MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 408: MR WHO

(More Fun Comics 073, 1941) 

It's Mr Who! You know, from comics! I was very excited for this guy to turn up, as he's one of those comic book characters I had heard about but never really read about, and... he's okay.

See, Mr Who was born all scrawny and seems to have been a weird kid (and to have had a shitty dad, jeez), so he channelled all of his efforts into science, and more specifically into developing a way to be big and strong and handsome. He ended up with Solution Z, a super-power drug that allowed him to alter his size and shape seemingly without limit, to recover from any injury, camouflage himself like a chameleon, etc. It's a cool suite of powers that are somewhat undercut by his all-brown wardrobe (including cape!) accessorized with a single dark green neckerchief.

In his first outing, Mr Who is on a campaign to steal beautiful things such as paintings and gems to surround himself with so as to leave behind his own perceived ugliness. Dr Fate gets involved and seemingly drowns him in the Hudson River for his troubles.

But of course you can't keep a good man with complete control over his own biology down, and Mr Who is soon making his way to shore as a highly unsettling fishman. (More Fun Comics 074, 1941)

This time out, Mr Who sets his sights on power rather than material beauty - he uses his shapeshifting abilities to kidnap and replace... a mayor. I'll be honest: the prior issue was, like a lot of Dr Fate stories, very much set in NYC and this guy is almost certainly supposed to be a generic off-brand version of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, but they changed him just a little too much and he's falling into the uncanny valley for me. I think this would only affect someone who spends a fair amount of time squinting at old pictures of politicians to see if they're being alluded to in comics art but unfortunately I'm someone who does that.

Dr Fate of course foils this plan as well but we'll be seeing Mr Who again as the Golden Age progresses, and then he's one of the villains that Roy Thomas brings back in All-Star Squadron. I like Mr Who - he's a good foil for half-helmet era Dr Fate, who is more of a wisecracking roughneck than the full-face version, which means that a moderately crafty fella can outfox him for a while.