(Tip-Top Comics 054-056, 1940)
The Glove here is the head of a gang of international criminals that come to the attention of super-hero brothers the Triple Terror when they make off with a load of radium. Why the radium, you ask? Why, so that the Glove and his pal Mr Mario (good name) could run their death ray cannon.
Unfortunately for the Glove he only ever managed to capture 2/3 of the Triple Terror. The final confrontation does reveal the reason that he is called the Glove: like our old friend the Hook he has a prosthetic hook hand covered by a false plastic one. The hook proves to be his ultimate undoing, as a fumbled grab for a light switch ends in his electrocution (and, through some literary contrivance, that of most of his men. Only Mr Mario survives).
But who are the Triple Terror? They are triplets Barton, Richard and Bruce Brandon, who operate respectively as Chemix, Lectra and Menta, the masters of chemistry, electricity and men's minds. Though they are technically nonpowered they are sufficiently adept at their specialties that they effectively are. Chemix has for instance created what is essentially Spider-Man's webshooter while Menta has access to hypnotic powers that are tantamount to mind control. All three are of course physical paragons capable of bursting chains and scaling walls with ease
The only real weak point in the Brandons arsenal of abilities is in their faculty for naming: "Triple Terror" and "Chemix" are okay but "Lectra"? "Menta"? Even the family estate is called "Brandwell" which is frankly mid-tier.
I do enjoy their Platonic Ideal super-hero outfits, complete with dumb logos and a variable number of pouches depending on how many accessories each uses as part of their role in the team. I will be starting a pool to bet on how long the belt thing lasts.
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