Sunday, December 10, 2023

SUPER-VILLAIN YEARBOOK: IAN KARKULL & WOTAN 1941

What were Ian Karkull and Wotan up to in 1941?

Ian Karkull is my Platonic Ideal of the Median Super-Villain: he has two Golden Age appearances (detailed here) and a handful of post-Silver Age ones but also was seemingly pulled out of a hat (probably by Roy Thomas) as the villain who did some sort of scheme that blasted the Justice Society with some sort of energies that made them age slower so that otherwise normal WWII veterans like Wildcat and the Sandman could be running around fighting crime well past retirement age. It's a Big Deal and it means that Karkull has absolutely been mentioned far more than he's actually appeared.

1. More Fun Comics 069, 'Untitled':But we're here to talk about 1941! What was Ian Karkull up to then? Well for one thing he wasn't calling himself 'Ian' yet - that was presumably added at the same time that he was revived to irradiate the JSA. Karkull was seemingly just another scientist with a cool invention - a machine that turns people into shadows! - that he is determined to use for crime.

Surprise of the year: Karkull has if not a good reason for turning to crime then at least a reason. While exploring the lost Saharan city of Ragnor with his partner Everett Dahlen he is betrayed and left for dead so that Dahlen could run off with a huge ruby. Is it the most rock-solid reason to turn to a life of crime? No, but it's more of an origin than most Golden Age scientists get.

Karkull's first outing ends with him at large, albeit trapped in shadow form by Dr Fate as a sort of ad hoc punishment that is fairly out of line with his crimes of one murder and one bank robbery. That's the Golden Age for you, I guess.

2. More Fun Comics 070, 'Untitled': Not only is Karkull back in the next issue but he brought Wotan with him!

In a development that is only a bit surprising, Dr Fate's slapdash brand of vigilante justice has come back to bite him. Yes, Wotan was sealed in a stony cyst for all time and Karkull was left an intangible shadow but the problem with leaving enough foes just out and about like that is that they might team up, which is exactly what happened when Wotan's wandering astral form (something you really should control for when imprisoning magic guys for all time) met Karkull's shadowy one and they worked together to release Wotan's actual body, albeit without his normal green skin for some reason (the colourist forgot that he was green).

The Wotan/ Karkull team have a plan to conquer and/or attack the nations of Earth from their Arctic base using devices that control 3/4 of the classical elements, namely Earth, Wind and Fire. They accidentally (?) draw Dr Fate's attention by attacking nearby teams of Arctic explorers with their wind weapon, leading to an ultimate 2 vs 1 confrontation in an Arctic dome!

In a bit of an anticlimax, Dr Fate merely sidesteps their fire weapon, causing it to rebound and kill them both. Seemingly, at least - they'll both be back when the continuity nerds start writing comics.

IAN KARKULL

Body Count: 6

End-of-Year Status: Presumed Dead

WOTAN

Body Count:1905

End-of-Year Status: Presumed Dead

(Karkull kills his enemy; Wotan and Karkull jointly kill explorers; Wotan sinks battleship)

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