MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 539 UPDATE: THE CLAW (post-Daredevil, 1941)

In keeping with my decision to split the Claw updates for 1941 by heroic foe, here are the details of his three-issue dalliance with engineer Bill Hopkins.

When last we saw the Claw... he was in the Pacific, roughing up Adolf Hitler. But before that, at the end of his long back-and-forth with the Daredevil, there was the small matter of his asking Lucifer for aid and getting it, with the caveat that if he still lost in his next encounter with Daredevil he would be "banished into Asia forever!" And since he did lose, that means that he can't return to America, right?

Evidently not, because in  Daredevil Comics 002, the Claw kidnaps a train filled with 2000 soldiers as it passes through Pennsylvania, then sends a note to the president (note the custom signature) to ask for the complete US gold supply in ransom.

Meanwhile, the Claw is showing his prisoners home movies designed to bend them to his will. Note the Hitler impression: in 1941 this is shorthand for being a megalomaniac rather than a genocidal megalomaniac (though in all cases it marks you as being a bit of an uninspired hack). Whether he gets the gold or not, the Claw intends to use these men in yet another attempt to conquer the US.

One of these soldiers, Dick Hopkins, has a brother named Bill Hopkins, who has the radical idea to retrace the path of the original train in a second one and see if anything happens, which it does. This really erodes my confidence in the authorities of this fictional reality, frankly. You'd think "take a couple of lads and check the tracks between here and where the train disappeared" would be the logical first step to take but Bill seems to be the first one to think of it. 

Perhaps the Claw was able to return to America by sacrificing some of his power to Lucifer, because Bill Hopkins' thrown rocks and pistol shots are much more effective than such things as artillery and machine guns have been in the past.

The second part of Bill's plan, after "find out where the Claw has stashed 2000 men" is "come find me if I disappear" and accordingly, in Daredevil Comics 003, the US Army locates the Claw's base by following the extra set of train tracks that split off the main trunk and head directly into a cliff face. Once again, the Claw seems weaker than usual and the Army is pushing his forces back successfully enough that he orders his men to flood the base with poison gas. It is at this point that Bill has his best idea yet, as he steals the Claw's enormous gas mask and chucks it down a convenient bottomless pit.

The Claw is more affected by poison gas than the regular-sized humans in the room thanks to the fact that his big body needs more oxygen and thus are breathing in more gas, and while I love a well-rationalized weakness in a character it does call into question all future Claw foes for not immediately tear gassing him on sight.

What I don't love is that the Claw, already a distillation of Yellow Peril tropes, is one-upping himself by adopting what I just learned is called a wonton font in his speech bubbles. I think that it's supposed to be adding emphasis when he is yelling but at this point he is almost always yelling.

 Daredevil Comics 004: The Claw brought into NYC in chains/in triumph. He almost instantly escapes.

Seeking vengeance on Bill Hopkins, the Claw fords the Hudson River and in so doing becomes the first-ever super-villain to enter Hoboken.

Bill doesn't take this aggression lying down, and meets the Claw on a handy rooftop with a can of kerosene and a match, and this is a pretty good illustration of a though I have had while writing this: the Claw battling super-heroes is all well and good, but what I really enjoy is seeing him get it from regular folks. Bill Hopkins and his Home Alone energy might just be the best that the "Claw" feature ever gets, and it's a real shame that this is the last we will be seeing of him.

The Claw very reasonably exits via the river. So long forever, Bill. Next time: the Ghost!