MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 006

It's time for more mad and criminal scientists! Round 'em up!

The fantastically-named Doctor Evecloud has a plan: shrink everyone else on the planet so that he, the only big person, will be in charge. As so often happens, one of his first guinea pigs is a super-hero, in this case the Shark. Things end poorly for Doctor Evecloud. (Amazing-Man Comics 016, 1940)

This fellow is Dr Scowl and so far we're sitting at 2/2 great scientist names. Dr Scowl is attempting to dissect Minimidget and Ritty to figure out how his late colleague got them so dang small and he's not afraid to deploy a highly unsettling chimeric man to do so. (Amazing-Man Comics 025, 1941)

Professor Zarr breaks the good name streak and it's entirely in character, as he's a guy who can't catch a break: Samson and David bust up his radium-stealing gang, bust up his fortress lair and destroy his Z-Ray machine before he has a chance to even fire the thing. And to add insult to injury, he sets himself on fire while he's trying to get his revenge. (Big 3 003, 1941)

Later in the same issue, Samson and David head to Central America and spoil the plans of Dr Kalt, who seems to be Professor Zarr's non-union equivalent, down to not getting to fire his solar disintegrator and blowing himself up with a grenade he was trying to throw at the heroes. (Big 3 003, 1941)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 444: FRAU IZAN

(Mystery Men Comics 023, 1941)

Our story begins in media res as Lieutenant Drake of Naval Intelligence cleans up the goons of Nazi crypto-fascist (they get real close to calling her a Nazi in this one but she works for the Opatseg instead of the Gestapo, so I guess she's just another Izan) femme fatale spy named Frau Izan.

Izan gets away and is subsequently given an injection by sinister Nazi Izan scientist Doktere von Shnyder that turns her into my favourite kind of shrunken person: one with the proportional strength of a regular person. BONUS: they go to the trouble to establish that she made a little teeny dress for herself ahead of time. 

The shrinking treatment, by the way, is supposed to last for two hours but in a surprise power play von Shnyder reveals that it's permanent and that he's taking over as head of the regional Opatseg. Just goes to show: you can't truust a Nazi, even when they have a thin film of plausible deniability.

(von Shnyder does get his, never fear)

In a surprising turn, Frau Izan is forgiven her espionage activities due to being too small. I suppose it's a hard-to-replicate defence but there's going to be hell to pay if this establishes precedent and a lot of people start taking advantage of it using bootleg shrink rays and so forth.

They tease Frau Izan becoming a regular part of the team (called Miss America for some reason) but she in fact never reappears again - probably they made Miss X take care of her and that's where she is now.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 052: DR DURGAN

(Whiz Comics 009, 1940)

Dr Durgan, a respected scientist, develops shrinking tech and of course uses it to force tiny men to steal for him on pain of remaining tiny. All is well until he makes the common mistake of messing with Billy "Captain Marvel" Batson, boy reporter.