MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 783: PHATSO

(Superworld Comics 003, 1940)

Buzz "the Invisible Avenger" Allen and Will "also invisible but has no special name" Lawrence are taking an Alaskan vacation with some of the reward money they have earned via vigilantism (and it's nice to see a variation on super-hero morality now and then - someone has to be accepting awards when offered, surely) when they, hard-core radio amateurs that they are, pick up a panicked broadcast from nearby. Making their way to the location, they find the man who sent the distress call dead and surrounded by weird ribbons of light.

Finding that the light ribbons are solid, Buzz and Will make the amazing and completely understandable decision to grab onto them as they fly off, and end up being whisked even further North to a hidden city in the ancient Greek style.

The lads attempt to bluff the city's ruler, Phatso, with a bit of the old "cower before us for we are wizards" gag, but it turns out that this isn't a primitive hidden city but a technologically advanced one, and a little bit of invisibility tech isn't going to get so much as a shiver out of them. They also learn that Phatso is using the light ribbons to kill people and siphon the information from their minds in preparation for a full-scale Atlantean (did I mention that the city represents the remnants of sunken Atlantis?) invasion of the United States. The boys are unceremoniously paralysis-rayed and tossed in the clink.

I really like Phatso's villain patter, by the by. "I am Phatso, great, clever ruler of Atlantis. I can speak in any tongue and I am 212 years old!" is a terrific introduction. I just with his name wasn't an as-far-as-I-can-tell purposeless pun, because it is annoying.

Buzz and Will escape of course, and immediately blow up the machines that make Arctic Atlantis habitable by humans, with the wild justification that only the old people will die off and thus Atlantean civilization will be improved. Is this the morality of a hero who takes the reward cheques? Is this what I was asking for!!??

(this is also part of a bit of a recurring theme in stories from Superworld Comics of "inflicting mass casualties" as a standard part of the heroic arsenal - the other examples are all from human vs alien stories that fall a bit outside of my self-imposed purview and so won't be showing up here, but I assure you that it is there and it leaves a bit of a bad taste in your mouth once you recognize it)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 536: NAULUS

(Fantastic Comics 001, 1939)

Naulus is an undersea noble who is attempting to usurp the throne of Atlantis from its rightful ruler, Queen Lantida, and do Atlantean aristocrats get up to any other activities? Atlantis needs more hobby stores, I reckon.

FATE OF ATLANTIS: this version of Atlantis appears to be the standard ancient sunken city saved by super science - specifically a sealed dome city full of air. These aren't your water breathing Atlanteans, folks. Since this is a Sub Saunders story set in the year 10 000 this is also a much older Atlantis than usual.

Both Atlantis and Naulus are also unfortunately explicit slavers as they employ the services of these very cool but oppressed frogmen.

THE FATE OF ATLANTIS

(Super Comics 002, 1938)

This is just a regular account of some survivors of Atlantis (and their wives) setting up a colony somewhere - in this case the South Seas. The development of a priestly class obsessed with covering up their murder of one guy (to the extent that he is eventually made their god of Justice!) is pretty fun.

NOTES - MARCH 2024

The Foot Test For Guns:

I sincerely can't believe we've found another person trying the Foot Test For Guns, the worst of all ways to see if a gun is working. (Big Shot Comics 004, 1940)

Kids Playing Super-Heroes:

Jibby Jones is a pretty weak sauce comic strip (seen here in comic book reprint, natch) but dang if I'm not intrigued by this Moon Man character. (Big Shot Comics 005, 1940)

Honours:

Jeff Cardiff, Spy-Chief saves Washington DC from being exploded by unspecified foreigners and is rewarded with the very official-sounding honour of "Greatest Espionage Achievement of the Year" by FDR himself! And is that J Edgar Hoover in the background? Probably! (Big Shot Comics 006, 1940)

Who is Lazy Ray?:

I've been reading Big Shot Comics from the Columbia Comic Corporation for the last week or so and I believe that I've spotted an in-joke. But who is the "Lazy Ray" referenced in the two panels? Both Spy-Chief (above) and the Face (below) are Mart Bailey joints, so it could be a personal joke of his or it could be a joke among the contributors of this magazine as a whole (like the seeming industry-wide joke of putting Gil Fox's name in as a reference at every opportunity - wish I'd though to screenshot those as I came across them). The only Ray associated with Big Shot that I can find is Ray McGill, who seems to have mainly done gag panels. Who can say but I shall be watching out for Lazy Ray going forward.

MORE LAZY RAY SIGHTINGS:

"the Face" (Big Shot Comics 011, 1941)

"the Face" (Big Shot 018, 1941)

Nova Scotia:

It's not like it matters to the plot but the action of this Marvelo story takes place largely on a beach on Cape Breton. (Big Shot Comics 013, 1941)

the Fate of Mu:

A fairly straightforward account of a Pacific continent sinking, with the fun added detail that it's because of Earth's lost second moon exploding. It's never actually called Mu and in fact it's Atlantis that gets namechecked, but a close reading of the relevant text suggests that the two continents merely sank at the same time, so Atlantis was also presumably moonstruck.

