MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 905: THE MISSING MUMMY

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 905: THE MISSING MUMMY

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(Whiz Comics 020, 1941) Racing to the Hayten Museum in New York City in response to a plea for assistance, super-detective Dan Dare discovers a body upon arrival and is immediately accused of being the murderer by what turns out to be his employers, once everything is cleared up. It turns out that these men are either archaeologists or the kind of genteel looters who supplied museums back in the day, and that they recently opened a cursed Egyptian tomb…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 904: THE BLACK MAGICIAN

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 904: THE BLACK MAGICIAN

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(Whiz Comics 019, 1941) This story’s conflict is precipitated by Billy Batson dedicating his radio time one day to the subject of black magic and the nonexistence thereof, and while this dovetails nicely with the 40s and 50s US cultural project of promoting the supremacy of both scientific rationality and Protestant Christianity over superstition (which includes all other world religion, natch), it’s a bit rich coming from someone who got super powers from a wizard who lives in a magic…

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DIVINE ROUND-UP 023

DIVINE ROUND-UP 023

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The gods they just keep on coming.  Osiris:  Ibis the Invincible’s power levels get a bit of a nerf in 1941 when the caveat that his Ibistick is ineffective, variously, against magic, evil magic and in areas of ambient magic (just which is the case depends on the dramatic needs of the story). This forces him to come up with creative solutions to his problems, such as during this attack by a storm demon summoned by his arch-foe Trug, in…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 903: SMASHER SPY

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 903: SMASHER SPY

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(Whiz Comics 015, 1941) As seen in his recent update, Spy Smasher’s arch-foe the Mask eventually gets a bit too good at villainy for his own sake. While he succeeds at warping Spy Smasher’s mind and turning him against the US government that he once sought only to defend, the Mask’s enthusiasm means that he is a bit too loose with his commands to “Kill! Kill! Kill!” meaning that the first that Spy Smasher does is to kill the Mask….

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GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 032

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 032

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A more fantastical bunch of genericos than usual! How fun! Benjie Frazier:  This mysterious cloaked figure hires femme fatale Sonia, aka Princess Cleo, to help him drive all of the inhabitants out of “center of New York society” Formal Park (99% certain that this is a substitution for former real-life society hub Tuxedo Park). To that end, the pair deploy such tools as squads of hooded goons, a mysteriously appearing brand to indicate that their victims have suffered “the Pharaoh’s Curse”, and…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 044 UPDATE: THE MASK 1941

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 044 UPDATE: THE MASK 1941

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Some highlights of the Mask‘s career c. 1941. The Mask starts off 1941 with a bag, quite literally, as he attempts to blow up a munitions factory with FDR inside of it. (Whiz Comics 012, 1941) He’s at it again in the next issue, with another plot to kill FDR – this time by dropping a time bomb on the roof of the White House. He’s an ambitious guy, the Mask. Fortunately for the President, he is also a guy…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 902: MAGNIFICUS SIVANA

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 902: MAGNIFICUS SIVANA

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(Whiz Comics 015, 1941) After Captain Marvel foils a scheme to be described further in the next Dr Sivana update, he finds himself battling a beefcake named Magnificus. Though Magnificus is ultimately not a match for Captain Marvel, he is powerful enough to duke it out with him for several minutes, which is frankly just as impressive. Since they are doing so on the side of a mountain, however, this starts a landslide that seem like it might just spell the end…

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ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 025

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 025

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We’re going heavy on the ape-man content this time.  Ape-Men:  These Ape-Men, like most ape men, are some sort of human offshoot population or remnant of another species of homo living in the isolated depths of, in this case, the Amazon jungle. They come into conflict with Doctor Voodoo after breaking their long-held peace treaty with his allies the Blancas and abducting many of them for human sacrifice. Also they use silver arrows for some unexplained reason. (Whiz Comics 013, 1941) Ape-Men: …

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 901: XYZ

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 901: XYZ

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(Whiz Comics 014, 1941)  Dan Dare exists in a world rife with crime in which he is seemingly the only person capable of solving an moderate-to-difficult mystery. Thus, he and his assistant/lover Carol Clews constantly fly from city to city capturing crooks, while Carol fruitlessly attempts to steal Dan away for a much-needed vacation. In this particular installment, Dan and Carol have been summoned to Chicago by TL Thornton, Publisher of the Daily Clarion and subject of a terror campaign…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 900: TRUG

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 900: TRUG

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(Whiz Comics 013, 1941)  Trug is a student of magic and of Ibis the Invincible specifically who creeps out of the shadows after Ibis and Taia’s ward Tommy has defeated his school’s boxing champion and tempts the despondent youth into stealing the Ibistick for him (the sad boy is then turned into a tree and then never mentioned again – very sad). Trug’s Ibis scholarship extends beyond kind of dressing like him and knowing where his extended family hang out…

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