The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: Doll Man

  • MEDIA IN COMICS 014

    Forget lost media, here are some media that only exist in comic books

    Movies: 

    A Modern Macbeth is one of innumerable in-comic movies that we never really learn anything about. Is it a musical? Is that why a singer is speaking at the premiere? Is it a reference to another movie? The only pre-1941 movie with a similar title that I can find is 1917’s A Modern Monte Cristo and that seems a bit of a stretch. (More Fun Comics 072, 1941)

    Captain Marvel stars in a film called Crusher of Crime in one of our earliest examples of a super-hero starring in a film as themselves. No clue what it’s about but we can probably assume that it’s standard 40s super-hero fare. (Whiz Comics 020, 1941)

    More intriguingly, the character of Whitey Murphy joins the Captain Marvel cast just two issues later, and dialogue between him and Billy Batson implies that not only does the real-world film The Adventures of Captain Marvel exist in the comics universe, but that both Captain Marvel and Billy Batson appeared in it and also that some or all the events of the film actually happened.

    This is reinforced by the fact that Billy goes to see “The Guillotine”, the second chapter of the serial, in Captain Marvel Adventures 003 (Whiz Comics 022, 1941)

    The costume party held for the premiere of The Phantom Duelist (film) held in the castle of the Phantom Duelist (ghost) provides the opportunity for the Phantom Duelist (super-villain) to murder Reynolds (film producer, universally-hated). (Doll Man Quarterly 001, 1941)

    One of the minor recurring tropes of comics is “tough guy goes to Hollywood and finds it exhausting,” seen here as the super-hero Hercules is talked into making a sadly unnamed jungle movie and it almost kills him. (Hit Comics 010, 1941)

    Music:

    The song “Icy Igloo Blues” is the key to District Attorney Steve Malone solving a major jewel robbery case. (Detective Comics v1 053, 1941)

    The “Symphony of Death” was employed by the nefarious Doctor Death in his murders. Do music nerds in comic book universes hold Nights of Evil concerts where they play pieces like this? (Wow Comics 002, 1941)

    Speaking of which, here are six extremely on-the-nose songs composed by the Murder Maestro as part of his own efforts in the field of killing: “A Message to My Heart” (victim shot in the heart), “I’m Drowning My Sorrows” (drowned), “I’m Burning Up Over You” (set on fire), “My Sleepy-Time Pal” (poisoned, weirdly), “I’m Walking on Air” (dropped from a plane) and “I’m Getting Up in the World” (fake attempt on own life). (More Fun Comics 072, 1941)

    Newspaper Columns:

    “Walter Winkle on Broadway” is of course yet another take on the gossip column of Walter Winchell. (Feature Comics 049, 1941)

    Television:

    There are in fact Martian invaders in this Human Torch story, but since they don’t get up to any NYC-destroying I must conclude that this is an unnamed and very coincidental television program. (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 003 1940) 

  • MEDIA IN COMICS 012

    It’s a very literary day here in Media in Comics Land.

    Books:

    There are many potential reasons to get into super-science and super-crime, but “reading a get-rich-quick scheme in a book” is one of the better ones, as demonstrated by Wizard Wells foe Mota here and his copy of Cash in Chemistry. (Crack Comics 010, 1941) 

    Crime in the Afternoon (A J.J. van Snyde Detective Novel), enjoyed here by Nickolas, henchman to Black Condor foe the Sophisticated Lady. (Crack Comics 010, 1941)

    This book, The Ritual, has the cover of a murder mystery or other popular bit of fiction, but seeing as the man reading it is a fanatical leopard-worshipper we must allow for it being something a bit more sinister, such as instructions of conducting a human sacrifice. (Jungle Comics 020, 1941)

    As covered in the Bram Thirla entry, Billy Batson learns about the dos and don’ts of vampire hunting from a book called The Vampire Legend, written by HP Lovecraft. A different Lovecraft, perhaps, or did the regular one go in for a bit more of a reference works-based career in the Fawcett Reality? (Captain Marvel Adventures 001, 1941)

    This particular comic adventure involves Darrell “Doll Man” Dane taking exception with the fact that some roughneck are using his local library. While I must decry the classism on display here, I must also begrudgingly acknowledge that Doll Man was right: these guys were learning for all the wrong reasons, specifically as part of a school of crime that the diminutive super-hero later breaks up. 

