(Feature Funnies 007, 1938)
Our first Quality Comics super-villain!
Otherwise, not very interesting – he doesn’t even wear the mask in the story, just tries to frame the Clock and finds out how far that kind of thing gets you in the comic book game.
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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 018: THE OWL
(Feature Funnies 007, 1938)
Our first Quality Comics super-villain!
Otherwise, not very interesting – he doesn’t even wear the mask in the story, just tries to frame the Clock and finds out how far that kind of thing gets you in the comic book game.
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MINOR SUPER VILLAIN 017: THE RAVEN
(Detective v1 019, 1938)
Nemesis of Inspector Kent of Scotland Yard with maybe three appearances – but he’s the kind of dreaded evil mastermind who shows up already the most wanted man of all time, so he feels more significant.
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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 016: THE HOODED HORDES
(Detective v1 017, 1938)
If there’s one thing that Golden Age comics have in great supply, it’s US fascist groups seeking to (variously) undermine the country’s war production, keep the US out of WWII, draw the US into WWII, or take over the country outright. And while most of these groups are just some guys called the Purple Shirts who rough up a shopkeeper for not loving the Fatherland more than his adopted land of AMERICA, a few, like the Hooded Hordes here, get their act together enough to be minor super-villain organizations.
I mean, they don’t really get up to much more than the hypothetical Purple Shirts – mostly disrupting war production in a bid to take over the US – but there’s a lot to be said about doing so in a sheet ghost outfit with a skull and crossbones on the chest.
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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 015: THE BROADWAY BANDIT
(Detective v1 016, 1938)
The Broadway Bandit is just a disgruntled actor who puts on a mask and robs box offices until Slam Bradley shows up to settle his hash but he might be out first illustration of the very basic level of super-villainy: a good name, a basic but distinctive costume and the commission of crimes while in the possession of both.
SHOULD THEY BE BROUGHT BACK? No, but in a super-hero universe I reckon that there should be way more guys adopting this kind of persona to do basic crimes like armed robbery. In a world with cosmic threats named Molecule Man and such running around you might not even need a weapon to stick up a corner store if you strolled in in a plausible enough costume.
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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 014: CHESTER GLASS
(Detective v1 015, 1938)
Chester Glass almost accidentally frames Slam Bradley and Shorty Morgan for murder, and that’s the main thrust of the story. As things develop, you learn that he has wooed and then murdered at least two dozen women for their money, which alone is enough to get him on this list, but then he captures Slam and Shorty in his murder dungeon basement, which is filled with “dozens” of bodies! And he has up to this point gone completely unnoticed by the Cleveland police!
SHOULD THEY BE BROUGHT BACK? I mean, a century-old serial killer probably doesn’t have a place in the DCU, so no. He really should be acknowledged somewhere, though – the real berries would have been if there was a Chester Glass Lifetime Achievement Award at the Cereal Convention in Sandman, but alas and alack that ship has sailed.
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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 013: MR DEATH
(Detective v1 015, 1938)
A serial killer who murders diplomats because without them there would be no wars. Brought in by Bart Regan and Sally Norris, protagonists of the early Siegel and Shuster strip Spy.
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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 012: THE MASTER OF CORPSES
(More Fun 031, 1938)
A mine owner using zombie labour, which is at best morally questionable, but also he planned to undermine New York and collapse it into a pit, then rule the ruins, which is worse.
Dr Occult dropped a mine on him, which is why it’s such a surprise when he shows up in my upcoming Dr Occult miniseries – back from the dead by his own dark will, the Master of Corpses teams up with the rest of his Golden Age rogues gallery in a bid to destroy their old foe once and for all.
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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 012: THE MASTER OF CORPSES
(More Fun 031, 1938)
A mine owner using zombie labour, which is at best morally questionable, but also he planned to undermine New York and collapse it into a pit, then rule the ruins, which is worse.
Dr Occult dropped a mine on him, which is why it’s such a surprise when he shows up in my upcoming Dr Occult miniseries – back from the dead by his own dark will, the Master of Corpses teams up with the rest of his Golden Age rogues gallery in a bid to destroy their old foe once and for all.
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SPIDERS DRAWN WITHOUT REFERENCE
As discussed elsewhere, the vast wealth of reference material that artists have access to nowadays simply wasn’t available back in the day. Sometimes a comic book required a drawing of something that the artist simply had no point of reference for.
And while in light of that fact some of the wild octopus or dinosaur anatomy on display in old comics is entirely forgivable and understandable, the wild depictions of the humble spider are totally baffling – I could round up a spider in about 2 minutes, if needed. Hell, I can see a spider from where I’m sitting writing this.
Hence, an ongoing roundup of spiders, drawn without reference.
