MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 964: THE SHARK

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 964: THE SHARK

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(The Face 001, 1941) “Sparky Watts” was a long-running comic feature in Big Shot Comics and other Columbia publications about the eponymous Sparky Watts, a down-on-his-luck young man whose life turns around when scientist Doc Static gives him super powers using his cosmic ray machine. Having started out as a comic strip, Watts’ adventures tend to hew closer to the comic adventurous rather than the super-heroic. Still, every once in a while he encounters a minor super-villain such as the Shark. The…

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MEDIA IN COMICS 003

MEDIA IN COMICS 003

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We’ve hit a rich seam of comic book movies this time, by Jove. Movies: Eaglets of America is a film about flying cadets, filmed at the same field that aspiring pilot Lucky Byrd trains at. There is some unpleasantness with a lecherous leading man, alas, but it all gets sorted by the end. (Target Comics v1 002, 1940) The 1933 film the Prizefighter and the Lady, starring boxer Max Baer opposite Myrna Loy, was a real touchstone back during the…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 497 UPDATE: RAMUN THE EVIL ONE

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 497 UPDATE: RAMUN THE EVIL ONE

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(The Face 001, 1941) I can’t say I’m surprised to see Ramun the Evil One again, given what I said about his supposed death in his last appearance. Ramun trails his old foe Marvelo (Monarch of Magicians, natch) into the desert and replaces his caravan’s staff with he and his men in an effort to steal the treasure of Tut-Akum-Aut from them when and if they dig it up. And he does it! He has them at his mercy and…

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DIVINE ROUND-UP 029

DIVINE ROUND-UP 029

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Comic book religion. Tricky stuff. Hercules:  The thing that really jumps out at you when you first encounter this version of Hercules is that he goes to Valhalla when he dies, which is weird. The second thing is that he is appearing in a Golden Age Marvel comic and so there might be fun storytelling ramifications considering the fact that Hercules is a moderately popular (and alive) Marvel Comics character with appearances from the mid-60s to today. Perhaps the fact…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 963: THE GENTLEMAN

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 963: THE GENTLEMAN

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(Exciting Comics 015, 1941) The Gentleman, “the most elusive jewel thief in the country,” is after the fabulous Orloff Necklace, and District Attorney Tony Colby, aka the Mask, is on the case. I initially had my money on the goateed gallery manager being the Gentleman in a classic double bluff, but once this comically-affronted old lady showed up it became clear that my instincts were wrong. The Gentleman’s modus operandi turns out to involve a combination of disguise and smuggling gems out…

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GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 041

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 041

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Mamas lock up your radium, because the z-tier villains are back in town. the Fuhrer of Brazil: Larry North is a US Naval Reserve Lieutenant and airline pilot who turns hand to Nazi spy-hunting when he and his companion Betty Harmon are hijacked by fascists in Rio di Janiero. They spend their first few adventures dismantling a scheme to conquer Brazil, and when in the course of this the traitorous and toothbrush-mustached Doctor Sanchez mentions a figure called the Fuhrer…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 962: THE MASTER

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 962: THE MASTER

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(Exciting Comics 015, 1941) The Master is a mysterious new crooks who has been going around town kidnapping wealthy men, and the Black Terror and Tim have been running around after him and trying to figure out just what the heck is going on. The Master is also a classic Bad Boss in the “ruthlessly kill your minions” mould. As it turns out, the Master has broadly the same origin story as early Batman villain the Ugliest Man in the…

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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 091

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 091

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Have a few mid-tier minor super-heroes, for a change. the Black Terror: Pharmacist Bob Benton is the kind of guy who will step in when a little kid is being roughed up by thugs, but despite this he is pretty relentlessly bullied by city Comptroller Rodney Clark* and (in a less overt but still insidious way) their mutual love interest Jean Starr. * Clark is such a bully, in fact, that I assumed that he was going to eventually turn out…

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GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 040

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 040

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Once again I am plagued by the absolute dregs of villainy. A Vampire: Vampires are one of the types of character that are statistically likely to make it through my classification system and be certified as super, but this particular one who a) lives in a swamp shack, b) has two meals in a row taken away from him by the Green Knight, c) doesn’t even get a name and d) ends up dead with his shack burned down around…

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