MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 024

Let's spare a thought for all the mad lab assistants who do so much for so little credit. 

Rokula:

Rokula's plan is simple: kidnap inventors and then use his mind control machine to force them to work for him. Hey, it's a classic for a reason, but it's also a plan with a high chance of attracting super-heroic attention such as that of Zongar the Miracle Man.  

Rokula might be a fan of the classics but like so many of his peers he is no as into workplace safety, and he meets his end when Zongar sends him careening into his own equipment with a forceful punch. (Silver Streak Comics 007, 1941)

Quislor:

Quislor is a fellow who has developed technology that turns aircraft into remote-controlled drones, and is using it to send bombers out to destroy airfields across the US, thus reducing its ability to field an air force. Though he never quite gets around to saying just why he's doing this it is presumably in service to some sort of fascist plot.

Like all air-based crooks within Cloud Curtis' flight range, Quislor soon learns that the only reward for messing with the sanctity of the wild blue yonder is a sock to the jaw and a trip to the hoosegow. (Silver Streak Comics 014, 1941)

Professor Giess:

Professor Giess, a crypto-fascist scientist with some very interesting eyebrows, has developed a fuel additive called Thanotane (great name) that causes vehicles using it to give off deadly fumes in their exhaust. His plan to distribute this fuel throughout the US to spread terror is stymied somewhat when the test shipment is hijacked by gangsters, but the plan is still on track until John Thesson, aka the Son of the Gods, gets involved and beats everyone up. This must be especially galling for Giess, who noted that Thesson was going to pose a challenge but put off dealing with him for too long. Live and learn, I guess, until you're shot as an enemy agent. (Exciting Comics 007, 1941)

Doctor Mord:

Dr Mord is, like, the Platonic ideal of the comic book mad scientist. He lives in a castle that he explicitly just kind of found in the South African jungle and is attempting to scientifically extract the human soul and place it into a big jar of acid by electrocuting people's brains. He claims that this will make him a god among men, but fails to lay out how, exactly.

The old storytelling rule of Chekhov's Unsealed Vat of Acid comes into play here and Doctor Mord ends up doused in the stuff before being chucked out a window by Captain Kidd. (Fantastic Comics 014, 1941)

DIVINE ROUND-UP 028

Religions of the world: you are not being well-represented in fiction.

the Dream Warner: 

While they never actually say the words "Tibetan Buddhism" in either of Thun-Dohr's two appearances, he was brought up in a lamasery in Tibet and is personally mentored by the Dalai Lama (though not the one you're thinking of), so I think that we can extrapolate and assign the Dream Warner to that religious tradition. Though it does not actually appear on-panel, the Dream Warner does give the Dalai Lama an accurate heads-up on the machinations of the villainous Sin Khaii, so me must conclude that it actually exists. It also has a very fun if on-the-nose name.

God Style: Real (Silver Streak Comics 014, 1941)

Ratzinatzi: 

In Cloud Curtis' final adventure he sets out alone to solve the mystery of some mysterious disappearances and air raids across South America, and ends up crashing his plane in the middle of the jungle. There he stumbles upon an idol to "Ratzinatzi, the Demon-God of the Ancient Incas" and is seemingly about to enter a chamber that opens up underneath it when the story ends. Sadly for all the completionists out there the story never concludes and so we never learn what kind of pseudo-Nazi air base or whatever lies below, though I think that we can safely assume that it continues to be pretty disrespectful to the Incas.

God Style: Idol (Silver Streak Comics 017, 1941)

the Devil-Flower:

Trojak the Tiger Man's friend Edith's brother is sick, and according to the nearest wise man the only thing that will aid him is the juice of the sacred Devil-Flower, as worshipped by the Gemba tribe.

Trojak and Edith brave fanatical cultists and flower-charmed animals until they are able to harvest the sacred juice and seemingly kill the plant. One can only hope that the Devil-Flower, which not only has magical powers but also seemingly some degree of self-awareness, had the foresight to do a little precautionary propagation.

God style: Animist (Real?) (Daring Mystery Comics 005, 1940)

Mars:

Seen overlooking the Axis war machine in an image I would say is meant to be purely allegorical if it wasn't from the origin of Marvel Boy, a reincarnation of Hercules in whose story Jupiter figures prominently. Were the Marvel Boy stories to have continued I'm sure that this version of Mars would have gotten a sock on the jaw in due time.

God style: Real (Daring Mystery Comics 006, 1940)

REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 023

It's an Axis-heavy Round-Up this time, for reasons which will soon become clear.

Adolf Hitler:

Daredevil Comics 001 might not have been the first comic book to feature its title character physically attacking Adolf Hitler on the front cover, but it makes up for this in sheer volume of different characters who are getting in on the act. And the comic itself is also 100% concerned with super-heroes beating up and otherwise inconveniencing Hitler.

Hitler's first appearance in the comic proper also includes a rogue's gallery of Third Reich figures, including Josef Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler, Hermann Goering, Admiral von Roeder* and General Walther von Brauchitsch. Also present: the fortune teller who supposedly advised Hitler on a day-to-day basis.

*more on him later 

Though Daredevil is present to merely spy on the well-attended meeting above, he is found out and has to punch out not just Hitler but Goering and Goebbels as well in order to make his escape.

Hitler's second major humiliation in the issue comes at the hands claws of the Claw. He makes a deal with the giant villain on behalf of his Japanese allies, but the Daredevil gets involved in and ruins the whole operation.

