MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 927: THE HIGH ONE

(Silver Streak Comics 009, 1941)

The High One is a fascist spy chief cum mad scientist who has been using an advanced poison to wage a surprisingly successful campaign to kill of the upper echelons of the US government. This has brought him into conflict with Bart Benson, aka Secret Agent X-101, who is soon captured by the High One's agents and bundled off to his HQ in the small town of Newburgh to be gloated at and then executed.

Though the High One is clever, he ultimately falls prey to pride: X-101 is able to lure him close enough by insulting him to get ahold of him, get free and chuck him out one of his ostentatiously huge windows. After that it's a simple matter of bringing down a planeload of poison before it gets to Washington DC and the whole operation is over.

I would like to note that before the High One is taken out he does manage to kill the US Secretary of State, which is a bit more of an impact than even super-villains are usually able to pull off. Is this in fact Henry L. Stimson or just some generic comic book man? Impossible to say unless we treat the Lev Gleason Comics Universe as a coherent thing and he shows up in, like, a Daredevil story some day.

The High One is also notable for having employed a femme fatale spy named Sandra who served as a recurring foil for Secret Agent X-101 and who is a part of that rarefied sisterhood of recurring female villains who ultimately get away with it because the feature that they appear in has been cancelled. So long Sandra; have fun hanging out with Fraulein Doktor's Daughter and Illyria, Queen of Spies.

Categorized in: Alphanumeric (One), Espionage (Crypto-Fascist Spies), Real Folk (Henry L. Stimson)

REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 021

They just love putting real folks and versions of real folks in comics and I just love finding them and putting them on my blog. 

Adolf Hitler:

An in-all-but-name version of Hitler gets mad at Citizen Smith for foiling his plans and plots. (Captain Fearless Comics 002, 1941)

Gang boss and Deacon foe Duke Adare's little toothbrush mustache is what initially drew my attention, even though that wasn't nearly as glaring a signpost of a character being a Hitler stand-in in the 1940s. As the story wore on it became clear that my instincts were correct, as Adare used overwhelming military force to overwhelm the lawmen of Midland City and loot its treasury. And then of course you get to the end of the story, where they're referring to him as a "would-be Crime Fuehrer". (Cat-Man Comics 005, 1941)

Minor appearances: 

Captain Fearless Comics 001, 1941 

Al Capone: 

Lou Pacone, gang boss and murderer of the Secret Circle's father, is yet another example of Al Capone's name being remixed to give someone a gangstery sounding moniker. (Choice Comics 001, 1941)

Axis & Allied Figures: 

"America's Air Army" was an extremely patriotic feature that was essentially US Army Air Force fan fiction about what would happen if and when the United States entered WWII, published just before they did. It's the tale of the US forces (with a little help from the Brits) curb stomping the Axis for about half an hour before we get this little scene, with Hitler surrendering while Goering, Walther von Brauchitch (recently relieved of duty when this comic was published), Cordell Hull (I think) and Churchill observe. (Air Fighters v1 001, 1941) 

FDR: 

The President gets kidnapped by Dr Sivana! And Rescued by Captain Marvel! (Whiz Comics 014, 1941)

Minor Appearances: Captain Aero Comics 001, 1941

Lord Haw-Haw: 

In his final Golden Age adventure, the Arrow aka intelligence agent Ralph Payne heads into Germany to apprehend the traitorous broadcaster "Lord Hawford." (The Arrow 003, 1941) 

Manuel Prado Ugarteche: 

Lance O'Casey and his pal Dan'l Doom wash up on the shores of Peru and get mixed up in a scheme to overthrow the country by the wicked El Tigre. They foil him and restore power to the rightful president, Alfredo Blanco, who is extremely not Manuel Prado Ugarteche, the Peruvian president in our version of 1941. (Whiz Comics 015, 1941)

Rudolph Hess: 

