PROBLEMATIC ROUND-UP 007

Damn their problematic hides!

Rango: 

A former Vaudeville magician who employs a magical gem and some rubberoid mask blackface to establish himself as medicine man/bandit chief in Africa, Rango aka Harrigan is ultimately unmasked by Yarko the Great. (Wonderworld Comics 015, 1940) 

Unnamed Witch Doctor: 

This unnamed Haitian witch doctor has a very unusual scheme: blind entire American cities with a floating vision of some of his men and then loot those same cities of all of their diamonds. Why diamonds specifically? No clue. He is also notable for giving Zambini the Miracle Man a harder time than Satan himself, before eventually being killed, just like Satan himself. (Zip Comics 005, 1940)

War Hatchet: 

Fascist spies striking at the US by inciting Native American tribes to violence is unfortunately going to crop up more than a couple of times as we make our way through the comics of the Forties (and I reckon that the same plot will be recycled with Commie spies in the Fifties and Sixties, alas). This time, the plot is spearheaded by a fellow who calls himself War Hatchet, a European ex-pat turned bandit chief who has returned to the fold to do some espionage work for the dear old unnamed fatherland. 

As is often the case, War Hatchet makes an okay argument for the colonized to rise up against their oppressors, only with a bunch of murder appended and the unspoken coda that there will be new oppressors later on. Spy Smasher not only stabs him to death but chucks him into a fire afterward. (Spy Smasher 001, 1941)

the Yellow Horde: 

The Yellow Horde is a gang of guys in cool looking yellow suits who break into defense plants and shoot poison gas balls everywhere. They turn out to be Chinese, and while the name is arguably in reference to the cool suits I just can't bring myself to trust 1940s America not to get a little bit of racism in for fun.

The Yellow Horde's boss turns out to be an unnamed costumed Nazi who is pretending to be Chinese but also forcing the Horde into doing his bidding. why both? Who knows. Ultimately he gets beaten up by the Hood. (Cat-Man Comics 005, 1941)

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 031

They're not good people and they're not good at what they do and yet they still have a certain charm. 

This guy is exclusively called "the Fiend" in narration boxes even though he is introduced as "the Great Master" and "Mako". He practices voodoo and just sort of generically terrorizes the Haitian countryside until Yarko the Great comes at the behest of the intriguingly named Doctor Medico to settle his hash. And speaking of names, this issue features multiple characters referring to voodoo practitioners rather than their subjects as "zombies," which is a new one on me unless of course you count the Grand Zombie. (Wonderworld Comics 019, 1940)

Called "the Wolf" by detective Dr Fung as he is hunting him down, this masked fellow is actually Horace Bailey, a Wall Street financier who killed his partner to gain full control of their firm and made the mistake of involving a super-sleuth in the execution of his perfect murder. (Wonderworld Comics 020, 1940)

Don Cervantes is a fellow who discovered silver in the hills near the small probably-Mexican town of Toranto and decided that the best way to keep it all to himself was to revive the practice of human sacrifice in the area. This does not prevent Nevada Jones from moving in and deposing him, of course. (Zip Comics 007, 1940)

Comic books having cover illustrations that do not reflect the action in the book itself are nothing new, but this is the first time I have felt the need to highlight any of the characters on them whose adventures have gone unchronicled. Here's to you, Executioner, Green Guy with Sickle Claw and Tiny Green Guy, I'm sure that you were very dastardly. (Zip Comics 008, 1940)

DIVINE ROUND-UP 019

These pantheons are going to fill up if we're not careful.

Ammon-Ra:

Worshipped by a secret sect in the hidden underground city-state of Ruxor in Egypt, Ammon-Ra, contrary to the above image, is probably just an idol that Yarko the Great is making speak so that he doesn't have to keep magically duelling High Priest Ramma-Tep. 

God style: Idol (Wonderworld Comics 018, 1940)

Kila:

Kila, the supposed Hindu God of Destruction, is represented here by a ruby idol. There's not much else concrete to say about this particular god, because Sheldon Lenox, the fellow selling the idol, stages a series of crimes using a fake cult in order to get it back and that sort of thing really muddies the waters.

God Style: Idol (Detective Comics v1 035, 1940)

Kilu:

In a classic set-up, a pirate captain and a wicked witch doctor have teamed up to control an island tribe using a hollow idol of the tribe's god, Kilu. The whole operation is upended by the heroic Captain Fortune and the idol of Kilu is blasted by his ship's cannon.

God Style: Idol (Feature Comics 030, 1940)

Koru: 

Having heard about a fabulous fortune in rubies somewhere in the African jungle, adventure Tod Hunter and his monocled pal Tommy set out to steal them from their place on the idol of Koru, God of the Ruby Eye. Let me tell you, they are pretty put out when the worshippers of Koru very reasonably imprison them rather than allow them to waltz in and deface their sacred idol. 

