ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 034

We got your aliens right here.

Martians: 

While I think that we might have a couple of Fletcher Hanks aliens in our future, the number is definitely going down at a fairly rapid clip, so let's enjoy these here Martians while we have them. Like so many aliens, these guys are looking to conquer the Earth, and like so many Fletcher Hanks antagonists they have come up with a completely bonkers and over-the-top method of doing so: by stupefying the entire population with gas and then loading them all into individual rocket pods that are then shot into space to drift forever. This is a Whirlwind Carter adventure and thus set in an undefined future date, which means that the Earth's population is effectively a big question mark, but the Martians have to be firing off billions of these things, right?

Perhaps this is why these fellows look so satisfied as they look out over a conquered New York, because they have just put in a very hard day's work to get it.

Like I said: this is a Whirlwind Carter story, and the key thing about Whirlwind Carter is that he lives on Venus and is thus not present for the Martian gas attack. Carter rounds up the stranded Earthians and employs them as the crew of a space fleet to take back the planet using a combination of gas and hand-to-hand street combat.

It makes only a brief appearance in the issue, but perhaps the most intriguing thing that we see in this issue is the Martian vapor arm that is deployed to kidnap Carter's partner Brenda. Is it a creature? A technology? Something that Martians can just do? Throw these questions on the big Never To Be Answered pile. (Daring Mystery Comics 004, 1940)

Hawk-Men:

The people of Earth in the year 3090 CE are being troubled by a series of bright flashes in the clouds, and when troubleshooter Planet Payson flies up to investigate the cause he discovers a hitherto-unknown society of winged people called the Hawk-Men living in a floating city. The flashes turn out to be ray gun blasts, resulting from a war that the Hawk-Men are engaged in with a second, unnamed group of cloud-dwellers. It's not entirely clear whether the Hawk-Men are a separate species, an offshoot of humanity or simply a group of humans who have bioengineered themselves some wings and taken to the skies, but what is clear is that they were pretty directly inspired by Vultan and the other Hawkmen of Flash Gordon fame. Just look at this Brian Blessed-ass Hawk Commander, for gosh sakes.

Payson and his companions take it upon themselves to stop the war by invading the cloud city of the other side (unnamed, but led by a jerk named Buzzlark). They aren't particularly successful, but while Buzzlark is gloating over them after sticking them in some clear tubes, the Hawk Commander is able to sneak in and assassinate him. War over on account of coup t'etat!

Another technology shout-out: this zippy little one-man tank that Buzzlarks men patrol his city in. (Planet Comics 002, 1940)

Hawkmen:

Speaking of things that are pretty clearly inspired by Flash Gordon, I now realize that that is exactly what the Rocket's adventures in and around the Diamond Empire are, and what would a Flash Gordon pastiche be without some Hawkmen? These particular Hawkmen are introduced in the person of Prince Falkar, who meets the Rocket and the Queen of Diamonds during a pitched battle with some Lizard-Men and becomes their staunch ally thereafter. After a brief interlude with some Ape-Men, he brings the duo back home to the Hawk Kingdom with him.

Rocket and the Queen's visit to the Hawk Kingdom causes some Big Problems: Falkor's fiance Princess Abbie becomes in turn jealous of the Queen and then attracted to Rocket, and the latter's rejection of her in favour of the former inspires her to assassinate the King and take the throne for herself. Falkor is forced to flee his home for the Diamond Empire, and as of the end of the series is still waiting for a little help in reclaiming his rightful throne. (Pep Comics 004, 1940)

Headless Men:

When scientists discover a weird new asteroid, space adventurer Buzz Crandall and his aide Sandra Curan are sent out to investigate. They discover a species of humanoids held in servitude by a bunch of big pitcher plants (who are not really ever given a name other than Plants, so that's what we'll go with).

The Headless Men have been systematically bred by the Plants into small, low-intellect, easy-to-control  creatures by the Plants, but the downside to this is that they are now too feeble to fix a problem that has developed in the solar concentrators that the Plants derive sustenance from. Buzz fixes this problem under threat and is immediately betrayed, and he and Sandra are eaten by the Plant king.

The Headless Men are not, it turns out, completely without volition, and rise up in defense of Buzz and Sandra. Under Buzz' direction the solar concentrators are repurposed into heat weapons that fry the Plant population instead of feeding them. (Planet Comics 005, 1940)

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 033

Aliens. 

