GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 015

It's time for another round with the guys in the masks.

A radio announcer who tries to poison all of Inland City with chlorine gas for unclear reasons. Ends up blowing himself up while tangling with heroic pilot Captain Steve Ransom. (Keen Detective Funnies v2 006, 1939)

This unnamed fellow takes the cake for audaciousness: his racket is drug smuggling and though traditionally one wants to keep a low profile while attempting to move controlled substances from place to place he:

-sets up camp in the basement of an occupied house,

-keeps a gorilla in that same basement,

-sends that gorilla out to attack randos in hopes of driving away the locals,

-poses as an FBI agent in an attempt to throw Power-Man off his scent.

All of these are what I would describe as "activities likely to invite scrutiny". And they do! (Fight Comics 005, 1940)

Muipo here is a Japanese agent in all but name working to foment trouble in China by flooding the country with opioids. His major interesting features are a decent looking half-face draped cloth mask (rare and annoying-looking to wear) and a fake fat guy body he sits in while dealing with his underlings. He gets beat up by US Marine Strut Warren precisely one page after making his debut. (Fight Comics 007, 1940)

The Squadron of Death is a group who blow up US defense infrastructure for... some reason. And there's the problem: very little is given away about who the Squadron are or what their motivations might be (beyond general anti-US sentiment) in this issue, and though there is some indication that they might return to vex the Arrow in future instalments the next three issues of Funny Pages are not available to anyone without about 10 to 15 grand to spend on physical copies. 

Pending further information the Squadron of Death are just two guys who steal a plane and then variously get thrown out of it or blown up in it by the Arrow. (Funny Pages v4 004, 1940)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 654: THE BRAIN

(Green Mask v1 003, 1940)

Despite the fact that when he shows up the Green Mask shouts his name in shocked surprise like they're old enemies, the Brain is not in fact the main antagonist of the story he appears in, which is concerned with a fellow named Dudley Carstairs who has made some bad business decisions and has decided that his best option going forward is to kill his niece and steal her large diamond. During the course of Carstairs' schemes an agent of the Brain witnesses his crimes and informs his boss and so our poor villain here is relegated to the status of second act twist.

Even though the Brain manages to steal the diamond and send the Green Mask, Domino and both Carstairs adrift in a dirigible fitted with a time bomb his time with the gem is limited, as the Green Mask has to escape and throw him off of his own plane in time to prevent Dudley from attempting to kill his niece again. Sorry, the Brain!

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 653: RADION

(Green Mask v1 003, 1940)

Radion first comes to the attention of the Green Mask and Domino the Miracle Boy when he makes an attempt on the life of their beloved laundry delivery boy, Jerry. After much running around after the hooded mastermind and his gang and multiple concussions for both of our heroes, Radion is eventually unmasked as... Jerry's boss, Mr Pelson. There are two things to take away from this:

1) The increased chance of being a super-villain that comes from knowing a super-hero's civilian identity extends to the most tenuous of links.

2) It never hurts to be a good boss.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 652: THE GRIM CIRCLE

(Green Mask v1 001, 1940)

The Grim Circle! A mysterious hooded group responsible not only for killing the Green Mask's father but also for causing the injury that leads to the creation of the Green Mask himself! And the creation of Domino the Miracle Boy a bit later in the issue! Truly they are the engines of their own destruction.

SIDE NOTE: Criminals targeting politicians for introducing tough-on-crime legislation is a trope in various media to this very day. I have no doubt that it has a TVtropes entry. Normally such laws are so vaguely laid out in the text of the story they appear in as to essentially be "we're making crime illegal again," but Senator Shelby's Mandatory Death Sentence for All Gang Members Bill is legitimately insane and while I don't condone murder maybe it is overall a good thing that he no longer has a hand in making laws.

Weirdly, I don't actually think that the Grim Circle are a gang. They're a group, certainly, but all of their activities seem to be in aid at a sort of freelance espionage situation. That's more of a conspiracy. And espionage is already very illegal!

The Grim Circle's major project is to draw the US into WWII and to that end they've recruited Igor, a mad scientist with a super artillery cannon, to help them blow up some peace talks. Needless to say, the Green Mask doesn't let this happen and in fact kills the whole lot of them via explosion.

John Sebastion, a financier tangentially connected to some of the Circle's crimes, is eventually revealed to be the head of the group, perhaps because he claims to have been released after the Green Mask killed everyone but the leader. The huge Grim Circle forearm tattoo might also have been a clue.

