The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

Category: counterfeiter

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 966: ARPOR, HIGH PRIEST OF EVIL

    (Fantastic Comics 015, 1941)

    I’ve mentioned this in the past but it bears repeating: some Golden Age comics read like a fever dream, in which barely connected events just kind of float by as you read. This story is one of those, but also has a sort of exquisite corpse quality in that the connections between events almost make sense but when you step back and look at the whole it is astonishing. To whit:

    – Samson and David are just hanging around in whatever US city they call home when they notice a weird truck in the street outside. When they go out to investigate the truck it turns out to be full of poison gas.

    – After disposing of the truck (the purpose of which is never revealed), the duo follow some nearby thugs to a warehouse full of counterfeiting equipment. Samson tosses the whole building into the river and then fishes out the one surviving thug.

    – The thug reforms out of gratitude and tells Samson that the mastermind behind the warehouse is Arpor, High Priest of Evil.

    – Samson and David make their way to Arpor’s stronghold in the nearby mountains, dodging various traps and ambushes along the way. Eventually, Samson pretends to be knocked out by a fall so that he can be captured. He is taken back to Arpor’s temple lair to be sacrificed to a moderately off-model Kali. As an aside, Arpor’s cultist minions appear to be called Fiends, which is fun.

    – Not even a whole cult is enough to take on Samson and Arpor is eventually rounded up (after a few more hijinks) and taken away to jail.

    So what is Arpor up to here? Is the counterfeiting setup funding the cult or meant to destabilize society in some way that ties in with the usual comic book shorthand of Kali = Thuggees = wanton murder? Is this where the poison gas comes in? We will never know!

    Shout out to this sweet cone-shaped lightning rifle that Arpor uses to blast Samson into submission. Love an energy weapon that dares to not just look like a fancy tommy gun.

    Categorized in: Abstract Concepts (Evil), Misc (Cult Leaders), Profession (Priests)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 966: ARPOR, HIGH PRIEST OF EVIL

    (Fantastic Comics 015, 1941)

    I’ve mentioned this in the past but it bears repeating: some Golden Age comics read like a fever dream, in which barely connected events just kind of float by as you read. This story is one of those, but also has a sort of exquisite corpse quality in that the connections between events almost make sense but when you step back and look at the whole it is astonishing. To whit:

    – Samson and David are just hanging around in whatever US city they call home when they notice a weird truck in the street outside. When they go out to investigate the truck it turns out to be full of poison gas.

    – After disposing of the truck (the purpose of which is never revealed), the duo follow some nearby thugs to a warehouse full of counterfeiting equipment. Samson tosses the whole building into the river and then fishes out the one surviving thug.

    – The thug reforms out of gratitude and tells Samson that the mastermind behind the warehouse is Arpor, High Priest of Evil.

    – Samson and David make their way to Arpor’s stronghold in the nearby mountains, dodging various traps and ambushes along the way. Eventually, Samson pretends to be knocked out by a fall so that he can be captured. He is taken back to Arpor’s temple lair to be sacrificed to a moderately off-model Kali. As an aside, Arpor’s cultist minions appear to be called Fiends, which is fun.

    – Not even a whole cult is enough to take on Samson and Arpor is eventually rounded up (after a few more hijinks) and taken away to jail.

    So what is Arpor up to here? Is the counterfeiting setup funding the cult or meant to destabilize society in some way that ties in with the usual comic book shorthand of Kali = Thuggees = wanton murder? Is this where the poison gas comes in? We will never know!

    Shout out to this sweet cone-shaped lightning rifle that Arpor uses to blast Samson into submission. Love an energy weapon that dares to not just look like a fancy tommy gun.

