MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 975: THE SMILER

(Fight Comics 016, 1941) 

The Smiler! A grody-looking gang boss with a permanent crooked smile thanks to a facial scar! I can't actually figure out where this scar is actually supposed to be - I suppose that it must be there, but the Smiler's face is so covered in seams and divots that it doesn't stand out.

The Smiler is such a ruthless and dastardly crook that he accepts a commission from Nazi agent Blitz to steal the engine-killing ray that local inventor Professor Adams is developing for the US government. Any qualms that he might have about betraying his country in this way are smoothed over by the fact that Blitz is paying him a cool one million dollars to do it.

As is so often the case, the Smiler appearas to have come up with at least three viable plans to steal the ray but rather than committing to any one of them he just does them all at once. The first and second plans are similar in nature: the Smiler disguises himself as a mysterious figure called the Countess and moves into a mansion near Professor Adams' house, while his gang replaces the entire police force of Freeville, Maryland. Having successfully infiltrated Freeville society (twice!), the gang are now in a perfect position to acquire the ray via subterfuge, perhaps by arresting Professor Adams on trumped-up charges or arranging for the Countess to have a tour of the lab.

Instead, the fake police round up the entire adult population of Freeville and kill anyone who resists and then threatens to kill everyone if they don't give up the Professor. In addition to invalidating the effort that was put into the stealth-based aspects of the plan - the Countess part in particular is now just an excuse for a cheap laugh - this gives Adams time to make a fake ray that is in fact a time bomb to hand over and potentially sacrifice himself in the process to save the town.

It never actually comes to that, however, because Freeville is the home of patriotic super-hero Captain Fight, who teams up with Adams' son Yank to beat the absolute tar out of both the Smiler and Blitz (and possibly drown the latter?).

The Smiler returns in 1942's Fight Comics 017, but thanks to a change of artists has lost his signature crooked grin in favour of a more generic one. This time out he's stealing British supply ships to sell on to the Axis and gets beaten up for his trouble once more.

Categorized in: Accessories (Distinctive Scars), Body (Mouth), Misc (Gang Bosses)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 968: THE BLACK RIDER

(Fantastic Comics 018, 1941)

The Black Rider is a ruthless bandit chief who has not only terrorized the countryside but has had the audacity to kidnap Bill Carrol, Captain Kidd's best friend, an unforgivable sin.

While the Black Rider & Co. might look like they are straight out of a comic set in the American West, Captain Kidd's 1941 adventures have taken place exclusively in Africa, and given the mention of a city called Tanga above, I think that we can pretty confidently place this comic somewhere in present-day Tanzania, in the part that was then Tanganyika (yes, okay, there's also a couple of Tangas in Burkina Faso. I just don't think that they're the right ones, okay?).

Though the Black Rider manages to overpower Captain Kidd and stick him in a booby-trapped airplane during their first encounter this is absolutely not enough to dissuade even novice two-fisted adventurer, let alone a grizzled veteran like Kidd. Kidd's return gambit is to storm the Black Rider's HQ and machine gun the entire gang.

The entire gang bar the Black Rider, that is, because it's time for the dramatic revelation that the Black Rider is... A LADY???!!! Specifically, she is the daughter of the original Black Rider, out for revenge since he was killed by vigilantes but now on her way to a British colonial jail and/or execution. Please note that the Black Rider pulls the old "roughly the same size as an adventure hero until unmasked" trick, going from a burly six foot to a slender 5'6" in about one panel.

Categorized in: Colours (Black), Generica (Riders), Origin (Cross-Dressing Characters, Legacy Characters)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 963: THE GENTLEMAN

(Exciting Comics 015, 1941)

The Gentleman, "the most elusive jewel thief in the country," is after the fabulous Orloff Necklace, and District Attorney Tony Colby, aka the Mask, is on the case.

I initially had my money on the goateed gallery manager being the Gentleman in a classic double bluff, but once this comically-affronted old lady showed up it became clear that my instincts were wrong. The Gentleman's modus operandi turns out to involve a combination of disguise and smuggling gems out of places in his dog's hollow collar, a very specialized grift indeed, considering that you need a place that allows dogs and that also has small, high-value items to steal.

Is the masculine name/ feminine disguise an intentional attempt at misdirection or merely a coincidence? Sadly this is not addressed in the text and so we must take it as equally likely that the Gentleman dresses up in a variety of disguises as it is that he always cross-dresses.

Categorized in: Accessories (Dogs), Origin (Cross-Dressing Characters), Royalty (Gentlemen)

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!

MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 021

None of this science is mad or criminal peer reviewed. 

This fellow attempts to blackmail Dynamo's unnamed home city by various methods, including Causing and then threatening further widespread destruction with his "liquid air" freeze cannon and kidnapping city council members and then subjecting some of them to a frankly horrific bone liquefying ray. 

The main problem with him is honestly the fact that he has no established name. He does go by "Miss Monda" while he is posing as the mayor's secretary in order to get the inside scoop on how his extortion attempts are going, which turns out to be his downfall when he is dewigged by Dynamo. Also, I just realized that in that last panel you can see that he is in fact wearing a full suit under the Miss Monda dress, making this the most improbable disguise in comics by my reckoning. (Weird Comics 009, 1940)

Dr Z here has long been working on a mind-reading device, to no avail. He arranges for psychologist Larry Hunter to arrive at his isolated mansion in the hopes that forcing him to collaborate on the invention will lead to some sort of breakthrough, and it does! Alas for Dr Z, as s is so often the case in such stories the new technology is then turned on its villainous facilitator, as Hunter uses Dr Z'z own thoughts to show him how to eliminate the murderous scientist using his own deathtrap. 

