(Fantastic Comics 001, 1939) We open on Space Smith and his girlfriend Dianna (sometimes Diana) having a trans-Lunar space-date ruined by Martian Imp Men and I am immediately struck with the dilemma engendered by nearly all Fletcher Hanks stories: follow through on my impulses and post most if not all panels or be judicious for the sake of space and readability? I went with the latter but it hurt. So in lieu of my posting every panel that features the…
(Fantastic Comics 001, 1939) Thorga! Exiled from Western society because of his “mad plans”, he emerges from the mountains of Tibet with a high-tech army, intent on conquering Europe! Thorga! He fields a mighty airforce of advanced planes, a mechanized infantry of advanced tanks! Thorga! He is the first foe faced by Fox Features’ Samson and so his main role is as a demonstration of Samson’s power as he destroys not only the planes and tanks but the regular infantry…
(Blue Ribbon Comics 019, 1941) This is the same guy as the Dictator but on his time off, I guess? Mr Justice kind of gave up on him after the Green Ghoul incident – maybe he just couldn’t get up the energy to keep running a Nazi Germany analog. I think he continues to pop up and empower Mr Justice foes but more importantly he has some very cute little trident-wielding imp goons. No hell-dimension is complete without them!
(Blue Ribbon Comics 019, 1941) I wonder if high schools in comic book universes hold some sort of assembly to teach kids not to yell about selling their souls to the Devil when life has them down? Because as far as I can tell it’s got a pretty high chance of working, like it does for weird little scientist Ribo here. Ribo does indeed get to see again but he also gets a demonic makeover – he’s even more of…
(Super Comics 002, 1938) This is just a regular account of some survivors of Atlantis (and their wives) setting up a colony somewhere – in this case the South Seas. The development of a priestly class obsessed with covering up their murder of one guy (to the extent that he is eventually made their god of Justice!) is pretty fun.
(Blue Ribbon Comics 019, 1941) The Mad Botanist is an assassin “in the employment of a foreign power” which in 1941 as good as means that he was working for the Axis. His nom de guerre comes from the fact that his preferred method of murder is via deadly plant life, including the African Tentacle Vine, the Mediterranean Poison Cornflower and of course the insidious Man-Eating Clam-Plant. The Botanist’s somewhat bizarre physical appearance is never commented upon in the comic…
(Blue Ribbon Comics 018, 1941) Ratzer is a Nazi agent who tangles with American-serving-in-the British-Army Corporal Collins a couple of times. There’s not a lot to say about him, honestly: the first time he meets Collins he’s trying to spring a load of Nazi prisoners and destroy a lot of British gun cotton in then-Bombay, while the second time he’s stealing oil in Iraq. He is not notably villainous, particularly in the ranks of Nazi super-villains. He does, however, have…
(Blue Ribbon Comics 016, 1941) There’s a quality that some comic book characters have and some do not and I never knew about it until I started writing this blog. That quality is called Standing in Clear View So That I Can Get a Screengrab of Them, and buddy, the Black Hand does not have it. This is about as good of a full look as you get of the guy in his first appearance. Enough complaining! The Black Hand…
(Blue Ribbon Comics 016, 1941) The Green Ghoul is a demonic creature either summoned or created by the demon known as the Dictator as a very successful method of getting Mr Justice to leave him alone. He appears on a US beach and lays waste to an unfortunate couple before heading to the unnamed New York City-alike that Mr Justice calls home. Like I said, the Green Ghoul is a distraction, so it’s understandable that its plans lack nuance. To…
(Blue Ribbon Comics 013, 1941) I had two surprises coming to me when I read the first appearance of this fellow: 1) though there are a fair few Golden and Silver Age comics that posit some sort of supernatural element to the evils of the Axis power – deals with the Devil, influence by one or another god of war, etc – but this is the earliest example I’ve seen of one of their leaders actually being a supernatural evil….