MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 094

Super-heroes, coincidentally arranged in ascending order of notability!

Kalkor:

A faithful priest of Isis c.1000 BC, Kalkor is restored to life at the same time as Nagana, the Queen of Evil, as a foil to her power. He is empowered with the same immortality and comic book magic as Nagana so that he may combat her effectively (and perhaps as a way for Isis to make up for crushing him to death as a byproduct of collapsing a temple on Nagana to put an end to her evil ways).  

Important note: though many Golden and Silver Age super-heroes may act like they have taken a vow of celibacy, Kalkor is one of the few who may have actually done so, as part of his Christianity-influenced version of Isis-worship. (Fantastic Comics 022, 1941)

Kalkor is not really a super-hero in the traditional sense - he doesn't roam around looking for guys mugging old ladies or Fifth Columnists sabotaging munitions factories. Instead, he follows Nagana around and foils whatever scheme she pursues in her ongoing effort to conquer the world. And like many characters who operate purely in reference to the actions of others, Kalkor is kind of dull.

In order to get around our era more easily, Kalkor adopts the funny-about-twenty-years-ago-our time alias of John Kerry. He also seems to shop at the same Big Coat Store as fellow Fox super-hero Samson.

Categorized in: Day Job (Priest), Origin (Divine Empowerment, Mystic Mutate, Resurrected Mystic Champion)

the Gladiator:

The Gladiator is Dan Kenneth, a "famous art connoisseur." This baffled me hardcore until I realized that there was a pretty good chance that he was in fact an art conservationist or something like that, and sure enough a critical aspect of the villain's scheme in his first outing is having Kenneth "recondition" a painting he has just bought, and in his second and final appearance they just go ahead and call him an art dealer.

Kenneth gets mixed up in an overly-complicated plot by the aforementioned client to steal his own painting and still get cash - not insurance fraud but a second, stupider thing, see the upcoming entry on the Monster for further details - that is in fact so ridiculous that he can't even convince the police to help him out. What else can he do but engage in a bit of vigilante justice in such a situation. He puts on a Roman gladiator outfit that he happens to have laying around, grabs his favourite cestus and bowling pin and sets out to meet his destiny. And then, as so frequently happens, the one-time foray into vigilante justice becomes a full-fledged hobby. (Fantastic Comics 023, 1941)

Categorized in: Activities (Gladiators), Day Job (Art Dealer), Powers (Weapons Master)

the Avenger:

The Avenger is maybe the third most popular Street & Smith pulp character, and as such was adapted to comics in the early 40s and again every time the old gang gets together for another shot at the comics page in DC Front Line or wherever. Alas, just like his pulp career, none of the Avenger's forays into comic books last very long, especially as compared to those of Doc Savage or the Shadow.

Maybe I'm wrong, but the problem with comic book adaptations of the Avenger always seems to be that they take a premise like "solder of fortune loses family to criminals and thus sets out to balance the scales, armed with face that can be moulded like putty, a gun called Mike, a knife called Ike and a diverse cast of assistants called Justice Inc" and boil it down to "unsmiling widower tackles depressing crime." (Shadow Comics v1 002, 1940)

Categorized in: Accessories (Sidekicks), Origin (Mental Mutate, Motivated by Loss), Power (Moldable Face)

Betty Ross:

Betty Ross, aka Agent X-13, is a government agent who first appears as the seemingly-elderly-but-really beautiful guardian of the curio shop that conceals the super-soldier facility where Steve Rogers becomes Captain America (okay, it's not 100% clear that this is Betty Ross in the original comics, but retcons have firmly established that it is). She goes on to take part in many of Captain America and Bucky's Golden Age adventures - more, in fact, than the original Cap/Bucky duo (retcons again, being deployed to explain how they kept having adventures after they were supposedly frozen and dead, respectively. Or frozen and frozen, depending on the retcon). Late in the WWII era she even adopts a costumed identity of her own: Golden Girl.

