GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 032

A more fantastical bunch of genericos than usual! How fun!

Benjie Frazier: 

This mysterious cloaked figure hires femme fatale Sonia, aka Princess Cleo, to help him drive all of the inhabitants out of "center of New York society" Formal Park (99% certain that this is a substitution for former real-life society hub Tuxedo Park). To that end, the pair deploy such tools as squads of hooded goons, a mysteriously appearing brand to indicate that their victims have suffered "the Pharaoh's Curse", and a drug that drives regular people into a murderous frenzy. 

Things come to a head when the socially prominent Dudley "Mr Satan" Bradshaw and his scornful love interest Doris O'Day are invited out to a Formal Park event and end up unmasking their host Benjie Frazier as the mastermind behind the scheme. And just why has he been murdering people in such elaborate ways? A damn land grab, the most boring possible motivation for supercrime. He wanted to get rich by selling land to the state for a reservoir, folks. Shaking my damn head over here. (Zip Comics 008, 1940)

Unnamed Brain-in-Jar Men: 

Another cover illustration with no bearing on the story inside - very very sad. Are these headless men with their brains in little glass backpacks the creations of a mad scientist? Some sore of weird aliens? A transhumanist mafia? We shall never know. (Zip Comics 009, 1940)

the Lion-Man: 

This were-lion is remarkable not only for being in the Amazon (which I can only assume is way out of its natural range if we can apply such concepts to supernatural beings) but also because it only appears in the first half of a six-page story as an unrelated distraction while some crooks to steal diamonds from Doctor Voodoo's home village. Just tremendous disrespect on the writer's part for the gravity of a lycanthropic* foe. (Whiz Comics 014, 1941)

*yes I'm aware that the lycan part of the word is referring specifically to wolves but I'm being lazy about my language, okay? The footnote is still lazy because most of the words in it are short.

Queen Zoe: 

Queen Zoe is the ruler of a lost kingdom called El Casa del Oro deep in the Amazon whose culture appears to be a mixture of Inca and Conquistador and who is not overtly evil but who for instance threatens to throw someone into a volcano for interfering in her proposed seduction of Dr Voodoo.

Queen Zoe's secret is that she is actually thousands of years old thanks to the fact that she has the Fountain of Youth in her basement. She tries to sweeten her seduction of Dr Voodoo with the promise of eternal life but the Fountain is evidently a big prude because it chooses to stop working the exact second that Zoe makes her pitch and instead of getting some action she instead crumbles to dust. (Whiz Comics 015, 1941)

REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 020

Where would comic books be without real people, after all?

Easter Island: 

Lance O'Casey and his pal Dan'l Doom fight some wreckers on Easter island, and while I can't tell if the place saw enough ship traffic in the 1940s to make shipwrecking a profitable enterprise, I will say that the concept of Lance and Dan'l just casually passing by one of the most isolated islands in the Pacific Ocean while travelling from place to place is an eyebrow raiser.

The whole Easter Island aspect of the adventure honestly seems to just be a bit of set dressing, but I sure do love these extremely flat moai statues.(Whiz Comics 013, 1941) 

Fort Knox: 

As "Fort Gnox," robbed by Dr Sivana. (Whiz Comics 014, 1940)

FDR: 

Spy Smasher saves the president from being assassinated by probable-Nazi spy the Dark Angel, leading to what I can only interpret as a very awkward meeting between the two. (Spy Smasher 001, 1941) 

Fiorello La Guardia (Not): 

Wow Comics 004 features not one but two mayors who are not Fiorello La Guardia in comics previously established to be set in New York City. I'd say poor guy for not getting elected in two different versions of Earth-S but neither of these guys are exactly having a good time. (Wow Comics 004, 1941)

Harry "A" Chesler: 

The Zip Comics 007 Steel Sterling story involves a crooked moneylending firm called the Uwana Loan Company, and here we see the door of that company with H. "A" C. listed as president. Comic book publisher Harry "A" Chesler was a decent boss as far as I can tell, so once and future Chesler employee/ "Steel Sterling" scribe Charles Biro is probably indulging in some classic comic book yuk-em-ups here rather than a trenchant skewering. (Zip Comics 007, 1940) 

