DEMONIC ROUND-UP 003

Two shorts and two longs.

Bajah:

Minor Golden Age Marvel magician Dakor has to travel all the way to the fictional Indian kingdom of Nordu to rescue his friend's daughter from one of those cults where they worship a random blonde white lady (one of the more embarrassing stupid pulp fiction concepts to make the jump to comics, in my opinion). All that is to set up the fact that the devil figure in this cult is the oft-invoked, never-seen Bajah, as seen above. (Mystic Comics v1 003, 1940)

the Goat-Men: 

The Goat-Men are a class of demon who serve Lucifer, and specifically the Lucifer seen in the last Demonic round-up, because this particular one is summoned by the Voodoo Man, just as his boss had been.

The Goat-Men are fire demons, who can both breathe fire and create a ring of fire by walking in a circle around something or someone. Plus: the ring of fire gives you malaria. This is a pretty good collection of demonic powers, and while the part of me that writes about super-villains wants to say that they are insufficiently related to goats for my liking, anyone familiar with Medieval demonology will tell you that having a suite of abilities that are completely disconnected from both the demon's physical appearance and one another is very accurate.

Just like his boss, the Goat-Man proves to be intensely vulnerable to the sight of a cross, to the point of explosion. Just why hero Bob Warren had to light the cross he used on fire is perhaps best left unexplored. (Weird Comics 007, 1940)

Kor Deno: 

Kor Deno, a demon of some might, has been haunting the same family in... the rural United States? I'm pretty sure that's where Warlock the Wizard hangs out... for generations. Any female member of the family who marries will be widowed by the demon soon after and for the latest and perhaps last scion, Valya, the curse has grown in scope to the point that Kor Deno has carried off all of her friends and family. 

Warlock the Wizard is if nothing else a romantic, and so he challenges Kor Deno's might in order that Valya might wed or at least kiss her love, Jim. He scores an early victory by using the the Golden Hand of Abraxas to crush the demon's cool shadow form, but finds himself to have been overconfident, as both Jim and Valya are carried off to Kor Deno's Black Kingdom immediately after he leaves them to finally make out.

Kor Deno adopts the form of Simon the Hermit to lull Warlock into a false sense of security, but is unable to destroy him while he wields the Hand, and thus the Hand is what Kor Deno demands in exchange for Warlock's freedom.

Now armed with what he believes to be his enemy's greatest weapon, Kor Deno attempts to slay Warlock, only to himself be destroyed by the still-greater might of the Lamp of the Gods. Bad luck, Kor Deno. (Nickel Comics 002, 1940) 

Korieg the Sea Devil: 

Like Bajah, Korieg the Sea Devil is invoked as a force of evilby the practitioner of a made-up Mysterious Asian Religion, in this case that practised by the inhabitants of a lost kingdom somewhere near Malaysia. No word on any of Korieg's particulars, beyond the fact that they evidently float in water. (Action Comics v1 010, 1939) 

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 679: THE EXPLOSION OF KRYPTON

(Action Comics 001, 1938)

Does this first version of the explosion of Krypton really fit the category of minor super-villain? Absolutely not. "The planet got too old and blew up" is a natural disaster, albeit an extreme one.

The second appearance of the Explosion of Krypton, in Superman v1 001, 1939, doesn't even blame the explosion on old age. It just happens. So why categorize it such? Because basically every time it shows up going forward (and it's going to be a while - we're currently reading comics from 1940-41 and the next appearance of Krypton is in 1948) the blame rests squarely on someone's shoulders, whether it be the Kryptonian Science Council's bureaucratic stultification and/or short-sighted self interest dooming their own citizens or the latest villain-of-the-week getting an unearned boost to their C.V., someone takes the heat for this disaster. And when they do, I'll be there to take note of it.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 661: THE GUY WHO SHOT BATMAN'S PARENTS

(Detective Comics 033, 1939)

Can't believe that I didn't think of this before but The Guy Who Shot Batman's Parents a) should already be here and b) is representative of a class of plot devices I'll be calling Narrative Footballs. Narrative Footballs are big pivotal events, usually related to a character's origin in some way, that get more and more significant over time and eventually become something that can be pinned to a villain in order to lend them a bit of gravitas. Sometimes they don't even start out as the actions of a person: while the the Explosion of Krypton eventually becomes a very popular item on various villains' C.V.s, it isn't even blamed on Kryptonian society for the first decade or so. 

The Guy Who Shot Batman's Parents is just a guy until 1948, when he is identified as Joe Chill. I think he's mostly Joe Chill still, but sometimes he's the Joker (Batman (1989)) or Joe Chill was working for a big bad guy etc etc. I have no evidence here but I'll bet a dollar that there's a comic somewhere where it turns out that Ra's al Ghul was behind it.

