MEDIA IN COMICS 006

Now that's entertainment. 

Magazines: 

Are magazine titles in comics more likely to be plays on real ones than other forms of media? Perhaps. We'll just have to see how many variations on Life and Time we can find over the years. Pretending to work for Living has enough caché that it gets these fascists into a secure aircraft plant - how long has it been since magazines were so relevant? (Big Shot Comics 014, 1941)

Movies:

I never actually mentioned it in the entry on the Hunchback of Hollywood, but the anti-Nazi movie that incites the story's action is called The Tyrant. Featuring Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes and Sergeant Duffy in minor roles! (Captain America Comics 003, 1941)

Rang-a-Tang the Wonder Dog's boy companion Richy (the Amazing Boy) never seemed to be that impressive to me, but Hollywood disagreed and he was made both the star and subject of a film called Riverfront Richy with lots of animal stunts. (Blue Ribbon Comics 011, 1941)

There's never any real indication of what Scoopin' Jive is about - music seems likely - but it's such a baffling name for a movie that I must celebrate it (Crackajack Funnies 036, 1941)

Similarly, we never really learn what Wings Aflutter is about, other than being a "new Navy Air smash hit" with a terrible name. (Jumbo Comics 034, 1941)

Theatre:

Minor super-villain the Black Death of course takes his costume and MO from a character in a stage production called The Black Death. There's not quite enough of the play's plot in the story to know if the fictional Black Death is supposed to be a metaphor or something or some sort of slasher movie killer as it appears. I sincerely hope it's the latter. (Thrilling Comics 010, 1940)

One of Professor X's attempts to get Sub-Zero involves attacking him in the audience of a big stage musical that his girlfriend Mary is appearing in as part of the "Living Chandelier". "George Whyte's Sandels" is a very specific-seeming reference, but I am unable to easily connect it to a show of the era. (Blue Bolt v1 006, 1940)

Fuller Spunk, former star of stage and now Holmes-inspired detective, starred in the evocatively-named shows Hector's Last Gulp and The Gripes of Raft. (Hyper-Mystery Comics 001, 1940)

Waltz of the Vampires is a ballet performance that is narratively used to set off vampire Carlos Hubbelo's bloodlust, but more importantly, it kind of rules? Comic book media is so often a version of something from the real world that it's always very fun to see something like this that (as far as I can tell) is just a sincere depiction of a vampire ballet. (Blue Ribbon Comics 011, 1941)

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 016

 Bless 'em, they're trying.

The first few adventures of Hydroman, a character I have an inexplicable affection for, are concerned with what at first seems like some real standard Yellow Peril bullplop ("Oriental invaders" and so forth) but then there are gangsters involved and the two factions variously mention a higher-up named "the Great One" and "the Big Boss", respectively. Still later, the whole operation seems to be run by this collection of pseudo-Nazis on a yacht in New York Harbor. It looks like the bald guy in the monocle might be in charge but the whole issue of just who exactly the Great One is is ultimately rendered moot by Hydroman blowing up the yacht and killing them all before their org chart is fully conveyed. 

Good costumes on those henchmen, though. (Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics 001, 1940)

I quite like "the Snarl," the nom de crime that this fellow has chosen for himself, and he gets up to all sorts of classic villainy to boot: bank robbery, deathtraps, sending taunting notes to the police, mass murder, etc, but he gets caught with ease by semi-comedic actor/detective Fuller Spunk in just a couple of pages so there's not quite enough meat for a full entry. (Hyper Mystery Comics 002, 1940)

Jungle comics are crawling with guys like Zan Marzov, a crook who murders and pillages with the aid of a gang of men dressed in leopard skins. Few can match his look, however. Between the leopard scar, haunted eyes, shrunken head necklace and horrible goatee, Marzov may have achieved the pinnacle of the Evil Explorer aesthetic. He ultimately gets blown up by virtuous explorer Buck Barton, by the way. (Jungle Comics 001, 1940)

This guy calls himself Mr X and he has stolen a sacred mask from a temple in the jungle dimension that Fantomah calls home, thus invoking a curse that threatens to flood the entire land with boiling mud. Needless to say, Fantomah does not look kindly on that sort of behaviour and he is rounded up post haste and sent to a weird cavern to "eat mud and fire for the rest of your days." Tough but fair, Fantomah! (Jungle Comics 008, 1940)