    Titles on display include: The Art of Murder, Famous Crimes, How to Win Friends, Jiu-Jitsu, Right and Wrong and The Way of All Flesh. (Feature Comics 047, 1941)

    Comics:

     

    Golden Age comics companies loved to depict their characters reading their own comics, which is why it is not at all unusual that Doiby Dickles here is reading a copy of Flash Comics in an issue of All-American. What is unusual is that rather than describing one of the actual features in Flash, Doiby has apparently been reading some alternate version of the book that exists in the DCU and involves a character named “Colosso.” (All-American Comics 032, 1941)

    Magazines:

    Though modern depictions of the original Dr Mid-Nite tend to categorize him as a crime novelist, his original job post-blindness was in writing for the crime pulps, and more precisely for Crime and Detective Tales. (All-American Comics 025, 1941)

    Freedom Magazine is one of those patriotically-named publications that any good citizen of the 21st Century must immediately suspect of being a cynical way to whitewash fascism, but no, this one seems to be on the up-and-up. They give Les Watts, Radio Amateur a prize for being a cool teen!. (Flash Comics 023, 1941)

    Peep Magazine, on the other hand, is merely concerned with the news, and is willing to help out patriotic hero Don Glory to get it. (Hit Comics 011, 1941)

    It’s possible that Scoop Magazine is entertainment-focused, as they send a photographer to cover this publicity-stunt party in support of a play by a new writer. A party that inspires the Masked Man’s murder spree! (Batman Comics 008, 1941)

    Movie Mag and Screen Stars are just two of the publications covering the meteoric rise of movie star Portia Storme, aka Julie Madison, the former fiance of Bruce Wayne. (Detective Comics 049, 1941)

  • MEDIA IN COMICS 012

    It’s a very literary day here in Media in Comics Land.

    Books:

    There are many potential reasons to get into super-science and super-crime, but “reading a get-rich-quick scheme in a book” is one of the better ones, as demonstrated by Wizard Wells foe Mota here and his copy of Cash in Chemistry. (Crack Comics 010, 1941) 

    Crime in the Afternoon (A J.J. van Snyde Detective Novel), enjoyed here by Nickolas, henchman to Black Condor foe the Sophisticated Lady. (Crack Comics 010, 1941)

    This book, The Ritual, has the cover of a murder mystery or other popular bit of fiction, but seeing as the man reading it is a fanatical leopard-worshipper we must allow for it being something a bit more sinister, such as instructions of conducting a human sacrifice. (Jungle Comics 020, 1941)

    As covered in the Bram Thirla entry, Billy Batson learns about the dos and don’ts of vampire hunting from a book called The Vampire Legend, written by HP Lovecraft. A different Lovecraft, perhaps, or did the regular one go in for a bit more of a reference works-based career in the Fawcett Reality? (Captain Marvel Adventures 001, 1941)

    This particular comic adventure involves Darrell “Doll Man” Dane taking exception with the fact that some roughneck are using his local library. While I must decry the classism on display here, I must also begrudgingly acknowledge that Doll Man was right: these guys were learning for all the wrong reasons, specifically as part of a school of crime that the diminutive super-hero later breaks up. 

    Titles on display include: The Art of Murder, Famous Crimes, How to Win Friends, Jiu-Jitsu, Right and Wrong and The Way of All Flesh. (Feature Comics 047, 1941)

    Comics:

     

    Golden Age comics companies loved to depict their characters reading their own comics, which is why it is not at all unusual that Doiby Dickles here is reading a copy of Flash Comics in an issue of All-American. What is unusual is that rather than describing one of the actual features in Flash, Doiby has apparently been reading some alternate version of the book that exists in the DCU and involves a character named “Colosso.” (All-American Comics 032, 1941)

    Magazines:

    Though modern depictions of the original Dr Mid-Nite tend to categorize him as a crime novelist, his original job post-blindness was in writing for the crime pulps, and more precisely for Crime and Detective Tales. (All-American Comics 025, 1941)

    Freedom Magazine is one of those patriotically-named publications that any good citizen of the 21st Century must immediately suspect of being a cynical way to whitewash fascism, but no, this one seems to be on the up-and-up. They give Les Watts, Radio Amateur a prize for being a cool teen!. (Flash Comics 023, 1941)

