The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: Doc Strong

  • 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)

  • REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 001

    REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 001

    I have a lot of these in a spreadsheet somewhere but we’ll get to those later. For now it’s as we encounter them: real people and versions of real people and analogs of real people and also the same but famous fictional people in comics.

    Admiral Dewey, John Paul Jones, Sir Francis Drake:

     Their ghosts all volunteer to help Sergeant Spook go pirate hunting (Blue Bolt v1 008, 1941)

    Adolf Hitler: 

    “Gustave Ritter” isn’t really very close to “Adolf Hitler” but I have a finely-honed sense for when someone is making a Hitler analog and this world-conquering barbarian from the year 2041 is just that. I think. (Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940)

    Clark Gable:

    As “Stark Brable” in Rang-a-Tang the Wonder Dog’s trip to Hollywood (Blue Ribbon Comics 005, 1940)

    Lana Turner:

    It’s a classic first letter switcheroo as actress Lana Turner shows up as “Tana Lurner” in a Rang-a-Tang the Wonder Dog comic. (Blue Ribbon Comics 005, 1940)

    Maid Marion:

    The “Green Falcon” feature, as far as I can tell, takes place in a Robin-Hood era England with no Robin Hood but with Lady Marion here occupying the Maid Marion role. (Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940)

    Orson Welles:

    “Nawson Swelles” is a troublesome “Boy Wonder” and the villain of Rang-a-Tang the Wonder Dog’s visit to Hollywood. (Blue Ribbon Comics 005, 1940)

    Prince John:

    Essentially playing the same part as he does in the Robin Hood stories in the Green Falcon’s adventures. (Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940)

    Richard the Lionheart:

    The key to Prince John’s villainry is that the good king is off being a dipshit in the Holy Land and this version of Richard I does not fail in that. (Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940)

  • MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 010

    MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 010

    MORE MLJ ACTION

    Doc Strong:

    Doc Strong is a famous scientist living in the year 2041, in a world where WWII dragged on for an entire century and a new Mongol Horde has swept in and conquered the battered remnants of civilization. The strangely Doc Savage-like Doc Strong gathers a group of like-minded scientists and starts a new civilization called the Isle of Right from which to strike back at the invaders with such inventions as a ray gun that solidifies shadows. (Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940)

    the Fox:

    Paul Patton, photographer for the Daily Globe, gets the tar beaten out of him by some fellows called the Night Riders and comes up with a plan:

    That’s right, he’s about halfway between Spider-Man and Batman. Okay, he’s mostly Batman but his wearable camera scheme anticipates Perter Parker’s epic work hack by about twenty years. The Fox’s first attempt at a costume is a bit rough, but eventually…

    … he adopts one of the top costumes of the Golden Age! His adventures may be a bit regular but he looks great doing it.

    BONUS FOX FACT: his “bat flies through the window” moment comes when he hears a song on the radio. (Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940)

    the Green Falcon: 

    The Green Falcon feature is essentially a Robin Hood Elseworlds story in which Robin is a knight instead of a forest outlaw and his pals Tiny Tuck and Jolly Roundfellow kind of encapsulate a few Merry Men each. Prince John is still there, and Maid Marion, but there are more swordfights than arrow tricks. Hey, I never said it was a particularly compelling Elseworlds story. It is more high concept than you usually get in a Golden Age comic, though. (Blue Ribbon Comics 004-015, 1940-1941)

    Ty-Gor:

    Ty-Gor is MLJ’s answer to Mowgli: a British child orphaned in the jungles of Malaysia and raised by tigers. Ty-Gor is a shortened form of his birth name, Tyrone Gorman, which he learns thanks to an absurd series of events pictured above.

    I don’t usually have a lot of time for jungle adventures but Ty-Gor does have a pretty fun twist in that after a half dozen issues he is brought to New York by explorer Dr Davis and his daughter Joan and Does Not Adapt. He’s just a wild kid who knows about five word maximum thrust into the public school system and causing havoc. It’s fun! (Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940)

    BONUS TY-GOR AS A BABY EATING GRAPES