(Big Shot Comics 020, 1941)
Dr Howard Vyle is a pretty disappointing villain to land on for the big Number 500, if I'm honest. He's just some guy from some country (Big Shot Comics 1940-1941 is rife with spies but the folks at Columbia Comic Corporation were even more cagey than the rest of the industry about indicating where those spies might actually be from - it's faintly possible he might be supposed to be a commie, even as late as December '41) who kidnaps a US Senator with colossal eyebrows in order to hypnotize him and use his influence over the government for the glory of his home country.
This is all pretty regular comics stuff and depending on my mood on the day I encountered him Dr Vyle would normally find himself in the Mad and Criminal Scientist Round-Up or maybe not even there. Lucky for him as well as for my sense that there should be something interesting in these big round number entries, Dr Vyle did not limit himself to using his hypnotic gifts for dull old political plots:
He also used them to recruit hapless goons to be his costumed Vulture Men! So cool they appear on the cover!
I can't say there's too much to the Vulture Men beyond being a bunch of mind controlled goons in cool wingsuits, but after reading two years' worth of Big Shot Comics' array of spies and gang bosses a flock of guys in proper gaudy villain garb are a breath of fresh air.
Unfortunately for Dr Vyle while mind controlled goons are certainly cheaper and less concerned with their personal safety than your more conventional salaried minions they also seem to lack some of the verve and personal initiative that you need to give a super-hero a run for their money. Skyman beats them up and then beats up their boss, in other words. The senator is saved!
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