SUPER-HERO FILE 007: NAMOR THE SUB-MARINER

(Marvel Mystery Comics 003, 1940)

Though Namor started his comics journey as an outright villain, by his third appearance, the world was ready to see a softer side of him. This journey to redemption begins when the police notice just how horny he was in his last outing and assign NYPD officer Betty Dean to capture him. On her own with no backup, of course.

Despite the fact that her boss is seemingly trying to commit murder by super-villain on her, Betty is very good at her job and puts a plan into place that theoretically has the Sub-Mariner at her mercy: she lurks around the waterfront with a swimsuit under her clothes until someone spots Namor in the vicinity and then pretends to be drowning. Once he has answered the siren call of an attractive woman in trouble, Betty employs Sherlock Holmes' favourite means of capturing someone: get close to them and then put a gun to their head.

Alas for Betty, while this plan would have worked if Namor had been an ordinary swimming murderer, he is in fact a bulletproof fish man and she ends up stranded on a buoy far out at sea. It is at this point, however that Namor performs his very first super-heroic act: when confronted with a sea battle between a British convoy and some German sea raiders, he instinctively comes to the aid of the underdog and sinks the Nazis.

Betty takes this as an opportunity to explain that Americans are, like, totally peaceful and would never blow up Atlantis on purpose, and actually manages to sway his opinion! No more will he war on the USA, unless another attractive woman takes the time to point out that maybe they would have if they thought it was a good idea or profitable enough or might have inconvenienced the English/French/Spanish depending on historical era.

Namor returns to Atlantis' cool-ass iceberg palace in Marvel Mystery Comics v1 004 and convinces the Emperor and never-before-seen Council of Three to change their minds about the US in about five minutes, then sets out with a fleet of Atlantis' finest steam-powered (I'm sorry: artificial steam-powered) aerial submarines to wage war on the Axis. I'm not going to cover a lot of it because it's pretty repetitive, but a large part of Namor's Golden Age super-heroic career consists of sallying forth with the Atlantean Aerial Navy and blowing up huge chunks of the German and Japanese Navies. Like he possibly blows up more ships than the Axis actually possessed.

Don't think that we have seen the last of the villainous Namor, by the way, because that guy is always lurking in the wings. 

MONSTER, CRITTER AND CREATURE ROUND-UP 004

Everyone likes a good monster now and then.

Horned Cat:

With every one of these round-ups I accrue more evidence that the Slightly Different Big Cat is one of the classic monster types, as seen here when Congo Jack is confronted with this horned green feline in the mystical Valley of Vango in the Congolese jungle.

As a bonus, a few steps later he has to deal with another classic: the carnivorous plant, or in this case flesh-eating bush. (Lightning Comics v2 004, 1941)

Croco-Tiger:

As further evidence, here's Power Nelson fending off a strangely plush-looking croco-tiger in the wilds of the planet Pluvius in the far-flung year 1982 CE. For those like me who like to see a comic book creature survive now and then, worry not for the yellow pool this beast is being flung into merely shrinks it to kitten size, which is hopefully something that it can adapt to.

Pluvius also features its own type of carnivorous plant, in this case some sort of tentacle (or possibly tendril?) based predator. (Prize Comics 003, 1940)

Cannibal Tree:

Rex Dexter of Mars and gal pal Synde have their own run-in with a carnivorous plant, the so-called cannibal tree, on an unnamed extrasolar planet. (Mystery Men Comics 018 1941)

Dodman's Serpent:

Though the practice is now frowned upon in zoological circles, I can't help but love the sound of an eponymous species name, and especially when the species in question is some sort of monster. Dodman's Serpent is great because it has the lovely rhythm of an eponym without actually being named after some guy named Dodman who will later be cancelled and require a lot of textbooks to be reprinted. Instead, it is named after its hunting grounds near Dodman's Point in Cornwall. Or its former hunting grounds, I suppose, since it made the mistake of attacking a ship containing the Black Knight. (The Funnies 049, 1940)

Dragon:

I really like this dragon, which spent its days peacefully eating maidens in an unnamed European kingdom until the Golden Knight showed up and slayed it. It has all the weird goofiness of the dragons that you see in Medieval illustrations from before the concept of what such a beast looks like was really codified. (Fantastic Comics 010, 1940)

Dragons:

These dragons, by contrast, are just a bunch of weird lizards that the Green Sorceress keeps in a cave and throws her enemies to. I really like them. (Blue Bolt v1 001, 1940)

Drazil:

Here we see Neptina associate Norma Kane be ambushed and nearly killed by a very cool-looking undersea reptile called a drazil. As is often the case with long-necked creatures, the drazil is vulnerable to having its head chopped off.

