MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 015

They can't help themselves and/or they're choosing to be horrible.

Dr Zynnon has been asked along to help Dr Curan, his daughter Sandra and protagonist Buzz Crandall in their mission to prevent the Moon from exploding, presumably dooming us all. This turns out to be a Bad Choice, because unbeknownst to all, Dr Zynnon harbours a deep misanthropy and would love nothing more than for the world to be doomed.

Despite the fact that I love not being scoured from the face of the planet by hurtling lunar debris I must give Zynnon credit for one of the most adorable doomsday devices ever conceived of: tiny moon lizard carrying vials of acid powerful enough to bring down the roof of the lunar cavern the bulk of the adventure takes place in. Powerful enough, that is, if they were delivered to the correct location. Which they weren't, presumably because Zynnon didn't bother to train or condition them in any way and just let loose as many lizards as he could smuggle onto the moon bathysphere under his coat. In the end, the only casualty of Zynnon's plot was Zynnon himself. (Planet Comics 004, 1940)

Tobor the Evil is a Plutonian scientist who has been using an army of child-sized robots to steal Martian gold, with the end goal of conquering Mars and making it a Plutonian territory. With the help of Captain Nelson Cole of the Solar Force, he learns two important lessons about fielding robot armies: 1) don't leave robot shells that can be repurposed into armour by your foes just lying around, and 2) if your robots have an "indiscriminate murder" setting, make sure to build in a failsafe that excludes yourself from the list of viable targets. (Planet Comics 008, 1940)

Von Dorf, a mad physiologist and asylum escapee, was so singularly obsessed with the hybridization of humans and panthers that he kidnapped a nurse and turned her into Marga the Panther Woman. It's likely that he would have his own numbered entry on the Minor Super-Villain list if literally the only other things he ever did weren't a) get his ass kicked and b) blow himself up. Truly being part of an origin story is the most hazardous job in comics. (Science Comics 001, 1940)

Dr Passendorf here managed to perfect the quite respectable criminal science inventions of a mind control device and a paralysis ray and then had to lower himself to using both in the employ of a shifty Wall Street jerk named Augustus Elba who needed to cover up some light embezzlement. Just as well that he ends up riddled with shrapnel after the Eagle blows up his machine - the roasting at the next Criminal Science Convention would have been severe. (Science Comics 005, 1940)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 708: SOPHUS, THE MAD PHILOSOPHER

(Planet Comics 008, 1940)

Once again an adventure begins that most classic sci-fi way: Buzz Crandall and his gal pal Sandra are noodling around in space when they run smack into something, in this case a crystal sphere that houses the secret headquarters of Sophus, the Mad Philosopher.

I couldn't tell you what school of philosophy Sophus subscribes to, but it's one with an intellectual framework that encompasses a) turning other humanoids into mist and keeping them in bottles and b) freaking people out of their gourds by flinging them through a time portal into a crazy abstract weirdscape. Since Sophus is mad, perhaps he's just taking a philosophy dedicated to helping other improve themselves way too far? Or maybe he took a Philosophy 101 class in university and decided that that was all he needed to be insufferable about his evil interests forever, who knows.

As Sandra is flung into the timestream and Buzz attempts to rescue her, we get a passable rendition of 1960s Dr Strange-style psychedelia, only in the 1940s. It's pretty neat, though it does make me pine for what will eventually be.

Sophus is eventually undone not by the heroes of our story but by his own jerk nature, as his villainous cackling over Buzz and Sandra's doom is delicious-sounding enough to draw the attention of the Elipticoon, a "giant time entity" that was about to devour Sandra but instead opts for a delicious and attention-grabbing philosopher. All the jarred people are set free, the end.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 706: LEPUS-THE-FIEND

(Planet Comics 007, 1940) 

Lepus-the-Fiend has a lot of classic Fletcher Hanks villain qualities: the weirdly hyphenated name, the fact that he lives on a star (to be clear: not a poetic name for a planet. He lives on a five-pointed, flaming star) and of course his hatred of civilization, which is not given a particular motivation so I am left to assume is because he is a hairy and wild looking guy. He's not the first Hanks character to yell about destroying all the civilized planets but it is his particular phrasing that makes the title of Paul Karasik's first collection of Hank's comics.

Lepus has chosen to destroy civilization in a fairly dramatic fashion, by smashing inhabited planets together like so many pool balls. Effective but fiddly, it seems, as both Earth and Venus are saved by Lepus' poor aim on his first attempt.

Lepus-the-Fiend doesn't get another shot at planet-smashing, as it is at this point that Buzz Crandall and and his aide Sandra really get on top of the adventure and blow him to smithereens. These civilization-haters never seem to be particularly prepared for civilization to defend itself, do they.

(note the second panel above. This is the answer to a question that had been bouncing around in my head: why would Fletcher Hanks take over an existing character (Buzz Crandall) rather than make up a new one as seems to be his usual modus operandi? Because this was originally a Whirlwind Carter comic that Marvel evidently did not want. We're solving mysteries here!)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 698: SINFO

(Planet Comics 002, 1940)

Sinfo is a scientist of the unspecified future who has used his mind control technology to dominate a city of Neptunian Crab-Men and is now looking into the possibility of doing the same to the people of Earth. As such, he has captured space adventurer Buzz Crandall along with his associates Dr and Susan Curan.

I have a lot of affection for Sinfo, 100% of which are because I appreciate his aesthetics. Why, just look at the giant fan that he has installed at the highest point of Crab City in order to keep it shrouded in concealing mists! It's beautiful!

And speaking of Crab City, I love the design of Sinfo's thralls the Crab-Men. Talk about simultaneously goofy and menacing! If these were video game enemies I would absolutely underestimate them constantly, only to lose 3/4 of my health to a spinning claw attack.

Sinfo himself also looks amazing. I don't know if he's an alien or a mutant or what, but the important thing is that he's dressed like someone who lives in a swamp in a movie from the 70s, his facial skin looks like it's melting, and he's not balding gracefully. This is peak Scientist Who Lives Alone styling.

Sinfo's attempts at taming the human mind are cut short when he makes one of the super-villain's cardinal errors and allows his primary piece of technology - in this case his Crab-Man controlling device - fall into the hands of the protagonist. This leads to Sinfo falling to his death as he is flung from the top of a building by his former subjects. A fairly ruthless move on Buzz Crandall's part but I suppose at this point he'd gone through a lot.