(Marvel Mystery Comics v1 019, 1941)
There's a bit in the introductions to the Top 10 anthologies in which Neopolis mayor John Q. Public lays out the exponential propagation of super-heroes, -villains, -pets, -monsters and so forth that takes place in a comic universe that I think of often as I read through these old adventures. Heroes inspire sidekicks and imitators; their enemies build robots and create doppelgangers to counter them, etc, until you have superhumans everywhere.
There's one thing that isn't brought up in that intro that absolutely contributes to the proliferation of the extranormal in a super-hero universe: any friend, family member or acquaintance (and especially any old college classmate, for some reason) is highly likely to either become a super-villain or to be targeted by one. Out of universe, it is of course an easy way to bring the hero in on a case, but in-universe: what a wild series of coincidences!
In this case, we find Professor Zog summoned to the side of his old college pal Sir John Chadwick, who has seen almost his entire family killed by a mysterious set of floating hands in recent weeks. Zog is of course a bro and immediately flies to England to solve this problem via Applied Robot Violence. The first battle between Electro and the Invisible Slayer ends in a robo-defeat, but Zog manages to shoot the killer and follows its trail of blood to...
The nearby mansion of Basil Drake, who turns out to be behind the whole thing to such a degree that one must wonder about Sir Chadwick's powers of observation. Drake's mansion contains a herd of gorillas, for heaven's sake. His motivation for five murders and many more attempteds is that Chadwick's daughter sensibly rejected his marriage proposal, which is, I must say, a stupid reason to delve into super-villainy.
And of course even after Drake bumps himself off rather than be captured we must deal with the Invisible Slayer itself, or himself, as it turns out, because the Slayer is in fact Drake's servant Chandi, cast as a monster due to his size and race.
A story featuring disembodied hands and herds of gorillas, ruined for me by racism and misogyny. I hope you're happy, Basil Drake.
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