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Month: August 2024

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 593: THE INVINCIBLE FIVE

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 593: THE INVINCIBLE FIVE

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(Exciting Comics 006, 1940) The Invincible Five (good name!) are a mysterious group of hooded men who have been kidnapping skilled mechanics across the US in order to construct a fleet of vehicles known as Submaplanes. If you guessed that a Submaplane was either a submarine capable of flight or and airplane capable of operating underwater then give yourself a pat on the back because it is the former. Submaplanes also have some sort of electric forcefield, an electric ray…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 592: ORRO

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 592: ORRO

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(Exciting Comics 006, 1940) The Space Rovers are Ted Hunt and Jane Martin, two young adults whose dads built a spaceship and who were compelled to steal that ship rather than see it and its ray cannon fall into the nefarious hands of some ambiguously foreign spies. Subsequently, they have just the worst luck at getting back to Earth, with each issue of Exciting Comics featuring some space danger that derails their progress. This time around they come across another…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 591: THE CULT OF DEATH

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 591: THE CULT OF DEATH

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(Exciting Comics 006, 1940) The Cult of Death comes into conflict with adventurer Ted Crane and his pals as they look for their associate, Egyptologist Dr Turner, in Luxor. Despite its very evocative name, the Cult of Death seems to sort of broadly worship the concept of Ancient Egypt and resent those who would pry into its secrets – Dr Turner has in fact been killed by them for seeking the lost tomb of King Mephtet. Does the cult’s leader…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 590: THE SUBMARINE GANG

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 590: THE SUBMARINE GANG

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(Exciting Comics 005, 1940) The Submarine Gang get dealt a very bad hand: although they are a successful and feared group of submarine pirates who have been terrorizing shipping in the New York area, they have the misfortune of being lead by corrupt City Commissioner Lupine, who is dumb enough not only to conduct gang business while hosting a large and well-attended party at his home but to do so in the context of the Sphinx operating out of the…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 589: THE TANKONAUT

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 589: THE TANKONAUT

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(Exciting Comics 005, 1940) Stretching the definition of “super-villain” to the very limits here: the Tankonaut is a superweapon developed by US arms manufacturer M.V. Gage under contract to a man who is very clearly meant to be Hitler but is referred to only as the Dictator. Whether this would have qualified as treason in mid-to-late 1940 is beyond me but the next part, where the Tankonaut is tested on US targets (including Washington DC!) extremely is. Not only does…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 588: THE MASK

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 588: THE MASK

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(Exciting Comics 004, 1940)  Famed Broadway star Sandra Cummings is dead, either by her own hand or anothers’, and she has for some never explained reason left behind a note detailing the extent of political corruption in NYC and more importantly naming the names of those involved. This note is immediately stolen and soon afterward someone pretending to be the Mask starts extorting and murdering those named in the note. I’ve said it before: impersonating a super-hero is completely understandable…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 587: THE MASKED MEN

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 587: THE MASKED MEN

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(Exciting Comics 003, 1940) They may be an ordinary gang of Western Bandits but I can’t help but be impressed by just how many of them there are. Every time Texas Ranger Jim Hatfield meets up with the Masked Men he blows at least a couple of them away yet there are always more available to help top man Bull Jeffrey loot the boom town of Concho. They must’ve been planning a 72-man split of the loot originally!

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 586: THE RED BLIGHT

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 586: THE RED BLIGHT

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(Exciting Comics 003, 1940) Technically, the Red Blight is a ray weapon developed by mad scientist Dr Hodl on behalf of ideologically nonspecific aggressor General Pasko in order to facilitate the conquest of Europe, but just like when a guy with a regular name is tooling around in a vehicle with a cool codename I reckon that the good name should take precedence, particularly as 1) Dr Hodl never returns and 2) people make reference to the Red Blight as…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 585: THE SPECTER

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 585: THE SPECTER

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(Exciting Comics 002, 1940)  The Specter is actually Harmon, foreman of the Diamond D Ranch, who dresses up like the ghost of a KKK member and kills people with a fanged ring to simulate rattlesnake bites. It’s never explicitly stated but he seems to be trying to drive away the owners of the ranch so that he can take full control of a secret gold mine that only he knows about. Or maybe he’s just killing off anyone who gets…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 584: THE LEOPARD MEN

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 584: THE LEOPARD MEN

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(Exciting Comics 002, 1940) Recently graduated top college athlete Ted Crane and famed anthropologist Professor Hawkins (and Hawkins’ daughter Betty, who stowed away as all young women had to if they were going to have adventures in the 40s) set out to find Kenya’s lost Konogo Tribe but almost immediately meet opposition from one of the Leopard Men. Despite being a supposedly mythical group, this Leopard Man has a gas-dispenser in his mouth that really knocks Ted for a loop…

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