PROBLEMATIC ROUND-UP 001

The kinds of character that are a part of comics history so it would be wrong to ignore them but are also pretty racist (usually - I'm sure that eventually I'll find something else distasteful enough to put here) and unpleasant to dedicate a whole lot of time to. We're going with a round-up!

Our first culprit is George Harvard AKA Big Sun, a guy with a way too complicated plan to sell oil to the Axis out of the Florida Everglades under the cover of being a geological surveyor or prospector or something. He comes to the attention of adventurer Clip Carson due to not accounting for his partner maybe poking around looking for samples like their job is supposed to be? It's a bad plan.

I'm mad at myself for finding Big Sun's mask so cool looking, but it's mitigated by how dumb his gimmick is: he has a shiny breastplate on under his robe and he reveals it flasher-style to blind his foes. Hence the name, I guess. (More Fun Comics 069, 1941) 

I didn't even know that Zingaro was an Italian slur for people of Romani descent until I looked up this guy - just why it was used as the name of a fellow trying to take over Mexico I will never know. On the one hand he is stopped by weirdo character the Voice so that's good. On the other, he gets away so there's a chance he could appear again, which is bad. It's okay though: the Voice only ever had two adventures and this is the second one.

Thankfully there aren't too many characters whose names are racial slurs. (Amazing-Man Comics 022, 1941)

I don't know if you could call it lucky, per se, but it is kind of fortunate for the purposes of this round-up that I'm hitting a lot of the major categories of racist super-villains all in one go. We'll see if this questionable luck holds for the fourth entry.

So: Banga the Elephant God is predicated on the old trope that indigenous peoples are so credulous and superstitious that they will believe that anything (eg, a big mean elephant with a guy in a skull mask on it) is a god or other supernatural occurrence - in this case the people of the hidden jungle civilization of Yenya are helped along by the fact that the human part of the Banga gestalt is actually their witch doctor (called a "wizard doctor" in this case, which is kind of a neat linguistic variation if nothing else). Banga is eventually unmasked by jungle hero Morak the Mighty and meets his dual ends.

As with so many racist characters it is very unfortunate that Banga the Elephant God looks sick as hell. (Super-Magic Comics 001, 1941)

The very next issue we have more of the same: a bunch of white guys dress up like the very cool looking Lizard-Lion Men of local legend and fleece ivory out of villagers in... Malaysia? If Rex King aka Black Fury stayed put between issues then it's Malaysia.

There's not too much to these guys: one of them hides inside the statue of the Lizard-Lion in the local temple and says for the locals to bring all of their ivory hence and then costumed goons go beat up anyone who refuses. And then Black Fury beats them up. (Super-Magician v1 002, 1941)

We didn't hit all the greats in one go - there's a lot of untapped racism coming up once we hit the comics of 1942 after all - but it's a good - bad? - sample.

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 009

GENERIC! COSTUMED! VILLAINS!

It's not much of a costume but this dude named Marmi does manage to use a trained cobra to steal a huge ruby before the Radio Squad gets him, which is a feat. (More Fun Comics 072, 1941)

It's possible that this fellow was meant to have a name but he never managed to say it over the Green Mask's relentless mocking of his costume. He's munitions magnate August Mincer, who has no obvious ties to Nazism despite his gruesome swastika-themed deathtrap. His plans to take over the US munitions market and possibly the world are stopped by a boomerang to the head from Green Mask sidekick Domino the Miracle Boy (Mystery Men Comics 018, 1941)

A bunch of fake ghosts set to scare off Zara of the Jungle and her guy-pal Jeff Graves from a slavery operation, these guys not only have a great look but an unshakable faith in their armoured skull headpieces - not only that they will protect them from all incoming attacks but that their foes will only go for headshots. All of these guys must have so many concussions. (Mystic Comics v1 003, 1940)

This here bunch of handsome lads are the Communist-esque henchmen of spy Kursk. They capture weirdo hero Dr Hypno but don't manage to get what they want out of him before he projects his mind into a little cat and escapes. (Amazing-Man Comics 018, 1940)

FASCIST GOON CLEARING HOUSE 005

Fascist, Smascist

The Volunteers for Peace are another group that advocates for the US not to get involved in WWII as shorthand for them being full-on fascist fifth columnists setting the country up for an invasion by the evocatively-named Nation X. Don't worry, not even Golden Age Superman has any trouble beating down a bunch of pseudo-Nazis (Action Comics 036, 1941)

