MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 101

It's a big year for the jungle-based heroes of Fiction House, and also Radior is here.

Camilla, Queen of the Lost Empire **UPDATE**:

1941 is the year of change for Camilla. First off, she faces a series of threats to the Lost Empire itself, beginning when an evil magician nearly conquers and partially razes the city. (Jungle Comics 014, 1941)

Next issue, the otherwise-unremarkable lech Prince Renardo finishes the job and burns the city to the ground as part of an attempt to win Camilla's hand in marriage. Camilla and her surviving citizens rebuild but it is a far less grand affair, being more of a wooden stockade. (Jungle Comics 015, 1941)

Perhaps inspired by the radical change in circumstances, Camilla and her subjects adopt a sort of retro-Norse style in keeping with their ancestry. Camilla's lover Sir Champion disappears from the narrative at this point, never to be seen again. (Jungle Comics 016, 1941)

The Viking revival among the people of the Lost Empire really takes off, and soon Camilla and her new paramour Erik are sailing around in longships having adventures with the seemingly endless variety of anachronistic societies littering the Central African jungle. This state of affairs continues for the remainder of 1941, as does Camilla's insistence on wearing one of the most improbable bikini-chestplates in the history of fantasy illustration. How is it held on? (Jungle Comics 018, 1941)

Fantomah **UPDATE**: 

Following the departure of Fletcher Hanks, Fantomah too goes through some changes (and will continue to do so for a while yet). The first stage of this sees her lose a fair portion of her magical power, most importantly including her signature skull-faced "this means war" form. She also drops her black nightie look in favour of a more traditional jungle heroine's one-piece, albeit made of leaves rather than the more typical animal skins. (Jungle Comics 017, 1941)

By the end of 1941, Fantomah has become a mostly-regular jungle heroine. She has a panther pal named Fury, an orphan boy companion named Ken, and though she still busts out the odd magical ability - about once per adventure on average -  her supernatural power pales in comparison to the Hanks days. 

Fantomah's outfit has continued to evolve over the course of the year: from a green costume made of leaves to a pale blue one made of leaves to a more typical jungle one-piece that merely has the outline of something made of leaves. I can only assume that this change was a present from the (unknown!) artist to themself. (Jungle Comics 024, 1941)

the Red Panther:

Our final jungle makeover goes to the Red Panther, who adopts a sporty cowl-and-loincloth look to replace his more traditional super-hero outfit. His adventures don't change as much as Fantomah or Camilla's due to the fact that (barring the odd jaunt into outer space) he was about two steps away from being a Tarzan clone to begin with. The only real difference between the Old and New Look Red Panthers is in the latter's increased use of panther companions to do his dirty work. (Jungle Comics 019, 1941)

Radior:

Radior, the X-Ray Powerman, is super strong, bulletproof, can fly, can hear radio waves, see through solid matter, and can transmit images directly into the human mind - a pretty thoroughly superhuman fellow. And just how did he get this way? Why, because his father, the famous Professor Kennedy, disappeared from public view when his son was born and spent the next twenty years feeding Radior as much radium as he could get his hands on. And while we might decry this as irresponsible parenting... hey, it worked! The kid grew up into a radiation and radio-themed superman!

Sadly Radior only made the one appearance, in the oddball Key Ring Comics, a one-off collection of hole-punched and spot-coloured stories that it is very hard to find any real information about. (Key Ring Comics, 1941) 

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 030

Luvverly aliens and so forth for ye today, guv.

the Freaks: 

Silver Streak, investigating a series of mysterious murders, follows a lead to the aptly-named Fantasy Isle in the Pacific Ocean. 

The inhabitants of Fantasy Isle probably don't refer to themselves as "the Freaks" but as that is the only thing that they are called in-story I suppose that we must go with it. They are a heterogeneous collection of humanoid who have isolated themselves from the world, presumably due to the threat of persecution, which would make them fairly sympathetic characters if a) they didn't routinely sink passing ships and imprison their crew in deep dank dungeons, and b) their king didn't respond to the threat of exposure by attempting to destroy the entirety of North America.

As so often happens when a nonhuman group threatens the lives of a human one, the Silver Streak's solution involves mass murder, in this case by dumping the entire population into the ocean. One can only hope that a few of them made it, for anti-genocide reasons.

It's hard to tell if the Freaks are supposed to be one species with several different morphologies or several different small populations banding together for mutual benefit. Either way, there are a few recurring types. From top to bottom we have: imp type, weird bird man type, tentacle man type and suction cup lizard man type. The king and that three-eyed guy seem to be unique, but maybe there are more of them lurking around in the shadows. (Silver Streak Comics 007, 1941) 

Gargantuans:

The Gargantuans are military expansionists who you expect to be big but are in fact regular sized. Instead, they are at or close to the maximum number of facial affectations that an alien species can have, including green skin covered in little spines, antennae, big pointy ears, fangs, a skeleton nose, satanic eyebrows and in the case of their leader Lobar a matching goatee and mustache.