    Peep Magazine, on the other hand, is merely concerned with the news, and is willing to help out patriotic hero Don Glory to get it. (Hit Comics 011, 1941)

    It’s possible that Scoop Magazine is entertainment-focused, as they send a photographer to cover this publicity-stunt party in support of a play by a new writer. A party that inspires the Masked Man’s murder spree! (Batman Comics 008, 1941)

    Movie Mag and Screen Stars are just two of the publications covering the meteoric rise of movie star Portia Storme, aka Julie Madison, the former fiance of Bruce Wayne. (Detective Comics 049, 1941)

  • FASCIST GOON CLEARING HOUSE 004

    More goon/ more fascist

    The Band AKA the Anti-American Band AKA the Un-American Band are yet another take on the German-American Bund distinguished by the fact that they were infiltrated by Bruce Blackburn – Counterspy so a) they were one of the few gangs of fascist goons to last more than one adventure and b) they were the villains that Blackburn created his shortlived alter-ego the Destroying Demon to fight (Feature Comics 038-041, 1940-1941)

    The Advance Front! Fascist agitators who seem to be actual Nazis, or at least be using actual swastikas. I hesitate to call this refreshing but it’s at least simpler to call someone a Nazi than a crypto-fascist Nazi-alike German analog. Beat to tar by USA, the Spirit of Old Glory (Feature Comics 046, 1941)

    Hold Tight America is our first example of the fascist group that is calling for peace in order to advance their plans for war before being foiled by Doll Man (Feature Comics 049, 1941)

    The Hand is just as halfassed and slapdash as these chumps usually are but I’ll say this for them: they capture and almost manage to assassinate not just the Black Condor but FDR too! (Crack Comics 019, 1941)

  • FASCIST GOON CLEARING HOUSE 004

    More goon/ more fascist

    The Band AKA the Anti-American Band AKA the Un-American Band are yet another take on the German-American Bund distinguished by the fact that they were infiltrated by Bruce Blackburn – Counterspy so a) they were one of the few gangs of fascist goons to last more than one adventure and b) they were the villains that Blackburn created his shortlived alter-ego the Destroying Demon to fight (Feature Comics 038-041, 1940-1941)

    The Advance Front! Fascist agitators who seem to be actual Nazis, or at least be using actual swastikas. I hesitate to call this refreshing but it’s at least simpler to call someone a Nazi than a crypto-fascist Nazi-alike German analog. Beat to tar by USA, the Spirit of Old Glory (Feature Comics 046, 1941)

    Hold Tight America is our first example of the fascist group that is calling for peace in order to advance their plans for war before being foiled by Doll Man (Feature Comics 049, 1941)

    The Hand is just as halfassed and slapdash as these chumps usually are but I’ll say this for them: they capture and almost manage to assassinate not just the Black Condor but FDR too! (Crack Comics 019, 1941)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 224: THE BLACK GONDOLIER

    (Doll Man 001, 1941)

    I truly love the Black Gondolier, as he is to my mind the Platonic ideal of the kind of crook that every super-hero universe should be crawling with: a guy who gets together some gadgets and works out a little scheme and very briefly becomes the scourge of shipping in New York Harbor.

    Why’s he got a motorized gondola? No idea! Where did he get his climbing gear? Doesn’t matter! What does matter is that in a world with a Doll Man, of course there’s a guy in a motorized gondola scurrying up the sides of ocean liners to rob them. And it absolutly does not matter that he’s gunned down by the cops at the end of this story – I am of the staunch opinion that there should always be a Black Gondolier in the (now) DC universe, showing up in the background at villain get togethers or super-prison scenes or getting whaled on by the Creeper in a big event. Bring back the Black Gondolier!

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 223: THE VULTURE

    (Doll Man 001, 1941)

    The Vulture! Flying thief extraordinaire! Terror of NYC for about a week!

    In reality the Vulture if a very weird looking guy named Aylmer who is predictably upset at his treatment by an uncaring world but seemingly mostly about being short. Hey, if Quality Comics New York is an accepting enough place that that’s all this guy gets bullied about then I have to give it to them, honestly.

