Monday, May 15, 2023

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 278: THE VAMPIRE KILLER

(Marvel Mystery Comics v1 020, 1941)


We open on a fear-gripped Star City (not the one you're thinking of), in which ten people have been killed and drained of their blood. VAMPIRE! KILLER!


An eleventh soon joins their ranks, and we get a look at the Vampire Killer in his cool as hell Shadow cosplay. VAMPIRE! KILLER! INTO! FASHION!


But it seems all is not as we thought! Extradimensional smoke-man the Vision, exercising the oft-overlooked super-hero skill of Research, discovers that the so-called Vampire Killer is in reality biochemical Experiment 36-B, AKA Florus Homo. I don't know that I want to blame the victim here, but engineering an intelligent plant that feeds on blood is a comic book science version of Russian Roulette. PLANT! MAN! DAD! EATER!


And of course, having learned that the Vampire Killer is no vampire, we get to see it's face in all of its Kirby-designed glory. Makes you wish that it hadn't been set on fire by the Vision one page later. But it's a plant, right? And seeds! Seeds can stay viable for centuries! There's still hope, even now! BRING! BACK! TURNIP! HEAD!

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