"Deputy-Dictator Brinker" lands in a farmer's field near Washington in what is certainly a reference to Hess' flight to Scotland but is in fact revealed to be part of a plan to invade the US. The whole thing is nearly undone by the fact that the FBI doesn't even bother to check on this seeming defection and just tells the poor farmer to deal with it. (Captain Fearless Comics 002, 1941)

Sherlock Holmes:

Dr Miracle is on the trail of a mystery, and who better to help than the summoned spirit of Sherlock Holmes Herlock Sholmes? Per the conceit of the story I guess this means that Sholmes was a real living guy at some point. (Champ Comics 012, 1941)

Unknown Dancers: 

Yet again we have an example of "this seems like a reference to something but I can't find specifics," in this case a dance team known as Velox & Costanza. The concept of a duo performing cultural dances from exotic locales crops up now and then as entertainment in comics but I'm never sure if the references to them are general or specific, and brief fads in live entertainment are among the trickiest things to casually research on the internet - it's more of a "comb through several years' worth of newspapers" kind of thing. (Whiz Comics 023, 1941)

Walter Winchell: 

As an example of why I include the Unknown entries in these round-ups: I had Walter Chinwell here listed as "Unknown Reporter" for something like two weeks before I came across Walter Winchell's name in a list of 1940s radio announcers. And Winchell is someone I had already heard of! (Silver Streak Comics 008, 1941) 

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 926: THE WINGERS

(Silver Streak Comics 009, 1941)

One day while noodling around in his super plane, Cloud Curtis comes across a crashed plane in Death Valley, with near-dead pilot speaking of snow on the wings. What could this mean?

Cloud and his entourage check in with Mr Richmond, owner of the plane, and find that it is the latest in a series of crashes and disappearances. This is all highly suspicious, and what's even more suspicious is the brick with a note wrapped around it that comes smashing through the window as they discuss it, containing an extortion demand from a group calling themselves the Wingers (and signed with a cool little winged skull).

Cloud determines that the surest way to ferret out the Wingers is with a decoy plane that he even goes to the trouble to stuff full of passenger-dummies for some reason. Sure enough, the gang show up in a high-powered plane equipped with what amounts to a snow cannon, which they use to ice up the decoy's wings. Not only does this explain the "snow in Death Valley" thing, but also the reason why they call themselves the Wingers - because they attack wings!

The Wingers are admirably well-prepared to deal with Cloud Curtis: their plane is not only bulletproof but treated with some sort of low friction coating that prevents the Golden Bullet's robot grappling arms from working on it. This comes back to bite them, as Curtis, out of other ideas, just ends up blowing them up with a hand grenade rather than continuing to try to capture them.

Categorized in: Body (Nonhuman Parts), Extortion (Corporate), Location (Death Valley)

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 029

The wonders of the cosmos!

Spiny Scalemen: 

The Spiny Scalemen are yet another group of gross-looking underwater humanoids who threaten the mostly peaceful nation of Amloza, and what's worse, they're doing it as part of a Nazi plot to take over the city and use it as a naval base. Thankfully Mogg the Fish-Man and only competent citizen of Amloza realizes that city walls are a bit of a useless affectation in an underwater environment and destroys the Scalemen by collapsing Amloza's onto them. (Champ Comics 016, 1941)

Categorized in: Body (Nonhuman Parts), Generica (Men)

Flat Heads: 

"Og, Son of Fire" was a comic adapted from a Big Little Book that was based on a series of short stories and also a radio show about Og, a young caveman who is trying to make his way in a hostile world. And importantly for the purposes of this blog, one of the things making the world more hostile is this tribe of ape men led by a fellow named Long Tooth. Heaven knows I love an ape man, but I love 'em even more when they're called something fun like "Flat Heads." See also the Flat Heads' Sun God here. (The Funnies 013, 1937)

Categorized in: Body (Heads)

the Flies:

While the Barrangees of Planet Barrang have had a lot of problems with insects over the years - they famously grew giant and drove the Barangee population underground, while insect-worshipping Barrangee priests stymied any attempt to reclaim the surface - their most troublesome foes were always the giant flies. These creatures have adapted to their new size by becoming active hunters rather than scavengers, and the Barrangees are a favourite prey. Couple this with the fact that Earthman Captain Tornado and his cohort have encouraged the Barrangees to move above ground and you get situations like the above, in which a Fly abducts a Barrangee child in broad daylight.

