Weird humanoids as far as the eye can see! Demon People: The Demon People are seemingly native to the dimension that Breeze Barton travels to in his first adventure and are in conflict with Miracle City and its population of immortals. Even though their major goal is to get through the dimensional aperture and invade Earth, I would have a lot more sympathy toward them (eternal neighbours really must be the greatest test a people could have, after all) if they…
Let’s spare a thought for all the mad lab assistants who do so much for so little credit. Rokula: Rokula’s plan is simple: kidnap inventors and then use his mind control machine to force them to work for him. Hey, it’s a classic for a reason, but it’s also a plan with a high chance of attracting super-heroic attention such as that of Zongar the Miracle Man. Rokula might be a fan of the classics but like so many of…
(Fantastic Comics 014, 1941) We open on a mysterious figure using backwards-talk magic to raise hundreds of spirits from their graves and shunt them into the Fourth Dimension. To what end? We shall learn that soon! Flip Falcon, expert in all things fourth dimensional. is contacted by Dr Thorne of the Institute of Science asking for help with this problem. You might have noticed that Dr Thorne is also the name of Minor Super Villain 965, and that is because…
It’s an all-movies episode of Media in Comics! Movies: London Strikes Back – Hard! is the film follow-up to London Can Take It, with both featuring an actor playing costumed vigilante London and the narration of Marc Holmes, London’s secret identity. As a bonus, please note the wild nasal apparatus that Imperial Studios required to put a toothbrush mustache on the actor playing Hitler. (Daredevil Comics 005, 1941) We don’t too much of the action of Wild Mesa as it is filmed on…
(The Face 001, 1941) “Sparky Watts” was a long-running comic feature in Big Shot Comics and other Columbia publications about the eponymous Sparky Watts, a down-on-his-luck young man whose life turns around when scientist Doc Static gives him super powers using his cosmic ray machine. Having started out as a comic strip, Watts’ adventures tend to hew closer to the comic adventurous rather than the super-heroic. Still, every once in a while he encounters a minor super-villain such as the Shark. The…
We’ve hit a rich seam of comic book movies this time, by Jove. Movies: Eaglets of America is a film about flying cadets, filmed at the same field that aspiring pilot Lucky Byrd trains at. There is some unpleasantness with a lecherous leading man, alas, but it all gets sorted by the end. (Target Comics v1 002, 1940) The 1933 film the Prizefighter and the Lady, starring boxer Max Baer opposite Myrna Loy, was a real touchstone back during the…
Panel Fun: Don’t know how I could’ve skipped this the first time I read through these comics, but here we are: Amazing-Man suplexing an angry bull. (Amazing-Man Comics 012, 1940)
(The Face 001, 1941) I can’t say I’m surprised to see Ramun the Evil One again, given what I said about his supposed death in his last appearance. Ramun trails his old foe Marvelo (Monarch of Magicians, natch) into the desert and replaces his caravan’s staff with he and his men in an effort to steal the treasure of Tut-Akum-Aut from them when and if they dig it up. And he does it! He has them at his mercy and…
Comic book religion. Tricky stuff. Hercules: The thing that really jumps out at you when you first encounter this version of Hercules is that he goes to Valhalla when he dies, which is weird. The second thing is that he is appearing in a Golden Age Marvel comic and so there might be fun storytelling ramifications considering the fact that Hercules is a moderately popular (and alive) Marvel Comics character with appearances from the mid-60s to today. Perhaps the fact…
(Exciting Comics 015, 1941) The Gentleman, “the most elusive jewel thief in the country,” is after the fabulous Orloff Necklace, and District Attorney Tony Colby, aka the Mask, is on the case. I initially had my money on the goateed gallery manager being the Gentleman in a classic double bluff, but once this comically-affronted old lady showed up it became clear that my instincts were wrong. The Gentleman’s modus operandi turns out to involve a combination of disguise and smuggling gems out…