MONSTER, CRITTER AND CREATURE ROUND-UP 003

I hope everyone likes monsters as much as I do because there are a whole lot of them to cover.

Beaked Tyros:

When polar explorer Anthony Conrad gets lost in an Arctic storm and falls through a hole in the pack ice, he reasonably expects to meet his demise. Instead, he falls into the subterranean kingdom of Artica and is chosen by the elderly Artican king - also a stranded former surface explorer - as his successor. 

As part of the coronation process, Anthony must prove his mettle to his prospective subjects, and step two of that process is Thrilling Arena Combat with the horrible beaked tyros "Lord of Artica's Jungles," and I love this thing. Though it looks like just another low-rent carnosaur at first glance, upon closer examination it has many bizarre features, including weird bird legs, thin, unpleasant-looking teeth, radially-symmetrical hands that are possibly equipped with suckers on the palms, and skin that is described as "hairy" in the caption box. Truly this is a strange and wonderful beast that sadly must be chopped up in service to the story. (Cyclone Comics 001, 1940)

the Beast:

When asked to prove his worthiness to wed the Princess Ahloo, our hero Abdallah knows exactly what to do: ride directly to a nearby valley full of dinosauroids and slay one of them. Though one of the pteranodon-adjacent flying reptiles that confront him when he enters the valley would probably be sufficient to satisfy Ahloo's father, Abdallah instead opts to battle a creature referred to only as the Beast, a possibly-fire-breathing, possibly-carnivorous sauropodoid that give him a truly heroic-level challenge. And it works! He gets the girl! (Funny Pages v2 003, 1937)

the Birds:

These vulture-monsters come very close to destroying the Blue Bolt on his very first adventure. They are only prevented from doing so, in fact, because they work for the Green Sorceress and she has become infatuated with Our Hero here on sight.

I'm always a big fan of these kinds of monster birds that up the ante on deadliness by throwing most of the birdliness of the creature out the window and instead give them the body plan of a griffin. Really great stuff and my only note is that some of the tails are very unpleasant to look at. (Blue Bolt v1 001, 1940)

Bolu:

Meg and Mickey are two children who have access to a magical time-travel stone and use it to just kind of blunder around throughout history. In this particular instance they have ended up in the Stone Age and are only saved from being eaten by some uncharitable portrayals of our collective ancestors by the appearance of a dinosaur, called Bolu by the cavemen and of course far, far more out of place than two 20th Century kids could ever hope to be. There is some indication that the bolu was summoned by the Spirit of the Stone to save the two from becoming dinner, but if that's the case then why do the cavemen already know about it? (The Comics 007, 1938)

Carnicantileia:

The swamp-dwelling carnicantileia briefly menaces Flip Falcon and his associates during one of his early adventures when he mostly uses his fantastic time-and-space machine to go to Mars. It's a pretty impressive snake-style beast, and as such it's a real shame that it is killed in such a goofy way, by having a big rock thrown down its gullet. (Fantastic Comics 003, 1940)

Carnivoplant:

The carnivoplant is a classic man-eating plant, subtype seaweed, that almost kills adventurer Kinks Mason before it in turn is preyed upon by a swarm of phosphomites. And just what are phosphomites, you may ask? Contextually, they are small glowing creatures that eat carnivoplants, and that is all the information we get. (Fight Comics 001, 1940)

Cave Monster:

Modern day cowboy hero Bull's-Eye Bill and his companions meet this cave reptile while pursuing an outlaw, and as I previously observed, it was clearly meant to set up an adventure into a prehistoric underground world that subsequent creators chose not to take advantage of. 

As for the one beast that we do get to see fight some cowboys, I really appreciate how lizardy it looks, as well as how it seems to be posing for maximum dramatic effect in every panel, even when killing a guy or writhing around in its death throes. (Target Comics v1 007, 1940)

the Ozix:

Someday when I post a picture of a creature that is just a big cat with some extra stuff stapled onto it in one of these round-ups I will be able to refer to it as a standard type of creature, but I simply haven't done the work yet. The ozix, then, is a beast with the body of a leopard and the head of a crocodile - how novel a concept! Adventurer Congo Jack must slay this one during his adventures under the earth. (Lightning Comics v2 002, 1941) 

Dakk:

Returning to the adventures of King Anthony in the sub-Arctic world of Artica, here we see him as he is about to tour his kingdom on the back of a domesticated dakk, and I must say that I like the very beast-of-burden look that they have given to this creature's head. Sadly, this particular dakk has been poisoned as part of an attempt to assassinate the new king.

