MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 385: THE GREAT MEDICINE BIRD

(More Fun Comics 067, 1941)

It's an old, dumb trope: diamond thief Gordon Slade escapes into the jungle with his loot and then takes over a tribe as it's spiritual leader - sometimes it's a god but in this case it's as a medicine man. Between the name and the outfit the Great Medicine Bird, like a lot of his shitty compatriots, technically qualifies for the status of minor super-villain. But since I don't especially like them, they're going into roundup posts from now on.

And yes I could have just started a roundup post with this guy but then I wouldn't have the opportunity to present this: the most over-the-top death I have encountered in a while: briefly getting the upper hand over Congo Bill, Slade is grabbed by a boa constrictor. He kills it, causing them both to plunge into a crocodile-infested river. Congo Bill's pal Professor Kent calls him both a snake and a rat as a eulogy.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 384: DEEJA KATHOON

(More Fun Comics 067, 1941)

Deeja Kathoon is an occultist and necromancer who has the ability to summon and bind ghosts to his service and uses this power to unleash a ghostly crimewave on Cliffland, NJ. He has what turns out to be an Indian surname but there's no indication in-story that he's supposed to be Indian and so I must assume that it's a coincidence and that my first guess was correct and his name was chosen by picking random syllables out of a hat.

Ordinarily this would be the point at which I say "unfortunately, he chose to do his crimes in the Spectre's home town," but not this time, for you see the Spectre is a ghost. Kathoon binds him just like any other ghost and almost forces him to destroy the Cliffland City Hospital before the Ring of Life manages to deus ex machina him out of that particular jam.

One thing that goes unexplored and unexplained in the story is the zippy little rocket ship that Kathoon tries to escape in once the Spectre is free. In the absence of any hint or eleventh hour reveal that he is an alien or magical time traveller I must assume that it is a magic rocket ship, which is great. More magic rocket ships are what we need, in my humble opinion.

It's just possible that being forced to do Kathoon's bidding rattled the Spectre, or at least convinced him that the guy was a legitimate threat, because not only does he kill him via rocket ship explosion, he then hunts down and kills his ghost. This is, yes, a step more extreme than 1939 Batman gunning down the odd monster, but then again this is the Spectre. He has a reputation for brutality for a reason.

In conclusion, this little cloud guy that Kathoon made to intimidate the Spectre is the sensational character find of 1941.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 383: THE VOODOO KING

(More Fun Comics 066, 1941) 

The Voodoo King is nothing special: a colonial administrator in the the Kangean Islands of Indonesia (meaning that he is probably our first Dutch super-villain), he uses his weird getup and knowledge of chemistry to scare off iron miners so that he can steal the diamonds that are also abundant in the mine. Too bad for him that the mine owner is friends with pilot/ adventurer Captain Desmo and so he gets his clock cleaned.

By far the best thing and also the biggest disappointment about the Voodoo King are the spooky speaker-equipped scarecrows that he uses to scare off the miners - they are very cool looking but I keep thinking that they are weird wicker robots and then getting sad when I remember that they are inanimate.

FASCIST GOON CLEARING HOUSE 004

More goon/ more fascist

The Band AKA the Anti-American Band AKA the Un-American Band are yet another take on the German-American Bund distinguished by the fact that they were infiltrated by Bruce Blackburn - Counterspy so a) they were one of the few gangs of fascist goons to last more than one adventure and b) they were the villains that Blackburn created his shortlived alter-ego the Destroying Demon to fight (Feature Comics 038-041, 1940-1941)

The Advance Front! Fascist agitators who seem to be actual Nazis, or at least be using actual swastikas. I hesitate to call this refreshing but it's at least simpler to call someone a Nazi than a crypto-fascist Nazi-alike German analog. Beat to tar by USA, the Spirit of Old Glory (Feature Comics 046, 1941)

Hold Tight America is our first example of the fascist group that is calling for peace in order to advance their plans for war before being foiled by Doll Man (Feature Comics 049, 1941)

The Hand is just as halfassed and slapdash as these chumps usually are but I'll say this for them: they capture and almost manage to assassinate not just the Black Condor but FDR too! (Crack Comics 019, 1941)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 382: THE MAN

(More Fun Comics 066, 1941) 

Out of nowhere one day, giant monsters attack Cliffland, New Jersey!

