SUPER-VILLAIN 003 UPDATE: NAMOR THE SUB-MARINER 1940

When we last saw Namor the Sub-Mariner he had decided to renounce his vow to war upon the surface and instead be a good guy, and the State of New York had reasonably responded with, "Okay, but what about the people you killed while you were a bad guy?" and then Namor essentially just nodded and said, "Exactly. I was a bad guy and now I'm a good guy so it's all cool." and then they put him on trial for murder.

Namor graciously allows the trial to go on mainly due to the intervention of Betty Dean, who as a policewoman simply must advocate for the justice system (but who is unusually unconcerned about the many fellow officers who met their ends at Namor's hands).

Namor is put on trial and unsurprisingly found guilty, though both the prosecution and the jury don't seem to be interested in the murders so much as the existential threat to humanity that he represents. I am most definitely not a lawyer but I really think that you could argue that this does not represent a fair trial, and Namor agrees with me, though rather than appeal the decision he simply attempts to flee the scene. This is when he learns that he has been systematically drugged to that he will be unable to flee the scene. 

The fast-tracked execution goes poorly, as the electric chair merely provides Namor with the jolt he needs to shake off the drugs and wreck the joint. The State of New York has learned an important lesson here: you need to be absolutely sure that your method is going to work if you're trying to kill a super-human.

Marvel Mystery Comics v1 007 sees Namor resume his war against the surface with the blessing of Emperor Thakorr. In an uncharacteristic bit of restraint, he chooses not to escalate it to an international conflict by getting the Atlantean Navy involved.

As the scene of his recent insults New York City is the focal point of Namor's attempt to seek retribution for them, which he initiates by occupying the Statue of Liberty as his "castle." He then goes on to:

- destroy a river patrol boat

- beat up Mayor La Guardia

- smash up an El Train

- pull the mast off the top of the Empire state building and throw it into the street below

(Marvel Mystery Comics v1 008)

- bomb and flood the "Hudson Tunnel"

- crash a passing plane

- let all the animals out of the Bronx Zoo, killing many animals and people

- pull down the George Washington Bridge

There is some effort to show the Human Torch going around and cleaning all of this stuff up before he finally catches up to the Sub-Mariner for the first of their many conflicts, but hundreds of people had to have died during this extended fit of pique even so. New Yorkers should hate the Sub-Mariner forever and I will be very upset if they do not show sufficient animosity toward him going forward. 

We will pause here and resume at the confrontation between the Torch and Namor, lest this post get too long. 

MEDIA IN COMICS 016

Production on these Media in Comics showcases must sadly slow down now, for I have worked my way through my backlog. As evidence of this, today we are showcasing some magical books, which are genrally unique items that fall under nobody's definition of mass media but which I want to include anyway, for fun's sake.

Books of Magic:

You all remember the fabled Black Book of Sorcery that the wicked Egyptologist Ford committed all those murders for, well here it is! Until Mr Justice wipes its pages with a convenient self-destruct spell contained within it, that is.

Origin: Ancient Egyptian 

Status: Destroyed (Jackpot Comics 003, 1941)

The Lost Book of Thoth, containing all the magics of sunken Atlantis, is supposed to rest on the bottom of the Nile under the watchful eye of an immortal serpent. The plans of mice and men and whoever is in charge of everlasting snakes often go astray, alas, and the book is stolen by an unnamed mage and nearly used to destroy the world. Having solved that particular problem, Dr Fate doesn't take any chances and reduces the book to a powder.

Origin: Ancient Atlantis

Status: Destroyed (More Fun Comics 058, 1941)

The Secrets of the Priests of Zoraster (sic) might not be the official title of the book used by Haldane the Sorcerer, but it's a pretty good title for a made-up book of magic and we have no other options. This one gets left behind in a secret passage rather than being destroyed, so it's technically up for grabs.

Origin: Persian? 

Status: Extant (More Fun Comics 063, 1941)

Though Sin Khaii is an apostate Tibetan Buddhist, the Book of the Dead that he is referencing here is more likely to be the Egyptian on than the Tibetan, as he is using it to research the Black Pharaoh. He also casts spells out of it later!

Origin: Ancient Egyptian 

Status: Extant (Silver Streak Comics 014, 1941) 

Theatre:

Detective Larry Steele is called to the set of Jealousy to look into threats against star Laverne James, and then stays to solve the murder of Laverne James. More interesting than the murder mystery, however, is the mystery of just what is going on in this production.

 

We don't actually see any of the on-stage action, but the costuming is extremely intriguing: James' co-stars John Temple and Jan Gabrielle are dressed like off-model commedia dell'arte characters, while she looks more like a character from a Southern Gothic. Finally we have Peggy, who is part of the chorus line and is dressed like she is in a high-budget napkin advertisement. It's a baffling selection. (Detective Comics v1 047, 1941) 

Swastika Over Europe is a play designed to rally American support for the beleaguered nations of the Continent and as such is a target for sabotage by Nazi fifth columnists, as seen here when lead actor Opperman is murdered on-stage. (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 023, 1941)

Here we have The Creep, a play written expressly to warn the people of NYC about the threat of Crime & Corruption, Inc. I guess it works, because Johnny Thunder slapsticks them out of existence. (Flash Comics 013, 1941)

Ordinarily getting such a good view of the stage would be very exciting to me as it would be a chance to divine some information about the production. Alas, this is an opera called The Masked Ball and so the only thing we can learn is that someone at the titular ball has come dressed as a police officer. (More Fun Comics 067, 1941)

The Superstition Murders is of course the play written by Johnny Glim the alter ego of the villainous Masked Man, who commits a series of superstition-themed murders in the hopes of tanking the production and thus securing the movie rights for his work. Though the motivation for the fictional killer is unrevealed, this seems to essentially be what the play is about as well. (Batman Comics v1 008, 1941)

Though there are many fine plays about the lives of the wealthy, there is no way The Vandgilts, about a real-life family who are on good enough terms with the production to lend them half a million dollars worth of jewellery, isn't complete sycophantic mush. Luckily the Joker spices things up by robbing the actors mid-performance. (Batman Comics v1 008, 1941)

PROBLEMATIC ROUND-UP 009

It it the nature of comic books that we will always be doing Problematic Updates.

