and how many are just a result of the rhythm of his name entering the collective unconscious of comic book writers as sounding gang-bossy. (Target Comics v1 010, 1940)

    Albert Lebrun:

    It’s the same old story: the White Streak is in Paris in 1940 and the President of France has been kidnapped. Do we count the fact that Albert Lebrun was President of France in 1940 higher than the fact that this unnamed president doesn’t really look like Lebrun or vice versa? (Target Comics v1 005, 1940)

    FDR:

    Minor appearance by FDR to give the thesis of this White Streak adventure. (Target Comics v1 010, 1940)

    Joseph Stalin:

    He’s unseen in the fake movie The Blue Zombie but Josef Malinsk (Joseph Stalin), dictator of Bolshemania (Russia) drives much of the action of the story when he orders the invasion of Coreland (Finland) and inspires the creation of the titular Blue Zombie (original creation). (Target Comics v1 006, 1940)

    the Koh-i-Noor Diamond:

    Once again “Kohinoor” crops up as shorthand for “a big gem,” and this time it’s even a diamond! As is often the case, the dang thing ends up being stolen and it’s down to the Chameleon to recover it for its wealthy owner, if not the British Crown or the nation of India. (Target Comics v1 007, 1940)

    the Mona Lisa: 

    Whiz Wilson’s exploration of the future takes him to Switzerland in the year 2040 AD, a land devastated by World War Four. He helps a band of Americans hold a castle stuffed full of treasure from a band of roving horselords, treasure that includes both the Mona Lisa and “the Venus statue” which I’m going to assume is the Venus de Milo and not, say, the Venus of Willendorf. (Sure-Fire Comics 002, 1940)

    Robert Taylor: 

    The smallest possible name check here: the never-seen Robert Baylor is almost certainly a reference to actor Robert Taylor. (Target Comics v1 002, 1940)