Betty plays a big enough role in these Golden Age comics that I was tempted to give her a full-fledged Super-Hero page such as characters like Lois Lane or Alfred will probably get but alas, she has been almost entirely replaced by Peggy Carter in comics published in the Silver Age and beyond. Is this because she shares a name with the Hulk's love interest (who she was made the great aunt of in yet another retcon)? Possibly! (Captain America Comics 001, 1940)

Categorized in: Accessories (Rubberoid Mask), Day Job (FBI Agent), Team Membership (FBI)

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 027

Rascals the lot of 'em. 

L-17 is a spy from an extremely unspecified foreign power who vexes pilot Wings Bordon throughout his three appearances. He is remarkable both for his longevity - three whole appearances for a simple letters-and-numbers spy is astonishing - and for the fact that he managed to get a promotion between his first appearance and his last, from field agent reporting to a shadowy Chief to being the shadowy figure whom other report to. It's possible that someone just misremembered L-17's position, but that doesn't take away from the achievement. (Whirlwind Comics 001, 1940)

Sir Neville Towse, "England's most famous explorer" has been threatened with death by a mysterious character known only as the Avenger, and it's up to Inspector Blake of Scotland Yard to solve the mystery and prevent the murder from happening.

The Avenger turns out to be Sir Neville's butler Owens, who just wants to get ahold of the money left to him in the explorer's will without all that tedious waiting around first. He does employ a pretty sweet booby-trapped phone to do the deed, but that doesn't make up for the disappointingly callow motivation for the crime. (Whirlwind Comics 001, 1940) 

Clarence the Maniac Man is a circus sideshow wild man, one of a number of groups of people who are just a crime or two away from super-villainy (or a selfless act or two away from super-heroism, I suppose) on any given day. In Clarence's case, simple jealousy over the affection shown to Captain Marvel by Lovelia, the jerk Queen of the High Wire, drives him to release alien circus animals as revenge on society. That's toxic, Clarence. (Whiz Comics 006, 1940)

This gang boss, evocatively and simply named "Power" has taken a page out of Dr Sivana's book and is using a radio wave jamming setup to blackmail broadcasters in California. He didn't really think through the mechanics of concealing a huge compound full of guys and electrical equipment, even out in the desert, and is rounded up by private detective Dan Dare in short order.  (Whiz Comics 009, 1940)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 739: THE AVENGER

(Smash Comics 003, 1939 - Smash Comics 012, 1940) 

The Avenger is a cottage-industry villain, which is a term I just made up for particular kind of villain that you saw a fair amount in the Golden Age and then again in 1980s cartoons, wherein battling and thwarting them is the sole focus of a hero's career - see also Mr H and the Conqueror.

The Avenger is also a revenge-focused villain: he is really Jim Rowan, a man who was swindled out of an unspecified invention decades earlier and now seeks to ruin and murder the thirteen men who did the swindling and have since grown wealthy off of it. This is a pretty reasonable motivation for revenge, and the Avenger might even have managed to come across as a somewhat sympathetic figure if he gave even one single damn about who else he might harm or kill in pursuit of his quest. His various schemes:

- bankrupt airline owner Carter by blowing up his passenger planes mid-flight

- murder electric company owner Amos Reid and frame his son George for the crime

- ruin railroad owner Edgar Karr by wrecking his trains

- incite mob violence against drug manufacturer Roger Carlin by tainting his products and distributing them to the poor

- just some low-effort murder attempts against group member Albert Mills

- ruin Rolls the bus company owner by stealing his buses, passengers and all 

- attempt to murder industrialist Roger O. Gates directly (but mistakenly kill a man who looks like him)

- blow up the munitions factory of Mr Arms

There's also a threat by the Avenger against nonspecific industrialist Albert Lewis that turns out to be bogus because Lewis has been imprisoned and impersonated by Rowan/the Avenger in order to aid his plan to destroy the others. The "death threat" is in actuality a ruse to get detective John Law alone and kill him. This leads to the discovery of another revenge scheme:

