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Month: September 2025

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 060

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 060

Some of those reeeeal obscure guys today.  Craig Carter: Archaeologist Craig Carter wants to give up all the stuffy academia and become a crime fighter, and since he lives in a comic book universe, the very day he tells his girlfriend about this objectively bad decision he receives a magical ring in the mail from an old colleague whose life he had saved. This ring grants its wearer the ability to summon the gods of antiquity to aid them –…

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NOTES – SEPTEMBER 2025 PART 2

NOTES – SEPTEMBER 2025 PART 2

Once again there are too many different kinds of minutia for my tagging system’s character limit. Trophy Room – the Parachute Patrol: British Boy Scout troop the Parachute Patrol capture a German Stuka and mount its propeller like a boar’s head. (Wings Comics 004, 1940) 

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 857: THE KING

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 857: THE KING

(Wham Comics 001, 1940) In what is sadly the final appearance of Speed Centaur, he and his pal “Reel” McCoy travel to the Arctic ruins of the City of Centaurs to explore Speed’s birthplace. Almost immediately upon setting foot inside, they are ambushed and captured by wild-eyed men who escort them to their leader, a man called the King, who unusually has gone with an eccentric hair choice in every available part of his face but the mustache zone, and…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 856: THE PANTHER

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 856: THE PANTHER

(Famous Funnies 067, 1940) The Panther is a no-nonsense Western gang boss who actually avoids a lot of the common missteps of the average super-villain by running an extremely tight ship in her munitions-smuggling gang. Is maintaining workplace discipline with a bullwhip the best idea? No, but it is better than workplace explosions. The Panther’s downfall starts when she puts a little two much trust in her lieutenants, Luis and Ramon, and they immediately go out and do some unsanctioned train…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 855: GORE

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 855: GORE

(Weird Comics 009, 1940) Gore, a mad scientist, has just escaped from an unspecified facility in an unnamed city in whatever part of Africa that Marga the Panther Woman hangs out, and while I appreciate how he looks like a little scamp while he’s stealing an airplane from Marga’s pal Ted, this young fellow would be heading straight to the next Mad and Criminal Scientist Round-Up if not for two fun things that he does and that I want to…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 854: THE BEAST

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 854: THE BEAST

(Weird Comics 009, 1940) The Beast is the Eagle’s first and perhaps only recurring foe, and it’s unfortunate that he makes his first appearance at the very end of the 1940 run of Weird Comics because I really want to highlight the similarities between the Beast and his fellow Luis Cazaneuve creation the Rook, but danged if I have enough material for a real compare-and contrast on them yet. For now, we’ll just hit the obvious, such as the fact that they look…

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 059

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 059

You thought that I couldn’t keep doing it but I can. MORE SUPER-HEROES  the Dart:  On the one hand, the Dart is just another guy with cape and a mask who fights crime alongside his kid sidekick, but on the other, he has a few interesting twists on what is already a tried-and-true formula: In the first place, the Dart was originally an Ancient Roman named Caius Martius who was magically sealed in a block of stone by his enemies, only…

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ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 018

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 018

It’s time to return to spaaaaaace!  Urolians and Urians:  The “Blast Bennett” feature is set far enough in the future (5940 CE, according to the caption on a single panel that I’m taking as gospel until contradicted) that I generally assume that all of the human-looking aliens that Blast and his pal Red encounter are representative of far-flung Earth colonies rather than of lack of alien design imagination, but I just had to point out the fact that the two…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 853: GOBI, SUPER-WIZARD OF THE DESERT

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 853: GOBI, SUPER-WIZARD OF THE DESERT

(Weird Comics 009, 1940) The Sorceress of Zoom is enjoying herself by tormenting people in the desert one day when she is suddenly confronted and challenged for possession of her victims by Gobi, Super-Wizard of the Desert! Is he some sort of heroic magic-user looking to free the people from their torturous servitude? Of course not! He’s looking for food for his pet vultures!  (aside: the Sorceress of Zoom is never the good guy in these situations, but this might…

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DEMONIC ROUND-UP 003

DEMONIC ROUND-UP 003

Two shorts and two longs. Bajah: Minor Golden Age Marvel magician Dakor has to travel all the way to the fictional Indian kingdom of Nordu to rescue his friend’s daughter from one of those cults where they worship a random blonde white lady (one of the more embarrassing stupid pulp fiction concepts to make the jump to comics, in my opinion). All that is to set up the fact that the devil figure in this cult is the oft-invoked, never-seen…

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