Tuesday, September 24, 2024

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 623: THE CYCLOP

(Fantastic Comics 009, 1940)

Captain Kidd is once again back in Africa, this time in search of a lost explorer named Perez, and has once again bribed a local into taking him somewhere dangerous only to get that local killed (this happens about a third of the time with Kidd - not quite often enough to make a very depressing supercut).

Kidd and his unfortunate hireling Wango track Perez to the Lost Valley, where they discover and are captured by a tribe of one-eyed Beastmen, respectively.


Surprisingly little is made of the fact that the Beastmen worship a hypnotically paralyzed woman. Ordinarily a reveal like this would be lead to the woman's rescue being the focus of the rest of the adventure but this panel is her only appearance - is it possible that Captain Kidd thinks that she is merely a statue? A grim fate indeed. 

Also: RIP Wango.


The Beastman leader (referred to as "the Cyclop" throughout) of course turns out to be Perez, who went mad upon his discovery of the valley and somehow became the leader of the whole place. If I'm honest, the theoretical comic about the sequence of events that lead to that happening (and presumably to that poor woman becoming a goddess-statue) is more interesting than what we got.

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