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Month: November 2022

SUPER-VILLAIN YEARBOOK: CLAYFACE 1940

SUPER-VILLAIN YEARBOOK: CLAYFACE 1940

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What did Clayface get up to in 1940? Detective Comics v1 040, ‘Untitled’ **First Appearance** I’m not surprising anyone when I reveal that Clayface is actually Basil Karlo, an oldtime horror movie star who tanked his own career and couldn’t take it when they started remaking his old movies, thus necessitating a costumed murder spree to ruin the filming of Dread Castle. Batman and Robin get involved because one of the prospective victims is Julie Madison, Bruce Wayne’s fiancĂ© (in…

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SUPER-VILLAIN YEARBOOK: CATWOMAN 1940

SUPER-VILLAIN YEARBOOK: CATWOMAN 1940

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I have decided that I’m neglecting non-minor super-villains! Thus: super-villain yearbooks! We’re hopping back in time slightly to round up the ones who appeared in comics I have already read as I revisit them, so here comes a big blob of Batman villains! So, what was Catwoman up to in 1940? 1. Batman Comics v1 001, ‘Untitled’ **first appearance** In Catwoman’s first appearance, she’s a mysterious figure known as the Cat about whom little enough is known that Robin’s chief suspects…

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SUPER-VILLAIN DEFINITION: THE ADDENDUM

SUPER-VILLAIN DEFINITION: THE ADDENDUM

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I’ve been thinking about super-villains and their degrees of notoriety and significance lately, because I’m almost always doing that. As a result: this addendum to my greatest work, the Super-Villain Definition entry on this very blog. Essentially, the only thing that separates a minor super-villain from a super-villain is continued relevance. Signal Man and Boss Zucco and Darkseid are all equivalent in their super-villain status on this front despite being entirely different otherwise (indeed, the only reason Boss Zucco is…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 211: THE MAD MADESPOS

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 211: THE MAD MADESPOS

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(Crackajack Funnies 038-040, 1941) It’s my favourite Golden Age Batman knockoff the Owl again and this time he’s up against the Madespos, a whole family of homicidal maniacs with their very own gorilla pal! The Madespos had already been collared by the Owl (in an unseen adventure of his civilian guise of Nick Terry, PI) some time earlier, so our tale begins with their escape from Lenmoor Asylum for the Criminally Insane with the help of their well-dressed gorilla friend.  In…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 210: THE SPECTRE

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 210: THE SPECTRE

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(Crackajack Funnies 035-037, 1941)  There’s a lot to like about the Spectre. His motivation is okay – his face was blasted off by American shelling in WWI and he wants revenge – and his execution is nonexistent as he ends up getting caught during the planning and preparation stage. It’s the trappings that really do it for me. Fist up: costumes. The Spectre’s own is okay, but I have nothing but joy in my heart when I see henchmen dressed…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 209: THE PANTHERMAN

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 209: THE PANTHERMAN

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(Crackajack Funnies 031-033, 1941)  The first costumed foe to face Dell Comics’ answer to Batman, the Owl, Pantherman strikes a very impressive figure and knows how to make an entrance. He does seem to be a very sloppy operator, however, as he initially attracts the attention of the Owl after mind controlling a man into stealing his own jewels but not somehow thinking to keep him from calling in the police (and renowned private investigator Nick “the Owl” Terry, natch) afterward….

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 208: THE TERROR

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 208: THE TERROR

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(Crack Comics 018, 1941) Not too much to distinguish this guy: he’s Bumps Bale, a former pinball racketeer (you’re just as likely to see Batman smashing up a bunch of pinball machines as an underground casino or a slot machine in the 40s. Gambling is Bad and Pinball is Gambling, was the attitude) who had hit hard times and decided to go into extorting mayors as a second career. Accordingly, he poisoned city comptroller Ezra Daves and promised Unnamed Mayor…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 207: THE BLACK WITCH

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 207: THE BLACK WITCH

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(Crack Comics 018, 1941) The Black Witch is a member of a long comic book tradition: Haitian voodoo practitioners who use their sinister powers to get up to no good – in this case kidnapping the wife of one of Richard “Madam Fatal” Stanton’s friends as raw material in a search for eternal youth. The Black Witch is also part of a long-term demographic shift in comics: while the Haitian voodoo character is a staple villain s(and sometimes hero) into…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 206: THE CROW

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 206: THE CROW

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(Crack Comics 018, 1941) The Crow! Wanted in every country on the Earth! A villain with a very impressive resume! It’s actually a bit disappointing when he just does some regular bank robbing in this issue. To be fair, he does give the Spider much more of a run for his money than his usual foe, and he does end up returning in Crack 021 the next year, in which he steals the Black Widow and uses it for evil deeds….

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 205: THE JACKAL

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 205: THE JACKAL

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(Crack Comics 017, 1941) Like the Cloak before him, the Jackal started out as a fictional villain: made up by promoter Paxton Forbes to obfuscate his own role in murdering sea Captain Bly and stealing his treasure map. But if you do the very things you say that a villain has done, I would contend that you are, in fact, that villain. And Madam Fatal agrees, so there.