MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 452: THE DEATH MASTER

(Mystery Men Comics 029, 1941)

Really very strong showing from the Death Master in the splash panel, with artist Louis Cazenueve (as Lester Raye) doing some great Kirby-esque monster-man work on the man himself.

And the story version of the character almost measures up! The Death Master is head of a counterfeiting gang who completely buys into his own hype - he's a sneering, gloating villain of the type I love.

But why is the Death Master called that? Why, because he can kill a man with but a gesture! He'll mess you up with magic death powers! Well okay - he'll mess you up by shooting poison into your eye using a wrist-mounted poison shooter, which is still pretty hard to do. Plus you're just as dead as if it was done with magic.

The Death Master is in fact such a good over the top bombastic villain that is is for once somewhat surprising to learn that he is acting as a lieutenant for Mr Hunter, the "famous criminologist" who accompanied the prosecutor to his doom in the panels above. It's a pretty good scheme, though perhaps it would have been better to beg off helping to pursue the Death Master rather than bump off the pursuer.

In any case, the Lynx figures out the scheme and brings in not only Mr Hunter but the Death Master via the simple method of shielding his eyes, which is where you want to have magic death powers I suppose. Also if you ever meet a foe with goggles or large glasses.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 446: THE ROOK

(Mystery Men Comics 018, 1941)

This here is the Rook, the only recurring antagonist of Golden Age duo the Lynx and Blackie the Mystery Boy. In terms of crime, he's your basic thief and murderer with a sideline in opportunistic kidnapping and extortion. He does have several notable attributes, however:

Tactics: The Rook has a hypnoray and he is going to use it, dammit. He's not one of those fickle super-villains who blame their tools every time a plan doesn't come together. The hypnoray is SOLID, it's a VALUED MEMBER OF THE TEAM and it's STAYING.

The Rare Hate Triangle: In his first appearance, the Rook kills his henchman Killer Burke rather than split the take of their latest job with him. Killer's brother Baldy Burke swears revenge and attempts to get it for the next four issues. It's a very fun dynamic because Baldy also hates the Lynx, so his allegiance is fluid. Sometimes he teams up with the Lynx to get the Rook, sometimes the opposite. At least once, Baldy just pops up out of the Rook's back seat and attempts to shoot him.

More books should feature a wildcard antagonist! I can't think of too many examples off the top of my head but those I can are terrific additions to the plot. Also, more super-villains should have non super-hero enemies given how they behave - if nothing else a guy like the Joker should be taking fire from opportunists any time he shows his face in public.

Eyes: Not only does the Rook have really great staring eyes (and they just keep getting more intense - by the end of his appearances he's got Muppet-style half ping pong balls going on) but the subjects of his hypnoray also have them. It's a nice touch and I appreciate it.

Physical Resilience (or Possibly a Series of Carefully-Planned Escape Routes): The Rook ends his first six appearances in the same way: missing, presumed dead. Specifically, he meets his theoretical end, in order, by fire, a fall, quicksand, drowning, explosion, and being thrown out a window onto sharp rocks and pounding surf far below. The Rook, in other words, operates on slasher movie villain rules - if he surely must have been killed but you don't have a body then he isn't dead. And the Lynx must have figured that out because in their final encounter he just breaks both of the Rooks legs rather than trying to kill him like he usually does.

In conclusion: while the Rook himself isn't the greatest villain in the world, virtually everything about him is worth incorporating into a villainous MO. Except for the part where he teamed up with literal Nazis. None of that.