ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 014

We've hit a rich seam of aliums this month.

Mermaid/ Reptile-Men:

This city of Reptile-Men is ruled over by a Mermaid queen, and I am forced to contemplate, and not for the first time, whether this is an instance of a member or group of one species ruling over another or if it's one of extreme sexual dimorphism. Whichever one it is, I do appreciate that the Reptile-Men have that really goofy wide stance going on with their lizard legs. (Weird Comics 003, 1940)

Monkey Men: 

Also known as the Cannibalistic Monkey Men, these beefy lads vex one of those hidden Ancient Roman colonies that are all over Africa and the Middle East by demanding tribute of human flesh. They eventually meet their match and are seemingly wiped out entirely when they try to eat Kaänga and his new pal "Red" Longjohn. (Jungle Comics 007, 1940)

Capris-Men:

Earth is in need of radium, the only cure to a deadly plague that is ravaging the population, and so an expedition headed by Rex Dexter of Mars sets out to get some from the nearly 100% pitchblende planet Capris (okay, so it's called a planet throughout the story but it's got to be a dwarf planet or an asteroid or something based on travel timelines alone). The fantastic-looking native Capris-Men, aka the Capris Monsters, don't take to kindly to this and mount an attack on the expedition, which leads the expedition to leave early, meaning that they don't get enough radium to treat everyone.

The obvious solution to this problem is, of course, to tow the entire planet(oid) into orbit around Earth, so that the healing power of ionizing radiation can eternally shine down on its inhabitants and make them the healthiest people in the universe. No word on what the Capris-Men thought about this development. (Mystery-Men Comics 002, 1939)

the Cave Men and the Lizard Men:

The Cave Men are basically just some extra hairy guys who live in a cave system called the Underground Empire beneath Rhodesia/modern day Zimbabwe. They are possibly immortal and are ruled by a white lady named Aldia, who is - the question is whether she bothered to share the secret of the Immortal Flame with her subjects.

The thing that really sets the Cave Men apart is the quality of their enemies, the Lizard Men. Sure, they're just a mindless horde of inhuman monsters who exist only to be righteously slaughtered by the heroic Lance Hale, but just look at their majestic fins! (Silver Streak Comics 004, 1940)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 846: THE WIZARD

(Weird Comics 003, 1940)

The Wizard is the first of five villains to challenge the Sorceress of Zoom for the role of top villain in her own dang feature. He is unique among that group for being the only villain in the story he appears in, as while the rest of his peers come at the Sorceress while she is engaged in some nefarious activity, the Wizard shows up while she is peacefully hanging out with her friend Allan. 

Once the Wizard's weird humanoids have slaughtered all of the citizens of Zoom, he smashes the Sorceress' never-before-seen magic mirror, which in this story only is the source of her magical power. He then absconds with the entire damn city.

The Sorceress and Allan set out to restore the mirror by re-forging it in the heart of a volcano, only to find the Wizard and his goons waiting on the rim of the caldera to beat them up.

This turns out to be a bad decision on the Wizard's part, as the Sorceress is able to perform an extremely sick move that is let down somewhat by the art, wherein she leaps into the volcano holding the mirror and is thus able to use her magic to fly back out/become immune to flame/heal her horrific wounds once it re-forms. And the volcano does double duty, since she is able to dispose of the Wizard in there!

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 013

You wouldn't believe how many of these I have.

Unnamed Planetoid-Dwellers: 

Blast Bennett and his pal Red run into these guys on a planetoid somewhere between Venus and Mercury and exclusively refer to them as "savages" even though they fly around in their own spaceship. Get off their planetoid, weirdos. (Weird Comics 003, 1940)

the Brainmen:

The Brainmen of the planet Larz are a bunch of large-headed jerks who have conquered... Earth? some time around the Year 5000, when Whiz Wilson shows up using his Futuroscope. My uncertainty above is due to the fact that the focus of the issue is very much on the fact that Americans have been enslaved, which is probably not meant to be a deeply ironic commentary on the long history of forced labour in the Land of the Free but they can't stop me from thinking it.

Whiz manages to acquire and distribute the "N-Gas" antidote to the pacification gas used to render the Americans compliant, but even a peasants' revolt is not enough to overthrow the might of the Brainmen, and he is forced to bring Brainman King Gar back to 1940 to use the threat of being beaten to death by a crowd of angry New Yorkers to ultimately win the day. (Sure-Fire Comics 003, 1940) 

Brutes:

Lumpy, oafish humanoid encountered by Jan and Wanda when they are blasted into another dimension by Dr Doom. Has no buttcrack. (Science Comics 008, 1940)

Bugmen:

The Bugmen are a belligerent species of insect-centaurs who occupy the Jovian jungles and regularly vex Auro, Lord of Jupiter until he bests their leaders, Ogre and Agh. I enjoy their huge tusks and also wonder just how much they get in the way. (Planet Comics 006, 1940)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 846: THE SORCERESS OF ZOOM

(Weird Comics 001, 1940)

The Sorceress of Zoom is just what it says on the tin: a sorceress from Zoom, which is a magical flying city that she lives in and controls. She's another of the Golden Age's surprisingly large number of headlining super-villains, only instead of being a mad scientist or a more conventional crook she is a mercurial magic woman who just kind of flies around harassing people. Sometimes she's almost okay and other times she's one of history's worst monsters - it's over all fun!