Fifth Dimensional Beings: 

These big-headed fellows feature in the origin story of Marvex the Super-Robot, but since we only see Marvex' creator Bolo and his associates, we can't really say too much about the culture of these Fifth Dimensional creatures. They have big heads, certainly, and a high enough degree of technology that Bolo is able to whip up a sentient robot on a whim, but whether that's the sort of thing the population at large is getting up to or Bolo is the local equivalent of Lex Luthor is unknown and unknowable, alas. (Daring Mystery Comics 003, 1940)

Green Devils:

When Perisphere Payne seeks out a missing scientific expedition on an unnamed planet circling the star Polaris, he finds that they have come to mischief at the nubby little hands of the Green Devils, the planet's native inhabitants who probably don't call themselves that.

While the Green Devils are just another band of primitives, eager to sacrifice the nearest blonde woman to their gods, they are also the most alien aliens that we have seen in a while and so I have a great deal of affection for them. Just look at their long noodly limbs! Their buggy eyes! Beautiful. (Science Comics 006, 1940)

Pigwidgeons: 

The final act of the story of the adventures of the Rocket and the Queen of Diamonds involves him leaving the Diamond Empire in his namesake rocket and her abdicating her throne to stow away and go with him. The Queen's unexpected presence on the ship causes the Rocket to wreck the steering mechanism, and they crash on a strange planet.

When they recover, the two find that they have been captured Gulliver-style by a group of tiny, rabbit-riding people called Pigwidgeons, who are melodramatic but ultimately good-hearted, and whose initial hostility is due to them mistaking the duo for... 

... the Gromans, a species of human-sized fascists with a Roman Empire aesthetic to match their name. Though the Gromans have evidently been attacking the Pigwidgeons with impunity for some time, the arrival of the Rocket and the Queen shifts the balance of power, and over the next couple of issues the duo forge a new era of peace at the barrel of a ray gun. (Pep Comics 010, 1940)

Pluvians:

A plague is ravaging Earth in the far future of 1982, and Power Nelson has set aside his antipathy for the despotic government of Seng I to help them acquire the radium that they need to effect a cure. He sets out for the radium-rich planet Pluvius, where he meets the Pluvians, ruled by King Rari, and forget what I said about the Green Devils because these guys are my favourite aliens. Whether they have a smooth orange carapace or are wearing modified onesies is not specified and it doesn't matter because they look fantastic either way, particularly as the sleek and retro-high-tech look it gives them is contrasted with their apparently Medieval society.

The Pluvians agree to supply the needed radium in exchange for Nelson's aid against their rival society, the Hairy Guroos, about whom there isn't much to say. They're humanoids with luxuriant hair and beards living in a Medieval monarchy (albeit a matriarchal one, which is fun), and that's about it. They do use radium boulders as ammunition in their catapults, which is a good indication that Nelson has come to the right planet.

For once in a Golden Age comic the solution to a problem involving hostile aliens does not involve mass alien casualties. Instead, Power Nelson does a regime change, by kidnapping the warmongering Guroo Queen Wodo and leaving her more amiable sister Queen Leelee in charge. (Prize Comics 003, 1940)

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 011

What ho! Aliens!

Martians: 

These Martians attack Earth for reasons that will remain unclear forever, because the story they appear in never actually gets an ending. In fact, they never even show their faces, instead attacking from their very cool-looking ships and sending their very cool-looking robots to act as ground troops. The initial invasion is driven off by superhuman scientist Greg Gilday and his associate Joan and then the Martians just never bother to return for another shot. (War Comics 002, 1940)

Barrangees: 

After their initial encounter with the giant insect life of Planet Barrang, Captain Tornado and his companions end up falling in with the Barrangees, a humanoid species who were forced underground when the insects began to increase in size and intelligence, and despite the common cause that they had made with the purple ant faction, the trio are far more comfortable around an non-insectoid race.