The Gargantuans come very close to destroying Earth's space fleet and turning the planet into a military base, until Lobar makes the mistake of bringing Cosmic Carson onto his flagship and getting within reach of his Earthman fists. (Big 3 001, 1940) 

Mercurians:

The Red Panther is helping his pal Toni Beltan test her orbital Stratoplane when it goes haywire and rockets them to Mercury. There, they encounter two types of Mercurians: the Giant Mercurians, who wear cool heat-resistant armour that kind of makes them look like beetles and are enslaved by the Surface Mercurians, big-headed imps who are led by a fellow named Kogh and are frankly assholes.

Kogh has the Red Panther and Toni tossed in a hole to be devoured by the giant bats of Sub-Mercury, only to unexpectedly benefit when the bats all end up dead at the barrel of the Panther's Atomic converter, thus opening the riches of the underground to exploitation by the resource-poor Surface Mercurians. To his credit, Kogh then has enough grace to allow the duo to return home. (Jungle Comics 010, 1940)

Giants:

One of the lost sci-fi tropes is that of the typical kind of humanoid life that you'd find on each planet of the Solar System. Mercury is hot so you get fire guys or other heat-adapted species there; Venus is either a giant swamp or a "primitive" planet so you get a lot of semi-aquatic lizard guys there etc etc. This is all to say that you don't get 'em any more but because Jupiter is a great big planet one of the standard kinds of Jovians you would see in sci-fi is the giant humanoid, like these fellows, who are conveniently and simply called Giants.

Golo, ruler of the Giants, has succumbed to arrogance and issued a challenge to the rest of the Solar System to meet his Giant army in personal combat, seemingly as a precursor to a campaign of wholesale conquest. His challenge is met by the Red Comet, who, despite Golo's initial disbelief, is able to employ his nigh-limitless power to grow extra-huge and lay waste to the Giant forces.

Golo himself gets away pretty lightly with a mere bop on the snoot for his hubris. Hopefully the hundreds of dead soldiers outside of his palace are enough of a lesson in humility to curb his warlike instincts in the future. (Planet Comics 003, 1940)

DIVINE ROUND-UP 011

Lookit'm go!

Thor: 

This particular version of Thor, Norse God of Thunder invests mortal man Grant Farrel with his powers, but while most ancient gods who get up to that sort of thing in comics are looking for an agent to fight against or promote a cause or agenda, Thor seems to just seems to want to see his powers being used in adventures. It's kind of wholesome!

Please also note the weird discs on Thor's helmet. What the heck is up with those? 

God style: real (Weird Comics 001, 1940)

the Slave Giants' Goddess: 

Space-time adventurer Flip Falcon (back when he was called Flick Falcon, before someone realized that "flick" in comic book block lettering is awful close to "fuck") spent his first few escapades getting in the middle of a conflict between various Martian races and an invading three-armed species. As a part of this, Fli(ck/p) and his companion Adele come up with a scheme to substitute her for the idol that the Three-Arms had been using to control the credulous Martian Giants.

This works well enough that it causes a minor holy war among the Giants, but I suppose that all's fair in planetary defense. 

God style: idol/ fake (Fantastic Comics 003, 1940) 

the Sun God: 

A big tree worshipped by a group of hominids known as "flat heads" via human hominid sacrifice. Fortunately for Og, Son of Fire and his companions, they represent a slightly more quick-witted type of hominid and manage to escape this grisly fate. 

God style: animist (The Funnies 013, 1937)

Zagu: 

Source of conflict between a local tribe who insist that he lives in a mine site and the guy who really wants to mine there. Unsurprisingly, the Red Panther shows up to take the mine owner's side.

God style: invoked (Jungle Comics 003, 1940) 

MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 014

Don't bother asking to see their degrees.

This unnamed scientist has been kidnapping preteens and changing them into hulking brutes via some pretty fantastical brain surgery. He of course gets his ass fatally handed to him by the Red Panther but not before he goes on about producing a new super race and as always I have to question your devotion to science if you think that your physical alterations to these kids are going to be passed on. Who are you, Lamarck? You're going to be performing brain operations on babies all day every day. (Jungle Comics 009, 1940)

Von Blumb is a scientist who is saved from death and treated well by Camilla in her Lost Empire, then heads off into the wilderness to further his research. When he doesn't return after a few weeks, Camilla and Sir Champion head out to check on him and he repays their consideration by capturing them and subjecting them to his reducing serum and adding them to his collection of unwilling subjects. Long story short, they get loose, defeat his pet spider in gladiatorial combat and he gets squashed by a rock. (Jungle Comics 012, 1940)