Hitler has to pay a hefty bribe just to get out with his skin intact. This is a fine illustration of why most villains don't negotiate this sort of thing in person.

 

Finally, the suprisingly hands-on Hitler is coordinating a Nazi invasion of Africa when the Daredevil and jungle hero Lance Hale get involved, giving the Daredevil the opportunity to land two more punches and a boomerang-assisted trip on the dictator.

Lance Hale, meanwhile, pranks Hitler by giving him a shave with an incredibly accurate arrow, then almost body slams him to death before he is interrupted by Nazis. (Daredevil Comics 001, 1941) 

Benito Mussolini: 

A sad cameo from Il Duce after a portion of his fleet is sunk by the British. (Daredevil Comics 001, 1941) 

Heinrich Himmler:

Is Blackout's Nazi foe Heinrich Himmel meant to be a version of Himmler or is it just a very Nazi collection of syllables? Hard to say. (Captain Battle Comics 001, 1941) 

Hermann Goering: 

Like Hitler, Goering is surprisingly willing to lead from the front in this issue. He loses a dogfight with Cloud Curtis and almost kills himself over it. (Daredevil Comics 001, 1941)

Josef Goebbels:

Goebbels, meanwhile, steals a codebreaking machine devised by by boy inventor Dickie Dean.

He doesn't manage to hang onto it for long before he gets beaten up and mummified by Dean and the Daredevil (and Zip Todd, of course). (Daredevil Comics 001, 1941)

the Koh-i-noor Diamond: 

Once more a big ol' gem is given a name that sounds like "Koh-i-noor," in this case the (baseball-sized!) Kohnoor Diamond. (Captain Battle Comics 002, 1941)

Lord Haw-Haw: 

Lord Garnett here is a bit of a rarity as he starts out as a masked spy who will be appearing in the next Generic Costumed Villain Round-Up and then, after shooting Whiz, King of Falcons (see the next Catalogue of Wounds) flees to Germany and takes up a career in propaganda broadcasting, where his distinctive and annoying laugh earns him the epithet "Lord Hee-Haw."

His new career doesn't last very long, as he is shot down by the Silver Streak while doing some aerial broadcasting. (Daredevil Comics 001, 1941)

Admiral von Roeder:

Who is von Roeder is a very good question, because I can find no evidence that he actually existed. There are four plausible explanations for this:

1. He's a fictional Nazi who somehow got conflated with real ones. 

2. There was an Admiral von Roeder but he was only noteworthy for exactly the length of time it took for this comic to be written and he thereafter sank into such obscurity that he is no longer remembered.

3. The state of internet search is so wretched that a moderately obscure Nazi is currently unsearchable.

4. They couldn't come up with a real Nazi Admiral and so just made one up. 

Regardless of his actual historicity, this von Roeder is beaten up by both Daredevil and a time-travelling Pirate Prince. (Daredevil Comics 001, 1941) 

Winston Churchill: 

Churchill invites both Daredevil and Silver Streak (and the most obnoxious version of Whiz, King of Falcons) to No. 10 Downing St to solicit their help with the war effort. (Daredevil Comics 001, 1941)

More of this kind of thing

FASCIST GOON CLEARING HOUSE 013

Another batch of dumb-dumbs for the fire.

the Green Shirts:

Though only mentioned by crooked political boss and aspiring fascist bigwig Pete Rosky, these Green Shirts are the same kind of palate-swap allusion to the Nazi Brownshirts and/or the Italian Blackshirts that we've seen so many times before. Their Rosky-led attempt to take over the US-government is nipped in the bud by the Human Meteor. (Champ Comics 012, 1941)

Categorized in: Colours (Green), Ideology (Crypto-Fascists), Objects (Shirts)

the Black Legion:

Led by a melted candle named Hans Schmutzdoff, the Black Legion are a group of fifth columnists who are infiltrating US war production with an eye to disrupting it, and who are ultimately undone because Chuck and Skip, aka the Liberty Lads, just kind of stumble upon them doing Nazi cosplay in the woods. (Champ Comics 016, 1941)

Categorized in: Colours (Black), Espionage (Fascist Groups), Generica (Legions)

the Ghost Ship:

It's one last hurrah for Cloud Curtis as yet another gang of fascists attempts to disrupt the development of the US air forces by deploying a gimmicked-up airplane. This one has projector mounted on it, allowing it to distract US pilots with visions of a phantom plane while the real one sneak attacks them from the rear. Like several other Cloud Curtis foes, this is a group operating under the singular name of the vehicle they pilot. (Silver Streak Comics 016, 1941)

Categorized in: Fraud (Fake Undead - Ghost Planes), Objects (Planes), Supranormal Beings (Ghosts) 

the Hooded League: 

The Hooded League are as far as I can tell a home-grown fascist group dedicated to weakening America in advance of a Nazi invasion, and to that end they launch a coordinated attack on Chicago that includes blowing up both the El Train and every bridge over the Chicago River (this is the inspiration for my modern Captain Battle revival in which the rebuilt bridges have slightly taller guardrails thus preventing the Dave Matthews Band bus incident, which in turn causes aliens to invade or something. It's a rich seam of potential that I will be strip mining). 

Before things can get much more out of control, Captain Battle gets ahold of their leader, newspaper editor Thompson, and forces him to order the Hooded League to stand down. (Captain Battle Comics 001, 1941)

Categorized in: Generica (Leagues), Objects (Hoods), Supercrime (Attempted Conquest)