The Curse of Skeleton Munroe

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  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 960: THE MAN IN THE HOOD

    MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 960: THE MAN IN THE HOOD

    (Exciting Comics 008, 1941)

    This fellow expends an awful lot of effort setting up and facilitating a city payroll robbery by gang boss Owney Biggers. He is eventually revealed to be City Treasurer Robert V. Shaw, who has set the whole thing up, double-crossed Biggers, faked his own death and murdered several people in order to cover up the fact that he had been embezzling city funds.

    The most annoying thing about this annoying man (seriously, just an irritating character. True loser energy) is that he isn’t actually called the Man in the Hood, or anything else for that matter. Instead, he is variously referred to as:

    -a Menacing Form

    -that Bozo on the Roof

    -the Masked Attacker

    -the Hooded Killer

    -the Mysterious Assailant

    -that Mug

    -that Sneak in the Hood

    -a Grim Figure

    -that Rat in the Hood

    -the Guy in the Hood

    -the Killer

    -the Mysterious Form

    and “the Man in the Hood” is as good of a throughline as I could achieve from that mess.

    Categorized in: Objects (Hoods), Origins (Faked Own Death), Theft (Embezzlers) 

  • ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 039

    Today we present some of the many aliens of Jupiter.

    Ganymede Pirates: 

    After facing the upsetting menace of Orro, Ted Hunt and Jane Martin, the Star Rovers, are captured by space pirates and taken to their home base on Ganymede. Whether they are native to Ganymede is hard to say, as the Space Rover Solar System is one that is populated mostly by aliens that look like white guys. This could be a completely heterogeneous group of Ceresians, Martians, Venusians, Jovians and humans and we would never be able to tell without some sort of census.

    These pirates are just that, pirates, and are mostly concerned with plundering and partying. More importantly, they have Prince Kongor of Jupiter imprisoned in their dungeons, and he helps the Space Rovers to escape and head down to the (terrestrial, oxygen atmosphere, non-crushing gravity) planet Jupiter. (Exciting Comics 006, 1940)

    Jovians:

    Ted, Jane and Kongor head back to Kongor’s home: Amkor, capital city of the small country of Xalia, which turns out to have been annexed by the nation of Iraz while he was away. Now, Kongor’s treacherous cousin Hajeck rules as Governor under the Dictator Chotan, and while all this is a bit of a word salad it is an extremely nice change of pace after reading so many comics featuring aliens from single-biome worlds featuring homogeneous cultures living under a single world government. Wowee, there are multiple countries on this one, fellows! The Space Rovers topple all of the Bad Governments in favour of putting their personal friend Kongor in charge, of course. (Exciting Comics 007, 1941)

    Jupiter Brutes:

    After the Hardwich family crash their family space-coupe on the terrestrial planet Jupiter, their unnamed son is the only survivor. Raised by a Jovian tiger, the lad grows up big and strong and eventually starts exploring. On top of a nearby cliff he discovers a village of ape-men that the text refers to as “Jupiter Brutes” or merely “Brutes” and befriends them via the universal language: punching. The Jupiter Brute society doesn’t get too much fleshing out over the course of the story but I sure do appreciate their tree house village.

    Oh, by the way: that Jovian jungle lad? Why he was none other than Auro, Lord of Jupiter. (Planet Comics 001, 1940)

    Jupiter Giants: 

    Finally, we have the Jupiter Giants, who are still improbably humanoid but scaled up to improbably size to match that of their planet. We only meet the one Jupiter Giant, who flies over in a huge rocket ship to essentially bully the Earth. Is this sadistic lout representative of his culture or does he have to turn to such acts because he is an outcast at home? Hard to say.

    The Jupiter Giant gets his comeuppance in the form of a beating from the size-changing Red Comet, who would have been justified in subsequently hurling him into the Sun as retribution for the mass murder and destruction, but who instead crams him back into his spaceship and sends him back from whence he came to think about what he did. (Planet Comics 006, 1940)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 959: THE INVISIBLE MENACE

    (Dynamic Comics 002, 1941)

    It’s a story as old as comics and then some: an inventor has come up with a cool superscientific gizmo – in this case an invisibility serum – and no sooner are they done than some gangsters come stiffing around looking to exploit it. This particular gang is headed by an unnamed and trigger-happy fellow who guns down the scientist and then his own men in order to get his mitts on the single available dose of the stuff.

    The gangster dubs himself “the Invisible Menace” and this is the only reason I am calling him that instead of “the Invisible Killer” as everyone else in the story including the caption boxes does. 

    There’s a kind of critical and/or cultural debate over the madness of the main character in HG Wells’ the Invisible Man, over whether the titular character goes mad with the power inherent in being invisible or the process itself has some flaw that warps the human mind. Whichever way you slice it, the Invisible Menace has Invisibility Madness: no sooner does he fade from sight than he is slaughtering people left and right. Not that he wasn’t killing people while he was still visible but at least that was to some purpose. This is just wanton murder.