Really fond of these little bug-eyed guys, by the way. (Big Shot Comics 014, 1941)

Weed Propaganda:

Santy Claus:

To the extent that the Columbia Comic Corporation has a shared universe, Santa Clause is confirmed real in it. (Big Shot Comics 020, 1941)

Drawn Without Reference:

(Blackstone Super-Magic 001, 1941)

NOTES - FEBRUARY 2024

Good reactions by the people in this crowd to Amazing-Man passing through in his Green Mist form - people usually treat it as if he's invisible but this is much more satisfying. (Amazing-Man Comics 014, 1940) 

Origins:

The Shark is not just the son of Father Neptune, he's part of a long line of father/ son Neptunes and Sharks! I was right in my belief that the Shark was more interesting than most ocean dwelling super-heroes! (Amazing-Man Comics 014, 1940)

I Don't Get It Dept:

The names on this poster are either character in the story (Dr Hypno, Lana the lion tamer) or jokes (Governor Graft, Senator Filchit, Mayor M.I. Blue), but Ivan Coe is not the former and I can't figure out any way he's the latter. It's a puzzle! (Amazing-Man Comics 019, 1941)

Attacking Hitler:

Amazing-Man participates in the grand old tradition of political commentary in comics (Amazing-Man Comics 022, 1941)

Fate of Atlantis:

Adventurer Reef Kinkaid encounters a fairly standard version of Atlantis (or Atlantia) stuck in a little bubble under an island and still somehow managing to thrive for 9000+ years. (Amazing-Man Comics 022, 1941)

Gruesome:

Real gruesome death perpetrated by one-off hero the Marksman (Amazing-Man Comics 023, 1941)

Famous Names:

Hobo Harper encounters this evil guy who loves "fancy murders" and is trying to gain control of a travelling carnival - Tony Blair (Amazing-Man Comics 025, 1941)

Giant guy on the right lives in the Tennessee woods eating wild boar and ends up falling off a mountain while tussling with DA Tom Kerry. Jim Davis is the name. (Big Shot Comics 002, 1940)

Cops Shoot:

Captain Courageous is accused of being a spy (literally by one guy yelling "he's a spy!") and these cops attempt to execute him. Twice! (Banner Comics 003, 1941)

Now, the Blue Beetle did just rob a restaurant in order to get in good with a gang, but that's still not a good reason for this cop to attempt to murder him. (Big 3 006, 1941)

Canada:

Always have to note when a comic makes a stop in a specific rather than generic location in Canada, even when it's not actually Canadian for another eight years or so. This time it's Captain Courageous showing up to help these wacky pacifist fishermen drive off a Nazi invasion. (Banner Comics 004, 1941)

NOTES - DECEMBER 2023

Weaknesses: 

A very specific weakness for the Spectre: a once-in-a-hundred-million-year alignment of constellations that surely will never happen again. (More Fun Comics 071, 1941)

Misc:

This is my first encounter with Golden Age Johnny Quick so I'm not sure if the slow-down formula that he uses in the third panel above is a regular thing or a one-off but it sure has been left by the wayside. (More Fun Comics 071, 1941)

EDIT: He does it again in More Fun Comics 072! 

Memes of Yore - Keep 'em Flying!

Johnny Quick (More Fun Comics 073, 1941)

Green Arrow and Speedy (More Fun Comics 074, 1941)

Drawn without reference:

A wonderful 11-legged spider! (More Fun Comics 073, 1941)

Origins:

Poor ol' Earth-Two Aquaman. Nobody even remembers that he exists half the time, plus he got eliminated in the Crisis. Anyway, here's his origin: his dad found Atlantis and trained his son to breathe water (also a cheeky Fate of Atlantis - it sank and now Aquaman lives there). (More Fun Comics 073, 1941)

Great Folk:

I had completely forgotten about this story, but the old man who hoots and hollers and calls for detective Russell Granville until he's on the case is the spectacular character find of 1939. Really, really great way to build up the detective before his appearance and I'm a bit sad that this is the only Russell Granville story because that old man needs more panel time. (Keen Detective Funnies v2 011, 1939)

THE FATE OF ATLANTIS

(Flash Comics v1 1941)

 This Minute Movies ("Secrets of Satan", natch) installment posits that the Atlanteans blew themselves up via black magic and then settled in the Yucatan.

THE FATE OF ATLANTIS

Lost cities get a lot of play in comic books, especially Atlantis. Sometimes it seems like enough little fragments and offshoots managed to survive the place that it would be surprising to hear of anyone dying. Here are a selection of fates of Earth-Two Atlantis:

-Earth's second moon collides with the planet, causing the sinking of Atlantis. the colony city of Ophir in Africa and an underwater remnant survive (Action v1 017-018, 1939)

(this is the Atlantis that Zatara encounters with Setap. Doubles as a Fate of Ophir entry: the pseudo-historical Biblical city is a remnant of Atlantis until Zatara blows it up)

-Some portion of the people of sunken Atlantis move to the underground regions of the Arctic, founding the nation of Ugar (Adventure 052, 1940)

(Earth-Two is riddled with underground kingdoms such that it would be surprising if no Atlanteans ended up down there)

-A portion of the population of sinking Atlantis relocates to a vast cavern under the Azores (Action v1 037-038, 1941)

-A portion of the population of sinking Atlantis relocates to the interior of Brazil (Action v1 043, 1941)

(Both of the latter two involve aviator-heroes the Three Aces, yet they fail to even mention the Azorean Atlanteans to the Brazilian Atlanteans)

More updates as I encounter 'em!