MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 989: THE ARTIST

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 989: THE ARTIST

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(Jackpot Comics 004, 1941) An otherwise-unnamed portraitist, the Artist finds himself down on his luck because he refuses to flatter his clients by painting them in anything but complete realism. After his latest client, a banker, literally kicks him out onto the street, he continues to work on the man’s portrait in a hate-fueled haze until he unlocks a power within himself: once he has painted someone’s portrait realistically enough, their soul becomes trapped inside and the husk of their…

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ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 052

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 052

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The aliens are very humanoid today. I hope that they are to your liking. Cavemen: There’s no real explanation of why these cavemen are just chilling out in a cavern not a day’s walk from an inhabited region of Africa, along with assorted mammoths and sabretooth tigers. They’re just what Fantomah finds when she follows a river to its source to see why it has been contaminated and is killing those who drink from it. The answer: the cavemen killed…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 988: FORD

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 988: FORD

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(Jackpot Comics 003, 1941) l We meet Ford for the first time as he is knifing his fellow archaeologist Baker to death in an ancient Egyptian tomb, in order to be the sole possessor of the fabled Black Book of Sorcery which they have just found. Two points about Ford right off the bat: 1. he is only ever called Ford. No first name, even! This is what I get for grumbling internally about how boring William Scott’s name was. 2. He…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 987: WILLIAM SCOTT

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 987: WILLIAM SCOTT

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(Jackpot Comics 002, 1941) William Scott is your textbook mad scientist delving into the mysteries of life and death that man was not meant to comprehend, and in fact is so clearly going to be a problem that Mr Justice shows up to tell him off in advance, just based on a feeling. Despite this, Scott signs up condemned gangster “Rod” Dugan (and whether the Rod part is short for Rodney or the now-somewhat obscure slang for a gun is impossible…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 986: THE ZOMBIE MASTER

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 986: THE ZOMBIE MASTER

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(Jackpot Comics 001, 1941) Zarro, the Zombie Master, is yet another take on an evil Haitian voodoo practitioner: we’ve seen ’em before and we’ll see ’em again. He is recruited by a couple of pseudo-Nazis named Karl Bezdek and Hugo Kempf for help in setting up a factory that uses zombies as workers in the production of war material for the Axis. Like the other Zombie Master we have covered, this one is a vibrant shade of green, just like…

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MEDIA IN COMICS 010

MEDIA IN COMICS 010

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Is the media in comics any good, do you think? Do super-heroes get to watch good movies? Movies: Arizona Nights is a Western being produced by King Studios when a climactic gunfight scene is used as cover for a real-life murder. Detective Sergeant Carey clears up the mystery (it was the cameraman) but we never learn if the footage of a man dying in real life was used for the added verisimilitude. (More Fun Comics 052, 1940) Call of the…

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CATALOGUE OF WOUNDS 012

CATALOGUE OF WOUNDS 012

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If I keep at this long enough then we will find the super-hero with the most comically-long list of wounds sustained in the course of their adventures. Currently in the lead: the Green Mask! Unless we’re talking about head traumas, in which case I must direct your gaze to the Blue Beetle. Domino the Miracle Boy: Shot in the right shoulder by Dr Moru while heroically leaping in front of a gun to save the Green Mask. (Mystery Men Comics…

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GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 045

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 045

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It’s hard out there for the little guys. Unnamed Spy Chief: I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a comic book villain with such a distinctive look and clear devotion to a visual theme but absolutely nothing else. Her “decadent Egyptian Queen” bit doesn’t spill into her plans, it doesn’t inform how her minions dress… she doesn’t even have a name. Baffling!  On top of everything else, her plans are foiled and she is captured by the oafish Navy man Spark…

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DIVINE ROUND-UP 032

DIVINE ROUND-UP 032

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It can’t all be off-brand Greek gods. I’m elbow-deep in the 1941 issues of Jungle Comics, so here are some off-brand African deities. Damballah and Gbeji-Nibu: The evil witch doctor N’Goku has been using his magical abilities to cause problems in his area (plagues of snakes, a sickness among the cattle) and then solve them for cash money, and then when Fantomah (post-Fletcher Hanks) points out that he is doing so he attempts to do away with her. N’Goku invokes Gbeji-Nibu,…

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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 985: THE MAD GHOST

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 985: THE MAD GHOST

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(Green Mask v1 008, 1941) The tale of the Mad Ghost (“Death Deals in Diamonds!”) is presented as a classic whodunnit, which happen to be one of my very favourite genres of both comic stories and of fiction in general. Sadly, this story is a prime example of how poorly this genre can be executed, and an early sign of this is in the dramatic presentation of suspects on the splash page. While it is pretty common to include the…

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