MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 308: THE BLACK WITCH

(Captain America Comics 008, 1941)

So: the Black Witch is a witch's ghost that supposedly haunts Hagmoor Castle, one of the many castles that dot the landscape around Camp Lehigh (and don't imagine that it's the same on from the Hunchback of Hollywood case, because that was called Ebony Castle). Hagmoor Castle, coincidentally, is the subject of an eccentric will that sees one Karin Lee having to spend three nights there alone in order to  inherit her uncle Jonathan's estate. Perhaps you see where this is going.

Predictably, the castle is crawling wit spooks, spectres, walking suits of armour and garden-variety thugs. Karin's chances of getting her inheritance would be slim indeed without the intervention of Cap and Bucky. What's worse, Uncle Jonathan's will not only stipulated that she would lose out if she didn't stay three nights in the castle but also laid out a contingency for what would happen if she died before inheriting. The only thin missing in the trifecta of Plot-Inspiring Will Shenanigans is the one about her having to be married by a certain age. 

As is often the case in these will-related tales, the lawyer done it. Yes, Mr Feritt, Karin's lawyer and the only other named character in the story, was the Black Witch all along. Why? Because the land Hagmoor Castle sits on is chock full of oil, of course. More than enough reason for an elaborate charade that ultimately leads to your own death!

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 207: THE BLACK WITCH

(Crack Comics 018, 1941)

The Black Witch is a member of a long comic book tradition: Haitian voodoo practitioners who use their sinister powers to get up to no good - in this case kidnapping the wife of one of Richard "Madam Fatal" Stanton's friends as raw material in a search for eternal youth.

The Black Witch is also part of a long-term demographic shift in comics: while the Haitian voodoo character is a staple villain s(and sometimes hero) into at least the 90s, in the early days they were basically all white folks like the Black Witch here, or the Master of Corpses. A question that I'm not qualified to answer: is this more racist than the state of things post 1960 or so when the population of voodoo villains more accurately represents the demographic makeup of Haiti or is it semi-vilifying an entire ethnoreligious group? 

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 161: THE BLACK WITCH

(Batman Comics v1 005, 1941)

Batman and Robin's first interdimensional jaunt took them to Fairyland, where they were tasked with rescuing the daughter of one Professor Anderson, who it seems he was using as a test subject for his narrative-dimensional travel device? There they face off against sundry giants and dragons and so forth before confronting the top evildoer of the realm: the Black Witch.

One could argue that a villain whose existence is defined by peasant morality tales that have been passed through a series of bowdlerizations is not necessarily completely responsible for their evil nature, but Grant Morrison didn't write this one, so Batman beats her up and she commits suicide.