MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 780: THE MUMMY

(Funny Picture Stories v3 002, 1939)

Like every other of my long-term projects, writing this blog has been an exercise in taking a simple premise (writing fairly succinctly about minor DC Comics super-villains) and expanding the scope until the seams start to creak (writing somewhat extensively about all super-villains and super-heroes and a bunch of other comics things and also maintaining a set of variably-useful indices about them all). This is all to lead into the fact that a comic I was just reading (Super Spy 001, 1940) contained a reprint of a story from a comic I read back when I started doing this and I was absolutely flummoxed that I had not written about the Mummy.

We open in the palatial home of amateur Egyptologist Professor Stone, just in time to see him get murdered by someone with a creepy hand.

Cops are soon swarming over the Professor's residence, but that doesn't stop the culprit from creeping back in to eliminate a potential witness in the victim's niece and incidentally give us our first look at his mummy outfit. Not the most convincing getup with that huge exposed swath of visible and well-moisturized head, but I appreciate the green.

This particular fake mummy also has mind control abilities thanks to the copy of the Egyptian Book of the Dead that he stole after murdering Professor Stone. These allow him to abduct Miss Stone and Police Detective Bull with ease.

The super powers weren't even the motivation for the murder of Professor Stone, it turns out. No, Stone was killed when he figured out that his fellow Egyptologist Dr Carver had been using Stone's regular shipments of mummies from England as a way of smuggling drugs into the US, possibly because Carver's plan doesn't seem to include replacing the fake mummy after he steals and hollows it out each time.

Also, Carver has built an entire acid pit in Stone's basement, which is impressive but must have provided plenty of opportunities for Stone to cotton on to the fact that something was going on.

Ultimately it all comes down to that old adage: no matter how well-prepared and capable of performing Ancient Egyptian mind control you are, you're never ready to be shot in the back by a cop and dumped into your own acid pit.

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 015

It's time for another round with the guys in the masks.

A radio announcer who tries to poison all of Inland City with chlorine gas for unclear reasons. Ends up blowing himself up while tangling with heroic pilot Captain Steve Ransom. (Keen Detective Funnies v2 006, 1939)

This unnamed fellow takes the cake for audaciousness: his racket is drug smuggling and though traditionally one wants to keep a low profile while attempting to move controlled substances from place to place he:

-sets up camp in the basement of an occupied house,

-keeps a gorilla in that same basement,

-sends that gorilla out to attack randos in hopes of driving away the locals,

-poses as an FBI agent in an attempt to throw Power-Man off his scent.

All of these are what I would describe as "activities likely to invite scrutiny". And they do! (Fight Comics 005, 1940)

Muipo here is a Japanese agent in all but name working to foment trouble in China by flooding the country with opioids. His major interesting features are a decent looking half-face draped cloth mask (rare and annoying-looking to wear) and a fake fat guy body he sits in while dealing with his underlings. He gets beat up by US Marine Strut Warren precisely one page after making his debut. (Fight Comics 007, 1940)

The Squadron of Death is a group who blow up US defense infrastructure for... some reason. And there's the problem: very little is given away about who the Squadron are or what their motivations might be (beyond general anti-US sentiment) in this issue, and though there is some indication that they might return to vex the Arrow in future instalments the next three issues of Funny Pages are not available to anyone without about 10 to 15 grand to spend on physical copies. 

Pending further information the Squadron of Death are just two guys who steal a plane and then variously get thrown out of it or blown up in it by the Arrow. (Funny Pages v4 004, 1940)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 348: THE SEVEN MASTERS

(Master Comics 012, 1941)

The Seven Masters are just your regular drug smuggling/ opium dealing gang operating out of San Francisco's Chinatown. They don't get up to anything too spectacular - El Carim gets in on the action because the head of the gang is using his criminal might to try to get a woman to marry him instead of her boyfriend - and they trade on some pulp-era Yellow Peril tropes, but despite all of that I must admit to liking their style. The name! The robes! The custom sword-lowering engine! If only they all hadn't been wasted on low-tier chumps!

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 123: THE DRAGON

(Slam-Bang Comics 004, 1940)

What makes them a super-villain? Why, that snazzy outfit! Comics are full of people who run opium smuggling rings but very few look as good while doing it.

What makes them interesting? It depends on your definition of interesting, but this is the first costumed criminal on our list whose disguise includes pretending to be another race - specifically, the Dragon is a white hardware store owner named Jones who passes himself off as a Chinese master criminal until Jim Dolan, heroic magazine editor gets involved.