GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 046

Here's to all the crooks who just didn't have enough oomph.

the Despot:

The Despot (not really his name, but literally the only thing he is called throughout the story) has the magic power to transform himself and others into living plants and animals, a power which he uses to trap Camilla and Sir Champion in his mountain fastness after luring them there on a magical golden road. Thus stripped of its leaders, the Lost Empire proves no match for the Despot's invading armies (who might be animals that have been turned into humans or might also have the power to turn into animals - it is unclear). 

The Despot's reign over the Lost Empire is short, as Camilla and Sir Champion are able to outwit the single, albeit magical, dog that he had left to guard them. Cornered, he makes a real shapeshifter mistake and turns into a potato, whereupon he is trapped in that form forever by Sir Champion's magic sword. 

This adventure comes at the very end of Camilla's time in the original Lost Empire location, which is very sad because I think that knowing that a magical evil potato was stuck to the floor somewhere just off-panel would have really enhanced those stories. (Jungle Comics 014, 1941)

the Acrobat Bandits:

The Acrobat Bandits are a trio of rope-swinging jewel thieves who terrorize NYC for a few weeks before they tangle with reporter Dopey Day and are undone by his semi-slapstick ways. They are in fact pretty cool villains but really don't get a lot of time to shine while Dopey is tripping over himself and dropping things, alas. (Liberty Scouts Comics 003, 1941)

Jasper Fennel:

Seemingly mild-mannered jewellery store clerk Jasper Fennel turns out to be the brains behind the notorious Panther Gang in this Marvo the Magician story. He might never have been caught if he hadn't robbed his own place of employment - a valuable lesson for all would-be criminals not to shit where you eat. He also has one of the more upsetting masks I have seen in a while. (Lightning Comics v2 004, 1941)

Hook:

Hook is the leader of a gang who are attempting to run a protection racket on New York's dry cleaners. He's just a guy with a hook prosthetic who has decided to go with it and that's what this lowest level of super-villainy is all about. Plus that nail bomb that he attempts to kill Ferret with is truly gnarly. (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 009, 1940)

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 045

It's hard out there for the little guys.

Unnamed Spy Chief:

I don't know if I've ever seen a comic book villain with such a distinctive look and clear devotion to a visual theme but absolutely nothing else. Her "decadent Egyptian Queen" bit doesn't spill into her plans, it doesn't inform how her minions dress... she doesn't even have a name. Baffling! 

On top of everything else, her plans are foiled and she is captured by the oafish Navy man Spark Stevens.(Green Mask v1 004, 1941)

John Dale:

When John Dale decides to murder his elderly cousin Ludwig in order to speed up the inheritance process, he disguises himself by grabbing this lizard-goblin mask that seems to be part of the decor, and then again when he decides that further murders will help him to cover up the first one. Thankfully for intrepid reporter Dell and her companion, the Night Bird is there to prevent this second (and third) murder.

Dale's plan is flimsy at best, and includes multiple key factors that would fall apart under the lightest of scrutiny (no autopsy because he, the main beneficiary with power of attorney, said that they didn't need it, fake will, etc). The best of these is this secret room setup, where the open window in the library is covered in an enlarged photo of the view from the secret room in order to obfuscate its presence to those in the library. Would having the will reading in a room other than the library make it even easier to conceal the secret? Certainly, but it wouldn't be as clever. (Green Mask v1 007, 1941)

the Corpse:

In Green Mask v1 007, the titular Green Masks solves the murder of a man named Brown over an engraved box that turns out to contain a map to lost pirate treasure. The murderer, a con artist and fake medium called Swami Zodia, is captured, and Michael "the Green Mask" Shelby and his pals take possession of the map in what I would call morally questionable circumstances. Hope Mr Brown didn't have any heirs!

The voyage to the treasure-bearing island is fraught with death and danger courtesy of a treacherous ship's captain and his ally the Corpse, supposedly the walking cadaver of the pirate who drew the map in the first place. This is of course hogwash, and despite putting in a surprisingly strong showing against the Green Mask and Domino the Corpse is eventually unmasked to reveal that he is... Swami Zodia again! Yes, having committed murder for it, Zodia isn't yet ready to give up on the treasure and has pulled out the comic book con artist's ultimate weapon: the fake ghost. Alas, it does not work. (Green Mask v1 008, 1941)

Simia:

Simia is, simply put, an evil ape (species up for debate. Chimpanzee? Gorilla?). He was found as an orphaned baby and raised by a man named Jim Keane - does his evil nature stem from being brought up in a household where using utensils was prioritized and acting like an ape meant that you get locked up in a cage, seemingly indefinitely? Possibly.

Simia is set free by some evil men who are after Keane, and immediately organizes an ape gang to terrorize the local jungle, which includes kidnapping Kaänga's mate Ann (he also inadvertently helps his foster father by killing his enemies).

