MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 733: THE PANTHER

(Silver Streak Comics 004, 1940)

The Panther! A murderous thief with a very cool look and a vicious set of claws! Well, okay, he does compliment his cool panther mask, panther paw gloves and shoes and pantherskin shirt with a pair of brown slacks so I'll amend that to a mostly cool look. 

Moderately cool looking or not, the Panther has been doing his crimes in the nonspecific New York-esque city that Ace Powers calls home and so Ace is on the case!

And Ace Powers turns out to be the guy for the job, because he immediately figures out the Panther is in fact an unnamed asylum escapee who went mad after his face was mangled in a car accident. What he fails to intuit, to his detriment, is that the panther mask isn't just for show but is armour plated - in his surprised state after his best haymaker fails to make an impact, Powers is nearly slashed to death by the Panther's also-functional claws. 

The Panther's reign of terror comes to an end when, after a rooftop chase across a flaming building, he proves that armour plating is not a good protection against fall damage by landing square on his armoured face and instantly dying.

What's this? Could it be that all of that "armour can't protect you from a fall" talk was mere propaganda courtesy of Big Parachute? Evidently so, because in the next issue of Silver Streak Comics the Panther turns out to be Just Fine. Better, even, because he demonstrates some pretty advanced super-villain thinking by setting out to avoid the mistakes of the past by recruiting some manpower (fellow inmates at the same asylum he had previously escaped from) for backup the next time he had to face Ace Powers.

The Panther Men (as they are called) are a terrific addition to the Panther's operation. First of all, I love any group of henchmen who are dressed in a junior version of their boss' outfit, though the colourist has obfuscated the fact that that is the case here by rendering what is pretty clearly still their inmates' uniforms as a golden brown. More importantly, the Panther's somewhat-goofy open-mouthed mask looks fantastic when quadrupled - just look at that panel where they're all sneaking up on Ace Powers yet perfectly farmed in a mirror for proof.

The Panther Men prove to be effective backup for the Panther (aka the Panther Man at this point) - they capture Ace Powers and take him back to their weird little shed HQ to dispose of him, and he only manages to escape being buried alive by surprising the lot of them and knocking them into his would-be grave.

But the saga of the Panther is not quite over yet! When the police dig up the crooks (did I mention that the shed had collapsed on top of the hole after the various Panther Men had fallen in it? be cause it had) in Silver Streak Comics 006, they find only the bodies of the three Panther Men, with no sign of the Panther himself.

Examining the hole, Powers discovers a secret door that leads to the underground lair of future subject the Spook, who turns out to be the Panther's boss, which I suppose makes the Panther Men some sort of subcontractors? This is very fun! While having the villain turn out to be working for an even greater villain isn't a guaranteed win as far as plot twists go, it works here, even if it was clearly 100% made up when *checks credits* Harry Anderson sat down to draw this comic. 

This is, alas, the end for the poor Panther, as the Spook is one of those terrible super-villain bosses who murder their employees for failing them, in this case for not managing to kill Ace Powers. The Panther meets his end at the blades of a triple swinging pendulum deathtrap, and although that's not a particularly rare style of comic book murder machine this might just be the first time I've seen one take someone out, so that's a final achievement for out boy.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 732: THE DOC

(Silver Streak Comics 003, 1940)

Like his super-heroic enemy the Silver Streak, the Doc's story is complicated somewhat by the fact that it begins as an effort by Jack Binder and ends as one by Jack Cole. In the former, the Doc is a mysterious figure who is orchestrating the deaths of the drivers of Silver Streak race cars via giant fly attacks. The reason for this? Never made clear. 

Once the Swami and his race crew are seemingly out of business for good, the giant fly turns to more conventional crime in an effort to extort what will eventually turn out to be New York City for 20 million dollars. This is both where we learn that the fly was created by Dr Katan, a mad zoologist and  also presumably the one writing notes signed "the Fly".

Though the New York authorities feel that they have no choice but to capitulate to the Fly's demands, the Silver Streak has other ideas, and uses his hypnotically-enhanced physique to send the beast to a messy end.

The Fly may be defeated and the monies returned, but Dr Katan is still out there, still capable of creating giant insects...

Dropping the "Katan" (and also the "tor") and now known also as "the Doc", the villain's second appearance is comparatively low stakes, with only one little extortion-based kidnapping before he is forced to marshal all of his insects and arachnids against a Silver Streak out for revenge. the real highlight is these cool-ass stinger bugs - if only there were little gremlinoid insects running around on two legs shooting spikes out of there mouths at one another.

Unfortunately for the Doc, by his second appearance he is up against the super speed Silver Streak rather than the car driving one, so his various arthropods are disposed of and he is captured in fairly short order.

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 040

Lev Gleason's finest!

