(Marvel Mystery Comics v1 004, 1940) Dr Manyac here is a perfectly fine criminal scientist with a very good name. It’s just too bad for him that he is in the very common position of being completely overshadowed by his henchmen: THE GREEN FLAME! Very very cool looking guys who are also some of our first simple examples of evil opposites, as their green flame burns cold to contend with our pal the red-hot Human Torch. Using the threat of…
(Marvel Mystery Comics v1 003, 1940) The Sacred one is a pretty bog-standard cult leader in a way that was cliched even in 1940: he’s got a bunch of people in a castle in the New York countryside somewhere and they kidnap beautiful white women to sacrifice to their Fire God until the Angel shows up to murderize them. The only really interesting things about him are the questions that the loose plotting leaves you with: he has hypnotic powers…
(Marvel Mystery Comics 003, 1940) These Martian invaders who showed up for one Human Torch story in 1940 are definitely my favourite comic book aliens in a while, if only because of this extremely cool car stunt.
(Marvel Comics v1 001, 1939) The Six Big Men ain’t much, just a bunch of guys who teamed up to do the maximum amount of Crime possible in an unidentified American city. But I am including them in this list, for two reasons: 1. they’re the first even marginal minor super-villains in Marvel Comics (I of course know about Timely Comics, pedants, but I round up) history, and 2. the Six Big Men are actually Seven Big Men and One Big…
(Funnies 001, 1936) Top notch dinosaur illustration.
(Funnies 001, 1946) Really great scared hair on the kid with the braids.
(Hit Comics 018-025, 1941-1942) I know I talk about how wild the origins of various characters are a lot on here, and I don’t think that I can justify declaring one or another “the most wild” anymore, but the Ghost of Flanders would absolutely have to appear on any reasonably comprehensive Top Ten Characters Who Will Amaze and Befuddle You With Their Wild Origins list. The Ghost of Flanders is in reality Rip Graves, who enlisted in the US Army…