Kaänga is not a guy whose home life you want to mess with, as Simia learns just before getting his head bashed in on a boulder. (Jungle Comics 014, 1941)

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 044

Bored? Unemployed? Why not explore a career in low-tier supercrime? 

the ABC Gang:

I must regretfully inform you that the ABC Gang that is described here does not appear in this issue, as Spencer Steel and his pal Doakes instead get sidetracked by a different gang that is looking to rob the bank that they pegged as the logical next target in the ABCs' pattern. This is a real shame, because "gang who robs banks in alphabetical order by name, but only if the town also conforms to alphabetical order" is a 1950s Batman villain-level of crime-as-compulsive puzzle and I would love to see a 1940s interpretation of that.

Logically, Steel and Doakes would pick up the hunt for the ABC Gang in the next issue but no, they are completely forgotten by then. Golden Age comics, baybee! (Fight Comics 011, 1941)

the Vultures:

The Vultures, an elite Nazi air squadron, owe their success to the fact that they get all hopped up on "dope" (weed? heroin? are either of those going to help you do a dogfight? My lack of familiarity with both hard drugs and aerial combat is showing) before taking to the air.

The Vultures show up to defend the German military assets that Chip Collins and what I will charitably still call the Skull Squadron are busy blowing up. Disappointingly, the fact that the Vulture leader is high as hell throughout the ensuing dogfight and parachute duel does not come up at all.  (Fight Comics 014, 1941)

the Dust Bandits:

When Professor Fraser's incendiary dust gas bullets are rejected by the US Government for being a horrible war crime, he is determined to destroy the formula rather than, say, selling it to the Nazi Baron lurking in his home. Objecting to this lack of initiative, Fraser's lab assistant and step-daughter conspire to kill him, then hook up with a crooked banker to organize the Dust Bandits, aka the Dust-Gas Gang, for a quick crime spree before taking the Baron up on his offer. As is so often the case with fire-based super-villains they find themselves opposed by a fire-based super-hero, in this case the Flame. (The Flame 007, 1941)

the Leopard Men:

To my shame, this instance of the Leopard Man trope marks the first time that I thought to look into whether there was a reason that it was so common in jungle fiction other than that leopards are cool. It turns out that as has so often been the case a cultural practice among a colonized people was vilified and outlawed as a part of the process of cultural subjugation. Leopard Societies appear to have filled a pretty diverse set of roles across West and Central Africa, ranging from pro-trade fraternal orders to vigilante groups, but thanks to sensationalist reporting and pulp writing we are going to keep on encountering them as generic jungle villains. 

This particular bunch is after explorer Buck Johnson for some bullshit reason. (Great Comics 002, 1941)

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You give a guy access to a mask and some super-science and how does he repay you? Crime!

Karno:

The dapper Karno has a cool flying submarine, a metal-melting weapon and a plan to combine the two and do some old-fashioned piracy with them. He thinks that this scheme will be enhanced by the expert submarine piloting skills of Sub Saunders, but quickly learns the same lesson that all villains do upon incorporating a hero into their plans: it's more hassle than it's worth. Karno gets a sock on the jaw and his own submarine melted around him for his efforts. (Fantastic Comics 017, 1941)

Captain Nomo: 

Speaking of ocean-based criminals from the future, Captain Nomo wants to run a successful smuggling operation in the year 10 000, despite being a member of the Coast Patrol, so he puts on a mask and sets out to eliminate the greatest threat to his grift: Sub Saunders. It goes poorly! (Fantastic Comics 019, 1941)

Bim Bagley:

"Big-shot criminal lawyer" Bagley is so into the idea of being a drug kingpin that he does at least a couple of dozen murders in an attempt to get ahold of a big dope stash, including shooting down a whole-ass airliner. It doesn't work out thanks to the Black Fury. (Fantastic Comics 022, 1941)

Whitey:

If he had only appeared once I would have written Whitey here off as just another dime-a-dozen gang boss, but in fact he vexes the Black Fury and Chuck an impressive four times, including at least twice after seemingly meeting a grisly end in the previous installment, and such persistence merits acknowledgement (particularly as his appearances all happen as Fox Features are entering their Time of Troubles and jettisoning most of their characters. His final appearance is in fact in a Holyoke-published issue of Blue Beetle!). Also please note the weird shadow on his right cheek, which is a persistent detail in his appearance that I think is supposed to be a gnarly scar. (Fantastic Comics 023, 1941)

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Celebrated by none... until now. And then only mildly.

Slavin:

This masked man is the leader of a gang who have been systematically robbing warehouses and then burning them down. The culprit turns out to be Slavin, the general manager of the warehousing company, and not the red herring suspect Slivers, owner of the company (who is ugly, and therefore more likely to be evil than the handsome Slavin). PI Dan Williams is too enlightened to judge others based on their appearances though, and busts the right man.  (Exciting Comics 014, 1941)

the Black Baron:

After wandering around Europe and North Africa and only really hitting up the Crusades long enough to kill Saladin, Sir Richard of Warwick, aka the Golden Knight, returns home to find that his younger brother Roland is missing and a very rude man called the Black Baron is squatting on his lands.