After driving them off a couple of times, the Spectre manages to follow them back to their base of operations, a weird painting of unknown provenance hanging in a Cliffland museum. There he finds that the monsters reside in a metal city ruled over by a man referred to only as the Man.

The Man is clearly modeled after the fascist dictators of the day and spends his time whipping his monstrous subjects into a frenzy prior to a wholesale invasion of the real world. While I don't appreciate the attempted-destruction-of-humanity of it all I must admit that he has some wonderful turns of phrase. Maybe being a fictional entity allows you to tap into a poetical mindset more easily.

The Man's schemes all come to nothing as the Spectre invades his world and decimates his forces, then overcomes the Man himself (despite the Man deploying not only a variety of magical powers but a surprise eleventh-hour monster transformation) and destroys both the painting and the world it contains.

I have to say that despite not particularly loving the monster designs here I do love the idea of an outsider artist putting so much of themself into a work that it gains a life of its own. BRING BACK the Man, I say, whether in another work by the same artist or as a fictional parasite who appears in other paintings until he can find one that he can use as a portal to the real world. He would be a great addition to the ranks of the DCU's magical weirdos.

FASCIST GOON CLEARING HOUSE 003

More goons. Fascist goons? Yes.

The Anti-American Party operated in the South American country of Santa Palos, home of the Red Gaucho, and got up to a lot of malarky at a fancy dress ball. Crucially, they disguised one of their agents as the Red Gaucho, leading to a lot of mixups between the agent, the Gaucho and a clueless dope who also came dressed as the hero (Nickel Comics 006, 1940)

The Black Guard, agents of the Germany-analog country of Nordicha operating in neighbouring oil-rich country Ruina and foiled by Secret Agent X-5 (later G-5) (Hit Comics 002, 1940)

Now that I'm revisiting them I reckon that the Green Gloves should have been a regular entry but it's too late now. In contrast to all of the other fascist groups represented here so far, the Green Gloves are devoted to a guy amazingly named Glover Green with no allegiance to any foreign power. Green seems to be your garden variety megalomaniac with a real glove fixation, down to traitors to the group getting a green glove brand on their foreheads (Detective Comics v1 045, 1940)

The Nastonian-American Society is just another German-American Bund analog (Adventure Comics 051, 1940)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 381: NYARL-AMEN

(More Fun Comics 065, 1941)

Okay, so the guy on the throne is Nyarl-Amen, AKA the Ancient One AKA the Lost Wisdom AKA the Wonder Wisdom. Fifty thousand years ago he ruled the world from beneath the waves as head of the Nyarl-Amen Dynasty.

Nyarl-Amen has lived in the City of Nyarl-Amen for one hundred thousand years...

His arsenal includes the Magic Eyes of Nyarl-Amen...

And together with his minions the Fish Men of Nyarl-Amen he seeks to reconquer the world and presumably establish a Second Dynasty of Nyarl-Amen. Whatever you say about this civilization, "It has too many names," can't be one of them.

The thing is, all this repetition has left me unsure just whether we're dealing with an immortal fish-man sea-wizard attempting to reclaim his glory after 500 centuries or a city with an upstart ruler and bad imagination. I suppose whether it's Nyarl-Amen the First or Nyarl-Amen the Six Hundred and Fifteenth doesn't really matter since Dr Fate ends up blowing up every single Nyarl-Amen mentioned thusfar.

These guys should 100% be BRUNG BACK for one simple reason: the best thing about Aquaman stories is the weird collection of pulp novel civilizations that coat the DCU seafloor and these fish-head weirdos would enhance that immeasurably.

FASCIST GOON CLEARING HOUSE 002

More fascist chodes for your edification:

The American Freedom Club AKA the Movement AKA the New Order were propagandists looking to corrupt the youth of the nation, starting with the Boyville Orphanage and ending with a beating from the Boyville Brigadiers (Feature Comics 047, 1941)

The Anti-American Bund, a standard outsized play on the weenies that were the German-American Bund (remember them as the ones who ran away before Jack Kirby could ride the elevator down to beat them up). This version is for some reason forcing this lady who merely married a bundist to be their leader until she is rescued by Neon the Unknown (Hit Comics 008, 1941)