Von Lohfer is a scientist with a grudge against John D Rockefeller stand-in J B Rockland, who called him a fake and ruined his life. But if Rockland was claiming that von Lohfer was unable to mind control a bunch of cops into doing his bidding he was dead wrong, because that's just what he does until he is ultimately stopped by Quicksilver. (National Comics 005, 1940)

Dr Morbidd has a great name and a really remarkable facial deformity, and he's been using science to raise people from the dead to do his bidding. This is all solid stuff but it doesn't amount to much actual super-villainy. There's some allusion to Morbidd's science zombies being sent out to do murders but the major thing he seems to be interested in is being a real creep to this one young woman he has captured. It would be quite narratively satisfying if he met his end at the hands of his own creations, but sadly he gets his head blown clean off when Merlin the Magician reflects his own death ray beam back at him. (National Comics 005, 1940)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 658: THE ANT WOMAN

(Jungle Comics 005, 1940) 

Conceptually, I love the Ant Woman, a ruthless bandit who lives in a giant anthill and sends swarms of venomous ants out to kill and loot for her. I particularly love her little ant tiara - is it the source of her preternatural ability to control the beasts? I cannot say for they did not go into that. 

(these pics are a bit more racist than I usually go for but they really front loaded it on this one. Just one of the reasons that jungle comics are inferior to other comic genres)

The Ant Woman makes a solid go of trying to dispose of the Red Panther but he ultimately gets the upper hand by the simple method of setting her anthills on fire and once again the old saying is proven true: you live by the swarm of venomous ants; you die by the swarm of venomous ants.

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 028

Panther-heavy haul this time.

the White Panther: 

The White Panther is (along with his ancient father) the last survivor of some sort of lost jungle civilization that seems to have based their fashion sense along Jack Kirby lines, not that I'm complaining. He only has one appearance, in which he uses his supposed precognitive abilities to help a scientist and his daughter get ahold of some healing gemstones before a crook does.

Since he never appeared again, by far the most interesting thing about the White Panther is his outfit, in which the lower portion seems to be pants and the upper to be his unclothed, chalk-white torso. Also, he appears to be using an unsheathed dagger as a belt buckle and while wildly impractical you can't deny that that is very cool. (Jungle Comics 001, 1940)

the Red Panther:

The White Panther never returned, but the next issue of Jungle Comics featured the first appearance of the Red Panther (no relation), a fairly standard jungle hero and also a fairly standard costumed vigilante, a combination that I have a lot of affection for. Don't get me wrong, the broader structural problems of the jungle adventure comic are still front and centre but at least the protagonist has a fun look so you can distract yourself occasionally with a chuckle. (Jungle Comics 002, 1940)

Update 1941

Tabu, Wizard of the Jungle:

Tabu, the Wizard of the Jungle! He saved a witch-doctor's life and was blessed with a "sixth sense" in turn unlocked a very wide range of powers and abilities that he uses to keep the peace in his jungle home! These powers include: physical abilities that outstrip those of the various jungle animals around him, including flight; the ability to communicate with and compel the actions of the animals and plants of the jungle; the ability to control the elements of the jungle to cause weather events (mist, wind) or disasters (earthquakes, plagues of insects); and his most spectacularly realized power, to change shape into animals or plants:

Yes, this is the power that Tabu uses to dispose of a group of "slave raiders" in his first appearance by transforming into a carnivorous tree and... eating them? It's possible that Tabu ate those guys, you guys.

At the end of that first appearance the witch-doctor (who implicitly loved the way that Tabu ate those guys) grants him a seventh sense to allow him to "be in touch with the invisible spirits of the jungle." Who knows what might have come of this new well of power if Fletcher Hanks had ever returned to the character but he had better things to do (see below) but sadly he never did. Tabu kept on appearing in Jungle Comics basically for the entirety of its run and the things he could or could not do varied wildly depending on who was on Tabu-duty that issue. (As far as I know he never ate any more guys) (Jungle Comics 001, 1940)

Fantomah:

The reason that Fletcher Hanks never went back for another pass at Tabu was presumably because he was too preoccupied with what is perhaps his finest creation: Fantomah!

I won't spend too much time attempting to write the definitive Fantomah biography a) because many people have already written a lot about her and what can I add and b) because there isn't really too much to write about. Like Stardust the Super Wizard she is just this omnipotent, all-seeing justice force who unleashes variably-proportional retribution on various Chaotic Evil criminals, only Fantomah confines her activities to either a jungle or all jungles - it's hard to tell if Hanks was depicting different cultures and areas on purpose or just didn't care about, eg, whether tigers lived in Africa or not.

Fantomah continues after Fletcher Hanks stops making comics, so watch out for her wild new look when we cover the 1941 issues of Jungle Comics! (Jungle Comics 002, 1940)

Update 1941