Lance Hale:

Lance Hale is a soldier of fortune and jungle adventurer who is notable mainly for the fact that in his first appearance he is given super strength by a fellow with the pleasing name of Dr Grantland Grey so that he can help out on an expedition to the stars, and then after returning to Earth he just... stops using the armband that gives him his enhanced strength. He keeps on adventuring, don't get me wrong, but as a regular jungle guy, ie, a colonialist race science fantasy figure. 

Hale is slightly more interesting than his contemporaries in the jungle guy community by virtue of the variety of situations that he gets in: there's the initial space trip that ends up turning into an interdimensional one and then a battle with invading animal men from a parallel world, a delve into a lost underground kingdom in which he incidentally becomes immortal, cursed demon-summoning gemstone action... I assume that the thrills are eventually going to stop coming but 1940 was almost all hits. (Silver Streak Comics 002, 1940)

Mister Midnite **HERO UPDATE**:

As you may or may not recall, Mister Midnite is a hero in the classic formal wear style who has one very specific power, to stop clocks by yelling "time stop!" Well! So we thought! It turns out that in his second appearance, Midnite demonstrates a second power, that of being teleported to a vaguely defined location, and also when he has shouts "time stop!" I really wish that there were more than two Mister Midnite stories so that we would have some more data to use in piecing all this together, but as of now I must assume that he has some sort of vaguely defined wishing power and that "time stop!" is its trigger phrase, like Johnny Thunder and "say you." (Silver Streak Comics 002, 1940)

the Silver Streak:

The Silver Streak! Is notable for two (2) reasons, the first of which is that he is a the-title-of-the-comic-book character who doesn't show up until issue 3, which is the opposite to how it often works, where the title character goes from proudly front and centre to gone in as many issues.

The second and more interesting thing about the Silver Streak is his origin, which I have tried and failed to summarize in paragraph form, so here goes as bullet points:

- the Silver Streak is a race car, or rather a series of race cars because every Silver Streak crashes, killing the driver. Nobody wants to drive for the Silver Streak team. The cars are crashing because they are being attacked by a giant fly.

- the Silver Streak's owner is Hindu mystic known only as the Swami. When an unnamed cab driver volunteers to drive the Silver Streak, the Swami hypnotizes him to be a great race car driver.

- the unnamed driver is immediately killed by a giant fly.

- BUT! The Swami has a hunch that the man is not in fact dead! He and a pal go to the cemetery and dig up the driver's unmarked grave, and they are proved right! And what's more, the prior hypnotic conditioning combined with the near-death experience has made the man (henceforth the Silver Streak) superhuman!

The first adventure of the Silver Streak concludes with him stealing the latest prototype of his namesake car and using it to destroy the giant fly that "killed" him, and as presented he seems to have been on track to be a car-based super-hero. However, between Silver Streak Comics 003 and 004, the character was handed off from Jack Binder to Jack Cole and the Silver Streak became a guy with super speed, no car required. I don't know if his origin is ever revised, but I do know that the Silver Streak has several sidekicks over the years and that they all get their powers via a blood transfusion from the man himself, so something's going on there. Unless his blood was hypnotized too, of course - the Swami never returns, so his deal is never fully explored.

Like a lot of super speed characters, the Silver Streak ends up being more about cool speed tricks than having a distinct personality, but he's a fun read nonetheless. (Silver Streak Comics 003, 1940)

Dickie Dean, Boy Inventor:

We love to see a boy inventor, if only because our brains have been warped enough by the Venture Brothers that we can't help but imagine their dysfunctional adulthood, and by "we" I mean "I". Dickie Dean here is particularly good fodder for that little thought experiment, as he is compelled to sign over his inventions to the US government by his misplaced sense of patriotism, so he's either in for a rude awakening or an increasingly delusional relationship to reality as he gets older. 

Some inventions that Dickie fails to patent in 1940 include: 

- a device that can replay sound waves and visualize shadows up to 2-3 weeks old

- a device designed to stop all war by making air as thick as molasses and thus preventing bullets etc from moving fast enough to do harm (importantly, this air is still breathable)

- an enclosed, submersible speedboat equipped with a device that abates flood waters via rapid electrolysis

He does sell a magnetic antigravity device for use as a mid-air brake for airplanes, but only because his father is in dire financial straits.

Dickie Dean is also interesting for the fact that he is from New Castle, Pennsylvania, a real place with a regular amount of history but not otherwise a big name in city circles. Also I just reread the bit where I roasted Dickie for giving away his patents and I want to make it cleat that the part I think is foolish is giving them to, like, the FBI, not donating them to humanity. (Silver Streak Comics 003, 1940)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 731: THE PROFESSOR

(Silver Streak Comics 002, 1940)

The Professor sits right on that dividing line between "super-villain" and "gang boss with a cool nickname" and what pushed him over the line for me was the fact that he makes three absolutely classic comic book super-villain mistakes in this issue. MISTAKE #1: The Professor lures the Wasp and his aide Bill Barnes to an isolated area to eliminate them before they interfere with his plans as they have in the past, but they don't even know that he's out of jail, let alone planning a robbery. Don't call attention to yourself.

