(Bulletman 002, 1941) There are many Hunchbacks, both actual and fake, in the ranks of the minor super-villain, alas. Victor Hugo has much to answer for. This Hunchback is a former actor whose back (and presumably mind) was injured in a fall and thereafter resolved to kill all leading men at a particular theatre via dart to the neck. The real standout of the story is not the Hunchback but rather red herring murder suspect Matt Benson, seen here being a…
(Bulletman 001, 1941) The Largest Man in the World is exactly what it says on the tin: an unfeasibly enormous dude. By himself, not much of a threat so long as he gets a regular supply of molasses to eat. It’s just too bad for society that he is spotted by crooks and used as a living siege weapon to rob and kill. The really remarkable thing about the Largest Man in the World is that his gangster pal is Machine…
(Bulletman 001, 1940) There is a pretty broad swath of the super-villain community (and an even larger cohort of generic costumed villains) who have the common origin of being respectable members of society who need a second identity to head a gang or catburgle or do murders under the guise of. The gang leaders tend to stick to a few different styles of dress: there’s the domino mask wearers, the executioners-style hood guys and the more cautious head-to-toe robe wearers….
(Bulletman 001, 1941) What makes them a super-villain? The Black Spider is Jules Rey, a French crook who got caught in NYC and shipped back to France, where he was thrown in a dungeon, went blind, befriended the spiders in his cell and escaped. Now he’s back for revenge on those he blames for his circumstances, including Jim “Bulletman” Barr and his coworker and future father-in-law Sergeant Kent. Plus he dresses in a kind of low-rent Batman costume. What is…
(Blue Beetle Comics 010, 1941) Once again I am faced with the painful dichotomy of a villain with all of the trappings I love – he’s a bombastic loudmouth with a bunch of costumed henchmen, who uses simple trickery to appear superhuman – but uses them in service to some frankly uninspired crimes. In this case, the Swamp Master (great name, too!) emerges from the swamp (natch) with his wet-suited Swampmen and a saurian monster that is actually a disguised…
(Blue Beetle Comics 008, 1941) Dr Krug! I cannot tell you his motives, because he never goes into them! Dr Krug! He wants to destroy NYC York City , and he’s going to do it with gorillas! Dr Krug! Specifically, explosive gorillas! Dr Krug! That’s really all there is to the guy. He somehow figured out how to make time-bombs out of gorillas and went from there. As far as I can tell from the action of the story his plan is…
I feel a little bad about what I said in the Armo post. The generic masked guys are, after all, trying their best, even if they aren’t quite measuring up to my standards. So while I can’t quite bring myself to write an individual post about each one, there’s no harm in doing a roundup of them every now and again, starting with the guys that Blue Beetle fought in 1941: Ivor Nick: This guy had a lieutenant named the Wart…
(Blue Beetle v1 007, 1941) What makes them a super-villain? It’s the helmet! That kind of welder’s mask-looking helm is the key to my super-villain-appreciating heart. Otherwise, Armo is a gang boss who robs armoured cars and ends up launching himself into the sea while trying to run down the Blue Beetle. Honestly, Blue Beetle antagonists in this era are almost all guys in suits wearing masks but otherwise acting like standard gang bosses. If I didn’t include the filter…
(Blue Beetle Comics 006, 1941) I skip a lot of generic villains from the non-Marvel or DC families of comics, because everyone existing together in a big shared world is the thing about comics that makes me get out my spreadsheets and my extensive tagging system. A guy like Lugo, though, demands at least a little attention. One thing to know about him off the bat is: he’s an underwater guy. This happens a lot in comics starring underwater heroes…
(Blue Beetle v1 006, 1941) What makes them a super-villain? I’ll be honest. The Eel’s initial plot – take over NYC York City ‘s shipping industry in order to starve and thereby ransom the city – was, while ambitious, a bit old hat and I was going to write him off as another jagoff gang boss with a decent moniker. But then! He reveals his Room of Horrors(!) where he pickles his enemies alive(!!), and, well, how could I not?