Friday, August 2, 2024

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 580: BLACK MICHAEL

(Crash Comics Adventures 001, 1940)


Black Michael is the leader of a band of space pirates based on Pluto and beginning in the year 2140 he terrorizes the solar system, killing and plundering at will.

It's unclear in the original story how long this state of affairs persists for, but a later installment of "the Solar Legion" takes place in 2260, suggesting that Black Michael and his crew might have been going strong for upwards of 120 years. That's a lot of piracy!

All good things must come to an end, however. Black Michael and his entire crew (and a decent chunk of the Plutonian surface) are blown to smithereens by Adam Starr, founder of the Space Legion and real hard-ass.

OR WAS HE? In Crash Comics Adventures 003 Adam Starr searches Mars for a missing heiress and finds not only her but his old enemy Black Michael in a new base under the famed canals of Mars (and of course Jack Kirby loved the concept of the Martian canals - it's evocative!).

Black Michael attempts to feed Starr (and his hostage, for some reason?) to the great Martian god/monster/fish Gansha but makes the fatal error of leaving him armed and both he and the Gansha meet their ends via the muzzle of Starr's extremely over-powered ray gun. Do not take this man target shooting, folks.

Bonus image of the Gansha, the real star of the adventure.

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