(More Fun Comics 065, 1941) A fairly simple one, this. The Blue Flame is an eerie cloaked figure sheathed in, yes, blue flame, that embarks on a crime spree in Cliffland, New Jersey. His crimes are not quite but almost exclusively aimed at the attendees of shows by stage magician Dr Mephisto and there is even some indication that the Blue Flame is attempting to frame Mephisto. Unfortunately for the Blue Flame, Cliffland is home to the Spectre, and he…
The hits keep on coming: This Fellow’s name is Becker and he and his wife run a gang while pretending to be among its victims. An okay scheme, but not really up to foiling Bulletman and Bulletgirl. (Master Comics 014, 1941) This guy here is why I have such a hard time relegating masked Western bandits to the dregs of the generic costumed villains: he’s as by-the-numbers a bandit as they come, he robs one stagecoach total, he ends up…
(More Fun Comics 064, 1941) This is not a complicated one: Congo Bill is asked for help by his friend Jack Brent. Brent is trying to sell his plantation, one of the assets of which is his good relationship with the local labour pool. Just as he had found a buyer, a skull-headed goon called the Thing started murdering workers. It’s about par for course re: jungle comics portrayal of nonwhite folks and fairly standard otherwise and of course the…
(More Fun Comics 064, 1941) Mayoor is an ancient evil god with no in-comic-defined portfolio but if I had guess I would venture that he’s the God of Disappointment. Here’s the sum total of his plots and plans: enthrall a society adventurer named Bill Credon, who then lure Dr Fate chum Inza Cramer to Mayoor’s Yucatan Peninsula temple-cum-prison. Then there’s a bit about using her to spread Mayoor’s message and worship but unfortunately for Mayoor that’s the point at which…
(More Fun Comics 064, 1941) The Shadow is in reality the vengeful ghost of Elmer Watson, a bumped-off witness in a big corruption case. Slightly more reasonable reason for revenge than some murderous ghosts, certainly, but Watson’s vengeance eventually becomes so all-consuming that he attempts to derail an entire passenger train to get at one target and he ends up banished to whatever nether realm the Spectre sends bad ghosts to. This is two Vengeance Ghosts in a row for…
(More Fun Comics 063, 1941) Haldane the Sorcerer has no backstory in-comic, so I’m going to be making some assumptions here. Assumption Number 1: since he first comes to light at society party that is also attended by Dr Fate pal Inza Cramer I am going to assume that he is part of the same New York/ New England social set as her, as opposed to some sort of party crasher. Assumption Number 2: Haldane is a hobbyist. He is…
(More Fun Comics 063, 1941) I’m just as guilty as I was with the Jungle Scientist of being immediately seduced by the subject’s name as presented in the title of the story. The Man Who Was Dead – a terrific name if I’ve ever seen one. Pure bonus points to the guy for being a weird little imp about it. The Man Who Was Dead of course escapes from police custody and so the Radio Squad here are forced to…
(More Fun Comics 063, 1941) I won’t lie to you: this initial panel really did all the work in guaranteeing the Jungle Scientist some time in the spotlight rather than a place in a mad science roundup with three other randos. There are exactly two reasons for that: 1) that he was supplied with a name in the very title of the piece and 2) that wretched little outfit that he has assembled for himself. This man was divorced just…
(More Fun Comics 063, 1941) Trigger Daniels is a hitman in the employ of gang boss Bugs O’Leary who gets sent up for the murder of a local philanthropist and swears revenge on all who had a part in his fate just before being executed. This is a pretty standard setup to a comic book story and usually involves lot of faked deaths and/or secret twins and/or scientists with cashflow problems and innovative ideas about brain transplants/ reviving the dead….
(Minute-Man 002, 1941) AKA the Blitz Force AKA the Panzer Gang. I almost started out by saying that the idea of a criminal gang operating along military lines was an old one but no, it isn’t yet. It’s not a new idea – there might be half a dozen examples in this list so far and I’m sure it cropped up more than once in the pulps – but it’s not quite the mid-tier trope that it eventually will be….