(Exciting Comics 006, 1940) The Cult of Death comes into conflict with adventurer Ted Crane and his pals as they look for their associate, Egyptologist Dr Turner, in Luxor. Despite its very evocative name, the Cult of Death seems to sort of broadly worship the concept of Ancient Egypt and resent those who would pry into its secrets – Dr Turner has in fact been killed by them for seeking the lost tomb of King Mephtet. Does the cult’s leader…
(Exciting Comics 005, 1940) The Submarine Gang get dealt a very bad hand: although they are a successful and feared group of submarine pirates who have been terrorizing shipping in the New York area, they have the misfortune of being lead by corrupt City Commissioner Lupine, who is dumb enough not only to conduct gang business while hosting a large and well-attended party at his home but to do so in the context of the Sphinx operating out of the…
(Exciting Comics 005, 1940) Stretching the definition of “super-villain” to the very limits here: the Tankonaut is a superweapon developed by US arms manufacturer M.V. Gage under contract to a man who is very clearly meant to be Hitler but is referred to only as the Dictator. Whether this would have qualified as treason in mid-to-late 1940 is beyond me but the next part, where the Tankonaut is tested on US targets (including Washington DC!) extremely is. Not only does…
(Exciting Comics 004, 1940) Famed Broadway star Sandra Cummings is dead, either by her own hand or anothers’, and she has for some never explained reason left behind a note detailing the extent of political corruption in NYC and more importantly naming the names of those involved. This note is immediately stolen and soon afterward someone pretending to be the Mask starts extorting and murdering those named in the note. I’ve said it before: impersonating a super-hero is completely understandable…
(Exciting Comics 003, 1940) They may be an ordinary gang of Western Bandits but I can’t help but be impressed by just how many of them there are. Every time Texas Ranger Jim Hatfield meets up with the Masked Men he blows at least a couple of them away yet there are always more available to help top man Bull Jeffrey loot the boom town of Concho. They must’ve been planning a 72-man split of the loot originally!
(Exciting Comics 003, 1940) Technically, the Red Blight is a ray weapon developed by mad scientist Dr Hodl on behalf of ideologically nonspecific aggressor General Pasko in order to facilitate the conquest of Europe, but just like when a guy with a regular name is tooling around in a vehicle with a cool codename I reckon that the good name should take precedence, particularly as 1) Dr Hodl never returns and 2) people make reference to the Red Blight as…
(Exciting Comics 002, 1940) The Specter is actually Harmon, foreman of the Diamond D Ranch, who dresses up like the ghost of a KKK member and kills people with a fanged ring to simulate rattlesnake bites. It’s never explicitly stated but he seems to be trying to drive away the owners of the ranch so that he can take full control of a secret gold mine that only he knows about. Or maybe he’s just killing off anyone who gets…
(Exciting Comics 002, 1940) Recently graduated top college athlete Ted Crane and famed anthropologist Professor Hawkins (and Hawkins’ daughter Betty, who stowed away as all young women had to if they were going to have adventures in the 40s) set out to find Kenya’s lost Konogo Tribe but almost immediately meet opposition from one of the Leopard Men. Despite being a supposedly mythical group, this Leopard Man has a gas-dispenser in his mouth that really knocks Ted for a loop…
Here come the also-rans. We’ve got another Leader, and this time he’s not a generically-fascist spy but the head of a gang looking to extort the New York World’s Fair via a series of bombings. Of course the Fantom of the Fair cannot let this stand and quickly tracks them down to a small island base. If the first reason I included the Leader aka Relmar here is because I enjoy a monocled man with a high opinion of himself…
(Exciting Comics 001, 1940) The Space Emperor first makes himself known to the solar authorities of 3964 AC (and no, I do not know what the C stands for) by either sending or allowing to escape an intelligence agent named Sperling who was investigating trouble on Jupiter for the President of Earth. Sperling has been transformed into a beast-man so horrible to behold that the President’s assistant kills him on sight but not before he can get the word out….