This assassination attempt is only partially successful, as Anthony survives the fall into the jungles of Artica but is then placed in further peril at the claws of the various creatures that live there, such as this amazing giraffe-patterned water lizard.

Though he escapes the lizard, Anthony is almost immediately attacked by a great horned tigrid, which is is of course a regular tiger with two little horns on its head, and another example of what I was talking about in the ozix entry.

Finally, after stumbling upon the roots of the conspiracy against him and dealing with them violently, King Anthony makes his way home on a humble unicorn. (Cyclone Comics 003, 1940) 

the Storm Monster:

A giant reptilian beast that plagues an African village on a yearly basis (during a huge storm, natch), the Storm Monster meets its end after swallowing Kaänga whole, upon which he carves his way free of its guts with his trusty knife. (Jungle Comics 021, 1941)

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 046

Here's to all the crooks who just didn't have enough oomph.

the Despot:

The Despot (not really his name, but literally the only thing he is called throughout the story) has the magic power to transform himself and others into living plants and animals, a power which he uses to trap Camilla and Sir Champion in his mountain fastness after luring them there on a magical golden road. Thus stripped of its leaders, the Lost Empire proves no match for the Despot's invading armies (who might be animals that have been turned into humans or might also have the power to turn into animals - it is unclear). 

The Despot's reign over the Lost Empire is short, as Camilla and Sir Champion are able to outwit the single, albeit magical, dog that he had left to guard them. Cornered, he makes a real shapeshifter mistake and turns into a potato, whereupon he is trapped in that form forever by Sir Champion's magic sword. 

This adventure comes at the very end of Camilla's time in the original Lost Empire location, which is very sad because I think that knowing that a magical evil potato was stuck to the floor somewhere just off-panel would have really enhanced those stories. (Jungle Comics 014, 1941)

the Acrobat Bandits:

The Acrobat Bandits are a trio of rope-swinging jewel thieves who terrorize NYC for a few weeks before they tangle with reporter Dopey Day and are undone by his semi-slapstick ways. They are in fact pretty cool villains but really don't get a lot of time to shine while Dopey is tripping over himself and dropping things, alas. (Liberty Scouts Comics 003, 1941)

Jasper Fennel:

Seemingly mild-mannered jewellery store clerk Jasper Fennel turns out to be the brains behind the notorious Panther Gang in this Marvo the Magician story. He might never have been caught if he hadn't robbed his own place of employment - a valuable lesson for all would-be criminals not to shit where you eat. He also has one of the more upsetting masks I have seen in a while. (Lightning Comics v2 004, 1941)

Hook:

Hook is the leader of a gang who are attempting to run a protection racket on New York's dry cleaners. He's just a guy with a hook prosthetic who has decided to go with it and that's what this lowest level of super-villainy is all about. Plus that nail bomb that he attempts to kill Ferret with is truly gnarly. (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 009, 1940)

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 053

Aliens. 

Molemen:

These green-skinned humanoids live in an underground kingdom somewhere beneath what was then known as the Belgian Congo. They have been sent to the surface to find some white men - and just why they subscribe to the racial categories of surface humanity is left unexplored - and woe betide any non-white guys who they encounter first.

The Molemen expedition eventually captures jungle adventurer Congo Jack and returns to the underground with him. Alas, we never quite learn what Queen Moletta of the Molemen wants a white guy for, because her interest in Jack inspires a real crisis in the ambitious expedition leader Sir Lugi and he draws most of the comic's ongoing focus with a series of attempted coups to seize power for himself. (Lightning Comics v2 001, 1941)

Blue Dwarfs:

One of Sir Lugi's schemes involves him teaming up with the Blue Dwarfs, ancient enemies of the Molemen, to seize the Moleman city by sneak attack.

The Blue Dwarf victory hinges on the fact that Sir Lugi knocks out Congo Jack in the first couple of minutes of battle. Once he comes to, Jack is able to not only retake the city after exactly one inspiring speech to the Moleman troops, but also slay the Blue Dwarf King Bobo to really drive the victory home. He is then granted his freedom by Queen Moletta. (Lightning Comics v2 002, 1941)

Martians:

Meteor Martin, one of the many short-lived Basil Wolverton sc-fi adventurers, is an officer of the Moon Patrol who sallies forth to combat an invading Martian space fleet and finds himself blasted into a strange otherworldly realm. 

The above is the only actual look we get at the Martians. Is their invasion successful? No idea. I do like their weird Wolvertonian tentacle arms, though.

