ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 026

Dudes come in all kinds of shapes nowadays.

Walrus Men:

We first encounter the Walrus Men in Champ Comics 013 when the newly-reformed Neptina goes to them to ask for help in reclaiming the throne of Amloza from her sister Mhersa, only to discover that the friendly Prince Eon has been overthrown and that the Walrus Men are now ruled by the expansionist tyrant King Walro.

Not that Walro is unopposed in his rule, as there are still Eon loyalists willing to help Neptina and her friends in their quest.

Neptina, her friends and the loyalists rescue Eon from the hole that Walro has been keeping him in, upon which it becomes clear that, like the Fish-Man population of Amloza, the Walrus Man of Polaris are ruled by a very human-looking nobility. This isn't such a huge contrast in the Walrus Men's initial appearance, when their tusks are small and dainty, but...

 

From Champ Comics 014 and onward they really put the walrus in Walrus Men. So no Neptina and Eon represent an ocean-wide ruling class? Did some sub-oceanic Queen Victoria seed the thrones of the Atlantic with her grandchildren? Should Neptina and Eon's burgeoning romance be quashed for the sake of their children's genetic health? 

(this issue also establishes the signature piece of Walrus Man technology: "mole ships" that travel beneath the sea floor for surprise attacks) 

Finally, Prince Eon is restored to the throne of Polaris in Champ Comics 015 after fatally(? it is under water, after all) punching Walro off of a balcony. 

Categorized in: Aliens (Earth), Animals (Aquatic Mammals), Generica (Men)

Fish-Men UPDATE: 

Speaking of the Fish-Men of Amloza and the morphological differences between them and their ruling class, Neptina and her companions find themselves in the Kingdom of the Fishmen while fleeing from Walrus Men forces. The Fishmen, hyphenated or not, appear to be their own people who just happen to live in Amloza in significant number. Neptina's chief scientist Mogg is welcomed to the Kingdom as a citizen, which introduces some interesting questions about how the nation-states of the Atlantic work.  (Champ Comics 014, 1941)

Fernomacs:

When space adventurer Spurt Hammond is appointed as Earth's ambassador to the Mercury of the year 2520 CE, he quickly finds favour with Thermod, king of the Mercurian Fernomacs, a species of leather-skinned green humanoids. By contrast, Hammond and his rising influence makes him an enemy in the eyes of the sinister Baron Burno.

Burno expresses his frustration by staging a coup and dumping Thermod and Hammond on the desolate dark side of Mercury (not how Mercury works). All seems lost until...

Grubmen:

... the Grubmen show up! These inhabitants of the dark side of Mercury don't get a tremendous amount of characterization: they love light and worship the flashlight-wielding Spurt Hammond as a god and he's happy to exploit their adulation for his own benefit. Pre-religious reformation under Hammond they appear to have been ruled by the largest member of their species but he sees the writing on the wall and joins up with Hammond without a fight.

In a bit of good luck for the Grubmen, exposure to the light and heat of the light side of the planet causes them to grow powerful and so they are able to effectively combat Burno's Fernomac forces rather than die en mass as Hammond had presumably assumed they would given the physical and technological gulf between the species initially.

King Thermod is re-installed on the throne of Ferno and as the Grubmen are of no further use to Hammond he leaves them behind as citizens. A happy ending for everyone but Baron Burno and his co-conspirators! (Planet Comics 009, 1940)

Categorized in: Aliens (Mercury), Animals (Insects), Generica (Men)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 924: MOLO

(Silver Streak Comics 008, 1941)

A killer stalks the entertainment industry! Prominent  people are being murdered, including Academy Award winner Kay Kaye, opera singer Lily Donela and Dick Bradley, recent recipient of the Nobel Prize for "the best play of the year" which I suppose would be for literature? And also very impressive because the Nobel Prize was suspended in 1941 due to the war?

In total, nine luminaries of the stage and screen have been killed as the story opens and all have been found with a note reading "Death by Molo." 

The next projected target is playwright Bruce Canton, who is about to be honoured with a banquet. Enter Presto Martin, master of disguise, who poses as Canton and rounds up Molo with little effort. Case closed, the day is saved, etc.

There's just one problem: Canton is murdered at the banquet, complete with calling card, and the witnesses identify the man in Martin's lockup as the culprit.

A little of the ol' disguise routine from Presto determines that the Molo in police custody has a twin brother who is hell-bent on continuing the murder spree. This means that Martin has to dress up like the logical next victim again and act as bait for a killer again, ho hum. The second Molo is captured with ease and thrown into jail with his brother.

And just why were the Molos so hell-bent on murdering successful figures in the entertainment industry anyway? Why, because they themselves were failures back in the dying days of Vaudeville and they just couldn't take seeing other people make it. 

THE SUPER-VILLAINS OF HOLLYWOOD PODCAST: One of the least successful episodes in the history of the show. The hosts take the bizarre approach of treating the Molo brothers as victims of the entertainment system and among other things demonstrate that they don't really know what Vaudeville is. Rumours that the podcast was threatened with a lawsuit by the estate of Kay Kaye are unconfirmed, but the episode was quietly removed from the archive after a few months.