Just a brief action shot to show the Wasp really using that wing-cape he takes his name from before moving on to...

MISTAKE #2: Despite the fact that Barnes and the Wasp escape from his trap and know that he's about pull a big job, the Professor continues with his plans and ends up losing his loot to the Wasp. Don't be predictable - change your plans if you need to.

The Professor and his men set out in hot pursuit of the heroes and the loot, and this is where he commits MISTAKE #3: so intent is he on his goal that he ignores the risks involved in piloting his fragile speedboat too close to a freighter and gets everyone killed. The sunk cost fallacy can be deadly. Don't forget that cutting and running is always an option.

It's a harsh world out there for the low-level super-villains, but you don't have to go around making things harder for yourself.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 730: THE LITTLE MEN

(Silver Streak Comics 002, 1940)

Normally I try to put things in my own words and really work out the ins and outs of the motivations of the super-weirdos I write about, but I gotta be honest: I have so little idea of what the Little Men's problem is (problems are?) that I'm just going to point to the intro caption: they're trying to rid the world of all beautiful women. Simple as that.

Why are they trying to rid the world of all beautiful women (and/or all beauty, as their leader puts it)? Not a clue. Are they just weird incel creeps or is it something more? No idea.

One point in favour of the Little Men not being a weird misogynistic serial killer cult (not just a weird misogynistic serial killer cult, at least) is the fact that they have an artificial man with the amazing name Noman, though as with his creators we have so little information to work from that we can't say for sure if Noman is an android, a homunculus, a frankenstein or something else. It's all very genre dependent!

(Mister Midnite is also there)

The only real clue that we get to the nature of the Little Men is unfortunately also very genre-dependent: during Mister Midnite's battle with Noman a "strange gas" is released from a cool heart-shaped container. The gas is harmless to humans, but disintegrates the Little Men on contact, indicating that yes, they were not human, but what were they then? Were they: magical beings, aliens, homunculi, magical constructs, earthbound spirits, underground beings, extradimensional creatures, reified fictional beings, elementals, thought projections, time travellers, mutants, chronal echoes, genii loci, regular guys who all had an extreme allergy... there just isn't enough information, and so we must simplify: they were a bunch of weird little creeps, and the gas was creep remover, which they shouldn't have just left lying around.

REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 011

I hope you like the War of 1812 and its wacky cast of characters, because here they come!

Dolley Madison:

Seen saving the portrait of George Washington from the soon-to-be-burned White House. (Shield-Wizard Comics 002, 1940)

Francis Scott Key:

Meets Tommy the Super-Boy while both are imprisoned by the British, then is freed by the second Wizard in time to be inspired to write a national anthem. (Shield-Wizard Comics 002, 1940)

James Madison: 

Seen periodically in the lead-up and progress of the War of 1812. (Shield-Wizard Comics 002, 1940)

Oliver Hazard Perry:

Captain Perry, of "we have met the enemy and they are ours" fame, is aided in his greatest naval victory by the intervention of the second Wizard. (Shield-Wizard Comics 002, 1940)

Tecumseh:

The historical Wizard adventures in Shield-Wizard Comics 001 and 002 are on the whole very kind to even the more derided figures in American history (see William Hull, below), but Tecumseh here, who was held in pretty high esteem by his historical contemporaries as well as historians, is instead portrayed as a bloodthirsty creep. I WONDER WHY 

This version of Tecumseh also meets his end at the hands of the second Wizard while attempting to murder General William Henry Harrison, rather than in battle. (Shield-Wizard Comics 002, 1940)

William Henry Harrison:

The future president is seen during his military days as he retakes Detroit from the British with the aid of the second Wizard. (Shield-Wizard Comics 002, 1940)

William Hull:

William Hull, governor of Michigan Territory at the beginning of the War of 1812, caught a lot of flak both in his own time and going forward for surrendering Detroit to the British. More recent evaluations of him have been kinder, including in his appearance in the story of the second Wizard. I'm not sure what the general opinion of him was in 1940 but the people at MLJ have added a kidnapped daughter as a major reason for his actions instead of blaming them on his general incompetence as seems to have been the norm for quite a while there. (Shield-Wizard Comics 002, 1940)

Betsy Hull:

Speaking of William Hull's kidnapped daughter, this is her, and I would love to tell you if she was based on a real historical figure or not but a) I can't find a biography of William Hull that lists his children's names and b) I can't seem to parse online genealogies - they have gone down some sort of structural route that has really obfuscated just how the people in the family trees actually relate to each other. In short, William Hull might or might not have had a daughter named Elizabeth but if he did she did not marry Blane Whitney, the second Wizard, like this young lady eventually does. (Shield-Wizard Comics 002, 1940)