MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 522: THE NIGHT RIDERS

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 522: THE NIGHT RIDERS

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(Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940)  There are plenty of Ku Klux Klan- inspired groups in comics and thusfar we’ve encountered a few: the Blue Devils, the Horned Masks, even the Purple‘s gang of idiots. All of those examples share one thing: they’re just gangs that operate in the country using the intimidation tactics of the KKK but without the goals of reinforcing white supremacy – they’re just regular comic book gangs, only in the country. There’s a part of me…

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 009

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 009

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All Archie/MLJ edition! Rang-a-Tang the Wonder Dog: The Wonder Dog is an uncommon but distinct type of comic book hero and Rang-a-Tang here is typical of the breed: essentially a dog with human intelligence. Rang-a-Tang escaped from a cruel but evidently very talented circus dog trainer and almost immediately teamed up with police Detective Hy Speed, who was perhaps lashing out at the world for his own moniker when he gave his new dog one of the all-time worst names….

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 521: RED DUGAN

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 521: RED DUGAN

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(Blue Ribbon Comics 003, 1940)  Red Dugan is a down-on-his-luck gang boss who turns to what will be a classic crime method in the Silver Age particularly: he kidnaps a scientist and forces him to science up a weapon for him to smite his enemies with. In this case, the scientist in question is one Dr Cardo, who seems oddly prepared for the task of making a Seafood Platter Man. Was he kidnapped just before embarking on his own reign…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 520: THE HIGH PRIEST OF THOR

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 520: THE HIGH PRIEST OF THOR

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(Blue Bolt v2 006, 1941)  We open on an aircraft factory. Suddenly, a strange vibration fills the air. After an initial moment of surprise, the workers all file out the door and into a cave in a nearby hillside. Inside? THIS MAN! This man is the self-proclaimed High Priest of Thor and before we get into what he’s up to I’d like to commend his commitment to the costume. Your average religious-type villain is not going to these lengths to…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 519: THE GHOST OF THE CYCLOPS

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 519: THE GHOST OF THE CYCLOPS

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(Blue Bolt v2 004-005, 1941) We open on a bit of… not hubris but it’s often framed as hubris. I’m sure that TV Tropes has a name for it but danged if I’m going to go hunting for it. It’s the phenomenon in which a character in an ongoing fictional setting jokes about how they’re sure glad that *SPECIFIC THING* isn’t real etc and that thing is the focus of the next story. In this case, Sergeant Spook says he’s…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 518: COMMANDER SOOKA

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 518: COMMANDER SOOKA

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(Blue Bolt v2 004-006, 1941) There are hundreds if not thousands of antagonistic u-boat commanders in comics and very few of them are going to make the jump to super-villain. Commander Sooka, however… I did some cursory searching and it looks like the Axis forces sank around 1100 ships between 1939 and 1941, and the most successful u-boat captain of the entire war sank 47 ships total. What I’m saying is that if Commander Sooka’s count of 735 ships is…

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NOTES – MAY 2024

NOTES – MAY 2024

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Cops Shooting:  I’ve been reading old Dick Tracy strips and while tracking all of the times that Tracy fires on a fleeing suspect would be a fool’s errand I would like to note that so far in the 1933 he has been responsible for the shooting deaths of two non-criminals. Nova Scotia: Speaking of Dick Tracy and filled with home-town pride: this July 1933 strip and the next week or so take place in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Honours: Black X…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 517: THE BULL

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 517: THE BULL

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(Blue Bolt v2 004, 1941) Community. That’s what the Bull’s all about. Specifically a crime community, one of the top kinds of communities (to read about at least – most of them don’t sound too great to live in). Situated in the Florida Everglades, the Bull’s nameless crime community consists of him, about five other guys and a pet crocodile living in a bunch of ramshackle shacks. It’s not much, but it’s home. There’s not much else to the Bull…

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 008

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 008

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Some real highs and lows in this one. the Twister:  The Twister is a quite minor Golden Age super-hero – he managed more than one appearance but not more than seven – who has the distinction of having one of the most well-designed costumes of the era. Not my favourite costume, mind you, but boy oh boy, you can really tell that his creators (Ray Gill and Paul Gustavson as it happens) really sat down for a good think about…

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 008

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 008

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Some real highs and lows in this one. the Twister:  The Twister is a quite minor Golden Age super-hero – he managed more than one appearance but not more than seven – who has the distinction of having one of the most well-designed costumes of the era. Not my favourite costume, mind you, but boy oh boy, you can really tell that his creators (Ray Gill and Paul Gustavson as it happens) really sat down for a good think about…

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