Henry L. Stimson: 

US Secretary of State. As "Secretary Simpson," almost gets assassinated and mummified by the Black Thorn. (America's Greatest Comics 001, 1941) 

J Edgar Hoover:

As "FBI Chief Doover" almost gets assassinated by the Ghost. (am greatest 001 1941)

Ken Crawford: 

The Mask adopts a reporter alias as part of an attempt to find out the Spy Smasher's secret identity, and there is no doubt in my mind that "Crawf Kenford" is a classic syllable-flip reference to venerable political correspondent Ken Crawford. (Whiz Comics 013, 1941)

Mort Meskin: 

You have to squint to read it, but that red sign says "M. Meskin, Fish" on it. (Zip Comics 007, 1940)

William Tell: 

Golden Arrow plays William Tell in a local school pageant, with love interest Carol Braddock as the apple-headed son. (Whiz Comics 012, 1941) 

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 871: THE MONSTER

(Zip Comics 002, 1940) 

Mr Satan is summoned to the charmingly-named Shadow Pond to solve a series of disappearances among a group of scientists who have secluded themselves there. Upon arriving he immediately finds himself in the middle of an attack by a humanoid monster (the Monster, of course. Annoyingly, it is never once referred to as the Monster of Shadow Pond, which would be a pretty great name). He manages to pull a young woman away from the attack and is shortly thereafter introduced to the cast of characters at Shadow Pond:

Professor Heaslip: Mr Satan's client and the de facto leader of the scientific group.

Mrs Heaslip: the Professor's younger wife, recently rescued from the clutches of the Monster by Mr Satan.

John Heaslip: the Professor's brother, a scientist in his own right. Narrowly avoided being killed by the Monster in its first attack.

Blake: Scientist and acquaintance of Mr Satan. Blake gets mentioned a fair amount throughout the story but only makes one appearance. Probably killed by the Monster.

Richards: Scientist. Killed in the first attack by the Monster.

Slade: Scientist. Killed in the attack that Mr Satan witnessed.

Unnamed Scientist: Killed at some point by the Monster.

Is someone in this motley crew actually the Monster? Not the dead ones, obviously. 

Mr Satan does some investigating and is himself almost killed by the Monster. In the process he discovers that the scientists' missing bodies are caught in a whirlpool beneath the surface of the pond, explaining why they have not surfaced.

A plan to kill the Monster with a bomb goes awry when the device, built by John Heaslip, goes off without warning and almost kills both his brother and Mr Satan

This explosion provides Mr Satan with the final key to the puzzle: he tracks down the conveniently-not-at-the-site-of-the-explosion John and Mrs Heaslip and confronts them with the truth: this whole affair has been about the illicit love that they share. The Monster was born out of an attempt to murder Professor Heaslip so that his widow and brother could be together (and also so that they could steal his radium ray, a device that literally had not been mentioned before it was revealed to be a motivation for murder, and which I think was added late in the game to make the story a bit less sordid). A sad and grubby resolution indeed.

We also get to see the full Monster getup, and while some of the other diving-suit-modified-to-look-like-sea-monster examples we have are a bit more monstery, this might just be the best looking weird diving suit. Lust look at that eye stalk/periscope!

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 066

They're just doing their best over here.

Nevada Jones: 

Nevada Jones starts out as a detective working for the Cattleman's Association in what is probably meant to be the Old West (though at this point my trust in that fact is fragile) but in his second appearance is framed for murder and so adopts a masked alter ego. He also acquired a sidekick named Little Joe, who speaks with the cadence of a guy who was orphaned in the jungle and raised by apes rather than just being Mexican.

The only really distinct thing about Nevada is that he never seems to actually adopt a new name for himself, he just doesn't offer a name at all. This means that everyone calls him "masked man" or "stranger" the whole time. There's an argument to be made that his masked identity is called "Quick-Trigger Man" but the aesthetic part of my soul won't let me acknowledge it. (Zip Comics 001, 1940) 

Kalthar: 

Kalthar, aka God-Son, the Giant Man, King of the Jungle, is the son of an unnamed man who saved the Ugarnas (possibly Urgana? They are only ever referred to in the plural, alas) tribe from slavers but lost his life in the process. Raised by the grateful Urganas, Kalthar of course becomes much cooler than any of them and can speak the language of jungle animals. 

