(Fantastic Comics 022, 1941) Nagana, high priest of Isis in Thebes, achieves great power and the secret of immortality through her position and is seemingly consumed with megalomania. Importantly, these magical secrets do not appear to be tied to her faith in Isis so much as accessed as a result of it, as she retains them even after she rejects Isis and declares herself to be her enemy. She sets out to use this power to become the ruler of…
How can we have nice things if they keep getting so dinged up? the Black Terror: It might look like the Black Terror (‘s secret identity) is knocked out by falling down a flight of stairs onto his head, but according to him it was actually a bullet creasing the old skull that did the trick. (Exciting Comics 010, 1941) This is a tough one: the Black Terror is shot and nearly killed, and he kind of seems to be…
Good lord! Aliens! Mupha’s Species: Mupha, ruler of the undersea Land of Peril, is the kind of creep who sends his subjects to kidnap women to become his queen. This eventually brings him into conflict with underwater adventurer Sub Saunders -not because Sub is looking for kidnappees but because he happens to pass by the Land of Peril and makes Mupha nervous enough to open fire on his submarine. As Mupha appears to have only two subjects we must assume…
(Fantastic Comics 021, 1941) The Scorpion is an Irish super-criminal who, in a classic villain move, inspires the creation of his own nemesis when he slays a man on the moors near Cork one dark night (and whether there are any moors in that area is surprisingly tedious to find out, so just colour me generically skeptical) as part of a scheme to acquire a gold deposit. The future nemesis in question is the man’s stepson, Jim O’Donnell, whose subsequent…
Surely fascists will stop being such a problem eventually, right? the German Help Club: Probably the most straightforwardly cynical version of the German American Bund that we’ve seen so far, the German Help Club is simply a mass extortion scheme in which the German-American residents of NYC are forced to give up 15% of their earnings or see their relatives back in Germany be persecuted and jailed. Pat Patriot breaks them up with extreme prejudice. (Daredevil Comics 006, 1941) Gorilla-Suited…
When we covered the Fourth Dimensional being called Lucifer, who might be the for-real Devil (if the Fourth Dimension is also the afterlife) and might just be a big weirdo (if it isn’t), I said that we would see him again. Well here he is! Flip Falcon next encounters Lucifer after he takes a woman named Nora into the Fourth Dimension in order to heal her face, which was scarred with acid by a vindictive man. This is a noble…
No matter how many comic book aliens we catalogue, there are always more to see! Fish-Men: While fish men are nothing new, these particular ones have a couple of points of distinction: firstly they just look kind of nice, a bit more gracile and svelte than your usual humanoid fish. Secondly, they are in fact Moon Fish-Men, as they serve demi-god(?) and would-be King of the Moon Bakalma. This also makes them Moon Fish-Men from the 12th Century, as Bakalma is an…
Comics Crossovers: In one of Golden Age comics’ rare but casual crossovers, Judy Jackson, rival of reporter-hero Scoop Mason, is attending the same Governor’s ball in the Bahamas as Newsreel cameraman Speed Martin. (The Funnies 051, 1941) Then in the very next issue, Scoop Mason himself shows up to take in a football game! (The Funnies 052, 1941) ADDENDUM: I just realized that the team that they’re watching is Elmhurst College featuring star player Wally Williams, from his own feature…
(Fantastic Comics 018, 1941) The Black Rider is a ruthless bandit chief who has not only terrorized the countryside but has had the audacity to kidnap Bill Carrol, Captain Kidd’s best friend, an unforgivable sin. While the Black Rider & Co. might look like they are straight out of a comic set in the American West, Captain Kidd’s 1941 adventures have taken place exclusively in Africa, and given the mention of a city called Tanga above, I think that we…
In today’s exploration of the divine, we delve into the extended lore of Sir Richard of Warwick, aka the Golden Knight, starting with his three magical brothers in-law. Mokon, King of the Moon: Mokon, King of the Moon, appears at Sir Richard’s window one night to claim the hand of his sister Marion in marriage, and though we the reader are hearing about this deal (and indeed about this or any of the Golden Knight’s sisters) for the first time,…