The duo (along with some other miscellaneous imprisoned treasure hunters) of course end up escaping and stealing all of the rubies, because they are the protagonists of an adventure story and thus are in the right, Along the way they discover that the idol of Koru is hollow and has a little guy living inside of it to speak in the god's voice, just like every other giant idol in comics.

God Style: Idol (New Adventure Comics 027, 1938) 

MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 022

The Ethic Committee is going to have a field day.  

Dr Belos is a single-issue mad scientist: he wants to turn men into birds, and to that end he has set up camp in a place called the Valley of Terror and gotten to work creating surgical chimeras called Vulture Men. His downfall comes about because he kidnaps surgeon Dr D'arne to act as his unwilling assistant, thus causing D'Arne's daughter to bring in the Flame to help rescue him. 

Please also note that Belos has a single long fang in place of one of his lower incisors. 

Despite looking more like human-reptile than human-bird hybrids, the Vulture Men are some classic examples of monstrous humanoid henchmen. They also get mercilessly slaughtered by the Flame instead of perhaps being captured and restored to human form, like so many of the monstrously transformed in comics are. I guess next time they shouldn't be transformed into bird guys against their wills.

Though the Flame really wrecks up his operation, Dr Belos' true nemesis turns out to be the pitching arm of Dr D'Arne, when he flings what is presumably a Vulture Man skull with sufficient force to kill the mad scientist outright. Then the Flame destroys Belos' dam and floods the Valley of Terror for good measure. (Wonderworld Comics 015, 1940)

Dr Grant was kicked out of the Scientist's Society for his theories, and while I always have some sympathy for the villains who are reacting to hidebound thinkers and their ways, one must consider that his response to this slight is to start collapsing bridges with his friction-neutralizing ray. If this is the way that Grant typically escalates conflict, maybe it wasn't his theories but his interpersonal skills that got him kicked out of the Society in the first place. 

Grant's comes into conflict with newsreel camerawoman Patty O'Day and eventually gets shot by Patty's assistant Ham. (Wonderworld Comics 018, 1940)

Zarhov is what I would call a pretty mad scientist, who has transformed a lady into a huge apelike creature called Zozo and is now looking to do the same to the daughter of his enemy Dr Carr. Luckily for Carr, he is friends with Yarko the Great (comics are full of older scientists with no wife and one beautiful adult daughter, and they seem to make up 100% of Yarko's social circle), who manages to baffle Zozo long enough for her monster rage to turn on Zahrov. Zozo gets off lightly compared to fellow transformees like the Vulture Men, because Yarko the Great has the means and inclination to turn her back into a human being. (Wonderworld Comics 020, 1940) 

Godfrey Calkins, described as a "retired millionaire business man" has an interesting idea that he seems to want to employ for normal, non-criminal means: he wants to freeze people so that they can better withstand the rigours of space travel. A noble goal! The problem lies in his experimental methodology: instead of starting out with animal testing and then perhaps moving on to volunteers, Calkins has decided to move straight to human trials on some kidnapped teenagers. And what's worse is that he acquires those teenagers by derailing an entire train full of football boosters into a river with the expectation that there would probably be a survivor or two. Truly a wretched man! 

Luckily for the teens in question, they are Dusty Davis and Janey Smart, classmates and pals of Atom Blake, Boy Wizard, and he soon shows up to beat the tar out of Calkins and his goons and to retrieve and thaw out Janey from the Venus-bound rocket she was already setting out on. No word on what subsequently happened to Calkins - perhaps he had to pay a small fine. (Wow Comics 001, 1940) 

PROBLEMATIC ROUND-UP 006

Every time I relax, another one emerges from the shrubbery. And what's depressing is the fact that they will continue emerging at a more or less steady rate for the entire history of comics. Here's the latest batch of Problematic Characters.

the Voodoo Man: 

When Dr Bob Warren heads to Haiti to practice medicine and "investigate voodoo", he comes into conflict with the Voodoo Man, a zombie-raising, curse-spouting, doll-pinning collection of every voodoo trope and stereotype. As compared to other headlining super-villains, the Voodoo Man's exploits are pretty one-note: he's trying to exert control over part or all of Haiti using zombies and other magics, while Warren foils him at every turn.

The Voodoo Man's finest moment is probably the time he turns an old woman into a pig to vex his enemies, but as always serving a super-villain is a dicey prospect, OSHA-wise, and the pig-woman gets a knife in the back for her efforts. (Weird Comics 001, 1940) 

For a couple of issues (Weird Comics 004 and 005, specifically), Bob Warren seems to be pilling a Thin Man and becoming the Voodoo Man, as in a man who battles voodoo practitioners. Rather than the original titular Voodoo Man, Warren takes on a very similar fellow named Boanga (above) and the Grand Zombie (below), but after that the one and only original returns for the rest of the feature's annoyingly long run.

the Grand Zombie: 

The Grand Zombie's appearance coincides with a change in the "Voodoo Man" creative team, as evidenced by Bob Warren suddenly becoming a clean-shaven blonde instead of a mustachioed brunette. There is a chance that he is meant to in fact *be* the Voodoo Man, as his modus operandi - turn people into zombies for his own enrichment - is the same, but given that he looks completely different, operates at a site on the other side of the island and is called something else I'm willing to call the Grand Zombie a different character. 

