MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 085

Welcome to "The Four Characters Least Likely to Return in a Modern Comic" Theatre.

Marvex the Super-Robot: 

Marvex the Super-Robot! Created to be a slave by a Fifth Dimensional jerk named Bolo, Marvex rejects his fate, kills Bolo and his associates and accidentally blasts himself to Earth while smashing up Bolo's lab equipment.

If you're already aware of who Marvex is then it's likely because of the Michael Kupperman strip featuring the character during Marvel's 70th Anniversary run of comics, and indeed, Marvex' propensities for cartoonish violence, shutting down romance with sudden nudity and receiving twenty dollars all make him a perfect Kupperman character.

Sadly, the nudity and twenty dollar reward system go the way of Marvex' hair in his second and third appearances, but he never stops yelling about being a robot whenever his companion Clara gets a bit too comfortable around him. (Daring Mystery Comics 003, 1940)

Categorized in: Language (Superlatives - Super), Origins (Extradimensional, Robot), Supranormal Beings (Robots)

the Falcon:

The Falcon is Carl Burgess, assistant district attorney in an unnamed city who is kind of betraying the spirit of his office by meting out vigilante justice when he feels like the legal system isn't working. Though he is a pretty average costumed vigilante, the Falcon has precisely four interesting things to note. The first is that his name is weirdly close to that of Carl Burgos, the creator of the Human Torch. This might be a coincidence, but still. The second is of course that he is the original Marvel Falcon but by far the least-known of the half dozen or so Marvel characters to share that name.

Like the Eagle, the Falcon is a bit of a fashion plate or at least someone who adjusts his costume on every adventure and for the same reason: a different artist on every one of his appearances.

Finally, the Falcon has been retroactively assigned an accessory based on an assumption, just like his fellow Daring Mystery Comics alum the Fiery Mask and his morning star. In this case, it's that his suit gives him the ability to glide. I assume that this is because of a stylistic choice on the part of his various illustrators to have him dive down on his enemies like a falcon stooping on prey, because the suit does not come up in his handful of Golden Age appearances. (Daring Mystery Comics 005, 1940)

Categorized in: Animals (Falcons), Day Jobs (Assistant District Attorneys)

Marvel Boy:

Up until about 2012 I'd have confidently said that "Marvel Boy" was one of the most commonly-shared super-hero identities in the Marvel Universe, but it seems that the concept of the legacy identity has gone through a weird mutation in the last decade or so and I am now regularly surprised to find that there are way more Wolverines or Captains America than I had previously imagined. With that in mind, we'll revise my statement to be that there are more Marvel Boys than you might expect, like Starmans over at DC.

This particular Marvel Boy is the Earthly reincarnation of Hercules, come down from Valhalla (?!) to aid a world threatened by fascism. His human form is named Martin Burns and like a veritable Silver Age Superboy he is born with so much physical strength that he must constantly hold himself back lest he endanger those around him and out himself as something strange and different.

On Martin's fourteenth birthday a mysterious stranger (who is implicitly the Roman god Jupiter) delivers a package containing his heroic costume to him and then somewhat redundantly also appears in his bedroom to really spell out his whole deal and charge him to uphold democracy etc.

Marvel Boy is super strong, very agile and fast enough to run from New York City to Washington DC and back - carrying three grown men on the first leg of the trip - in the course of a night that also includes the aforementioned visit from Jupiter and busting up two fifth column cells.

Both this Marvel Boy and his successor (coming up in 1942) never returned after making a single appearance, and while I can't say just why they didn't have further Golden Age adventures, the lack of a modern appearance for either of them is almost certainly down to the fact that their origins both revolve around a dead Hercules, who is in fact more often than not a very living second- or third-tier hero in the Marvel Universe. They're also both named Martin Burns for some reason, which means that later handbook writers have felt compelled to differentiate them by giving them middle names based on their creators, making this one Martin Simon Burns.

Frankly, I think that the fact that the two Marvel Boys have origins that are incompatible with both Marvel Comics continuity and also one another is terrific fodder for comic book storytelling. Both of them should be BRUNG BACK immediately, preferably in a comic that also has Hercules in it. (Daring Mystery Comics 006, 1940)

Categorized in: Generica (Boys), Language (Superlatives - Marvels), Origin (Reincarnated God) 

the Flying Flame:

The Flying Flame is a red fighter plane flown for the RAF by the two-fisted American pilot Captain Red Ruff, who is also known as the Flying Flame due to his shock of red hair. During his brief comic book career, Ruff battled the Black Ace and ferreted out some spies at an airbase. (Daring Mystery Comics 006, 1940)

Categorized in: Activities (Flying), Elements (Fire), Team Membership (RAF)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 897: MR SKELETON

(America's Greatest Comics 001, 1941)

Mr Skeleton is one of the handful of minor super-villains who are foundational to this blog, the true weirdos who my mind turns to whenever the subject of obscure comic book characters comes up, and so it's a real relief  to have him finally hsow his face here. This will keep happening at least until we reach 1978 and train-themed super-villain Casey Jones appears here.

There are three really important aspects to Mr Skeleton that keep him in my thoughts:

1. Appearance 

He's a chalk-white, twelve to eighteen foot tall man with an emaciated frame, huge hands and feet and a real pumpkin head with the face of a cartoon villain. It's an extraordinary look, made even more so by his choice to dress in green trunks, a yellow halter top and a green cape. And he has eccentric facial hair!

It's a look that works well as both an over-the top campy cartoon villain and as a source of horror - just imagine that face looming out of the shadows at someone. 