Categorized in: Murder (Serial Killers), Origin (Twins), the Super-Villains of Hollywood Podcast

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 078

Lev Gleason characters for EVERYONE!

Daredevil **UPDATE**:

Daredevil had but one appearance in 1940, so it's no surprise that the character still had some changes and revisions to go once 1941 rolled around. Firstly, his costume gets an update, with yellow swapped out for red and the complicated "DD" design on the abdomen dropped entirely.

The most dramatic change, however, is that the Daredevil can now talk. Just how Bart Hill's traumatic muteness was alleviated is unaddressed - I'm sure that the real answer is that it was inconvenient to write around and so was quietly dropped, but imagining that his successful crimefighting career allowed him to let go of the past is nice.

Finally, Bart is now a wealthy playboy with a fiance (Tonia Saunders) who isn't too sure about marrying this manchild after all. Thankfully, Tonia discovers the truth about Bart's double life in her first appearance, because the Clark/Lois dynamic can get a bit tedious when grafted onto every super-hero's relationship by default.

Our final update from Silver Streak Comics 007 is this revelation that the Daredevil's mastery of the boomerang is so complete that, when thrown by the Claw, he can cause his own body to act like one. This here might just be a new contender for inclusion in lists of obscure and ridiculous super powers, folks.

In Silver Streak Comics 008 & 009, Daredevil employs a couple of high-tech fighter planes called "the Airdevil," which a top-notch example of a jokey super-accessory name. Both planes are destroyed during Daredevil's clashes with the Claw, and he seems to have given up on the idea of the custom plane, at least for the year 1941.

In Silver Streak Comics 015 Daredevil employs a decoy double named Chester to help in the capture of a villain named the Serpent. Who is Chester? No idea. Will he ever return? Probably not.

Finally, in Daredevil Comics 002, Daredevil engages in what I would say is some Spider-Man style super-hero quipping as he battles this horde of silent men. Not that super-heroes aren't constantly mouthing off, mind you, but it doesn't have this kind of flow. I shall be looking out for more of this kind of patter to see how long it takes to become an established thing.

Categorized in: Accessories (Airplanes), Day Job (Wealthy Socialite)

Presto Martin: 

Presto Martin, though voted "Least Likely to Succeed" in college, is now Captain of Detectives in the NYPD. More importantly for our purposes, he is a master of disguise who is for instance more than willing to take the place of a heavyweight boxer in the ring if it means that he can solve a big case. (Silver Streak Comics 007, 1941)

Per Silver Streak Comics 008, Presto is aided in his work by a super-moldable plastic putty of his own concoction.

Categorized in: Day Job (Police Captain), Powers (Master of Disguise), Team Membership (NYPD)

Zongar, the Miracle Man:

Zongar, the Miracle Man, is a functionally-omnipotent magical adventurer like so many of his peers, but rather than casting spells per se Zongar uses a mystical amulet to command the spirit Abaraxx to do his bidding. This might have lead to some interesting developments over time if, for example, a nogoodnik were to get ahold of the amulet but alas, Zongar had only one recorded adventure. (Silver Streak Comics 007, 1941)

Categorized in: Abstract Concepts (Miracles), Accessories (Amulets)

Cloud Curtis: 

Dashing young aviator Cloud Curtis has developed the super plane Golden Bullet, which he flies both as a job and against the enemies of the US and which has one of the goofier features of any comic book super plane in the form of that big propeller located halfway down the fuselage. Curtis is assisted by the apelike Crusher McCoy and the avuncular Pop Whistler as he keeps the airways safe from a series of increasingly unlikely airplane-based threats. (Silver Streak Comics 007, 1941)

Categorized in: Accessories (Airplanes), Day Job (Aviators)

CATALOGUE OF WOUNDS 004

More wounds for the wound god!

American Ace:

Minor Marvel adventure hero Parry Wade, aka the American Ace, is riddled through the torso and crashes his plane after a dogfight. He gets better. (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 003, 1940)

Black X:

Shot in the left shoulder by agents of Vlamir Koran, then nearly dies of exposure while seeking aid. (Smash Comics 001, 1939)

Black X's aide Batu gets shot in the left shoulder on his next mission, while Black X himself gets his skull creased by a bullet. (Smash Comics 002, 1939)

Finally, Black X gets his right arm broken by a guy named Taneo. (Smash Comics 005, 1939)

Clip Carson:

Shot in the left shoulder by the dastardly Mister K. (More Fun Comics 068, 1941)

the Devil's Dagger: 

The Devil's Dagger's aide Pat Gleason is shot in the right leg by the dastardly Mr H. (Master Comics 015, 1941)

Jim Dolan: 

Two-fisted magazine editor Jim Dolan is not only thrown off a bridge to drown but machine gunned on the way down. Thankfully they only get his left shoulder. (Wow Comics 002, 1941)

Ka-Zar:

The Golden Age Ka-Zar is covered in shallow cuts as torture. (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 005, 1940)

A few issues later he gets shot in the (left? side by an unscrupulous hunter. (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 011, 1940)

And a few issues after that, the same unscrupulous hunter shoots him in the (left?) arm. (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 016, 1941)

Tiny: 

The Ragman's sidekick Tiny is shot in the right arm by a Nazi. (Cat-Man Comics 005, 1941)