    The big question is: is this guy invisible forever? Neither he nor we ever find out, and frankly it matters quite a lot because it’s going to be pretty difficult to enjoy your riches as an invisible guy if the only other invisible guy anyone has ever heard of is famous for attacking a garden party with a tommy gun.

    The question never really gets resolved thanks to one of the great flaws in any invisibility-related plan: that you are still detectable via other senses. Accordingly, the Invisible Menace is stopped at the fangs of the dog hero K-9.

    Categorized in: Abstract Concepts (Menace), Body (Physical Qualities – Invisibility), Powers (Invisibility)

  • CATALOGUE OF WOUNDS 008

    CATALOGUE OF WOUNDS 008

    Everybody gets shot now and then.

    the Bronze Terror: 

    The Bronze Terror is shot in the left arm during his first adventure by the wicked Scar Thornton, which gives him an excuse to show off his penchant for knocking out crooks’ teeth. (Daredevil Comics 002, 1941)

    Whiz, King of Falcons: 

    Whiz is shot through the left wing by a Lord Haw-Haw analog, and since this is the one issue in which he has the power of speech, he gets to complain about it. (Daredevil Comics 001, 1941)

    Trojak the Tiger Man: 

    Clawed across the chest by a lion. (Daring Mystery Comics 002, 1940)

    the Mask:

    The Mask gets his head creased by a bullet. (Exciting Comics 007, 1941)

    Sub-Zero: 

    Sub-Zero has an eventful 1941: first he gets shot in the right shoulder while parachuting… (Blue Bolt v1 012, 1941)

     … then breaks his right leg while in pursuit of a suspect… (Blue Bolt v2 001, 1941

    … and finally gets his skull creased by some trigger-happy miscreants.  (Blue Bolt v2 005, 1941

    the White Rider:

    The White Rider gets himself generically shot during his very first attempt to mete out vigilante justice, and it’s a lucky thing for him that he has Super Horse or there wouldn’t be a second. (Blue Bolt v1 001, 1940)

    Dr Miracle:

    Dr Miracle takes a thrown stiletto to the right shoulder while he is physically merger with his manservant Akim, which might also make this a stiletto to Akim’s shoulder as well. The physics of the situation are unclear. (Champ Comics 012, 1941)

    the Sphinx:

    Though he has in the past proved himself broadly invulnerable, the Sphinx is not immune to getting his skull creased by a bullet. (Exciting Comics 008, 1941) 

  • CATALOGUE OF WOUNDS 008

    CATALOGUE OF WOUNDS 008

    Everybody gets shot now and then.

    the Bronze Terror: 

    The Bronze Terror is shot in the left arm during his first adventure by the wicked Scar Thornton, which gives him an excuse to show off his penchant for knocking out crooks’ teeth. (Daredevil Comics 002, 1941)

    Whiz, King of Falcons: 

    Whiz is shot through the left wing by a Lord Haw-Haw analog, and since this is the one issue in which he has the power of speech, he gets to complain about it. (Daredevil Comics 001, 1941)

    Trojak the Tiger Man: 

    Clawed across the chest by a lion. (Daring Mystery Comics 002, 1940)

    the Mask:

    The Mask gets his head creased by a bullet. (Exciting Comics 007, 1941)

    Sub-Zero: 

    Sub-Zero has an eventful 1941: first he gets shot in the right shoulder while parachuting… (Blue Bolt v1 012, 1941)

     … then breaks his right leg while in pursuit of a suspect… (Blue Bolt v2 001, 1941

    … and finally gets his skull creased by some trigger-happy miscreants.  (Blue Bolt v2 005, 1941

    the White Rider:

    The White Rider gets himself generically shot during his very first attempt to mete out vigilante justice, and it’s a lucky thing for him that he has Super Horse or there wouldn’t be a second. (Blue Bolt v1 001, 1940)

    Dr Miracle:

    Dr Miracle takes a thrown stiletto to the right shoulder while he is physically merger with his manservant Akim, which might also make this a stiletto to Akim’s shoulder as well. The physics of the situation are unclear. (Champ Comics 012, 1941)

    the Sphinx:

    Though he has in the past proved himself broadly invulnerable, the Sphinx is not immune to getting his skull creased by a bullet. (Exciting Comics 008, 1941) 

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 958: THE YELLOW HOOD

    (Dynamic Comics 002, 1941)

    In probably the cheekiest campaign of terror ever, American defense officials are being murdered and then their shrunken skulls are being sent along to places where people are waiting for them with notes reading “Don’t wait for me any longer, here I am.”

