FASCIST GOON CLEARING HOUSE 010

Will we ever run out of fascist goons? 

the Green Shirts:

The Green Shirts' claim to fame is their army of the resurrected dead, which they employ in their attempted takeover of the US. Or it would be, that is, if the test run of the resurrection device hadn't resulted in the death of its inventor and incidentally the creation of the super-mummy Mystico, who ultimately ends up destroying the Green Shirts in a very satisfyingly cyclical kind of way. (Startling Comics 001, 1940)

the Group/ the Superior Council: 

The Group, a home-grown collection of fascist malcontents, acts as a front and recruiting arm for the Superior Council, the US arm of the espionage corps of the nation of Zatvia, a classic Nazi Germany stand-in. US secret agent Q-13 successfully infiltrates both groups in succession and foils them so hard that head honcho Miltor explodes. (Super Mystery Comics v1 002, 1940)

the Green Tie Society: 

Despite the Green Tie Society's better-than-average name they're just another miserable little German-American Bund analog who manage to drag out an adventure with the new, human-faced White Streak for three interminable issues before being rounded up and tossed in the klink. They don't even have the good graces to wear green ties! (Target Comics v1 010, 1940)

the Guardists: 

A fifth column attempting to capture Aruba's oil fields for the Nazis under the command of Dutch traitor Captain Kliefer, the Guardist movement is smashed by American ace the Lone Eagle. (Thrilling Comics 009, 1940)

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 020

We're stretching the definition of the term "generic" this week, folks.

Carr, the self-styled Planetary Potentate, is released from the insane asylum that he is imprisoned in when a resurrected sub-sea dinosaur called the Amphisaur crashes into it. He sets out to claim his rightful place at the head of society, along with his friend/ companion/ army, the wild man Simeo.

While murdering and robbing a gas station attendant, Carr learns of the Amphisaur and its role in their escape and vows to aid his newfound ally against the forces of the enemy as represented by former mummy/current magical super-hero Mystico.

At this point in the story I am fully expecting the pair to have a meaningful interaction with the Amphisaur, something along the lines of them interfering with Mystico's second attempt to kill it and then either riding it around as a war-beast or getting eaten by an uncaring monster. Instead, they are unceremoniously knocked out by the Amphisaur's death-throes. Mystico doesn't even know that they're there! (Startling Comics 004, 1940)

Boris Ivanoff is not a particularly remarkable freelance spy in most respects, but he really does have a flair for the theatrical. I really like the flashlight bit above, but I really really like the fact that he wears that sheet ghost outfit for the entire adventure for no stated reason. The authorities already know his name, where he is and enough about his plans to substitute secret agent Q-13 for his new recruit, for heavens sake. They don't even bother to dramatically unmask Ivanoff at the end, because the sheet is apparently just an affectation! (Super-Mystery Comics v1 003, 1940)

This fellow is really Jay Jackson, publisher of newspaper the Morning Star, who extorts money out of people by threatening to print scandalous articles about them and then murders the ones who refuse to pay. He is very frustrating to me because I find his weird Halloween mask disguise very charming, except that I have read this story and know that it is a racist Chinese caricature, which is the opposite of charming. Annoying!

Jackson is also the subject of what is possibly the most extreme version of the bit where a super-hero scares a confession out of someone I have ever read, in which Magno collapses an entire skyscraper on top of him, seemingly with no guarantee that he will survive the process. Plus, there are like half a dozen other crooks in the building when it comes down and none of them are extracted from the wreckage in time to confess their wrongdoings. (Super-Mystery Comics v1, 1940)

Adopting the role of the high priest of the local Tiger-God might have seemed like a good way to take control of a region that contained a rich gold mine, but all too predictably it ended up with this fellow being thrown into his own tiger pit once he is revealed as a fraud by adventurer Scotty of the Skyways. (Super Spy 001, 1940)