MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 801: GENERAL Z

(Target Comics v1 007, 1940)

Boystate is under attack! At first, it's a relatively innocuous disruption of the power supply, which from what I've been able to glean is broadcast power derived from cosmic rays, but it swiftly escalates until all contact with the rangers operating outside of the Boystate boyborders is lost.

And just in case there's any confusion, this disruption attack is swiftly followed by a barrage of poison gas missiles, and the Boystate child army must be rolled out to deal with them using flamethrowers.

The culprit behind these dastardly attacks turns out to be General Z, who in turn is revealed to be the former Captain of Boystate, who was dismissed from his post for selling the Skipper's inventions on to ne'er-do-wells and is now back for revenge. This is one of those times that something seems like a hoary old trope (the new villain is actually a disgraced former holder of a heroic position) is probably still fairly fresh.

General Z's minions are called the Z-Men and I must say that they're terrific: they have a great name, they are dressed in a kind of junior version of Z's own outfit, they seem like they're a little dumb, they're roughly equivalent to the Boystate Rangers... it's like a checklist of all the things I want to see in a group of henchmen, plus they have death ray guns. All that's really missing to really make the experience complete are one or more lieutenants with code names and/or slightly distinctive uniforms.

I said that the Z-Men are roughly equivalent to the Boystate Rangers, but there is one missed opportunity here: though they do have a kind of slouchy adolescent look the Z-Men appear to be adults, and it would be much more symmetrical and satisfying if they were also troubled youths but instead of the benevolent arms of Boystate they had been taken in by General Z and turned to a life of crime.

Perhaps the reason for this is that the Skipper's first plan is to simply blow up General Z's whole compound, Z-Men and all, and it might not reflect well on him as a saviour of the at-risk youth were he seen to be okay with murdering them en masse. In any case, he is prevented from doing so when General Z kidnaps Jerry, the grandson of the Skipper's old friend Colonel Richey. Instead, while the Z-Men and the Boystate Rangers engage in deadly hand-to-hand combat, the Captain and M-4 (formerly Pretty Boy, and one of the few Rangers to make even a second appearance) infiltrate Z's compound in order to rescue Jerry and shut down the signal-damping device that is keeping the Boystate air force grounded.

Jerry is found in this absolutely awesome looking cryogenic chamber in which General Z freezes his enemies and then sticks them in little oubliettes. Not particularly important to the plot but certainly sick as hell.

The Captain also manages to trash the power plant, and once the Boystate bugplanes start joining the fight, General Z legs it (knocking his subordinate to the ground in the process just to underscore what a wretch he is).

Also please note that young Jerry is completely traumatized by the experience, which is a real change of pace from the usual plucky kids in these kinds of stories. 

General Z returns in Target Comics v1 011, but as the real meat of that story takes place in issue 012, in 1941, I'm going to cover both together once we get to that batch of issues.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 798: DR DEATH

(Target Comics v1 008, 1940) 

Dr Death's initial outing, in Target Comics v1 008, is a pretty typical late-1940/early 1941 plot about trying to draw the US into WWII by attacking shipping and throwing blame for it on an enemy of the unnamed fascist nation that Death is working for. Notably, Dr Death does not appear in the issue and works through various minions whom he directs via loudspeaker.

Probably the most interesting thing about this first appearance is the fact that Dr Death has a few White Streak contingency schemes in place, including the addition of a coating of anti-electricity glass to his submarine-cum-torpedo superweapon. Despite this, and despite the fact that the White Streak is trapped inside the thing when it sets out to explode a portion of the US fleet, it is destroyed by the Streak because he simply left some electricity outside the sub before boarding, and not only was he able to direct its actions from inside but it was able to shove the submarine onto some rocks for him, disabling it and freeing him (the White Streak's power level has been ramping up pretty significantly as his series has continued - at this point he's basically magic).

Dr Death returns in Target Comics v1 009, and this time he's not just prepared for the White Streak but actively trying to kill him. He sends one of his minions to lead the Streak into a trap by murdering his captured agent Messer with a cool knife and then returning to Death's base at an easy-to-follow pace. This turns out not to work due to the fact that Messer was at the FBI's New York HQ and there was a considerable amount of competition between the White Streak and various law enforcement officials who were on hand.

(this seems like the place for an aside about Dr Death's choice of costume and all I really have to say is that it's great. Seven foot-tall green man with a radio speaker voice? Terrific stuff, no notes)

The White Streak picks up Dr Death's trail again when he visits his friend Dr Simms' lab for some assistance and finds the villain there murdering Simms' niece Betty. Dr Death comes out on top in this encounter thanks to a very specific ray gun that "dissolves" the Streak's electron vision but merely stuns the android himself.

Even a ray gun-wielding megacrook with steel-lined gloves is ultimately no match for an ancient super-powered Mesoamerican android, and Dr Death is eventually tracked down and unmasked beheaded to reveal that he is really... Dr Simms!? This is completely wild, friends. Simms, if you don't recall, is the archaeologist (later rounded up to all-around super scientist) who discovered the White Streak in his volcanic cocoon, and he has been basically the only member of his supporting cast ever since - contextually, this is like Batman pulling off Clayface's mask to reveal that he is actually Commissioner Gordon.

I can only assume that Carl Burgos had gotten tired of Simms and took the thirdmost direct way of getting rid of him (after having him be murdered and just never using him again), because this is some real off-the-wall behavior on Simms' part. Was he already Dr Death when he met the White Streak? If so, what a terrible decision to keep hanging around with the avowed and deadly enemy of all warmongers, and even moreso if he made the decision to take up the Dr Death mantle as the White Streak's friend, like meeting and befriending and hanging out with and helping a prominent environmentalist and then getting really deeply invested in dumping toxic waste into the ocean.

And on top of everything else, why suit up and challenge your super-human acquaintance to a head-to-head battle rather than just sneaking up behind him and bashing him on the head with something when he was not expecting it? Do you reckon that this was a mid-life crisis thing?