MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 552 UPDATE: BARON VON KAMPF (1940)

Making his triumphant return to comics, the dome-headed goblin of crime: Baron von Kampf!

Baron von Kampf's initial return in Speed Comics 004 involves him heading a sabotage ring for an unnamed European nation that is probably meant to be Nazi Germany, and it's possible that this is a relationship that were were meant to understand was behind his actions all along, but frankly it seems to me to be beneath him.

The Baron's schemes on behalf of his fascist overlords bring him to a secret submarine base, which is how he ends up stranded in the middle of the Atlantic after a final confrontation with Shock Gibson. Will he survive?

Indeed he will, and does! The Baron returns in Speed Comics 006, and I could not tell you if he's still working for the fascists or if he just likes a uniform. The Baron spends much of this issue employing the services of a bunch of crooks called the Palooka Gang to hijack trucks, and though he claims that this is in aid of a larger world conquest scheme I'd be tempted to call it a bit low-rent as far as super-villainy is concerned. Fortunately for his reputation, he still knows how to accessorize, and his headquarters (Mammoth Cave, Kentucky) and minions (the Zombies, making their long-awaited reappearance) really save the day.

How can I complain about truck hijacking when they're being done with such style?

The coolness of living in a cave, of course, is offset by the ever-present threat of being crushed to death in a cave-in, and doubly so when you're doing battle with a guy like Shock Gibson on the regular. Baron von Kampf manages to sneak out a side passage, but the Palooka Gang and this batch of Zombies are all toast, and the Harvey Comics version of Mammoth Cave is certainly the worse for wear.

Baron von Kampf's final appearance is in Speed Comics 011, in which he teams up with pseudo-Soviet spy and future entry Comrade Ratski, in what is probably a reference to the then-ongoing Soviet-Nazi nonaggression pact. What is certain about this alliance, however, is that Comrade Ratski is in charge - he seems to have taken von Kampf on as a partner mainly because he wants to use the Zombies as henchmen.

Speaking of the Zombies, this is their final appearance, and while that is disappointing there is a silver lining, as we get a final bit of lore about the top band of henchcreatures of the 1940s: they can speak, and they speak in backward sentences. Fun!

Like I said the scheme in this comic is basically all down to Comrade Ratski so we'll cover it in his entry, but suffice to say it does not go well once Shock Gibson gets wind. Ratski and von Kampf make their escape into the depths of the Florida Everglades and end up as alligator chow.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 671: THE ERASER GANG

(Masked Marvel 002, 1940)

The Eraser Gang, aka the Erasers, aka the Dead Erasers, are a gang with a gimmick: they don't just hijack armoured cars, they make the cars and their occupants disappear completely, to the consternation of the authorities.

But just why do they do this? It's never actually spelled out but as the Masked Marvel discovers when he is captured by them their actual weapon of choice is not a dissolving ray or a powerful acid but a deadly gas. Presumably disappearing the bodies and the scene of the crime using a powerful helicopter hoist was a way of keeping the authorities from learning that all they needed was a few gas masks to kibosh the entire operation.

Unluckily for the Erasers, the Masked Marvel has rendered himself "impervious to all gasses" and so is able to escape and blow all or most of them to kingdom come.