Once again I am plagued by the absolute dregs of villainy.
A Vampire:
Vampires are one of the types of character that are statistically likely to make it through my classification system and be certified as super, but this particular one who a) lives in a swamp shack, b) has two meals in a row taken away from him by the Green Knight, c) doesn't even get a name and d) ends up dead with his shack burned down around his ears, is too much of a loser to make it to even minor villain status. He does, however, provide the Green Knight with a sidekick in the form of one of his prospective victims, which is something. (Dynamic Comics 002, 1941)
Hank Rutter:
This fellow might have been called the Mask or the Masked Man if it weren't for the fact that his heroic foe is already called the Mask. As such, he's just a gambling focused villain with a bit more interest in concealing his identity than usual.
It's no surprise that the unnamed masked villain is in actuality Hank Rutter, big-time gambler. What is surprising is that he manages to learn the Mask's secret identity as DA Tony Colby. Especially to him, as Colby responds by knocking him off a roof to his death. (Exciting Comics 007, 1941)
Henry Devoe:
When this masked drug kingpin shows up with a very visible withered left hand and then civic leader Henry Devoe is on the front page of the newspaper, also with a very prominent withered left hand the next day, my assumption as a longtime consumer of comic books and detective fiction was that Devoe was being framed, but no, he's the guy. While I commend him for making his disability visible and thus normalizing it, I do question his decision not to disguise such a distinguishing characteristic while out and about doing drug-related murders. (Exciting Comics 012, 1941)
Black Terror impostor:
When the Black Terror decides to play nice with the police and inform them about Henry Devoe's perfidy, he is surely disappointed to learn that Police Chief Nelson is a crooked cop who guns him down on sight and then steals his uniform in order to extort Devoe. And we wonder why most vigilantes have an adversarial relationship with the police.
Nelson's plan is hindered by the fact that Henry Devoe's response to having the Black Terror show up in his living room is exactly the same as his own had been: to shoot him on sight. And unlike Bob "the Black Terror" Benton, Nelson hasn't been huffing enough formic ether to survive a close-range gunshot. (Exciting Comics 012, 1941)
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