The Grand Zombie name, in addition to being a far better one than the Voodoo Man, reflects a linguistic quirk that might have been widespread but which I have only encountered in old comics, in which both the unquiet dead and their creators are referred to as zombies. Better name or not, the Grand Zombies is unceremoniously shot at the end of the story and the feature then reverts back to the Voodoo Man.

This issue also feature perhaps the least empathetic missionary character in Golden Age comics. (Weird Comics 004, 1940)

the Magic Mandarin: 

The Magic Mandarin, aka Lee Ching, importer, is an extremely typical Yellow Peril villain. Perhaps the only moment of joy I found in his entire first appearance was when he met up with his fellows in the Brothers of the Bloody Blade (above) and they kept screaming "Allegiance!" at one another.

The thing that puts the magic in the Magic Mandarin is an artifact called the Stone or Lodestone of the Dragon which is capable of such feats as paralyzing others, creating a force field, changing someone's clothing and telekinesis, but which is unable to function if swaddled in silk or affect someone who is wearing silk, which comes in very handy for the Mandarin's foes Smash Dawson and his team.

The Magic Mandarin is one of your classic "seems to die at the end of every adventure but turns out to have survived in the next" villains, and like so many of those his final appearance must be assumed to be the one that finally killed him, as he was sucked into a dam in Whirlwind Comics 003 and there was no Whirlwind Comics 004. (Whirlwind Comics 001, 1940) 

Fu Chu: 

Fu Chu is a recurring villain of Yarko the Great, and while he is so patently a Fu Manchu knockoff that he even has most of his name, his major offence is in how boring he is. Like, I don't find Yellow Peril comic book plots particularly fun to read, but at least they are usually rich with incident. Fu Chu's debut involves him kidnapping the inventor of a death ray and then completely failing to prevent Yarko from waltzing in and taking him back.

Fu Chu's second appearance, in Wonderworld Comics 016, features him as the head of a cult of the Mayan Plumed Serpent Kukulkan, for reasons that are never quite explained, as the main thrust of the episode involves Fu Chu attempting to kill explorer Doctor Mayo and his daughter and Yarko the Great intervening to save them. The whole farce ends with an earthquake destroying all or part of Chichen Itza, which is wild.

Fu Chu goes on to return at least a couple of times in 1941 but don't hold your breath - he'll have to really up his game to get an update, (Wonderworld Comics 013, 1940) 

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 867: THE MASKED MAN

(Wonderworld Comics 017, 1940) 

Our story opens as a man named John Daniels approaches Yarko the Great after a show and requests his aid in preventing whatever fate befell his mysteriously missing brother James from also happening to him, as threatened by an ominous note. Yarko of course accepts.

I wouldn't call this the most clearly-plotted comic story of all time, so instead of laying everything out in sequence I'll just introduce the cast of characters:

John Daniels: Receiver of threats and client to Yarko. Is almost immediately murdered by the Masked Man.

Philip Daniels: Hostile to Yarko's presence from the start. High-strung. Murdered about halfway through the story.

Miss West: Almost completely inconsequential. Seemingly there to pad out crowd scenes.

Countess Maureen: Mysterious femme fatale house guest.

James Daniels: The missing brother. His watch is found on a skeleton in a hidden room (please ignore that Yarko is calling him John - it's James), which must mean that it's his skeleton.

Cousin Daniels: Shows up at the very end after most of the suspects have been murdered, just to pad things out for a panel or two.

The Masked Man: Your basic murderous man in a suit and cowl. As always I appreciate the fact that he has a nose hole in his surprisingly rigid-looking mask. Yarko ends up going a couple rounds with him but does not actually manage to capture him. Considering that Yarko is functionally omnipotent and coupled with the fact that the Masked Man murders two guys right under his nose might just make him the most competent villain that we've seen in a while.

All good things must come to an end, however, and Yarko eventually figures out that a) the skeleton with the watch was actually a clever ruse and b) the Countess is in fact James Daniels in disguise! He makes a go of attempting to kill Yarko even after being exposed (and please note how much more masculine his face looks after the wig comes off - I would say that perhaps James had some magic of his own but that happens basically every time a situation like this is the crux of a comic book plot in the 40s) but it's a lost cause at that point. And just why did he do all those murders anyway? Why, for the inheritance, of course!