(wildly, this extends to not even questioning the Barrangee caste system in which servants are surgically rendered mute as a symbol of their subservience and children are raised in total darkness to give them enhanced night vision)

The Earth-people quickly resolve to help the Barrangees return to surface life using their knowledge of firearms and insecticides. Their main obstacle to this, other than the insects themselves, is the Barrangee High Priest, leader of a religion that worships the Sacred Centipede and by extension all of Barrang's insect life. Captain Tornado eventually resolves this by shooting both the High Priest and the Sacred Centipede dead. (Popular Comics 048, 1940) 

the Batmen:

The Rocket and the Queen of Diamonds seem to run into another hostile humanoid species every time they leave the walls of the hidden Diamond Empire, and the Batmen are yet another of these, which they end up in the clutches of after crashing the Rocket's ship into an underground cavern. The king of the Batmen is of course a creep who lusts after the Queen and attempts to dispose of the Rocket via gladiatorial combat vs a giant turtle, but once the Rocket learns that the Batmen are mortally afraid of fire it's all over. Quite literally, because he accidentally burns down their city. (Pep Comics 003, 1940)

the Batmen of Kordano: 

It's been a while since I read "Air-Sub DX" and the world-building was never its main focus, so forgive me if I'm wrong, but as I recall it was set in an undefined future on a planet that I have written down as "Tago-Lor" but could have just as easily been a far-future Earth. The crew of the titular Air-Sub contend with the machinations of various bald guys, including Klawger here, who has assumed the identity of the administrator of some sort of mining colony. 

All this is to say that I have no idea what the deal is with the Batmen of Kordano, aka the Living Dead Men, aside from the facts that a. they look cool, b. they have two great names, and c. they ride around in squat cylindrical vehicles called "mobile pillboxes," which is fun. Aside from that, no idea. Why so aggro? Where or who or what is Kordano? No idea. (Amazing Mystery Funnies v2 005, 1939)

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 005

We got your aliens, plus some so forth. 

Moon Men: 

The Moon Men of 2050 CE seem to be just another part of the future Solar System society until they enter an alliance with magic super-crook Sarku so that their Moon King Tan Tan can meet his historical crush Elena. This of course brings them into conflict with Mr Mystic, as Elena is his fiance and he's just not that into her being kidnapped into the future. 

The Moon Men also have very upsetting feet. (The Spirit Section, 1 September, 1940)

the Alligator-Men: 

A lot of the Earth-based entries on the big list of aliens and such that I refer back to to while make these could best be described as "human offshoots," little pockets of humanity that have developed in isolation until they are something other than regular. I had a little debate about whether to include the Alligator-Men because they didn't seem other enough, but then I came to my senses. A whole society of guys who live in a cave somewhere in Brazil and dress in what must be wildly smelly lizard man costumes 24/7? Even if in-story they turned out to be a bunch of cosplaying accountants (spoiler: they didn't) that's worthy of comment. (Amazing-Man Comics 017, 1940)

Ape Men: 

And speaking of isolated populations of weirdos, ape men/ape-men/apemen and other missing link-style hominids are some of the most common. This particular group are from Malaysia and seem to be reasonably chill until Dr Fung and his pal Dan show up while following rumours pointing to the location of a lost heiress. Things get a bit too macho (and the old question of just what "white" means in 40s comics rears its ugly head once more) and Dr Fung and Dan have to shoot their way out. It's all very rude, frankly. (Wonderworld Comics 005, 1939)

Ape-Men & Lizard-Men: 

The Diamond Empire is a hidden civilization probably somewhere in Asia, located in an improbably large inaccessible region hemmed in by mountains - there's a reason that so many hidden kingdoms are underground, after all. It's a bit more plausible to have an implausibly large area underground and hidden than as a conspicuous blank spot on a map.

In any case, the lands around the Diamond Empire are like most other terrae incognitae in genre fiction, in that they are populated with a variety of humanoid civilizations, including Hawkmen, Batmen, and today's focus, warring nations of Lizard-Men and Ape-Men. The Lizard-Men sadly get the short end of the stick characterization-wise, being sneaking, cowardly ambushers with a uncomfortably horny king, but at least they have very cool faces - just love a black eye with a white pupil. 

The Lizard-Men get beaten up and pushed in a river by their ancient foes the much less cool Ape-Men who then themselves capture the the Rocket and the Queen of Diamonds. These Ape-Men are just what they are billed as: apelike humans, though the yellow heads and weird dents on top of their skulls set them apart slightly, even if they look dumb. 

There's a lot of malarkey involving the Rocket taking on an Ape-Man named Ungar for the role of tribal chief, and we get a glimpse of the Ape-Men's idea of how a trial by ordeal should work as the Rocket is made to enter the Cave of Horrors to prove his mettle, but eventually the majority of the Ape-Men just end up dumped into a chasm to their dooms. I assume that the Lizard-Men, merely damp, were very smug about this. (Pep Comics 004-005, 1940)