Another batch of Yellow Shirts, this time with a space! This bunch are some more bundists and they have the misfortune to tangle with ultranationalist adventurer Don Glory (Hit Comics 013, 1941)

The Grey-Shirts were the personal army of early Justice Society villain the Leader. They were a diverse group - most cells were bundists but some were imported from the non-German Teutonic Fatherland that the Leader himself called home. (All-Star Comics 004, 1941)

The Peace Clan are willing to kill for their ideals of US non involvement in foreign wars, and Doc Savage is willing to kill them to keep them from doing so. Also they dress and act a lot like the KKK. Also they're actually literal Nazis. (Doc Savage Comics v1 006, 1940)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 408: MR WHO

(More Fun Comics 073, 1941) 

It's Mr Who! You know, from comics! I was very excited for this guy to turn up, as he's one of those comic book characters I had heard about but never really read about, and... he's okay.

See, Mr Who was born all scrawny and seems to have been a weird kid (and to have had a shitty dad, jeez), so he channelled all of his efforts into science, and more specifically into developing a way to be big and strong and handsome. He ended up with Solution Z, a super-power drug that allowed him to alter his size and shape seemingly without limit, to recover from any injury, camouflage himself like a chameleon, etc. It's a cool suite of powers that are somewhat undercut by his all-brown wardrobe (including cape!) accessorized with a single dark green neckerchief.

In his first outing, Mr Who is on a campaign to steal beautiful things such as paintings and gems to surround himself with so as to leave behind his own perceived ugliness. Dr Fate gets involved and seemingly drowns him in the Hudson River for his troubles.

But of course you can't keep a good man with complete control over his own biology down, and Mr Who is soon making his way to shore as a highly unsettling fishman. (More Fun Comics 074, 1941)

This time out, Mr Who sets his sights on power rather than material beauty - he uses his shapeshifting abilities to kidnap and replace... a mayor. I'll be honest: the prior issue was, like a lot of Dr Fate stories, very much set in NYC and this guy is almost certainly supposed to be a generic off-brand version of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, but they changed him just a little too much and he's falling into the uncanny valley for me. I think this would only affect someone who spends a fair amount of time squinting at old pictures of politicians to see if they're being alluded to in comics art but unfortunately I'm someone who does that.

Dr Fate of course foils this plan as well but we'll be seeing Mr Who again as the Golden Age progresses, and then he's one of the villains that Roy Thomas brings back in All-Star Squadron. I like Mr Who - he's a good foil for half-helmet era Dr Fate, who is more of a wisecracking roughneck than the full-face version, which means that a moderately crafty fella can outfox him for a while.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 407: DR CLEVER

(More Fun Comics 074, 1941)

I have taken an immediate liking to Dr Clever. I mean, just look at the guy: the classic tuxedo-and-cape combo, the rictus grin, the bald pate with two little hair-horns, the tiny skull-and-crossbones pin... he's really a triumph of design when you think about it. Lucky for us he's a recurring foe of Johnny Quick so we'll be seeing him again.

Somewhat strangely for a man with such an overall villainous look, Dr Clever's major line is in con artistry: he manages to pull off three schemes in short order in this issue and the only impediment to their success is the involvement of Johnny Quick. Maybe people just love a smiling man. In order then:

1. Under a fairly flimsy pretense he gives away free food that contains a chemical that turns the eater blue, then sells an antidote for big bucks. This one might be a warm-up as he only seems to get about ten people.

2. He advertises his new invention: a machine for extracting gold from seawater. Dr Clever sells the gold from this machine for 50 cents on the dollar, but really it's just a way to launder stolen gold.

3. He creates a service whereby he will register your patent for you but really he just keeps them for himself.

It's all almost wholesome, crime-wise. Don't worry though: Dr Clever is actually an evil wretch of the highest order as evidenced by the above panel in which he murders two henchmen for essentially no reason.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 406: CAPTAIN BLACK JACK

(More Fun Comics 074, 1941)

Captain Black Jack is your typical modern pirate, albeit a very charmingly-written one. He took a look at the nautical landscape of the early 40s and saw a niche that he could fill: that of the buccaneer. He raids a yacht and comes into conflict with Aquaman and almost comes out on top but makes the key mistake of trying to drown an amphibious man and ends up blown to Kingdom Come for his efforts.

OR DOES HE? No, he doesn't - he makes it to shore and swears revenge against Aquaman and actually carries through with it! I'm pretty sure that he's Golden Age Aquaman's major recurring foe! WE WILL SEE CAPTAIN BLACK JACK AGAIN!

