(Zip Comics 002, 1940) While walking down the street one day in what is almost certainly supposed to be New York City, Jim “the Scarlet Avenger” Kendal witnesses the protection racket-related bombing of a tailor shop. What’s worse, the police response to the blast makes it pretty clear that they are on the take! Using his network of operatives, the Scarlet Avenger discovers when and where the next bombing is set to take place and intervenes by way of a…
I seal up the cracks but the dang things keep getting in. Klang is your classic rejected-and-shunned-by-society-due-to-his-appearance villain, who has channelled his bitterness into inventions such as heat rays and the explosive Super X-X Nitro Glycerine, which he secretes in the bottle of christening champagne in order to destroy the Navy’s newest battleship. Just how this is meant to bring him closer to his goal of becoming the dictator of America is left unexplored, as it draws the heroic Navy…
(Zip Comics 001, 1940) Shortly after giving himself super powers, Steel Sterling gets word of a brutal bank robbery in the town of Beeville and sets out to bring the culprits to justice. Determining that the crooks must have been guided by a mastermind of some sort, he trails their plane to a mountaintop fortress. The bow-wielding guards outside the Black Knight’s fortress (spoiler: it’s the Black Knight’s fortress, but what were you expecting) are notable for being the one…
Our themes today are “scarlet,” “family tragedy,” and “inadvisable human experimentation.” Mr Scarlet: Brian Butler, NYC* district attorney,** is frustrated by the limitations inherent in working within the law and so like so many of his peers adopts a costumed identity in order to get the better of crime via acrobatics and punching. A classic origin, but Mr Scarlet’s real claim to fame is in being created by Jack Kirby (with Ed Herron) and thus starting off with a real…
Every time I relax, another one emerges from the shrubbery. And what’s depressing is the fact that they will continue emerging at a more or less steady rate for the entire history of comics. Here’s the latest batch of Problematic Characters. the Voodoo Man: When Dr Bob Warren heads to Haiti to practice medicine and “investigate voodoo”, he comes into conflict with the Voodoo Man, a zombie-raising, curse-spouting, doll-pinning collection of every voodoo trope and stereotype. As compared to other headlining…
(Wonderworld Comics 019, 1940) The Hood, a mysterious figure (who leaves a note with an unfortunately cut-off symbol that I can only assume/hope is a hood-and-crossbones) is terrorizing an unnamed city with a series of murders – eight in one week! Going by the old wisdom that the murderer always returns to the scene of the crime, the Flame waits at the site of the latest murder and is rewarded when the Hood does just that. He is however unsuccessful…
Idols, idols, idols! the Great God Khwass: Khwass, Great God of Vengeance, is a comparatively rare villain’s god who actually follows through on his promises. He is invoked vs Dr Fung by the daughter of a former foe and not only replies to her prayers but deploys sleeping gas and a weird monster to aid her in her quest for vengeance. God Style: Real (Wonderworld Comics 016, 1940) Ice God Emul: Captain Venture and the Planet Princess Zyra’s great enemy,…
(Wonderworld Comics 017, 1940) Our story opens as a man named John Daniels approaches Yarko the Great after a show and requests his aid in preventing whatever fate befell his mysteriously missing brother James from also happening to him, as threatened by an ominous note. Yarko of course accepts. I wouldn’t call this the most clearly-plotted comic story of all time, so instead of laying everything out in sequence I’ll just introduce the cast of characters: John Daniels: Receiver of…
Oh my gosh! It’s more minor super-heroes! the Phantom Rider: The Phantom Rider is Tex Maxon, who was already a wandering cowboy who meted out justice for a while before getting into the masked vigilante game. Where a lot of masked cowboy vigilantes are doing a classic secret identity or concealing their identity for more specific reasons like being wanted for a crime they didn’t commit, the Phantom Rider thing honestly just seems like a fashion choice on Maxon’s part,…
(Wonderworld Comics 014, 1940) The Scar is a fairly ordinary crypto-fascist spy chief – in his first appearance he is leading a gang of incompetents in a plot to blow up a Europe-bound supply ship, for example – but I’ll be danged if he isn’t well suited to his nickname. Most guys named Scar in 1940s comics are maybe rocking one big facial scar, while our friend here not only has three, but is missing at least one ear! Whatever happened…