(Flash Comics v1 021, 1941) This one’s got a lot of setup. First, Hawkman sees a spaceship crash, as you do. Venturing inside, he finds a deceased Neptunian couple, their egg son and a Rosetta Stone of a ship’s log. He makes off with the egg and the journal and just leaves the ship and its former crew to rot. Next night is the Scientist Society Ball, where monocled botanist and creep Noel Ratchford makes a play for Shiera Sanders…
(Flash Comics v1 020, 1941) An absolutely ordinary criminal scientist villain completely overshadowed by his criminal rival Big Frenchy in this adventure. Sathan has at-the-time fantastically futuristic guided missile tech, as well as one of my personal favourite bits of super-villain utility tech: the communications cut-in, via which he extorts money from banks lest they get hit by guided missiles. The only reason Sathan hasn’t been relegated to the Criminal and Mad Scientist Roundup queue is this here henchman’s inspired…
(Flash Comics v1 020, 1941) An absolutely ordinary criminal scientist villain completely overshadowed by his criminal rival Big Frenchy in this adventure. Sathan has at-the-time fantastically futuristic guided missile tech, as well as one of my personal favourite bits of super-villain utility tech: the communications cut-in, via which he extorts money from banks lest they get hit by guided missiles. The only reason Sathan hasn’t been relegated to the Criminal and Mad Scientist Roundup queue is this here henchman’s inspired…
(Flash Comics v1 019, 1941) Hey, it’s the Hood! I’ll be honest: I thought that the Hood was one of those super-villain names like the Masked Man that was super common and that we already had one or more guys with this name but here we are, 250 villains in and welcoming our first. The Hood is Pratt Palmer, and he’s a bog standard scientist-villain of type A: scientist who develops some astonishing new tech and turns it to crime…
(Flash Comics v1 019, 1941) The Scarlet Mermaid is elegant in her simplicity: she’s a good swimmer who lives near a river where a lot of rich people hang out on boats, so she swims out and robs them. That plus a great name (and an okay costume – could use a contrasting colour) make for a winning combo. Even a cool villain must eventually reckon with a super-hero, however, and the Scarlet Mermaid ends up being one of the…
(Flash Comics v1 017, 1941) It’s the Golden Mummy! As I have previously stated, I love fake mummies and had read this issue before, so I was anticipating this fellow’s appearance with some joy, and it is with great sadness that I must announce that he’s a complete disappointment. My threshold for fake mummy appreciation is quite low – usually they just steal a few antiquities before getting tripped up by Archie and Jughead or the Scooby Gang, after all…
(Flash Comics v1 016, 1941) Have you ever wondered what happened to the ancient Dravidians and their kingdom of Dravidia? No, because they’re an extant ethnic group and that would be a bit like wondering about the fate of the Caucasians and their fabled land of Caucasia? Excatly. But nevertheless, here’s Hawkman flying into Dravidia, somewhere in Mongolia. Furthermore, the Dravidian king claims that his people originally came from a now-sunken land called Eden. An intriguing concept – that Eden…
(Flash Comics v1 016, 1941) Have you ever wondered what happened to the ancient Dravidians and their kingdom of Dravidia? No, because they’re an extant ethnic group and that would be a bit like wondering about the fate of the Caucasians and their fabled land of Caucasia? Excatly. But nevertheless, here’s Hawkman flying into Dravidia, somewhere in Mongolia. Furthermore, the Dravidian king claims that his people originally came from a now-sunken land called Eden. An intriguing concept – that Eden…
(Flash Comics v1 016, 1941) After an adventure in the lost city of Dravidia, Hawkgirl (well, Shiera Sanders, a few months out from being Hawkgirl) gets a cool brooch!
(Flash Comics v1 015, 1941) It’s old hat by now: like former Hawkman foe Czar the Unkillable Man and his ilk, the Hand is a henchbeing who is far more interesting to read and talk about than their creator. This is the risk you run when you set out to create an autonomous crime-servant via… I’m guessing magical means? It’s unclear in the text but magic seems more likely than science. In this case, the creator is a guy named…