Dr Finkle:

Dr Finkle himself is nothing special: he's a psuedo-Nazi teamed up with the pseudo-Japanese Matsui in a scheme to steal securities belonging to Axis-conquered countries that are held in America. The real issue lies with Finkle's primary agents, who you may notice being referred to as "Indian Monsters" in the final panel above.

These "Indian Monsters" are straight out of something like Bone Tomahawk: inhumanly huge, fast and strong, barely verbal, ravenous cannibals that Finkle keeps under control with a steady diet of human flesh... literally monsters, in other words.

I was going to say that the only good thing about them is that they eventually eat Dr Finkle but no, I must be thinking about some other monster-men. Instead, a special agent named Betty shoots Finkle and they immediately transfer allegiance to her thanks to "ancient Indian folklore." It's enough to tire a guy out. (Four Favorites 002, 1940)

Loanga:

Loanga is your regular old 1940s voodoo witch doctor, though he deviates from the norm by not being from Haiti but from another Caribbean island named Naseba, a name that feels like it should be in reference to something but if it is I cannot figure it out. Loango aims to take over the world with his zombie hordes and is starting with the United States, having captured and zombified Secretary of State Brant and compelled him to push for the disarmament all US military installations.

As usual it is interesting to note the specifics of Loanga's zombies. They are created out of living people using a combination of drugs and mind control and though they are still alive and able to speak, they cannot be killed by conventional means. They are cured and go back to normal when Loanga dies - whether this means that the ones who were dealt lethal wounds just fully die is not explored. Finally, they cast no shadows, and there's something going on with their eyes - the ones who we see trying to pass as regular folk all wear dark glasses, but no reason for doing so is given.

Loanga is ultimately undone by his own belief in the power of sympathetic magic: when comic relief artist character J. Rembrandt Speedball paints his portrait and then destroys it in a fit of pique at the thought of being executed by firing squad, he drops dead. All the zombies are freed or dead and the world is saved! (Fantastic Comics 023, 1941)

the Big Boss:

The Big Boss, a mysterious masked Chinese man who controls the opium trade in the Western city of Middletown (highly inaccurate name btw) unsurprisingly turns out to be J Harold Stetson, the prominent banker who has been making a lot of noise about how much he hates all this opium smuggling (and please note the misspelling that initially has his middle name as the weirdly amusing "Harlod"). (Lightning Comics v2 002, 1941)

the Death Patrol:

Here's the tragic thing about the Death Patrol: it's mostly something that I really like. I'll lay out the setup and you see if you can spot when we get into Problematic territory.

The Death Patrol is formed when wealthy pilot/failure Del van Dyne's plane is hijacked by a quartet of escaped convicts (and the pal who helped them break out). Del manages to weaponize his sense of rich guy ennui/ desire to make a difference in the world to convince the five to join him in volunteering to help the RAF defend the UK from Axis aggression, and thankfully all five are expert pilots in addition to their professional skills so this is a bit more plausible than it might otherwise be.

The hook of the early Death Patrol stories, and the source of their name, is the fact that they only take on the most dangerous missions and have an attrition rate of one member per adventure. (Military Comics 001, 1941)

The original lineup of the Death Patrol is as follows:

Del van Dyne: Wealthy failure and leader of the group. Alive at the end of 1941.

Butch O'Keefe: Safecracker. Sacrifices himself to stop a Nazi bomber group by crashing into them.

Gramps: Pickpocket. Alive at the end of 1941.

Hank: Rustler. Alive at the end of 1941.

Peewee: Forger. Shot in the back by Nazis in the very first Death Patrol adventure.

Slick Ward: Con artist. Dies in an exploding Nazi dirigible.

Additional members added in 1941 as the death toll rises: 

Stoney Rock: Arsonist. Shot by Nazis on his first mission. (Military Comics 002, 1941)

Zazzy: Kleptomaniac. Dies while rescuing workers from an exploding Nazi factory. (Military Comics 003, 1941)

Chief Chuck-a-lug: Former Wild West show performer stranded in Europe due to the conflict, and yes, congratulations, you spotted it. This is where the Death Patrol officially becomes Hard to Recommend, because from this point forward there will always be one or more racist comic relief characters running around and, for instance, yelling about scalping people. Alive at the end of 1941. (Military Comics 004, 1941)

King Hotentot: The ruler of a small African country that has been occupied by the Axis, King Hotenetot is a prime example of the Educated Savage, a classic unfunny comedy trope in which a character speaks eloquently due to a classical education but still, for example, runs around with a spear threatening to eat people like he's just flown in from a hateful jungle adventure. Still alive at the end of 1941. (Military Comics 005, 1941)

Jumping back to some of the fun things about the Death Patrol, here are their fun prison-themed flightsuits and skull-in-a-hat insignia which is personalized with a custom hat for each pilot. Fun! 

The Death Patrol also flies around in eccentric homemade airplanes, which is whimsical! It's the sort of thing that makes you want to recommend the comic to a friend, until you remember all the Problems.