- lock Albert Lewis up in an insane asylum and take his place while acting as the Avenger, thus not only framing him but leaving him somewhere where he can't even tell anyone about it or be counted as even more insane

None of these schemes actually succeed, however, because the 13 men have hired scientist/lawyer/detective John Law (aka the Scientective) to discover just who is targeting them and why. Like fellow Henry Campbell creations Wizard Wells and Dean Denton, Law is a scientific genius who uses his knowledge and inventions to further his crusade against crime. He never quite gets ahead of the Avenger, but he's cagey enough to thwart his schemes before they can reach murderous fruition. Except for Amos Reid's murder, of course, because that was the first step in a plan to ruin Reid's legacy. And that one innocent man who died, that was a shame. The dozens of people who died on Carter's planes don't count, of course, because that happened before Law was hired. Look, the important thing is that twelve wealthy men were saved from facing the consequences of their actions.

The Avenger/John Law stories are entertaining stuff but nothing to write home about, mostly because both characters tend to employ what was cutting-edge or unusual science c.1940 that today is either unremarkable (remote controlled aircraft, thermite, dry ice) or is still a bit sci-fi seeming (magnetic levitation, increasing the skin's permeability via ultrasound) but all of it is applied in this very dry, matter-of-fact, everyone-is-wearing-a-suit way that drains some of the wonder and majesty from the proceedings.

A couple of interesting things about the Avenger:

 

The Avenger isn't a habitual costume wearer but he does throw on a hood a couple of times and I thought I'd showcase that. I prefer the red one!

This deathtrap, which involves a rapidly-spinning propeller and a strobe light synched to its movements to create the illusion of a stationary bar, is very fun and unique! Strobe lights! Very futuristic!

Also fun: Law's method for discovering the identity of the Avenger. He has thirteen phone lines installed, each with its own unique number, and gives one to each of his thirteen suspects. He then issues a provocative statement to the press and simply waits to see which phone rings when the Avenger calls to yell at him. This is, frankly, an amazing hack for any situation involving multiple suspects.

I can only assume that the Avenger's death came as a direct result of the series being discontinued - John Law, up to this point a fairly nonviolent man, abruptly shifts gears and blows the villain out of the skies with his own drone bomb. It's an ignominious end to be sure.

REVENGE KILLER SCORE: 1/13 - a pretty poor showing, due mostly to the Avenger's desire to draw out his targets' suffering. If he had gone for the kill straight away he might have done a bit better.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 404: THE AVENGER

(More Fun Comics 074, 1941)

Another day, another Avenger. This Avenger is a disgruntled scientist named Mortimer Crandall who is seeking revenge on his old bosses for firing him because of his wacky scientific theories that, you guessed it, turned out to be correct. He uses his working technology to kidnap the men responsible in preparation for their murders.

This Avenger also demonstrates a flair for comic-book style hypnosis sufficient to place the Spectre himself under his power, which is impressive even in the Golden Age, before the whole "the Spectre is literally an angel" thing.

The Avenger ultimately fails in his bid to exact revenge and instead is given that most rare of choices for a Spectre foe: the chance to reform (with a little help from the mystic radiations of the Nebula of Truth, of course). Is it because he had genuinely been wronged? Because he had not yet taken a life? Or is the Spectre just a capricious guy? Regardless, the Avenger will venge no more.

This issue also marks the first appearance of Spectre sidekick Percival Popp, the Super Cop and I find myself in a familiar place: here is a charming oddball character that I like, being treated like an unbearable pain by all the other characters that I like. It's one of the more annoying literary dynamics! Hope it doesn't stick around!

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 403: THE AVENGER

(More Fun Comics 073, 1941)

Just a Central American general trying to overthrow his government with crypto-fascist backing, foiled by Clip Carson because he and his men were covered with rice from their rice warehouse HQ. Much more interesting is the fact that this is one of the occasional comics set in a real country but with off-the-cuff, made-up information. In this case, it's the fact that Clip is in Honduras at the behest of its president, who is a man named Campano, and not the real-life in-office-for-more-than-eight-years Tiburcio Andino.