The Black Baron seemed like he might get a numbered entry by name alone but alas, he's a true scrub. The Golden Knight and his friends murder all of his men with what I would call embarrassing ease and the Baron passes up an opportunity to get away with his life for another shot at the gold he is convinced that Roland is hiding from him. The Golden Knight then enacts a little Crusader-style justice on him. To death. (Fantastic Comics 014, 1941)

Unnamed Fascists:

What do you do when you're notorious comic book oddball Fletcher Hanks and you need to draw a selection of Axis leaders but the US comics industry isn't yet 100% on board with just explicitly depicting Hitler as an evil villain and so you need to have a bit of plausible deniability? Masked Axis leaders, obviously! (Fantastic Comics 014, 1941)

Kong:

This fellow, name of Kong, has a super-sub and is looking to use it to extort some quick cash from the future state of New America. A classic plan!

Kong's cachet is spoiled somewhat by the fact that the heroic Sub Saunders just walks in through the front door of his underwater base and lays him out with a single punch. As a villain it is very hard to come back from something like this. (Fantastic Comics 015, 1941)

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 041

Mamas lock up your radium, because the z-tier villains are back in town.

the Fuhrer of Brazil:

Larry North is a US Naval Reserve Lieutenant and airline pilot who turns hand to Nazi spy-hunting when he and his companion Betty Harmon are hijacked by fascists in Rio di Janiero. They spend their first few adventures dismantling a scheme to conquer Brazil, and when in the course of this the traitorous and toothbrush-mustached Doctor Sanchez mentions a figure called the Fuhrer of Brazil, I naturally figured that he would be the final boss of the saga. No dice, it turns out, as he never personally appears and  probably dies when the Brazilians bomb all of the Nazi bases using North's intel. (Exciting Comics 012, 1941)

Billings:

Billings, along with four other men (Hawkins, Griffith, Stanton and Carton) own the zoo of the as-yet-unnamed city that the Black Terror calls home, I think? They own a zoo, at any rate. Perhaps it is in direct competition with the city's.

The thing is that Billings a) holds the mortgage for the zoo and b) is broke while the others are wealthy and c) wants to change that by foreclosing on the zoo and selling the land for a huge profit. He probably could have accomplished this with a bit of underhanded business trickery or possibly by admitting to his three friends that he needs the money, but as is so often the case in comics he instead chooses to put on a mask and murder the other four. Confusingly, he does a pretty good job of framing Carton for killing the other three before attempting to murder him as well. We'll never get a chance to see how he was going to spin this because it is at this point that the Black Terror knocks his block off. (Exciting Comics 013, 1941)

Al Walsh:

This masked blackmailer is actually reporter Al Walsh, who digs up dirt on people in the course of his job and then makes them pay big bucks to keep it under wraps. The Mask settles his hash, but not before getting one of his victims killed in an ill thought-out plan. (Exciting Comics 013, 1941)

Dr Cobra:

Dr Cobra is the recurring enemy of Ted Crane, who is one of those 1940s adventurers who compulsively seeks out action and excitement and today would probably be an extreme freeclimber or something like that. Given that he appears seven or eight times and that I have not read most of those issues, I might be selling him short when I say that his cool name is all that he has going for him, but I'm willing to risk it. (Exciting Comics 014, 1941)

GENERIC COSTUMED VILLAIN ROUND-UP 040

Once again I am plagued by the absolute dregs of villainy.

A Vampire:

Vampires are one of the types of character that are statistically likely to make it through my classification system and be certified as super, but this particular one who a) lives in a swamp shack, b) has two meals in a row taken away from him by the Green Knight, c) doesn't even get a name and d) ends up dead with his shack burned down around his ears, is too much of a loser to make it to even minor villain status. He does, however, provide the Green Knight with a sidekick in the form of one of his prospective victims, which is something. (Dynamic Comics 002, 1941)

Hank Rutter:

This fellow might have been called the Mask or the Masked Man if it weren't for the fact that his heroic foe is already called the Mask. As such, he's just a gambling focused villain with a bit more interest in concealing his identity than usual.

It's no surprise that the unnamed masked villain is in actuality Hank Rutter, big-time gambler. What is surprising is that he manages to learn the Mask's secret identity as DA Tony Colby. Especially to him, as Colby responds by knocking him off a roof to his death. (Exciting Comics 007, 1941)

Henry Devoe: 

When this masked drug kingpin shows up with a very visible withered left hand and then civic leader Henry Devoe is on the front page of the newspaper, also with a very prominent withered left hand the next day, my assumption as a longtime consumer of comic books and detective fiction was that Devoe was being framed, but no, he's the guy. While I commend him for making his disability visible and thus normalizing it, I do question his decision not to disguise such a distinguishing characteristic while out and about doing drug-related murders. (Exciting Comics 012, 1941)

Black Terror impostor:

When the Black Terror decides to play nice with the police and inform them about Henry Devoe's perfidy, he is surely disappointed to learn that Police Chief Nelson is a crooked cop who guns him down on sight and then steals his uniform in order to extort Devoe. And we wonder why most vigilantes have an adversarial relationship with the police.

Nelson's plan is hindered by the fact that Henry Devoe's response to having the Black Terror show up in his living room is exactly the same as his own had been: to shoot him on sight. And unlike Bob "the Black Terror" Benton, Nelson hasn't been huffing enough formic ether to survive a close-range gunshot. (Exciting Comics 012, 1941)