Magical adventurer Kardak the Mystic is drawn into a series of adventures among the various nonhuman intelligences of the world when his new love interest is kidnapped by some of them and he sets off in pursuit. Here are the ones he meets in 1940:
the Fishtails:
The Fishtails, inhabitants of "the lost continent, Anderras!" are the ones who start Kardak's undersea adventure off when they kidnap Lorna to fulfil a prophecy that they require a "white, Earth Queen" to protect them from destruction at the hands of their enemies. Setting aside the shades-of-Namor racial aspect of this interspecies deal, this all works out for the Fishtails, as though Lorna has very little in the way of offensive capability, her paramour is able to defeat the Fishtail's enemies the Mocha Men with relative ease.
Not only is this one of the rare occasions in which a human woman is made the ruler of a nonhuman group without having to suffer the gross overtures of their king, but Lorna and Kardak are allowed to leave once everything is settled, no fuss! Truly the Fishtails are a wonder civilization. (Top-Notch Comics 004, 1940)
the Mocha Men:
The Fishtails' enemies, the Mocha Men, are fairly generic hostile undersea humanoids, though they do have several points in their favour:
1. a fun alliterative name.
2. four gangly arms, which makes for a fun silhouette.
3. they ride giant sea spiders into battle, which is very fun.
4. their leader is called the Magator, and it's always fun when one of these supposedly alien civilizations uses a properly unique and weird title instead of something like King. It's fun!
The Mocha Men are ultimately defeated (though not wiped out, unusually for the time) by Kardak so that he and Lorna can return to the surface and continue their voyage to India (Top-Notch Comics 004, 1940)
the Glass Men:
The Glass Men, aka the Looking Glass Men, are solar-powered glass humanoids who live in a glass valley somewhere in the magical realms traversed by Kardak the Mystic and his companions on their way from the Louisiana bayous to the lands of the Master Brahmins. The Glass Men, in my opinion, are very confrontational for guys made of glass. They also appear to have zero power storage capability, as they collapse immediately once Kardak cuts off the sun's rays with an illusory eclipse.
The Glass Men capture Kardak et al with relative ease, at which point we learn that they are one of those types of nonhuman entity that convert enemies into beings like themselves via the application of concentrated solar radiation. Thankfully for Kardak and pals they have access to a magic turban.
King Rexa of the Glass Men is also extremely cool-looking, as Joe Corallo and Butch Mapa recognized when they used him as the basis for the demonic figure haunting the hero in the recent Kardak the Mystic one-shot for Archie. Probably a good call to go with the cool claws rather than the original disc-shaped hands on that guy. (Top-Notch Comics 009, 1940)
the Beast-Men:
The Beast-Men, like the Glass Men before them, are merely speed bumps along the route that Kardak, Lorna and Balthar are taking to their destination. I do like their style, though they do seem to complicate things a bit more than is strictly necessary - why insist that trespassers must be killed by Beast-Men in animal form only? Why drag things out with gladiatorial combat when the three have already been taken prisoner? I guess it must get boring living in a pocket dimension. (Top-Notch Comics 010, 1940)
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