MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 017

Another fresh hot basket of also-rans, just for you.

the Mask:

Scoop Cody, society reporter, is secretly vigilante crimefighter the Mask. He's not terrific at concealing this fact - both love interest Elaine and villain Carlos figure it out during the course of the one extant Mask story - but he gets the job done. Of mild interest is that Scoop Cody is also the name of the Marvel's reporter pal. (Star Comics v1 013, 1938*)

the Phantom Rider: 

The Phantom Rider is your standard masked cowboy, identity unknown. Given their similar names and that they are both Centaur Comics characters it is equally likely that he is a renamed Phantom o' the Hills as it is that he is a separate creation. His horse is named Thunder. (Star Comics 016, 1938*)

Air Man:

Air Man is Drake Stevens, an ornithologist who embarks on a vigilante career after his father is murdered in an insurance scam on the high seas. He only makes a handful of appearances before Centaur folds, and here are the salient things about him:

-Air Man is a "realistic" version of Hawkman, i.e., not realistic but in a slightly more plausible way than an antigravity belt. His wings are filled with helium and he has a little jet engine for propulsion (at least, as of his second appearance. Maybe he's just very slowly gliding around in his first). He also has egg-shaped bombs, which isn't relevant to the flying but is fun.

-Air Man is not a generic bird-themed hero but in fact an albatross-themed protector of the seas, which is a niche that I have not encountered before and the closest that I can think of is the Marvel hero Stingray, and that's just because they both fly and are ocean-based.

 -Air Man believes in protecting the high seas so much that he breaks up with his fiance rather than just... living in a lighthouse with her or whatever. Super-heroes love breaking up with people and then feeling noble about it. (Keen Detective Funnies 023, 1940)

TNT Todd:

TNT Todd had been a regular FBI agent having FBI agent adventures in Keen Detective Funnies for about a year when he became if not the earliest then certainly our first example of a non-super character getting a super-heroic makeover to fit comic trends (I tell a lie Tex Thomson/ Mr America has come up before but he made the switch in 1941). While overshadowed by fellow explosion-based hero the Human Bomb a year or so later I must admit to enjoying TNT Todd more on a conceptual level. Just a guy careening through a city via a series of explosions, theoretically helping people. (Keen Detective Funnies 021, 1940)

*there are several issues of Star Comics from this time that are not readily available, including issues 012, 014 and 015. This means that both the Mask and the Phantom Rider could have earlier first appearances.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 425: THE ONE THOUSAND AND ONE

(Keen Detective Funnies v2 019-020, 1940)

Love a number name, particularly one so precise as the One Thousand and One. It's tied to the number of criminals in their employ, but does it go up and down as they gain or lose members? Is the One a very harried HR guy frantically filling positions as they are vacated? Is it just a nice-sounding number and the actual staffing is a bit more loose? These are the important questions.

It's a shame that for all their skill at recruiting, the three leaders of the One Thousand and One were unable to secure the services of a decent tailor. The sheet ghost look is surely in the F tier of villain costumes (unless your theme is sheet ghost, of course) but a little love and it could be made to work a lot better than it is here.

The One Thousand and One are of course taken down, but not entirely by the hero of the piece, G-Man TNT Todd. No, he is bailed out of a real jam at the last second by an eerie figure called Mr Death. There's a promise that Mr Death will return in Keen Detective Funnies 021 but that story is instead devoted to TNT Todd getting explosion-based superpowers and the opportunity never arises - Mr Death will forever remain a mystery.

(an informed guess based on my knowledge of the genre: Mr Death would either turn out to be a criminal rival of the One Thousand and One or a hypercompetent female vigilante. If a mysterious figure bails out the hero at the last second it's almost always one of the two)