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 027

Guess what? More minor super-heroes, that's what.

the Black Arrow:

Black Arrow, aka Rex Norton, is a detective/pilot, ho-hum. As per standard he has a great codename. (Green Giant Comics 001, 1940)

the Researcher:

A dapper super-scientist armed with x-ray flashlights, paralysis-inducing walking sticks and mind-reading rays. Perhaps the most charming thing about him is that everyone from his enemies to his friends to his lab assistant/love interest refer to him solely as "the Researcher." (Green Giant Comics 001, 1940)

the Green Mask:

The Green Mask started out in Mystery Men Comics as your standard Green Hornet or Crimson Avenger style masked vigilante: capable with his fists and with a gun but otherwise an ordinary if unnamed human man, believed by the police and the underworld to actually be a crook and thus hunted by both, the works. 

After about a year and a half, he got a bit of a revamp: the Green Mask was now Michael Shelby, son of Senator Shelby, enemy of crime. In an attempt to prevent the Senator from introducing a law that would make crime illegal, gangsters gun him down and shoot up Michael in the process. Lucky for him, family friend Professor Lascomb is present and has a healing vita-ray machine at his disposal - Michael's life is saved and as happy side effect is empowered with the ability to fly and some ill-defined enhanced physical abilities. His crimefighting career is much the same as before but without the ire of the police. 

(Like Fox Features' other big non-Blue Beetle heroes Samson and the Flame, in 1941 the Green Mask gets a bit more of a supporting cast, in his case wealthy socialite Olivia Tracy and her bumbling chauffeur Peters. Like Samson and the Flame this didn't save him from oblivion when Fox had its troubles in 1942-1943 but unlike them he did return eventually. Kind of) (Mystery Men Comics 001, 1939/ Green Mask v1 001, 1940)

Domino the Miracle Boy:

In the same story in which the Green Mask becomes super-powered Michael Shelby (and also Michael Shelby becomes the Green Mask) an unnamed youngster is blown up by a grenade and must be healed by Professor Lascomb's vita-ray. This youth was called Don (no last name forthcoming) and wasn't just a blown-up teen but a blown-up teen orphan and so was summarily adopted by Michael Shelby. Domino's powers are a little less extensive than the Green Masks, as Prof Lascomb foolishly fixed the vita-ray machine's short circuit in between the two being treated, the main upshot of which is that Domino doesn't seem to be able to fly but rather gets around on a rope tied to a boomerang. (Green Mask Comics v1 001, 1940)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 651: THE RAIDERS

(Green Giant Comics 001, 1940)

The Raiders are a piratical group with a two-pronged approach to acquiring gold on the briny deep: 

1. learn of  gold shipments via a spy network operated by a member known only as "the Spy Chief"

2. employ the super-scientific creations of submarine captain Dirck to wreak havoc on gold bearing ships and then escape.

The whole thing is going swimmingly and even Rex Norton, the Black Arrow, is making very little headway against them until they make the mistake of trying to eliminate him using some of the Spy Chief's spies. Here's where the Raiders' fatal flaw comes in: no two of them can stand one another. In the course of their operation, spies Borgu and X-13 bicker hard enough to spill every vital secret that their organization has to Norton's hot little ears, and are distracted enough by infighting that he escapes and captures them without difficulty.

(X-13 seems to be coded as the Black Arrow's femme fatale/ friendly enemy and probably would have been a recurring antagonist if Rex Norton had ever reappeared)

The bickering extends all the way to the top, as the Spy Chief and Dirck the Inventor basically do Rex Norton's job for him in a mutual betrayal that he barely has to intervene in to take down the entire organization.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 650: RANGO OF SLAVONIA/ MINOR SUPER-HERO: THE MASTER MYSTIC

(Green Giant Comics 001, 1940)

We join Rango, a science villain of some description, after he has failed to conquer Europe. His next move: total destruction.

After absolutely devastating a city in what is probably Slavonia, Rango heads for the United States by the simple expedient of swimming across the Atlantic.

And now we encounter the main attraction, Master Mystic! What a character! Master Mystic is very much ahead of his time, both in his art style and degree of superhuman omnipotence.

Master Mystic's entire battle with Rango feels like something out of a 60s underground comic, slightly unreal and rubbery and full of visual excess. Appropriately, Master Mystic was created by Victor E. Pazmino, whose other credits tended more toward the funny animal content that informed so much of the underground comix scene.

(see also Pazmino's other super-heroic creation, TNT Todd, for some fun costume compare-and-contrast)

It really is a shame that Pazmino didn't do more work along these lines, assuming that he wanted to. Stuff like this visualization of the Master Mystic's telekinesis stands out as innovative by any era's standards.

Master Mystic eventually melts Rango into horrible goo and then returns to his Arctic stronghold to resume his protective watch over humanity North America, and if the super-powered one-upsmanship of their battle felt like something out of 60s counterculture comics then this detached, omnipotent man routine feels very 1980s post-Watchmen, or at least one step away from that. Should some entrepeneur BRING BACK the Master Mystic the next time metatextual super-hero analysis characters like Miracleman come into vogue? It's worth a shot!