    The really interesting thing about Aylmer/ the Vulture is not his technology (impressive as a homemade flying suit is) but the fact that he gets away at the end of the story and never appears again. Now, Doll Man comics aren’t quite as obsessively catalogued online as, say, Batman comics but as far as I can tell, this dude never ends up paying for the theft of millions of dollar worth of jewelry, the kidnapping of Martha “will someday be Doll Girl” Roberts or the murder of his own father, and in the Golden Age of Comics, motto Crime Does Not Pay, that is a wild and wooly thing to happen.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 223: THE VULTURE

    (Doll Man 001, 1941)

    The Vulture! Flying thief extraordinaire! Terror of NYC for about a week!

    In reality the Vulture if a very weird looking guy named Aylmer who is predictably upset at his treatment by an uncaring world but seemingly mostly about being short. Hey, if Quality Comics New York is an accepting enough place that that’s all this guy gets bullied about then I have to give it to them, honestly.

    The really interesting thing about Aylmer/ the Vulture is not his technology (impressive as a homemade flying suit is) but the fact that he gets away at the end of the story and never appears again. Now, Doll Man comics aren’t quite as obsessively catalogued online as, say, Batman comics but as far as I can tell, this dude never ends up paying for the theft of millions of dollar worth of jewelry, the kidnapping of Martha “will someday be Doll Girl” Roberts or the murder of his own father, and in the Golden Age of Comics, motto Crime Does Not Pay, that is a wild and wooly thing to happen.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 222: THE PHANTOM DUELIST

    (Doll Man 001, 1941)

    The Phantom Duelist is and example of a couple of my favourite comic book story setups: 1. the eerie local legend used as a basis for crime and 2. the murder mystery with a whole passel of suspects. Plus there’s a dose of “aren’t Hollywood people weird!” for flavour.

    So: movie producer Reynolds decides to drum up a bit of publicity by buying a haunted castle and importing it to Hollywood. The only problem: Reynolds is a bit of a shitheel and so is promptly murdered by someone posing as the castle’s resident ghost, the Phantom Duelist.

    The suspects: 

    -Rocky Perrone, gangster who Reynolds refuses to pay off a gambling debt to

    -Pierce, Reynolds’ leading man who he antagonized and threatened to blacklist

    -Marrow, who wants to marry Reynolds’ leading lady but is unable to because of her contract

    The murder happens at a costume party and Pierce is almost a self-frame due to showing up as the Phantom Duelist. In the end though, the murderer is revealed to be… a fourth guy! Steve Morton the publicity agent who Reynolds has apparently been blackmailing for the past 25 years!

    So a couple of points off for presenting an unfair mystery (and another couple for so many of the characters not having first names) but over all top notch comic book tomfoolery.

    Number of Episodes of the “Super-Villains of Hollywood” podcast: One episode only. SOme prurient attention paid to Reynolds’ shitty doings.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 222: THE PHANTOM DUELIST

    (Doll Man 001, 1941)

    The Phantom Duelist is and example of a couple of my favourite comic book story setups: 1. the eerie local legend used as a basis for crime and 2. the murder mystery with a whole passel of suspects. Plus there’s a dose of “aren’t Hollywood people weird!” for flavour.

    So: movie producer Reynolds decides to drum up a bit of publicity by buying a haunted castle and importing it to Hollywood. The only problem: Reynolds is a bit of a shitheel and so is promptly murdered by someone posing as the castle’s resident ghost, the Phantom Duelist.

    The suspects: 

    -Rocky Perrone, gangster who Reynolds refuses to pay off a gambling debt to

    -Pierce, Reynolds’ leading man who he antagonized and threatened to blacklist

    -Marrow, who wants to marry Reynolds’ leading lady but is unable to because of her contract

    The murder happens at a costume party and Pierce is almost a self-frame due to showing up as the Phantom Duelist. In the end though, the murderer is revealed to be… a fourth guy! Steve Morton the publicity agent who Reynolds has apparently been blackmailing for the past 25 years!

    So a couple of points off for presenting an unfair mystery (and another couple for so many of the characters not having first names) but over all top notch comic book tomfoolery.

    Number of Episodes of the “Super-Villains of Hollywood” podcast: One episode only. SOme prurient attention paid to Reynolds’ shitty doings.