    You may have noticed that all of the skull deliveries involved a man named Professor Curran, and being seasoned comics readers you rightly would have suspected that he was involved in the scheme somehow. It can’t be him, however, as Curran is one of the victims, murdered just out of sight of a captured Major Victory.

    Just kidding: the Yellow Hood and Professor Curran are one and the same, and the murder was staged to throw suspicion off of him. Curran’s role as a Chief Air Warden meant that he was in a prime position to facilitate a Nazi invasion of the United States, and the murders were designed to weaken US defenses further. It’s a high risk/ high reward endeavour, as evidenced by the fact that Curran chucks himself off a cliff rather than be captured by Major Victory.

    Categorized in: Accessories (Calling Cards), Colours (Yellow), Objects (Hoods)

  • MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 090

    MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 090

    We’re simply up to our eyeballs in minor super-heroes!

    K-9:

    K-9, an injured German Shepherd (they call him a police dog but I think that that’s as an alternate breed name due to the war, like how the British call them Alsatians) nursed back to health and given a terrible name by scrappy teen Tip Starr, is given ample opportunity to fight crime thanks to his association with Tip’s brother, Police Detective Dick Starr. (Dynamic Comics 001, 1941)

    Categorized in: Alphanumeric (K, 9), Animals (Dogs), Origin (Animals)

    Dynamic Boy:

    When orphan Kent Banning is severely injured while rescuing Doctor Brown’s unnamed daughter from a burning schoolhouse, Brown returns the favour by injecting him with a mysterious fluid that he got from a dying Tibetan Lama. This fluid not only saves Kent’s life but endows him with the standard array of super-powers: enhanced speed and agility, super strength and the power of flight. He also adopts the lad, which makes the chaste romance between Kent and “She Seriously Never Gets A Name” Brown just a little bit weird. She does make him a costume, which is nice. And it clearly has room for him to grow into!

    Probably the best thing about Dynamic Boy is just how lanky and awkward he is. Contextually, he’s about the same age as Robin and most of the other sidekicks in Golden Age comics, i.e., somewhere between 12 and 15 years old, but Dynamic Boy really feels like it, particularly in the sequence above, where he learns that he can fly by tripping over his own feet. (Dynamic Comics 002, 1941)

    Categorized in: Generica (Boys), Language (Superlatives – Dynamic), Origin (Mystic Mutates)

    Lady Satan:

    Lady Satan’s career begins after an ocean liner is sank by Nazi bombers and an unnamed woman (there is some impression that she uses Satan as her surname while adventuring, but whether it is her real name is hard to say) is the only survivor. Swearing vengeance, she heads back to Europe to vex the Axis.

    I really like Lady Satan! For one thing, she just kind of relies on the mystery inherent in being a hot lady in a mask and doesn’t even switch to a secret identity to seduce horny Nazis into revealing their secrets. For another, she’s supremely adaptive. Got captured and about to be shot as a spy? No problem, Lady Satan will merely steal the executioner’s pistol, take him hostage, steal a plane, crash into the pursuing planes, parachute into a handy river, steal a car and be in Berlin at the same time as the fellow she was caught trying to rob in the first place. Just a very competent character.

    She also packs a chlorine gas gun, which is horrifying to contemplate firing at another person, let alone firing it in an enclosed space. I suppose that war crimes don’t apply to you if you are a stateless vigilante, but everybody has to breathe. (Dynamic Comics 002, 1941)

    Categorized in: Famous Figures (Satan), Origin (Vengeance Quest), Royalty (Ladies)

    the Green Knight:

    Contrary to his name, the Green Knight is more of an archer-type hero than some sort of armoured bruiser or dashing cavalier. He is also our first Florida-based super-hero, as far as I can figure (many before him have visited, certainly, but none before have deigned to live there).

    As the Green Knight explains to Lance Cooper, an orphan boy who he rescues from a vampire in the Everglades, he is in actuality Denis Knight, a rich guy who collects Medieval weapons and has a rose-tinted view of knighthood that informs his forays into vigilante justice.

    Speaking of Lance, he abbreviates the usual perfunctory super-hero boy-adoption process even further by just coming out and asking to join up with Knight. He gets a mini version of the Green Knight’s costume (and sadly loses his cheeky little orphan cap in the process) and follows him into battle for the remainder of his two-adventure career as Lance, which is a very annoying name indeed. Is it just using his regular name like so many kid sidekicks do, or are they doing a bit of a winking acknowledgement that his name already fits the knightly theme? Would it kill them to give him a spear? (Dynamic Comics 002, 1941)

    Green Knight Categorized in: Colours (Green), Famous Figures (Arthurian)*, Royalty (Knights)

    Lance Categorized in: Locations (Florida), Objects (Lances), Origins (Sidekicks)

    * the character does not have anything to do with Arthuriana thematically, but the name “the Green Knight” is nonetheless enough of a reference for me

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 957: THE PROFESSOR

    (Dynamic Comics v1 001, 1941)

    Unlike most Professors in comics, this fellow is seemingly not named that because he is a scientist but rather because he is a clever criminal. He and his powerful companion Hugo are hired by the evocatively-named Hell Gang to intercept and destroy some key evidence while it is en route from the District Attorney’s office to the courthouse where Hell Gang leadership is on trial.