Norma really was having a day of it, as immediately before the drazil attack, she was ambushed by this heinous looking crustacean which is referred to only as a "sea-beast." (Champ Comics 011, 1940)

Dream Plants:

During one of the Green Sorceress' many attempts to conquer the whole of the underground world, she employs dark majicks and weird science to move her armies through the Fourth Dimension. While pursuing her there, Blue Bolt is nearly killed by a Dream Plant, a carnivorous plant with the ability to project sexy illusions to lure its prey closer.

Later, a second, airborne species of dream plant that forgoes the illusory lures in favour of active hunting almost does for the Green Sorceress herself before Blue Bolt spears it in its conspicuous weak point. (Blue Bolt v1 005, 1940) 

Jungle Horse:

Finally we have the jungle horse, potentially the only non-hostile species present on the Gorikon in the Negative Universe, or at least the only one encountered by Meteor Martin during his time there. These peaceful animals just hang around waiting to act as beasts of burden for passing humanoids - a truly selfless species. (Amazing-Man Comics 025, 1941)

SUPER-HERO 005 UPDATE: THE HUMAN TORCH 1940

So just what did the Human Torch get up to in 1940?

Well, in Marvel Mystery Comics v1 004 he makes the name Jim Hamond on the fly during a police stop and evidently likes it enough to adopt it as his full-time secret identity. Not sure when he adds the second 'm' to make it Hammond. Will report back when he does.

In Marvel Mystery Comics v1 007 the Human Torch, as Jim Hamond, decides to become a police officer and does so with very little fuss.

He does, however, immediately discard the idea of operating as a regular secret identity style super-hero due to the fact that he keeps incinerating his uniforms. Instead, he just goes and tells his senior officers the situation and ends up being deputized as a kind of official vigilante working for the city. He maintains the fiction of being a regular beat cop for a couple of more issues before becoming a full-time Human Torch.

That's pretty much it for 1940 but thanks to my comic book reading schedule we will be back soon with the 1941 developments in the life of everyone's favourite android. 

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 055

More aliens? Just how many more can there be?

Fantasans:

When time/space traveller Whiz Wilson visits Earth of the year 4400 CE, he finds that it is being bombarded by comets originating from the far-off planet Fantasa. Going there with the aid of his trusty Futuroscope, he learns that Molla, the rightful ruler of Fantasa, has been deposed by the wicked Gorano and that Gorano has a fanatical (and unexplained) hatred of humanity that is his reason for the comet attack. One quick Futuroscope-aided counter-coup later and Fantasa is back in more peaceful hands and Earth is safe. (Lightning Comics v2 003, 1941)

Mercurian Cave-People:

The very first outer space adventure of the Space Rovers sees them taking an unexpected rocket trip and being forced to make a landing on Mercury to get their bearings. Once they disembark they discover that the fire caused by their landing has been taken as a sign that the local deity (the Fire God, God-Style: Animistic) is angry and demands sacrifice. Ted and Jane pitch in to save the poor sacrifice, and in a rare happy ending for such people she gets to haul ass across the river to marry a dude named Kulu. (Exciting Comics 002, 1940)

Mercurians of Thian:

Having ruined the sacrifice, Ted is next up for being burned at the stake, and to make matters worse, Jane is hauled off by a giant bird (which turns out to be called a Mercurian Roc) before she can free him.

Ted manages to free himself, and the two both end up in the city of Thian, which is populated by a second kind of Mercurian who are possessed of more advanced technology than the Cave-People but who look absolutely terrible. They aren't even particularly good hosts, as can be seen here when they drug and capture the Star Rovers before the main course arrives.

And just what is the reason that these Mercurians had for treating their guests so rudely? Because they only live for twenty years and they need people from more long-lived species to study (i.e. vivisect) so that they can live to a somewhat riper old age. 

Since these particular tests subjects are space heroes, things go poorly from here. Head Scientist Flaedo gets electrocuted, the Star Rovers escape on Roc-back and the Mercurians of Thian hopefully reconsider their commitment to scientific ethics. (Exciting Comics 002, 1940) 

Mercurians:

Time adventurer Stuart Taylor and his companions Dr and Laura Hayward encounter this society of possibly human-derived Mercurians when they voyage to the year 4000 in pursuit of a man named Rogro who has stolen Dr Hayward's time technology. The major difference between Mercurians and humans is the fact that the former all have "synthetic blood" which makes them vulnerable to extreme heat and must be quite inconvenient for someone living on what is generally acknowledge to be a pretty hot planet.

Though the Mercurian society seems peaceful when they arrive, things go south quickly once Rogro promises the Mercurian king that he can engineer new blood for everyone if he can use the blood inside of Stuart and his friends as raw materials. The time travellers only survive the resulting riots by smashing up the protective dome over the Mercurian city (and note the fact that the writer now says that the Mercurians have a problem with oxygen instead of heat. Why? Who knows). (Jumbo Comics 019, 1940)