Sunday, December 17, 2023

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 399: THE MURDER MAESTRO

(More Fun Comics 072, 1941) 

The Murder Maestro comes out swinging with a rapid-fire campaign of musical murder. Over the course of two days he delivers five musical warnings followed by song-inspired deathtraps to members of the Tin Pan Alley Club, e.g., "I'm Walking on Air" delivered via singing telegram followed by an attempt to hang the recipient from a light aircraft.

This of course leads to one of my favourite setups: a collection of possible suspects. Not as much as could be is done with this bunch - two are almost immediately targeted by the Murder Maestro, leaving only two actual suspects - but I still appreciate the effort.

The Murder Maestro of course is Blind Harry Thorpe, the least likely of the suspects, who turns out to have Dr Mid-Nite-style "can only see in complete darkness" blindness. His murder spree was inspired by the fact that the Tin Pan Alley Club was a collective enterprise in which royalties were pooled and shared among the songwriter members, and of course fewer members meant more royalties for the survivors. Whether Thorpe had an excuse ready for when he was the only one left alive was left unexplored.

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