Hunter was probably supposed to go on to use the Thought Receiver to fight more crime in future adventures but as with so many of the denizens of Wham Comics he was never seen again. (Wham Comics 002, 1940)

The mad Dr Chow operates a wax museum at the New York World's Fair that he stocks with living humans who he has frozen with a weird drug. Why is he doing this? It's unclear, but the top three answers that I can think of are : 1. for kicks, 2. for cash and 3. as a way of testing out the formula. He is captured by private detective Dan Dare, and unsettlingly there is no nod to the idea of thawing out the doctor's victims, even though they are implied to still be alive in some way. (Whiz Comics 006, 1940)

I had a lot of rising expectations as the character of Dr Lleh was introduced. Firstly, he was pretty clearly telegraphed to be a former member of a Tibetan archaeological expedition who was consumed by revenge after being dismissed for theft and was now haunting the countryside with his horde of experimental subjects. Secondly, his name is "Hell" backwards.

The good times continue, as Dr Lleh derails the Orient Express (a train that historically did not travel through Tibet) in order to acquire more experimental subjects, only to find that Professor Davis - the very man who wad fired him! - was aboard, along with his daughter, plus indomitable detective Dr Fung and his assistant Dan Barrister. All four are away not just to the Temple of Hades but under it, to "Dr Lleh's Kingdom of Hades" (no I do not know what a temple to Hades is doing in Tibet).

All my hopes are dashed once Dr Lleh's actual style of experimentation is revealed. Bribing two big dudes with llama steak (no I do not know how this guy is getting llama steak in Tibet) to pull a woman's arms off is not research that would be publishied in even mad science journals, Dr Lleh. I hate to say it but I'm glad that Dr Fung blows you up.  (Wonderworld Comics 014, 1940)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 837: THE SKULL

(Top-Notch Comics 009, 1940)

 

The Skull is the recurring foe of the Golden Age Black Hood, and as is common for such characters he is a kind of generalist super-villain willing to dabble in everything from theft to kidnapping to espionage to murder as circumstances dictate. He even indulges in a little housebreaking on occasion, and it is while doing so that he is interrupted by police officer Kip Burland, who he frames for the crime and then eventually attempts to have murdered when he refuses to give up on proving himself innocent. 

This of course is the origin of the Black Hood, as Burland recovers and trains under the tutelage of one of the Skulls other victims. Accidentally creating your own nemesis is one of the occupational hazards of being a successful super criminal, after all, and the Skull is so successful as he kind of did it twice, as Kip Burland's mentor is a different lawman who the Skull framed and ruined who swore revenge on him but then took too long preparing and had to be content with weaponizing another to do the deed.

By the time that Kip Burland is prepared to go into action as the Black Hood, the Skull has devised the first of what I now recognize as his signature: an overcomplicated scheme. Specifically, he has targeted the debut/masquerade ball being held for wealthy socialite Barbara Sutton, and has not only informed all of the guests that they must show up in their best jewelry so that he can steal it but has also announced his plans in the papers. I think that the intent is to ensure compliance through fear, but it really seems like he's just introducing ways that his scheme can go wrong.

The Skull's instructions are clear: he will steal the jewels off of the guests during the party and they are to keep quiet about it. None of them manage this, and each victim ends up being killed via a blowgun dart tipped with a poison that turns the human head all green and corpsey. Plus - and this is hard to see but trust me - the dart leaves a little skull-shaped mark at the point of contact.

The Black Hood eventually works out how the Skull is doing all this: he has disguised himself as hostess Mrs Sutton and has been shooting the darts out of a blowgun shaped like a cigarette holder. One dunk in an oversized decorative vase later, the case is solved!

(also please note that the Black Hood is in attendance in costume as himself. It still counts even if this is his first public appearance in costume) 

After the Black Hood turns the Skull in to the police at the end of his first costumed adventure, his ally the Hermit predicts that they will be unable to hold him, and what do you know but he's right. The Skull dramatically breaks jail and immediately puts another overly complicated scheme into action. Major Quentin Duff has invented the unspecified-but-presumably-valuable Iota Ray, and the Skull wants it, but is not prepared to do anything so simple as to steal the plans. Instead, he implements a simple three-part plan:

Step One: ambush Major Duff at his house and murder him just after he hands the Iota Ray plans over to Mrs Duff for safekeeping. 

Step Two: While Mrs Duff and Barbara Sutton are taking the plans from Washington DC via train, kidnap Duff and gaslight Sutton into believing that she was never there. This requires at least a half-dozen confederates as well as an appearance by the Skull as a Dr van Luks, a backward name so annoying that I audibly groaned when I worked it out.

Step Three: Once the plan falls apart, just try to murder everyone and take the plans off of Mrs Duff's body. Please note that this step was an option from the start, and that the theft could have been committed using the Major's gruesome murder as cover.

As 1940 draws to a close, the Skull is left shaking his fist after a speeding train as the Black Hood escapes with the plans. We will see him again in 1941!

SKULL SCORE: A very generous 2/5, considering that this particular Skull isn't actually missing any facial features. The combination of his emaciated face, sunken eyes and perpetual rictus goes a long way nonetheless. Plus he's green.