The Double Cross! A non-specific Axis force poised to invade the US from within but foiled by the scientific acumen of Wizard Wells and the rough and tumble charm of his assistant Tug (Crack Comics 012, 1941)

The Fasdicks/ the Fasdick Company, a fascist organization operating a business as a front for an invasion of the Phillipines and possibly a very oblique rude pun name? Foiled by Spin Shaw (Feature Comics 040, 1941)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 380: THE ASSASSINS

(More Fun Comics 065, 1941)

It's another version of a revival of the Assassins! These Assassins are very into the accuracy of it all and have their own Alamut HQ and their own top guy named Hassan (presumably followed by Ibn Sabbah but it's never said in full). Commitment to the bit is not quite enough to save them once second-rate Lawrence of Arabia Lance Larkin gets on the case, however.

This group were based out of Iran, unlike the Order of Assassins or the Society of Assassins, our previous claimants to the title of The Order of Assassins, Returned, For Real. Of the three, these latest guys are the least assassin-y - they operate a bit more like your standard comic book desert bandits.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 379: THE BLUE FLAME

(More Fun Comics 065, 1941)

A fairly simple one, this. The Blue Flame is an eerie cloaked figure sheathed in, yes, blue flame, that embarks on a crime spree in Cliffland, New Jersey. His crimes are not quite but almost exclusively aimed at the attendees of shows by stage magician Dr Mephisto and there is even some indication that the Blue Flame is attempting to frame Mephisto.

Unfortunately for the Blue Flame, Cliffland is home to the Spectre, and he is fairly swiftly revealed to actually be... Dr Mephisto! That's right, the whole thing about the frame-up was a moderately clever ruse! That failed to take into account the fairly well-documented super-powered ghost-man constantly capturing costumed crooks, sure, but a plan is a plan and deserves acknowledgement.

By far the best part of the story, at least for my money, is the Spectre's encounter with Blue Flame henchman Jimmy "Knife" Groggins. Contrary to his no-nonsense buzzkill modern characterization, the Golden Age Spectre really seemed to have fun with his job and letting Knife throw his namesake only to turn it into a little necklace charm is a fairly good illustration of that. 

Even better is this "monster of space" that the Spectre lets eat both himself and Knife as an advanced interrogation technique. Just look at that guy! A real top-notch monster! The Blue Flame can go kick rocks but BRING BACK this magnificent beast!

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 007

The hits keep on coming:

This Fellow's name is Becker and he and his wife run a gang while pretending to be among its victims. An okay scheme, but not really up to foiling Bulletman and Bulletgirl. (Master Comics 014, 1941)

This guy here is why I have such a hard time relegating masked Western bandits to the dregs of the generic costumed villains: he's as by-the-numbers a bandit as they come, he robs one stagecoach total, he ends up dying because he falls off his horse... but he is frequently and consistently referred to a "Alkali, the Scourge of the Plains" which is as endearing as it is possible to be. (Master Comics 019, 1941)

I'm overlooking the fact that this bundist-style not-exactly-German spy encountered by Miss America doesn't actually wear a costume because a) he's called the Leader, b) he lives in a wax museum and c) he has a pet gorilla named Gargo. (Military Comics 002, 1941)

Captain Rajah, AKA the Master, was a jewel thief who ran up against Captain Desmo, in a story even more weirdly pro-colonial than Captain Desmo stories usually are - Captain Rajah is immediately suspicious for being an Indian officer in the Bengal Lancers, continued to be suspected throughout and then turned out to be the Master. The story is from before the invention of "defying expectations". (More Fun Comics 065, 1941)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 378: THE THING

(More Fun Comics 064, 1941)

This is not a complicated one: Congo Bill is asked for help by his friend Jack Brent. Brent is trying to sell his plantation, one of the assets of which is his good relationship with the local labour pool. Just as he had found a buyer, a skull-headed goon called the Thing started murdering workers. It's about par for course re: jungle comics portrayal of nonwhite folks and fairly standard otherwise and of course the Thing turns out to be Mr Tate the prospective buyer attempting to get a better price via wholesale slaughter. The one redeeming feature of the story is this:

The Thing looks sick as hell. You'll be hard pressed to find a better look than a skull in a hood and the cool dagger is a real bonus. The bulletproof vest is of course not visible but speaks to a thoughtfulness that is shamefully wasted in this grubby little scheme.