The Flies are the most intelligent and organized of the Barrang insect species featured in the "Captain Tornado" feature, and they make war on the Barrangee city under the direction of their Fly King until Tornado bring knowledge of both firearms and insecticide to the planet and effectively counters their offensive. (Popular Comics 054, 1940)

Categorized in: Animals (Insects), Extrasolar (Planet Barrang)

Fourth Dimensional Creatures:

After foiling several of Satan Rex's attempts to destroy humanity, scientific adventurer Jon Linton and his pals return to their first love: tinkering around with spaceships. And since Jon et al exist in an adventure comic, the first test flight of their new rocket turns into an out-of-control flight through space at never-before-seen speeds, careening directly through planets without touching an atom and ending up on a world where thought and reality intersect, kind of like that one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

During their pell-mell flight through space, Linton and pals are briefly visited by these tentacle-legged lizard monsters, who appear to be kind of generically hostile for a few minutes before fading back into the ether. Just what the heck is going on?

Jon hits upon the answer with his customary swiftness: these are inhabitants of the Fourth Dimension, and the ship briefly intersected with their space. Does this justify the seeming aggression that their show to the people on the spaceship? We cannot accurately judge, alas. (Amazing Mystery Funnies v3 007, 1940)

Categorized in: Extradimensional (Fourth Dimension)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 925: THE IRON-JAW

(Silver Streak Comics 009, 1941)

The US is being rocked by a series of explosions targeting munitions factories and other facilities contributing to national defense, and not even the speed of the Silver Streak is enough to combat the organizational skills and coordination of the mysterious mastermind behind them. It is only by sheer coincidence that he happens upon an imperilled security guard from a plant in Georgia and learns from him that the men who blew up his workplace were under command of a mysterious figure called "Iron-Jaw" and that they all work for the "Axes Government".

Even with this information under his belt, the Silver Streak still loses two more factories to the Iron-Jaw before finally running down some of his men in Boston and discovering the secret of their great organizational abilities: a super-miniaturized (for the 40s) radio set used to relay orders to the Axes forces in America. By following the instructions coming from a captured unit, the Streak and Whiz are finally able to get the jump on the Iron-Jaw's men and prevent the destruction of a plant in Pittsburgh, though the mastermind remains on the loose.

The Iron-Jaw returns in Silver Streak Comics 010 with a new set of goals - the focus is now on shutting down media criticism of the Axes. To that end, the Silver Streak is drawn away via a report of a potential bombing in Chicago while Iron-Jaw is grabbing the real target, broadcaster Kitty Doyle, in NYC.

This is Silver Streak we're talking about here, so he returns in time to interrupt the kidnapping in progress. the mysterious Iron-Jaw is revealed to be a moderately cool-looking/ moderately goofy-looking/ fairly spiky humanoid robot. With a gold finish, no less - so much for thematic consistency.

Though Iron-Jaw briefly gets the upper hand, even a super strong, very pointy robot is no match for the world's fastest man and it takes a fatal header onto the streets of Manhattan below.

Here's something about the Iron-Jaw: in its first appearance, all it does is talk, while in its second it is completely mute. This dovetails interestingly with something that Kitty reports after its defeat, that investigation of the robot indicates that it was controlled by trans-oceanic radio waves originating from the Axes government. Which seems to indicate that the Iron-Jaw was merely operating as the mouth and hands of one or more spymasters in some comic book pastiche of Germany, which in turn means that this is one of the few times in Golden Age comics in which the villain gets away at the end!* Neat!

*excluding all of the recurring villains who get away all the time, of course. 

Finally, Silver Streak and Whiz get to meet FDR to get his congratulationss, plus a Congressional Medal of Honor!

Categorized in: Body (Jaws), Elements (Iron), Origins (Robots)