(Planet Comics 001, 1940)
Zan lives on the far-off planet Volcus and uses the energies of its magnetic core to power his spaceship fleet and capture yet more spaceships. And why does he do this? Why, so that he can turn their crew into science zombies and eventually amass an army large enough to conquer the universe!
(he also has this one lady with him at all times and I'm not sure what her role is exactly because she does not utter a single word throughout the comic. Is she his lieutenant? His girlfriend? A different story might have revealed that she was the real mastermind all along but no dice. She just hangs out behind him in her slinky dress and touches his shoulders)
Zan's piracy is very concerning to the Solar Congress, and so they deploy the Solar Force, under the command of Captain Nelson Cole and his little pal Lieutenant Bud. Too bad for them that their ships are made out of the same stuff as all of the missing ones were: they are immediately swept away to Volcus to be zombified.
Zan's whole plan seems to hinge on the unstoppable nature of his science zombie armies, but if I'm honest they aren't as big a threat as he lets on. For one thing, they seem to operate like units in a strategy game in that if they're not being explicitly directed then they just keep on doing what they were last ordered, including marching forward into a pit and just standing around. Does Zan believe that he and his ladyfriend have the wherewithal to control entire armies of these guys on the fly or is he going to start recruiting elite Starcraft players to his side soon?
Zan is ultimately rounded up after Cole and Bud manage to capture the paralysis ray that Zan himself had in reserve specifically to counter his armies if they went haywire. Heckuva way to find out that your contingency plan was viable, fella.
It's nice that they let Zan and his gal pal share a cell, but I'm not sure if she's as into him as she once was.
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