As has become the norm with these recurring villains, here is a litany of her crimes for 1940:

In her first outing, the Sorceress takes over a small American city for unclear reasons (a page is missing from the only available scan of the issue and I reckon that the answer lies there), but the main conflict involves the Sorceress' attempt to vamp a dude named Tom away from a lady named Janice. 

Sorceress' Motivation: caprice, lust

Inhabitants of Zoom: This is the first appearance of the Sorceress of Zoom's most frequent henchmen, a group of unnamed gobliny humanoids 

In Weird Comics 002, the Sorceress really ups the stakes. This might be her most villainous appearance, as she first attempts to get the king of Bango, a... European city-state? to surrender 300 people so that she can kill them and turn their corpses into her goblin-men, and when he refuses to do so, she razes the entire city and turns the slaughtered population of Bango en masse.

The only surviving Bangonian, Prince Paul, escapes to the nearby city-state of Zoda and when the Sorceress appears there, conceives of a plan to evaporate the cloud that Zoom sits upon - this marks the first of many times that Zoom is destroyed, but the Sorceress seems to be able to recreate it at will, so that's not as consequential as it seems.

I really enjoy the flying throne that the SoZ escapes on, so here it is.

Sorceress' Motivation: power

Inhabitants of Zoom: The same gobliny humanoids, now revealed to be necromantically created out of human corpses.

Weird Comics 003 really highlights the mercurial nature of the Sorceress' character, as she is fully the blameless protagonist here. She and her friend Allan are just hanging out in Zoom when a nefarious character called the Wizard attacks them and makes off with the entire dang city, forcing the Sorceress and the tuxedo-clad Allan to quest in search of it. The Wizard is number 1 of 5 upcoming Minor Super-Villain entries dealing with foes of the Sorceress, so more on him later.

Sorceress' Motivation: vengeance, good times

Inhabitants of Zoom: Seemingly just regular people, who are all slaughtered by the Wizard. The hazards of living in a magical city owned by a super-villain, I suppose. 

In Weird Comics 004, the Sorceress attempts to ally with a fellow called the Wizard of Zoro to take over the US (? Possibly - a sense of place is not the strong suit of the Sorceress of Zoom comics), but he is too full of himself to work with someone else, making him the second of our future entries and giving the Sorceress a real opportunity to show off her flying, lion-driven carriage as she makes a brief tactical retreat.

The Sorceress once again threatens to return and steal someone's fairly generic man at the end of this one, and as far as is shown she never really follows up on these impulses.

Sorceress' Motivation: vengeance, lust

Inhabitants of Zoom: The coachmen above are the only ones shown, so presumably more regular people have decided to live on the edge by inhabiting a magical villain's lair. 

 

Weird Comics 005 sees the Sorceress kidnapping the magical men who live in Nagpur, India, both to beef up her forces and to prove that she is better than them.

What the Sorceress doesn't count on is the fact that one of the magical men might have a magical son, and that magical son might effect a magical rescue. The magical men, once released, are able to prevent the Sorceress from making any more attempts to deprive them of their freedom.

This issue also attempts to inject some continuity and foreshadowing into the ongoing Sorceress of Zoom narrative with a bit of a cliffhanger about just what the general and the king in her cryo-chamber could be doing there. This is to my knowledge never revisited.

Sorceress' Motivation: pride, power

Inhabitants of Zoom: The gobliny humanoids are back!

In Weird Comics 006, a somewhat off-model Sorceress of Zoom attempts to take over the Middle East with the help of some dragons. This attempt is foiled by young Prince Ja'afar, who is gifted a protective amulet and a flying carpet by a friendly desert mage and invades Zoom to rescue his love, the Princess Shahzarad.

Sorceress' Motivation: power, lust

Inhabitants of Zoom: Slaves and dragons.

Weird Comics 007 sees the Sorceress transporting Zoom back in time to escape the chaos of the growing World War II. She ends up in Arthurian England, mixed up in a conflict between Sir Gareth of the Round Table (who she of course wants, carnally) and Morgana le Fay (upcoming minor super-villain 3/5), before being run out of town by Merlin.

Sorceress' Motivation: lust

Inhabitants of Zoom: Big beefy shirtless men, mostly. 

The Weird Comics 008 story is the first of what I think will be a pattern of adventures going forward: the Sorceress rolls into some area and starts causing trouble, then gets into a scrap, then undoes some or all of the mischief that she caused and leaves. My theory is that this is what she does when she gets bored.

In this case, the Sorceress annoys a young couple and attempts to seduce the man away from the woman (who has been turned into flowers, natch), then attempts to conquer a nearby city before having a real tussle with upcoming villain 4/5, the Super-Scientist, and leaving (after turning the flowers back into a lady).

This issue also features the second time that Zoom is destroyed and recreated.

Sorceress' Motivation: lust, boredom, power

Inhabitants of Zoom: the very cool-looking Vapor Men. 

Weird Comics 009 is another of these boredom issues, in which the Sorceress is ostensibly transporting some treasure out of the North African desert but really seems to just be having fun torturing the poor people who she has enslaved to do so. Eventually, she gets into a conflict with out final upcoming super-villain, Gobi, the Super-Wizard of the Desert, who wants to use the Sorceress' slaves as food for his vultures. Zoom is destroyed yet again this issue.

Sorceress' Motivation: wealth, boredom

Inhabitants of Zoom: None shown. 

That's it for the Sorceress of Zoom in 1940: stay tuned for her 1941 adventures!