(More Fun 049, 1939) An archaeological dabbler who loots digs in the Valley of the Kings until he is put paid by short-lived detective character Bulldog Martin. Really really enjoy his gold mask/ pharaonic headpiece/ dark red robe combo.
(More Fun 048, 1939) A man has a mental health crisis and starts living in a swamp, emerging only to mug strangers. That’s a sad story! Put a gorilla costume on him though… a compelling villain!
(More Fun 048, 1939) A man has a mental health crisis and starts living in a swamp, emerging only to mug strangers. That’s a sad story! Put a gorilla costume on him though… a compelling villain!
(More Fun 045, 1939) The Speaking Frog is possibly the most obscure villain in the DC Universe, and that’s including Fawcett, Quality and Charlton characters in the mix. This is a shame because simply based on their name and appearance they are the strongest BRING THEM BACK candidate I have ever encountered. Some backstory: in 1938 a strip called “Marg’ry Daw” began in More Fun Comics, running for just a few issues. A Little Orphan Annie knockoff, it featured the titular…
Names: Green Lantern encounters a villainous pharmacist named Mortimer Pestle (All American 029, 1941) Secret Knowledge: I checked all of the wikis and the blogs and this is the only place you’ll find this info: Whitey Smith and Blooey Blue of Golden Age quartet Red, White and Blue have the real names Whitefield and Heermance, respectively. (All American 033, 1941)
(More Fun 044, 1939) Not much to this fellow, just a scientist who turns himself invisible and immediately starts criming it up. He is our first invisible guy though, and he’s yet another collar by the Radio Squad. Well, almost – he hurls himself out a window rather than go to jail.
(More Fun 043, 1939) A common or garden-variety mugger, the Slugger’s technique (sneak up and bash ’em on the head) and the frequency of his attacks lead to a lot of press coverage, starting a city-wide panic (as in our previous entry). In response, the Slugger leans into it, up to and including sending taunting messages to the police, a favourite villainous move of mine. Crime can’t be seen to pay in a comic book, though, so he is eventually…
(More Fun 039, 1939) A man who trained a pair of great danes to steal, leading to a city-wide panic after glimpses of the dogs caused people to assume that some sort of creature was involved, which then lead to newspaper front pages. The Radio Squad eventually got their man, though sadly the dogs did not survive.
(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.
Lost cities get a lot of play in comic books, especially Atlantis. Sometimes it seems like enough little fragments and offshoots managed to survive the place that it would be surprising to hear of anyone dying. Here are a selection of fates of Earth-Two Atlantis: -Earth’s second moon collides with the planet, causing the sinking of Atlantis. the colony city of Ophir in Africa and an underwater remnant survive (Action v1 017-018, 1939) (this is the Atlantis that Zatara encounters…