    It’s not fair to blame the Professor for this because there’s no way that he could know, but Jim Hornsby, aka the Black Cobra, works at the very district attorney’s office that the records are coming from and so is in a perfect position to stick his nose in and foil the whole plan. The records are delivered just in time to convict the Hell Gang, and though the Professor and Hugo get away I am pretty concerned about the Professor’s spine after the punch he takes in that final panel above.

    Categorized in: Generica (Professors), Misc (Mercenaries)

  • GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 039

    Those who also ran, we salute you. 

    Karl the Hermit:

    Karl, as his name implies, is a mean ol’ hermit who lives atop a mountain. He has has got himself a critter called the Thing that Walks Like a Man that he uses to act out his misanthropic impulses, such as when he sends it to kill his cousin Rushman. What is his motivation for doing all this? Don’t worry about it – he’s a crazy old hermit!

    Karl’s actions attract the attention of the Silver Streak and Meteor, and both he and the Thing end up doing a header off of a cliff. (Silver Streak Comics 015, 1941)

    Lord Garnett:

    Lord Garnett, English MP, engages in a little pigeon-based espionage on behalf of the Nazis and gets socked by the Silver Streak for his efforts. As can be deduced by his trademark braying laugh, this is the guy who later pivots into propaganda broadcasting as a Lord Haw-Haw analog, but here we are only concerned with his foray into masked spymanship. (Daredevil Comics 001, 1941)

    Anders:

    When a masked arsonist starts burning down all of a company’s buildings in a comic it’s equal odds on whether it’s corporate sabotage, extortion or insurance fraud. I guess those are the main choices in real life as well, now that I think about it. In this case it’s some pretty solvable insurance fraud, as the Anders Warehouse Company is being burned down by Mr Anders for the money. (Dynamic Comics 001, 1941)

    Mr Black:

    Mr Black, Art Supervisor of the Municipal Museum in the undefined city that Lucky Coyne calls home, has happened upon a foolproof scheme: kidnap a painter and force him to create forgeries, then sell those forgeries for beaucoup bucks. There are only two problems with this scheme: 1) Black loses his job immediately for spending museum funds on one of his own forged paintings and 2) both the museum and the painter’s daughter come to Lucky Coyne for help, leading on a severe blow to the head for Mr Black. (Dynamic Comics 002, 1941)

  • MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 956: THE EVIL EYE

    (Dynamic Comics 001, 1941)

    Lucky Coyne, private detective and man with the most complicated publishing history in comics* is hired by heiress Helen Jordan to solve a ghost problem in the mansion she has just inherited. The ghost in question, called the Evil Eye, obligingly makes an appearance just as she mentions him, with his signature “Weeeee… ha ha ha!” laugh.

    *Lucky Coyne appeared in comics by half a dozen publishers over the years, and operated as a police sergeant, a reporter and, as here, a private eye. And some of his adventures, including this one, were reprinted with differently-named lead characters such as Kensington Slade and Jinx Jordan.

    Lucky and his associate Terry make their way to the mansion and have a second encounter with the Evil Eye in which he locks them in an attic and then sets the place on fire in an attempt to kill them. While attempting to get out of the former trap, Terry knocks down a bit of wall and discovers a cask of precious jewels, which is what the ghost was after the entire time.

    There is a final confrontation between Lucky and the Evil Eye on the Jordan Mansion lawns, in which the ghost is hampered by being outside of his favoured terrains of “crumbling old manor” or “urban rooftop” and is pretty quickly laid out. The Evil Eye is unmasked, and it’s a classic Scooby-Doo situation: Harms, the mansion’s caretaker, was dressing up and haunting the place in an attempt to drive Helen Jordan away and claim the jewels for himself. Like so many of his fellow fake ghosts, his actions only served to make his targets aware of the valuables that he was trying to steal, alas.

    The Evil Eye also employs the services of the Black Demon, a creature described as a “giant black bat” but actually clearly some sort of vulture. Is this a case of nobody in the comic knowing what a bat is, or the comic’s artist (unidentified, per the Grand Comics Database) not knowing what a bat is? In either case, it’s a doozy.

    Categorized in: Body (Eyes), Fraud (Fake Undead – Ghosts), Language (Expressions)