{"id":320,"date":"2026-09-15T10:59:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T13:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/?p=320"},"modified":"2026-09-27T15:34:51","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T18:34:51","slug":"monster-critter-and-creature-round-up-004","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/?p=320","title":{"rendered":"MONSTER, CRITTER AND CREATURE ROUND-UP 004"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everyone likes a good monster<\/a> now and then.<\/p>\n

Horned Cat<\/b>:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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With every one of these round-ups I accrue more evidence that the Slightly Different Big Cat is one of the classic monster types, as seen here when Congo Jack is confronted with this horned green feline in the mystical Valley of Vango in the Congolese jungle.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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As a bonus, a few steps later he has to deal with another classic: the carnivorous plant, or in this case flesh-eating bush<\/b>. (Lightning Comics v2 004, 1941)<\/p>\n

Croco-Tiger<\/b>:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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As further evidence, here’s Power Nelson fending off a strangely plush-looking croco-tiger in the wilds of the planet Pluvius in the far-flung year 1982 CE. For those like me who like to see a comic book creature survive now and then, worry not for the yellow pool this beast is being flung into merely shrinks it to kitten size, which is hopefully something that it can adapt to.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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Pluvius also features its own type of carnivorous plant<\/b>, in this case some sort of tentacle (or possibly tendril?) based predator. (Prize Comics 003, 1940)<\/p>\n

Cannibal Tree<\/b>:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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Rex Dexter of Mars and gal pal Synde have their own run-in with a carnivorous plant, the so-called cannibal tree, on an unnamed extrasolar planet. (Mystery Men Comics 018 1941)<\/p>\n

Dodman’s Serpent<\/b>:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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Though the practice is now frowned upon in zoological circles, I can’t help but love the sound of an eponymous species name, and especially<\/i> when the species in question is some sort of monster. Dodman’s Serpent is great because it has the lovely rhythm of an eponym without actually being named after some guy named Dodman who will later be cancelled and require a lot of textbooks to be reprinted. Instead, it is named after its hunting grounds near Dodman’s Point in Cornwall. Or its former hunting grounds, I suppose, since it made the mistake of attacking a ship containing the Black Knight. (The Funnies 049, 1940)<\/p>\n

Dragon<\/b>:<\/p>\n

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I really like this dragon, which spent its days peacefully eating maidens in an unnamed European kingdom until the Golden Knight showed up and slayed it. It has all the weird goofiness of the dragons that you see in Medieval illustrations from before the concept of what such a beast looks like was really codified. (Fantastic Comics 010, 1940)<\/p>\n

Dragons<\/b>:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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These<\/i> dragons, by contrast, are just a bunch of weird lizards that the Green Sorceress<\/a> keeps in a cave and throws her enemies to. I really like them. (Blue Bolt v1 001, 1940)<\/p>\n

Drazil<\/b>:<\/p>\n

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Here we see Neptina associate Norma Kane be ambushed and nearly killed by a very cool-looking undersea reptile called a drazil. As is often the case with long-necked creatures, the drazil is vulnerable to having its head chopped off.<\/p>\n

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Norma really was having a day of it, as immediately before the drazil attack, she was ambushed by this heinous looking crustacean which is referred to only as a “sea-beast<\/b>.” (Champ Comics 011, 1940)<\/p>\n

Dream Plants<\/b>:<\/p>\n

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During one of the Green Sorceress’ many attempts to conquer the whole of the underground world, she employs dark majicks and weird science to move her armies through the Fourth Dimension. While pursuing her there, Blue Bolt is nearly killed by a Dream Plant, a carnivorous plant with the ability to project sexy illusions to lure its prey closer.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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Later, a second, airborne species of dream plant that forgoes the illusory lures in favour of active hunting almost does for the Green Sorceress herself before Blue Bolt spears it in its conspicuous weak point. (Blue Bolt v1 005, 1940) <\/p>\n

Jungle Horse<\/b>:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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Finally we have the jungle horse, potentially the only non-hostile species present on the Gorikon in the Negative Universe, or at least the only one encountered by Meteor Martin during his time there. These peaceful animals just hang around waiting to act as beasts of burden for passing humanoids – a truly selfless species. (Amazing-Man Comics 025, 1941)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everyone likes a good monster now and then. Horned Cat: With every one of these round-ups I accrue more evidence that the Slightly Different Big Cat is one of the classic monster types, as seen here when Congo Jack is confronted with this horned green feline in the mystical Valley of Vango in the Congolese […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,14,94,457,458,144,452,226,3,350,239,453,91,459,198,455,456,454,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-5","category-14","category-ace-magazines","category-black-knight","category-blue-bolt","category-centaur","category-congo-jack","category-dell","category-fox-features","category-golden-knight","category-harvey-comics","category-meteor-martin","category-monsters","category-neptina","category-novelty-press","category-power-nelson","category-prize","category-rex-dexter-of-mars","category-the"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=320"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":321,"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions\/321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}