    Categorized in: Abstract Concepts (Evil), Misc (Cult Leaders), Profession (Priests)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 917: THE GHOST

    (Cat-Man Comics 004, 1941)

    The Upper New York Castle District appears to also exist in the Temerson/Helnit universe, because when NYC-based vigilante the Ragman is hired to investigate a supposed haunting at a place called Glascow Castle he hops in his car and drives there. Glascow Castle’s owner, Sir Wilkens Sidney, claims to have seen the ghost of 18th Century murder victim Duke Edgeroy wandering the halls of his home and believes that the Ragman is the man to get to the bottom of things before he flees into the night screaming.

    And it turns out that Sir Sidney is correct, because the Ragman isn’t in the castle for five minutes before he discovers a secret basement full of counterfeiting equipment and finds himself battling a very solid Ghost and his even less ghostly henchmen.

    After a bit of back and forth involving swordplay, deathtraps and a trained attack dog the Ghost is finally unmasked and revealed to be racketeer Marty Vance, who was so invested in the castle as a perfect location for his operation that he moved in despite the fact that Sir Sidney was already living there. Perhaps he was in it for the love of the haunting game as much as the counterfeiting, who knows.

    One thing I’ll say about this particular Ghost: he’s got one of the more horrifying masks that I’ve seen on one of his ilk.

    Categorized under: Accessories (Headquarters (Castle)), Extortion & Fraud (Counterfeiting/ Fake Ghost), Supranormal Beings (Ghosts) 

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 917: THE GHOST

    (Cat-Man Comics 004, 1941)

    The Upper New York Castle District appears to also exist in the Temerson/Helnit universe, because when NYC-based vigilante the Ragman is hired to investigate a supposed haunting at a place called Glascow Castle he hops in his car and drives there. Glascow Castle’s owner, Sir Wilkens Sidney, claims to have seen the ghost of 18th Century murder victim Duke Edgeroy wandering the halls of his home and believes that the Ragman is the man to get to the bottom of things before he flees into the night screaming.

    And it turns out that Sir Sidney is correct, because the Ragman isn’t in the castle for five minutes before he discovers a secret basement full of counterfeiting equipment and finds himself battling a very solid Ghost and his even less ghostly henchmen.

    After a bit of back and forth involving swordplay, deathtraps and a trained attack dog the Ghost is finally unmasked and revealed to be racketeer Marty Vance, who was so invested in the castle as a perfect location for his operation that he moved in despite the fact that Sir Sidney was already living there. Perhaps he was in it for the love of the haunting game as much as the counterfeiting, who knows.

    One thing I’ll say about this particular Ghost: he’s got one of the more horrifying masks that I’ve seen on one of his ilk.

    Categorized under: Accessories (Headquarters (Castle)), Extortion & Fraud (Counterfeiting/ Fake Ghost), Supranormal Beings (Ghosts) 

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 091: THE MASKED MAN

    (Detective Comics 041, 1940)

    A common or garden-variety masked counterfeiter, the Masked Man operated out of an all-boys’ school, leading to him being the first solo foe of an undercover Dick “Robin” Grayson. Mostly. Batman shows up at the end for a punch or two.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 069: THE COIN

     (Adventure Comics 046, 1940)

    The Coin is a few different super-villain clichés rolled into one. Firstly he’s an old college chum of Wesley “Sandman” Dodds, and “old schoolmate of hero turns out to be villain” is as much a recurring thing in comics as an old friend showing up and immediately dying. Which the Coin also does.

    Finally, the Coin is a man who dresses up as an old lady to do crime, which is a super-villain bit and also something that regular-style crooks are apt to do in the Golden and Silver Ages. Old women are such unlikely villains that everyone else poses as them – even Catwoman, in her first appearance.

    Anyway, he’s a counterfeiter.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 055: MR BIG

    (Feature Comics 022, 1939)

    Just a regular counterfeiter, but he’s our first Canadian crook who squeaks over the line into the realm of the super-villain, so here you go.

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 055: MR BIG

    (Feature Comics 022, 1939)

    Just a regular counterfeiter, but he’s our first Canadian crook who squeaks over the line into the realm of the super-villain, so here you go.