MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 987: WILLIAM SCOTT

(Jackpot Comics 002, 1941)

William Scott is your textbook mad scientist delving into the mysteries of life and death that man was not meant to comprehend, and in fact is so clearly going to be a problem that Mr Justice shows up to tell him off in advance, just based on a feeling. Despite this, Scott signs up condemned gangster "Rod" Dugan (and whether the Rod part is short for Rodney or the now-somewhat obscure slang for a gun is impossible to know. Probably the gun, though) as a candidate for post-execution reanimation. Prison officials! You have to stop releasing bodies to men with crazed looks in their eyes who stink of ozone!

Scott's plan is successful, and he soon has his very own science revenant that he sends out to loot and plunder for him. Please not the multiple dentition-based signifiers in the above: while Dugan's tusk-like canines are one of the signifiers of the monstrous in Mr Justice comics, Scott's missing teeth are a mark of his derangement, like his long messy hair and the deep circles around his eyes.

Mr Justice has no trouble tracking down Scott as the source of the trouble, having already pegged him as a troublemaker. He proves to be more than a match for the the resurrected Dugan, but is unable to fully defeat him fully. The reason for this is simple: though Scott brought Dugan's body back to life, his soul is condemned to wander in torment until it is laid to rest. This is all set-up for a Mortal Shell vs. Immortal Soul fight to the death, and the Immortal Soul is not playing around.

Meanwhile, Scott takes the classic mad scientist's way out and blows himself, along with his lab, to high heaven. Hopefully he gets to reconnect with his old friend Rod Dugan when he gets there.

Categorized in: Supercrime (Monster Making)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 986: THE ZOMBIE MASTER

(Jackpot Comics 001, 1941)

Zarro, the Zombie Master, is yet another take on an evil Haitian voodoo practitioner: we've seen 'em before and we'll see 'em again. He is recruited by a couple of pseudo-Nazis named Karl Bezdek and Hugo Kempf for help in setting up a factory that uses zombies as workers in the production of war material for the Axis. Like the other Zombie Master we have covered, this one is a vibrant shade of green, just like a cartoon zombie, though I'm not entirely sure when that particular colour association started.

I am going to lay out Karl and Hugo's plan before telling you why I'm mad about it:

1. Pose as magazine photographers in order to get total access to the defense factories in the as-yet unnamed city that Mr Justice calls home (the risk of targeting a city with a super-hero is leavened by the fact that it has the world's most gullible mayor).

2. Photograph as many workers as possible.

3. Zarro uses the photographs as sympathetic magic links to the workers (plucking them out of the photographs = very cool) and kills them.

4. The worker's bodies are stolen and shipped to Haiti for use in the factory.

So why does this plan make me mad? Because I want to critique it but I can't. See, it's a bad and inefficient plan with a lot of unnecessary steps, but only if the only goal is to make money. But that isn't the goal! Karl and Hugo are spies for a fascist nation! Their goal is to hamper US war production while simultaneously boosting that of their own country using the Haitian zombie factory, and they have done both! It's maddening! The only real flaw I can find is that the graverobbing and body shipping are a bit involved but I can't really think of a good alternative that doesn't introduce more points of failure to the plan.

The risk of super-hero vs reward of gullible mayor calculation that we discussed earlier does in fact prove to be the trio's downfall, as Mr Justice is able to make his way to Haiti (and please note the surprisingly grody-looking zombies that he finds there) thanks to a minor kidnapping subplot and strangle the Zombie Master, which in turn restores the workers to life. One smashed up Axis factory later, everyone is on the way back to [CITY NAME NOT FOUND].

Categorized in: Generica (Masters), Powers (Magic (Create Zombies)), Supranormal Beings (Zombies))

MEDIA IN COMICS 010

Is the media in comics any good, do you think? Do super-heroes get to watch good movies?

Movies:

Arizona Nights is a Western being produced by King Studios when a climactic gunfight scene is used as cover for a real-life murder. Detective Sergeant Carey clears up the mystery (it was the cameraman) but we never learn if the footage of a man dying in real life was used for the added verisimilitude. (More Fun Comics 052, 1940)

Call of the North, a Mounted Police picture by Pioneer Films, is not marred by murder, but if the Quality Universe IMDb userbase is on the ball the trivia section for the movie includes the fact that several of the mountie actors were used as backup by RCMP Sergeant Reynolds in the apprehension of a kidnapper. (Feature Comics 037, 1940)

Dread Castle has a place in comic book history as the film that drove Basil Karlo over the edge and into the persona of Clayface, as he saw the attempt to remake a movie that he saw as one of his greatest roles as an insult to him personally. Both Dread Castles are medieval films about a murderous hunchback called the Terror - not a terribly exciting prospect without the excitement of all the real-life murder that went on during production of the second one. (Detective Comics v1 040, 1940)

The other Basil Karlo role that we learn about in his initial appearance is the one that he takes his criminal moniker and appearance from, a movie seemingly also called Clayface. (Detective Comics v1 040, 1940)

Music:

Is "Star Dust" Clark Kent's favourite song as he claims it is while big-dogging this club maître d'? I sure hope so. No idea what kind of song it is, but you can slow dance to it. (Superman Comics v1 007, 1940)

Newspaper Columns:

"Town Talk" is the kind of snotty gossip column that inspired a thousand murder mystery plots. In this case, columnist Walt Willard turns up dead and Steel Sterling has to comb through the wealth of suspects to figure out whodunnit. (Jackpot Comics 004, 1941)

"Around the Town with Joe E. Brown" is your standard gossip column-as-exposition-vector, though why the writer has the same name as an old-time film comedian is unknown to me. (Special Edition Comics 001, 1940)

