(Whiz Comics 002, 1940) When I fist made this blog it was mostly as a way to keep up a twitter thread that I was really enjoying but which was not enough to keep me on a rapidly-curdling social media platform. This is why all of the early entries are so short: because they’re just beefed-up tweets. This is also why I focused so heavily on obscure super-villains at first and only expanded my purview to include obscure super-heroes and more prominent…
(Whirlwind Comics 003, 1940) Earth in the far-off future of 1980 CE simply can’t catch a break! This time they’re being pelted with comets from somewhere in the vicinity of Jupiter and as per usual scientist-adventurer Bruce Barlow is on the case. And he’s a good choice, as evidenced by the fact that even when he has a rocket mishap and ends up going entirely the wrong way, crashing on Venus… … he still finds the source of the comets! This is…
Craig Carter’s whole deal is summoning ancient gods out of his ring, and since he only had two issues in which to do so I am able to offer you a complete list of them here. With pictures! Zeus: Zeus acts as the spokesgod of Craig Carter’s magic ring, and seems to be the one in charge of summoning forth the other deities. He’s called the “god of wisdom” here. I dig his little crown. (Wham Comics 001, 1940) Pegasus:…
(Whirlwind Comics 002, 1940) This is Muskog, ruler of the Earth’s core in the far-future year of 1980 CE and total dick. Muskog has been blasting the surface of the planet with a static electricity ray for seemingly no reason whatsoever, or at least no reason that he cares to state. This of course attracts the attention of crack science adventurer Bruce Barlow, who ventures into the molten depths on behalf of his people to ask “how come?” There are…
World leaders and others. Adolf Hitler: I’m pretty sure that the “Navy Jones” strip is set in an undefined near-future time, which makes the Dictator of Europe here a future analog of Adolf Hitler rather than a stand-in for him. I’m almost certain that that’s the case. Anyway, he tries to invade the US with a fleet of amphibious tanks and gets his ass handed to him by Navy Jones and his fish men. (Weird Comics 008, 1940) Chiang Kai-shek and Soong…
(Whirlwind Comics 001, 1940) In the far future of 1980 CE, Earth is under threat of conquest from space. A mysterious ray has dissolved the nation of Slovania, and now a being called Toko the Terrible, Emperor of Saturn has issued an ultimatum: surrender to him or the entire Earth will suffer the same fate. This of course will not stand, and Earth sends their best guy (Bruce Barlow), to deal with the threat of Toko. Barlow, being a man…
A wretched and motley crew for ye this day. Mikal, leader of the undersea pirates, is an evocative figure who exists only to pad out the Typhon story that he appears in by a couple of pages. In an attempt to aid his ally, the king of the Sea Demons, he gets off one good hydro-jet blast at Typhon’s submarine before he and his entire undersea fortress are annihilated by the sub’s hydro-ray. (Weird Comics 005, 1940) Friends, I am…
(Wham Comics 002, 1940) Just after Blue Fire gets his powers and vows to use them to beat up “criminals, racketeers and foreign spies” he is served a chance to do so on a silver platter when his local newspaper carries an account of a ship at sea being sabotaged by a very cold man who just stood around in the engine room until everything broke. Making his way to the ship in question, Blue Fire uses his intangibility power…
Some of those reeeeal obscure guys today. Craig Carter: Archaeologist Craig Carter wants to give up all the stuffy academia and become a crime fighter, and since he lives in a comic book universe, the very day he tells his girlfriend about this objectively bad decision he receives a magical ring in the mail from an old colleague whose life he had saved. This ring grants its wearer the ability to summon the gods of antiquity to aid them –…
Once again there are too many different kinds of minutia for my tagging system’s character limit. Trophy Room – the Parachute Patrol: British Boy Scout troop the Parachute Patrol capture a German Stuka and mount its propeller like a boar’s head. (Wings Comics 004, 1940)