2. Plans and Methods 

Mr Skeleton's goal, as far as it is articulated, is to conquer the United States, but he doesn't really get into the how and why of this because he is busy with step one: recruitment. 

Specifically, Mr Skeleton needs generals to lead an army against the US, and he has what he seems to think is a surefire method of recruiting them: he kidnaps them and threatens to skeletonize them. This is a tactic that would probably work on me.

Oddly, Mr Skeleton's first step in his attempted conquest is to assassinate FDR, a task which he assigns to his most shifty aide. Who fails, by the way, and is skeletonized for his trouble. But why attempt to massively destabilize the US government when you're still trying to recruit generals for your army of conquest? Honestly, MR Skeleton could probably benefit from a few kidnapped executive assistants. 

3. DEATH 

After being foiled by Minute-Man a couple of times, Mr Skeleton decides to get his recruitment program back on track in the most direct manner possible, by marching into the nearest Army camp and grabbing a fresh batch of generals. While he is doing so and simultaneously beating up the entire US Army, he is confronted by Minute-Man once again and ends up being smacked so hard that he turns into a kind of bone explosion. I guess he really was mostly just skeleton, however that works.

Obviously I believe with all my heart that they should bring back Mr Skeleton - his mixture of goofy and horrifying is always welcome in comics, battling Batman or Wild Dog or somone. You don't even have to stretch too far to have him come back since he was already some sort of skeleton-man: just put him back together. 

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 872: TEXA

(Zip Comics 003, 1940)

The Scarlet Avenger looks out his window one sunny day and sees "DEATH TO THE SCARLET AVENGER" in skywriting. This, it turns out is a very effective ploy, as when he flies up to check it out he is swarmed and captured by some very off-model pterodactyls.

The beasts take him to a dirigible, where he is is introduced to Texa, an eight foot tall woman and self-proclaimed "Queen of Crime," who is looking to rob Fort Knox and wisely set out to eliminate the Scarlet Avenger ahead of time rather than wait and do it on the day.

The Scarlet Avenger is of course loaded down with little gadgets, and he manages to escape from Texa's deathtrap by employing, in turn, his personal electric field, smokescreen and capsule parachute, proving once again that super-villains should have better procedures in place for searching captives.

Please note the companionable arm that Texa has around one of her minions (called variously the Tribe of the Hood and the Hooded Tribe, FYI) in that second-last panel. I like that! It suggests a better-than-average minion work experience.

Believing that the Scarlet Avenger is dead, Texa proceeds with her admittedly very cool plan to use a big magnet to pick up the entire Fort Knox vault and fly away with it, upon which the very much alive Avenger and his legion of operatives fly up and release the magnet using anti-magnetic rays. Fort Knox is saved, albeit probably very banged up.

The Scarlet Avenger is shot down by a very cool bubble weapon, leading to a cliffhanger as he is pinned by dirigible fire in the Kentucky desert*. Will he make it out of this overwhelming display of firepower?

*just why is there a desert landscape in Kentucky? It's equally likely that:

a. That wasn't literally supposed to be Fort Knox but a fictional US Gold Reserve in a more Western state

b. The air battle ranged a bit farther than depicted on-panel

c. the artist just kind of drew what they wanted and hang the geography 

The answer is of course yes, and for the simple reason that as the story in Zip Comics 004 begins, Texa abruptly decides to capture the Scarlet Avenger rather than kill him. Out come the "pterodactyls" once more! Plus the Tribe of the Hood decide to put on shirts.

Texa employs the mind-bending properties of the Chamber of Disks to render the Scarlet Avenger susceptible to hypnotic mind control so that she can use him and his network in her next plot: to kidnap FDR! 

Spoiler: the Scarlet Avenger is not really hypnotized and rather than aiding Texa he is working against her.

A faceless FDR is saved from the now-fully-clothed and jetpack-equipped Tribe of the Hood by the last-minute intervention of the Scarlet Avenger, which is good, but I can't help but think that he could have mitigated the danger to the president somewhat by turning on Texa before she had him encased in an electric force field.

Our second cliffhanger! Texas men have the Scarlet Avenger's operatives under heavy fire, as their boss rides a jetpack man up to the dirigible to help them! Will they make it out of this one alive? 

Indeed they will! The Scarlet Avenger arrives just in time to prevent Texa from killing his top aide Operative 12, upon which the villain dumps the entire Scarlet Avenger organization out a trap door. Everyone floats down using their personal parachute capsules and presumably feels grateful that the Scarlet Avenger isn't the kind of boss who keeps all the gadgets for himself.

Texa's final ploy involves raising a criminal army by doing a mass jailbreak of Alcatraz, which always seems to me like a way to acquire a pretty motley crew of henchmen with a really wide range of skills and attitudes toward employment as faceless cogs, but who am I to critique a plan like this? I've never even broken one guy out of jail to be my minion.

It's no surprise that the Scarlet Avengers operatives show up to stop this operation, and since Texa is once again employing her super magnet, they are all kitted out in cool non-ferrous outfits and wielding... copper machine guns I guess. It's very good look for them!

Texa's dirigible ends up on the wrong end of one too many ray gun blasts from the Scarlet Avenger's rocket plane and goes down in flames, taking the entire Tribe of the Hood with it, but Texa herself escapes in perhaps the coolest possible manner: in a transparent cube carried by pterodactyls. It's a heck of a way to make an exit and one that stands, as she never appears again. Somewhere an eight foot tall gandma is reminiscing about the glory days, I guess (obviously I reckon that Texa should be BROUGHT BACK in a more modern Archie super-hero comic. People would go nuts for this big tall crime lady!).