MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 490: THE HOOK

(Big Shot Comics 003, 1940)

Is a hook hand the most basic gimmick that automatically flips a gang boss over to being a super-villain in my mind? We don't have enough data to call it yet but all signs point to Probably. 

This Hook is Hook Horner and there's not too much to say about him: he kidnaps a young woman sometime between the death of someone she is set to inherit millions from but before she herself knows about it, ie, while the money is still going to be in legal limbo for a while yet, ie, way too early. He gives the Face a run for his money but like a lot of hook-handed villains in the end he dies because his hook gets caught on something, in this case a speeding car.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 400: THE HOOK

(More Fun Comics 072, 1941)

The Hook is in reality cannery cwner Rand Greer, who has a lucrative sideline in smuggling jewels inside of frozen fish (and a less lucrative hobby of murdering FBI agents).

To justify the name, Greer has a hook hand concealed under a fake plastic hand (a pretty good one honestly - I reckon he's holding a fish with it in the first image). There's really nothing to this guy and I'd ordinarily banish him to the ranks of the generic villains if only to have a bit more excitement in entry number 400, but this marks the last appearance of Captain Desmo and I must say I'll miss him. Truly he was the best of the pilot/ adventurers, even if his foes weren't always worth writing home about.