Paul Pryer, writer of the imaginatively-titled "Paul Pryer's Column" is one of those comic book celebrities who I am certain is based on a real person, but whether it's just someone like Walt Winchell or there's a Paul Prowler out there just waiting for me to learn about him is up to chance. (All-Star Comics 003, 1940) 

Meanwhile: "Society," the most pragmatically-named society column of all time. (Batman Comics v1 001, 1940)

We don't get to actually see "Tom Peeping's Column" in this Minute Movies strip, but I like to imagine that it features a cheeky little cartoon of the writer with big binoculars at the top. (Flash Comics 004, 1940)

Newsreels:

I don't know enough about newsreels to know if they normally had titles, but the Ace Films company is trying to capitalize on their beautiful camerawoman "Dot Daring," aka Beautia Sivana and so chooses to call this one Flirting with Death. (Whiz Comics 010, 1940)

CATALOGUE OF WOUNDS 012

If I keep at this long enough then we will find the super-hero with the most comically-long list of wounds sustained in the course of their adventures. Currently in the lead: the Green Mask! Unless we're talking about head traumas, in which case I must direct your gaze to the Blue Beetle.

Domino the Miracle Boy:

Shot in the right shoulder by Dr Moru while heroically leaping in front of a gun to save the Green Mask. (Mystery Men Comics 029, 1941)

the Green Mask:

Slashed on the left side of his head by the Manx's weird wrist-claw. (Mystery Men Comics 026, 1941)

Mr Justice:

Mr Justice is a ghost-type super-hero, so his origin involves a gruesome death, in this case being hacked to pieces by some historically-questionable Englishmen. (Blue Ribbon Comics 009, 1941)

It's not quite as universal a trait, but Mr Justice also maintains a human form for times when he is not engaging in super-heroics, and since he's already dead it doesn't matter how often he sustains mortal wounds, such as this instance of him being riddled with bullets. (Blue Ribbon Comics 009, 1941)

Or here, when he is fatally blasted by a beam. (Blue Ribbon Comics 010, 1941)

(and again a few minutes later)

Or just plain shot in the head. It's just a shortcut to the emergence of Mr Justice from his mortal shell. (Jackpot Comics 002, 1941) 

Sergeant Spook: 

And speaking of ghostly super-heroes and their fatal origins, here's Sergeant Spook blowing himself up with his poor lab safety. (Blue Bolt v1 001, 1940)

Simba:

Simba, newly-reformed nemesis of Dick Cole, gets his skull creased with a bullet by Dr Karno (Blue Bolt v2 006, 1941)

Sub-Zero:

Sub-Zero also gets his skull creased, but since he's so cold he's bulletproof Professor X has to use a white-hot bullet to do it. (Blue Bolt Comics v1 005, 1940)

the Wraith: 

Finally we have the Wraith, who becomes a ghost thanks to being riddled with bullets during a drive-by.  (Mystery Men Comics 027, 1941)

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 045

It's hard out there for the little guys.

Unnamed Spy Chief:

I don't know if I've ever seen a comic book villain with such a distinctive look and clear devotion to a visual theme but absolutely nothing else. Her "decadent Egyptian Queen" bit doesn't spill into her plans, it doesn't inform how her minions dress... she doesn't even have a name. Baffling! 

On top of everything else, her plans are foiled and she is captured by the oafish Navy man Spark Stevens.(Green Mask v1 004, 1941)

John Dale:

When John Dale decides to murder his elderly cousin Ludwig in order to speed up the inheritance process, he disguises himself by grabbing this lizard-goblin mask that seems to be part of the decor, and then again when he decides that further murders will help him to cover up the first one. Thankfully for intrepid reporter Dell and her companion, the Night Bird is there to prevent this second (and third) murder.

Dale's plan is flimsy at best, and includes multiple key factors that would fall apart under the lightest of scrutiny (no autopsy because he, the main beneficiary with power of attorney, said that they didn't need it, fake will, etc). The best of these is this secret room setup, where the open window in the library is covered in an enlarged photo of the view from the secret room in order to obfuscate its presence to those in the library. Would having the will reading in a room other than the library make it even easier to conceal the secret? Certainly, but it wouldn't be as clever. (Green Mask v1 007, 1941)

the Corpse:

In Green Mask v1 007, the titular Green Masks solves the murder of a man named Brown over an engraved box that turns out to contain a map to lost pirate treasure. The murderer, a con artist and fake medium called Swami Zodia, is captured, and Michael "the Green Mask" Shelby and his pals take possession of the map in what I would call morally questionable circumstances. Hope Mr Brown didn't have any heirs!

The voyage to the treasure-bearing island is fraught with death and danger courtesy of a treacherous ship's captain and his ally the Corpse, supposedly the walking cadaver of the pirate who drew the map in the first place. This is of course hogwash, and despite putting in a surprisingly strong showing against the Green Mask and Domino the Corpse is eventually unmasked to reveal that he is... Swami Zodia again! Yes, having committed murder for it, Zodia isn't yet ready to give up on the treasure and has pulled out the comic book con artist's ultimate weapon: the fake ghost. Alas, it does not work. (Green Mask v1 008, 1941)

Simia:

Simia is, simply put, an evil ape (species up for debate. Chimpanzee? Gorilla?). He was found as an orphaned baby and raised by a man named Jim Keane - does his evil nature stem from being brought up in a household where using utensils was prioritized and acting like an ape meant that you get locked up in a cage, seemingly indefinitely? Possibly.

Simia is set free by some evil men who are after Keane, and immediately organizes an ape gang to terrorize the local jungle, which includes kidnapping Kaänga's mate Ann (he also inadvertently helps his foster father by killing his enemies).

Kaänga is not a guy whose home life you want to mess with, as Simia learns just before getting his head bashed in on a boulder. (Jungle Comics 014, 1941)