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Month: December 2025

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 898: THE DEATH BATTALION

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 898: THE DEATH BATTALION

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(America’s Greatest Comics 001, 1941) Like Mr Skeleton before them (and possibly because I first encountered them both in the same comic), the Death Battalion is one of those super-villain concepts that really lodged itself in my brain and which I am glad to have finally appear here. Unfortunately, unlike Mr Skeleton, the Death Battalion isn’t quite as great as I’d remembered. For one thing, I’d long thought that they were a Mr Scarlet revenge squad, but despite the fact that he…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 897: MR SKELETON

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 897: MR SKELETON

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(America’s Greatest Comics 001, 1941) Mr Skeleton is one of the handful of minor super-villains who are foundational to this blog, the true weirdos who my mind turns to whenever the subject of obscure comic book characters comes up, and so it’s a real relief  to have him finally hsow his face here. This will keep happening at least until we reach 1978 and train-themed super-villain Casey Jones appears here. There are three really important aspects to Mr Skeleton that…

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 068

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 068

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A few classic minor super-heroes. Bulletman and Bulletgirl in particular have just barely managed not to remain relevant – I suppose the pointy helmet is too much of a hurdle for the modern audience. Bulletman:  Jim Barr is perhaps the most thoroughly-motivated super-hero of the Golden Age. He is: a. from a long line of police officers b. the son of a famed police officer who was murdered for being too good a cop and who c. told the young Jim that…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 896: THE INVISIBLE MAN

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 896: THE INVISIBLE MAN

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(America’s Greatest Comics 001, 1941) An invisible killer is on the loose in New York City, robbing banks and hijacking gold shipments and murdering bank clerks, and while an invisible killer is a very scary thing to contemplate we must as ourselves: is armed robbery the best criminal use of the power of invisibility? If nothing else, a stealthier approach would have kept the involvement of an invisible man a secret for longer, since as it stands the poor gunned-down…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 895: THE GHOST OF THE DEEP

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 895: THE GHOST OF THE DEEP

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(America’s Greatest Comics 001, 1941) The Ghost of the Deep, a dastardly fellow indeed. As the comic opens, a captive scientist named Hugo has just completed a mysterious formula for him, only to be rewarded with murder. In the following days, the Ghost attacks US West Coast shipping, each time leaving behind a calling card in the form of a message in a bottle. The Ghost even tries to silence Billy Batson’s fairly routine reporting on the attacks (but why…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 894: BLUEBEARD

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 894: BLUEBEARD

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(Wow Comics 004, 1941)  The piratical Bluebeard and his gang of fake sea dogs crash the costume ball of the wealthy van Hoffs and make off with Mrs van Hoff, demanding a ransom of one hundred thousand dollars for her return. Since Bluebeard had already tried to do extortion on the van Hoffs by sending them threatening notes, Mr Scarlet and Pinky were already on hand to swiftly track down the kidnappers and beat them senseless.  The post-beating unmasking reveals…

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ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 024

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 024

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Today we journey into the far future!  Cave-Dwellers:  The hunt for Atom Blake’s father takes him from Earth to Mercury, to Mercury but millions of years in the future, where he encounters these little fellows. Driven out of their surface city by invaders, the Cave-Dwellers are understandably hostile to outsiders, but Atom manages to win them over eventually, free his father (the hunt, though long in distance and time, was short in terms of steps) and retake the city. What…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 893: THE HUMMER

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 893: THE HUMMER

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(Wow Comics 004, 1941) The Hummer, “the deadliest killer on Earth” has just gotten out of jail and is out for revenge on those responsible for sending him away in the first place, starting with Taylor, the prosecutor. Like so many of his peers in the murder community, the Hummer has an affectation: he hums while he kills, and also while preparing to kill and after he kills. He hums all the time. It’s a bit of a liability, to…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 892: MR HYDE

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 892: MR HYDE

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(Wow Comics 004, 1941) Mr Hyde is introduced to the reader as a homicidal maniac who murders future Mr Scarlet sidekick Pinky’s mother one night for unclear reasons. He just bursts in and kills her and there is not even attempt to justify it. In fact… I’m not 100% certain that Pinky actually knows that Mr Hyde is the killer. Pinky is relocated to Oaklawn Orphanage, under the care of director Dr Jelke, who we as savvy readers immediately recognize…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 891: THE LAUGHING SKULL

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 891: THE LAUGHING SKULL

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(Wow Comics 003, 1941) The Laughing Skull specializes in extortion. They call it blackmail and it is kind of framed as being blackmail but over the course of the story it becomes clear that he has no concrete dirt on any of his victims and is just counting on carrying the day with vague threats and eventually by being able to point to all the people who he killed for not paying him. Straight-up threats-of-violence extortion, in other words.  To…

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