And yes that is Congo Bill in blackface.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 377: MAYOOR

(More Fun Comics 064, 1941)

Mayoor is an ancient evil god with no in-comic-defined portfolio but if I had guess I would venture that he's the God of Disappointment. Here's the sum total of his plots and plans: enthrall a society adventurer named Bill Credon, who then lures Dr Fate chum Inza Cramer to Mayoor's Yucatan Peninsula temple-cum-prison. Then there's a bit about using her to spread Mayoor's message and worship but unfortunately for Mayoor that's the point at which Dr Fate shows up and kills him.

It's not even a challenge! And Mayoor should have known that he was outclassed, because Dr Fate* is the one who imprisoned him in the first place. About the only good thing about this guy is that because he was such a nothing villain he could probably be BRUNG BACK as a regional threat without a lot of baggage, just bedeviling the heroes of Central America for decades - it's not as if there were any piece of fiction in which it was easy to kill a god, after all. Worldbuilding!

*this story is a few issues prior to the Dr Fate's origin story, so while retroactively it was probably Nabu or someone else wearing the Helmet of Fate who imprisoned Mayoor, in-story it's still Dr Fate being treated as an immortal wizard.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 376: THE SHADOW

(More Fun Comics 064, 1941)

The Shadow is in reality the vengeful ghost of Elmer Watson, a bumped-off witness in a big corruption case. Slightly more reasonable reason for revenge than some murderous ghosts, certainly, but Watson's vengeance eventually becomes so all-consuming that he attempts to derail an entire passenger train to get at one target and he ends up banished to whatever nether realm the Spectre sends bad ghosts to.

This is two Vengeance Ghosts in a row for the Spectre! Is that all he is going to face now? No, I checked, it's not. Close call though!

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 375: HALDANE THE SORCERER

(More Fun Comics 063, 1941)

Haldane the Sorcerer has no backstory in-comic, so I'm going to be making some assumptions here. Assumption Number 1: since he first comes to light at society party that is also attended by Dr Fate pal Inza Cramer I am going to assume that he is part of the same New York/ New England social set as her, as opposed to some sort of party crasher. 

Assumption Number 2: Haldane is a hobbyist. He is a rich guy who has managed to buy his way into learning, artifacts and power. He obviously has the magic skills to, for instance, turn someone to stone or rig up a voodoo doll to kill them in three days, but he lacks all sense of the practical. As an example: why the heck does he deploy his scheme in the middle of a party attended by none other than Dr Fate's main squeeze? Because he's never done anything like this before.

Let me elaborate on his scheme to underline my point: Haldane is after the hidden treasure of the Jeromes, hidden deep in secret passages below their manor and thought by all to be a mere legend. He has discovered the location of the treasure via scrying. All of his spells seem to be status effect curses - surely the best way to go about things would be to sneak in, maybe curse someone to send them to the hospital? Not running into the middle of a party throwing curses left and right - amateur move.

To cap it all off, when things start going off the rails Haldane decides to summon a cosmic horror (that, yes, looks a lot like a big bald lug). It's a wild overreaction that doesn't even solve his problems - it just scares that poor lady!

Anyway, Dr Fate socks him one and he flies into the sea. An ignominious end for a mighty sorcerer.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 374: THE MAN WHO WAS DEAD

(More Fun Comics 063, 1941)

I'm just as guilty as I was with the Jungle Scientist of being immediately seduced by the subject's name as presented in the title of the story. The Man Who Was Dead - a terrific name if I've ever seen one. Pure bonus points to the guy for being a weird little imp about it.

The Man Who Was Dead of course escapes from police custody and so the Radio Squad here are forced to follow up on their only clue: a cufflink with some weird writing on it which they of course take to a university History Department and of course discover that the Man Who Was Dead is in fact History Professor Greene, who recently had a nervous breakdown. Also there is a sinister Indian gentleman named Professor Silna.

It all comes to a head in an abandoned house on the edge of town, in which Silna is of course revealed to have drugged and hypnotized Greene into an obedient and invulnerable servant using his Ancient Hindu Magicks. Silna realizes too late that he should have made himself immune to gunfire as well, as he is gunned down by Radio Squad member Sandy Kean. Greene gets to heal from the tremendous amount of abuse his body endured while under Silna's control and all the loot gets returned - a happy ending for all!