Luckily for Martin, he finds himself in the company of fellow humans Rana and her father Romrak, who are able to fill him in on what has happened to him. The Martian weapon he was struck with sends its victims to a "negative world," implicitly another dimension. Further, the specific region that they are stranded in is a densely-packed cluster of planetoids called Gorikon. (Amazing-Man Comics 025, 1941) 

Bat Men:

Gorikon is awash with different lifeforms, though just how many of them are native to the place and how many have been sent there from the positive universe (or are the descendants of positive universe exiles) is unknown. When Meteor first encounters Rana, for example, she has been staked out as a sacrifice for Bat Men. (Amazing-Man Comics 025, 1941)

Desert Dwellers:

These excellent humanoid camel people (referred to as "savages" throughout, but that's a pretty rude thing to refer to an entire people as, so I'll just go with "dwellers") are the ones who are attempting to sacrifice Rana to the Bat Men, and if any species in Gorikon is going to get my vote for having actually evolved there it's them, if only because they have the weak muscles of a people who come from a low-gravity environment. Note how easily Meteor Martin beats them up, after all. (Amazing-Man Comics 025, 1941)

Assorted Gorikons:

Romrak and Rana have been residing in a village of interdimensional refugees, most of whom seem to be the same kind of near-human alien as series antagonist Groob here.

The inhabitants of Groob's village all seem to be the same kind of four-fingered humanoid as he is, though the presence of one little froggy guy with super-vision in Amazing-Man Comics 026 introduces the possibility of a more diverse cast of alien refugees that we sadly never get to see.

Please also note the fact that the low gravity and close orbits of the planets of Gorikon means that interplanetary travel is achievable by means of a human cannonball-style cannon (though how Groob intends to return is a mystery to me). (Amazing-Man Comics 025, 1941)

Insects:

Meteor, Rana, Romrak and Groob all end up in this quicksand-like trap set by a species referred to as the Insects by the other inhabitants of Gorikon, and true to alien monster convention the Insect who comes to check the trap makes off with Rana rather than one of the men.

Rana's fate is to be sacrificed in a pit of fire, though it is Meteor who ends up falling to his doom in the issue's cliffhanger. Sadly, there is no third Meteor Martin adventure and so we never learn a) how he gets out of it or b) whether these little green guys turn into the big green guy as part of their life-cycle or if he is some sort of distinct creature. I prefer the former! (Amazing-Man Comics 026, 1942)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 1001: BARON KRAWMAN

(Lightning Comics v1 005, 1941)

Whiz Wilson and his Futuroscope are once again engaging in the Doctor Who style of time travel, in which you just kind of pop into a random time and place and ask a bystander how things are going. In this case he has ended up in Florida in the year 3000, and the vest-wearing Florida Man he speaks to is pretty smug about how great things have been for the past thousand years. Perhaps he is rounding up or thinking extremely locally, because previous Whiz Wilson stories have established a general civilizational collapse in 2040 CE and a more localized one in South America around 2500 CE.

More importantly, as if summoned by the words "these are wonderful times," this is the moment that a squad of giant robots attack the city.

Whiz Wilson is as ever a man of action and takes advantage of a poorly-secured access hatch on the back of one of the robots to get inside and beat up the pilot. This in turn causes the over-cautious leader of the robot pilots, now revealed to be a man named Baron Krawman, to recall his forces.

Joining the queue of robots in his newly-commandeered ride, Whiz follows them to a domed underwater city "about ten miles" off the Florida coast.

A quick and stealthy search of the city leads Wilson to an imprisoned woman who introduces herself as Betty Walters, Krawman's former assistant. She tells him that a) the city is part of the lost continent of Atlantis that Krawman stumbled upon (though how it was missed during a thousand years-plus of intensely ocean-facing Florida life is beyond me) and b) that he is bent on destroying civilization because they laughed at him. Annoyingly, she does not explain why all of Krawman's minions are nigh-identical bearded beefcakes, because that is all that I am asking about. Was he experimenting with cloning? Are these the descendants of lost Atlantis? Does he just have a type? 

Whiz and Betty return to the commandeered robot and engage Krawman in thrilling robot-hand-to-robot-hand combat for the future of Florida, a combat that ends with Krawman dead and his city flooded. Once again Whiz Wilson has saved the people of a time period so far in his own future that his bones are naught but dust. Hooray!

Categorized in: Accessories (Giant Robots), Origins (Villains of the Future), Royalty (Barons)