Kalthar also has the support of Ta-Lo, possibly the only non-evil witch doctor in comics, who brews up a big batch of magic grains that allow him to grow into a fifteen foot tall, bulletproof giant. This is, as you might imagine, a pretty decisive advantage in jungle combat (he can for example punch out a bull elephant), so a large portion of each Kalthar story is spent with him tied up or otherwise unable to reach the magic grains in their hiding place in his hair. (Zip Comics 001, 1940)

In Zip Comics 009, Kalthar marries Kate Goodwill, an explorer who he had been getting serious with over the prior few issues, but though the Next Issue blurb promises us further adventures of Kalthar and Kate, King and Queen of the Jungle this would be their final appearance. That's a real shame, because if nothing else this arrangement would be a change from the usual chaste, long-term courtships you see in most jungle comics, where the jungle adventurer hooks up with the first white person they meet in their life but then constantly defers actually doing anything with the relationship. 

the Devil's Twins: 

I just can't resist a fighter pilot with a cool name, in this case brothers Tom and Tim Shane, aka the Devil's Twins, aka the Devil's Flying Twins (or should that be the Devil's flying Twins), possibly aka the War Eagles unless that's just the name of the strip. In addition to a great name, the twins have a totally stupid reason for being in the RAF: the German Ace Schultz once fouled them both in a polo match and now they want revenge on him. 

The brothers earn their main nickname for being such colossal pains in the ass of their immediate superior, Captain Rex: they adopt unsanctioned but very effective tactics supposedly derived from polo, they constantly take off on self-ordained missions that draw unwanted attention to the airfield, they fall in love with the same woman and are huge babies about it, etc, etc. Just a couple of ding dongs. (Zip Comics 001, 1940)

Mr Satan: 

Mr Satan is really Dudley Bradshaw, "international detective and soldier of fortune," who is so bored with the ins and outs of everyday life that he advertises for excitement in his local paper (and then later on he just follows the trouble-prone Doris O'Day around, despite the fact that she hates Dudley for not being as dynamic as Mr Satan). 

Mr Satan's purple bodysuit and horned cowl mask are both very charming and not a little reminiscent of the later Daredevil, and he has the distinction (along with most of the other heroes of Zip Comics) of never having been resurrected in any of the various revivals of the Archie/MLJ characters, a perhaps understandable decision in the case of a guy named Mr Satan, but a sad one. (Zip Comics 001, 1940)

NOTES - OCTOBER 2025

Cops Shooting Fleeing Suspects in the Back: 

I'll grant these cops this: Steel Sterling did just steal one of their motorcycles. I still don't think that that warrants a  "SHOOT TO KILL!" and three bullets in the back. (Zip Comics 001, 1940)

Even less of a reason to shoot someone in the back: because you heard a different person shooting at them and assumed that they were a thief. Both because you are wrong and the person you are shooting at is actually super-hero Mr Satan and because theft is not punishable by death. (Zip Comics 007, 1940) 

Not only do the cops try to blow the Scarlet Avenger away here, but they also allow real culprit Mr Nimbus to make a getaway. (Zip Comics 009, 1940) 

Honours: 

Rambunctious pilots Tim and Tom Shane, aka the Devils Twins, are decorated for valour. (Zip Comics 001, 1940)

Super-Heroes Going to Costume Parties as Themselves: 

Dudley Bradshaw, aka Mr Satan, attends a very costume-heavy Mardi Gras parade in costume as himself. (Zip Comics 005, 1940)

Both Mr Scarlet and his enemy Bluebeard attend the same costume party in character. (Wow Comics 004, 1941)

(Pinky is there too, of course) 

Vigilante also attended a costume party as himself in 1941 and I completely neglected to note it before now. (Action Comics v1 042, 1941)