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 405: THE VOICE

(More Fun Comics 074, 1941)

"The Voice" is such a cool and evocative name that I have a real bias in favour of it but I have to say that this guy leaves me cold. Basically, he's some sort of science man who has invented a "sound destroyer" capable of dampening all noise in an area the size of Manhattan. His crime-gambit involves employing this device and deploying sign language fluent gangsters to cause mayhem during the resultant confusion, then threatening to continue doing so until the city pays him ten million dollars. Not a bad plan but it does nothing for me.

(He does pull the requisite guy-called-the-Voice trick of only being present vocally by faking out Green Arrow using a radio and a sheet, so there's that)

Ultimately though, the Voice pushes his luck one too many times and is foiled by a simple application of visual signals - flare arrows, in this case. Good riddance to bland voices, I say.

BONUS TROPHY ROOM CONTENT: This is the second recorded adventure of Green Arrow and Speedy and the second time that they add to their trophy case, and this time it's the sound destroyer itself! Always a more satisfying move than destroying (ha ha) the villain's tech.

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.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 402: THE BLACK KNIGHT

(More Fun Comics 073, 1941)

As our tale begins, a figure in black knight's armour roams New York City, destroying statuary seemingly at random.

Johnny Quick soon gets involved and ferrets out a link between the destroyed pieces: they all once belonged to a man implausibly named Black Knight, who went bankrupt and was forced to sell them. The statues turned out to be worth a great deal more than Knight paid for them and the prevailing theory is that he has returned for revenge.

In actual fact it was the art dealer, Sam Kirby, who was behind the attacks. He had swindled not only Black Knight but his customers as well, by selling them fakes, and was now trying to cover up this fact via what turns out to be a remote-controlled automaton. 

QUESTIONS NOT ANSWERED IN THE TEXT:

Was the guy's name really Black Knight? The Golden Age Comics Style Guide usually recommended signposting nicknames quite heavily and since he wasn't referred to as "Black" Knight we just have to assume that one or both of his parents were real pranksters.

What was Sam Kirby's deal? As presented, he didn't fleece Knight so much as not retroactively compensate him once the real value of the statues came out. But why did he sell the collectors counterfeits? Why destroy the counterfeits and keep the originals? Did he just want to own the real ones or was he planning to sell them a second time? Why go to all of this trouble? And speaking of that...

What's with the robot? I tend to go on about villains using technology that could make them a large fortune in order to acquire a small fortune but this is really egregious. I'm not even going to look up how much you could get for a really good statue before saying that a bipedal remote-controlled robot with full human articulation is orders of magnitude more valuable to industry. Mining! Manufacturing! Hazardous materials handling! The applications are endless!

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 401: THE MASKED MAN

(More Fun Comics 073, 1941)

This is not a new development but having Johnny Quick and Green Arrow's debuts so close together made me realize that a minor sea change had happened some time in 1941: whereas the earliest super-heroes would start out collaring regular crooks we're entering an era in which super-villains are the norm! (that said, Aquaman's debut is in this issue as well and he just blows up a few Nazis).

As for the Masked Man (our fifth! Even if more than half of them are unofficial), he's another themed deathtraps guy, killing members of the extremely tryhard History Club (members must have the same last name as a famous historical or mythological figure, but sometimes it's the figure's first name as their last name and also there's a member named Frank d'Arcy who is a member under the extremely slim pretext of sharing a name with Joan of Arc AKA Jean d'Arc. Maybe it's a club for guys too uninteresting to belong to any of the other weird themed organizations in comics). Needless to say my interest was piqued: themed deathtraps are a classic villain trope! These, however, are extremely perfunctory - shooting a guy named Lincoln but not in a theatre, stabbing a Caesar in his sleep... a little more theatricality would have gone a long way.

More halfassed deathtraps: Ezra Samson is tied up next to a bomb that will collapse a building on him, Frank d'Arcy is tied up in a burning building, Amos Socrates is forced to drink poison at gunpoint and Leonard Achilles (great name!) is warned about his heel being targeted so he wears metal boots and is then killed via electrified mat. It's all moderately thematic but feels perfunctory.

And it is, in fact, perfunctory! The Masked Man is not killing the members of the History Club out of hatred or because of a weird compulsion but as a distraction! He's actually club treasurer Ezra Samson attempting to cover up his long-term embezzlement of club funds by murdering everyone who would care, culminating in a fake attempt on his own life and a staging of Amos Socrates' poisoning so that he would look like a guilty suicide. And he might have gotten away with it if Green Arrow and Speedy hadn't been there to kill him with a car wreck at the end of the story.

BONUS TROPHY ROOM

Green Arrow and Speedy add the Masked Man's fake round bomb to their already overstuffed trophy case.