MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 526: THE DICTATOR

(Blue Ribbon Comics 013, 1941)

I had two surprises coming to me when I read the first appearance of this fellow: 1) though there are a fair few Golden and Silver Age comics that posit some sort of supernatural element to the evils of the Axis power - deals with the Devil, influence by one or another god of war, etc - but this is the earliest example I've seen of one of their leaders actually being a supernatural evil.

If I had previously said that the Dictator's Shadow was about as close as you could get to someone being a Nazi without actually dipping over the line and just saying it, this comic has somehow elasticized the line and dragged it way over to the other side. The Dictator is Hitler in all but name, and they don't even go to the trouble of replacing the swastika with another symbol or making up new names for the countries he invades. There are such a small number of changes, in fact, that I will list them now: Germany is referred to as Mitteleuropa (which is a term for Central Europe fairly closely associated with the German imperialism of both World Wars), the Bavarian Alps are instead the Vabarian Alps, and Goebbels is instead called Deenbee (a maddening name because it feels like I should be able to work out a meaning behind it).

(later there are look-alike analogs of a lot of top Nazis, seen here)

Mr Justice demonstrates the even-handed political neutrality that comics of the past were always known for and bursts into a staff meeting to give Hitler the Dictator "the most vicious beating a man ever experienced", as you do.

Again, this is all politically neutral stuff.

This conflict continues for a few issues: first, the Dictator arms his nameless Himmler-analog with an anti-ghost potion and sets him the task of killing Mr Justice. This ends in not-Himmler's  death but also in an important realization for Mr Justice: that the Dictator wields only temporal power in the world, that he can only act through agents. Accordingly, the net two Mr Justice stories concern him killing off analogs of Goering, Goebbels and von Ribbentrop t erode the Dictator's power base.

And that's where it ends, kind of. After Mr Justice strikes, the Dictator returns fire by sending future entry the Green Ghoul to attack America. It take three issues to deal with that guy, and by the next time he shows up the Dictator is just the Devil again - whether or not he is still cosplaying as Hitler is not addressed. I guess that this is going to continue to be a thing when the villain in question is a cosmically evil being, right? They just pack up and go home at the end? A bit unsatisfying from a narrative perspective.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 371: THE BLITZ GANG

(Minute-Man 002, 1941)

AKA the Blitz Force AKA the Panzer Gang.

I almost started out by saying that the idea of a criminal gang operating along military lines was an old one but no, it isn't yet. It's not a new idea - there might be half a dozen examples in this list so far and I'm sure it cropped up more than once in the pulps - but it's not quite the mid-tier trope that it eventually will be.

This time, the idea for a criminal army is inspired by US pre-war military training program crime czar Boss Donker and his don't-say-he's-a-Nazi pal Baron Marz have hatched a scheme that takes advantage of the readily-available supply of Army-trained men: arm them and loot cities wholesale (with an optional attempt to conquer the US for "the Fatherland," wherever that is.

And of course it all goes swimmingly until Minute-man shows up.

The best part of the story by far is this bit here. Baron Marz has seemingly killed Minute-Man with a falling block of stone and Slippy, the only former gangster army recruit who doesn't want to return to a life of crime, is about to take up the mantle in his honour. It's actually kind of too bad that Minute-Man wasn't actually dead, because having the identity change hands this way might have given him an interesting hook at last - maybe it could have been a series about person after person taking on th role of Minute-Man as needed and as the previous one falls instead of about a third-rate Captain America knockoff.

NOTES - OCTOBER 2023

Ripped from the headlines:

The acclimation of a new Dalai Lama must have been big headlines in 1941 because not only did Zoro the Mystery Man save him from being kidnapped for ransom... (Master Comics 014, 1941)

... but over on Earth-Two, the Three Aces did the same! (Action Comics 032, 1941)

Great Folk:

Wizzar, Father of All Magic, teacher and mentor of El Carim, dead and returned as a spirit who appears "when some great crime against the dead remains unpunished" is that all-too-frequent thing in comics: a cosmic plot-hook-delivering entity used only once and never seen again (Master Comics 015, 1941) 

Also, Wizzar sends El Carim to the planet Zaam to battle the tyrant Rashtala and basically everyone on Zaam has an amazing look:

Just great.

Grandfather Oyster, the big oyster that eats people when they try to get the little oysters, is a really terrific sea monster concept. Is this the only hostile oyster in comics history? Probably! (Master Comics 017, 1941)

Memes of Yore: COWARD!

Very unsympathetic crowd of Goat-People watching space hero Captain Venture fight a space dragon. (Master Comics 021, 1941)

Nobody ever delivers a long monologue on why kicking people is an unmanly way to fight but there are a lot of expressions of distaste, like Spike of the Companions Three is uttering here. (Master Comics 021, 1941)