MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 895: THE GHOST OF THE DEEP

(America's Greatest Comics 001, 1941)

The Ghost of the Deep, a dastardly fellow indeed. As the comic opens, a captive scientist named Hugo has just completed a mysterious formula for him, only to be rewarded with murder.

In the following days, the Ghost attacks US West Coast shipping, each time leaving behind a calling card in the form of a message in a bottle.

The Ghost even tries to silence Billy Batson's fairly routine reporting on the attacks (but why leave a calling card if you don't want everyone to know you're responsible?) by taking Billy and his boss Sterling Morris for a proverbial ride. When this is predictably foiled by Captain Marvel, the Ghost of the Deep shows up long enough to demonstrate that he is also a classic comic book Bad Boss by drowning his hapless Teutonic minions.

There is a bit of radio-based taunting, since Billy is a radio guy. Again, this kind of thing brings into question just why the Ghost of the Deep wants to shut Billy up.

So just what is the Ghost of the Deep's plan? And what is this mysterious formula that poor Hugo died for? Why, it's the recipe for making a transparent, invulnerable alloy called Z-Metal, and using a fleet of tank-submarines composed of the stuff, the Ghost intends on conquering the United States. First stop: blowing up the Panama Canal.

As for the Ghost's real identity, well, it's not revealed until later, but any cagey comics reader will immediately peg this smarmy rival radio man named Spriggins as the top suspect the instant that he walks on-panel. Presumably his cover serves the same purpose as Billy Batson's: as a way of gathering information and justifying a lot of globetrotting as being in pursuit of a story.

Ultimately, Spriggins' plan has one fatal flaw: it fails to account for the presence of a magically super-strong fellow like Captain Marvel, who succeeds where the might of the US Navy cannot and smashes the Z-Metal fleet to smithereens. And then does the same to the Ghost of the Deep's cool Z-Metal chainmail.

The captured Spriggins makes one last attempt at striking out at the US by stealing an MP's gun and taking out a nearby General, only to be intercepted by Captain Marvel and suffer the oft-joked-about but seldom-seen fate of the person who fires a bullet into an invulnerable super-hero's chest only to have it bounce back and kill them instead. 

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 847: THE WIZARD OF ZORO

(Weird Comics 004, 1940) 

The Wizard of Zoro really takes the prize for the Most Charming Atrocity of 1940 when he swoops down on a small town and turns everyone into the kind of semi-anthropomorphic giant frogs that you get in Victorian greeting cards. Do I love that he then enslaves the frogs? No. Do I endorse the fact that he singles out an attractive young woman for special torment by turning her boyfriend into a snake? Of course not. Nevertheless, the frogs are charming and dear.

Perhaps the Wizard of Zoro is riding a little too high on his great ranomancy (a word I just made up to describe frog-based magic) because when the Sorceress of Zoom proposes an alliance between the two of them he gets all high and mighty about how he doesn't need anyone else to be a cool and powerful wizard. (sidebar: I think it shows a lot of maturity for the Sorceress to attempt this partnership with someone who looks nearly identical to her recent tormentor the Wizard. It's a real shame that the Wizard of Zoro was too much of a jerk to join her)

The Sorceress of Zoom is of course more than a match for some lousy frog wizard, which she proves by incinerating his lousy palace. 

The Wizard's only response being to further transform his subjects, from frogs into mice, is inadequate at best. And the frogs were the only thing he had going for him, so he's really shooting himself in the foot here. 

The Sorceress ultimately puts this sad excuse for a duel out of its misery by weaponizing the boyfriend-turned snake. Once the Wizard of Zoro is consumed by his former victim he is forced to restore him to human form lest he be digested, and it seems that the Wizard's magic works like an old string of Xmas lights because undoing one spell turns out to also restore all of the mice as well.

All that's left is to smack the Wizard one before everyone goes home.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 846: THE SORCERESS OF ZOOM

(Weird Comics 001, 1940)

The Sorceress of Zoom is just what it says on the tin: a sorceress from Zoom, which is a magical flying city that she lives in and controls. She's another of the Golden Age's surprisingly large number of headlining super-villains, only instead of being a mad scientist or a more conventional crook she is a mercurial magic woman who just kind of flies around harassing people. Sometimes she's almost okay and other times she's one of history's worst monsters - it's over all fun!

As has become the norm with these recurring villains, here is a litany of her crimes for 1940:

In her first outing, the Sorceress takes over a small American city for unclear reasons (a page is missing from the only available scan of the issue and I reckon that the answer lies there), but the main conflict involves the Sorceress' attempt to vamp a dude named Tom away from a lady named Janice. 

Sorceress' Motivation: caprice, lust

Inhabitants of Zoom: This is the first appearance of the Sorceress of Zoom's most frequent henchmen, a group of unnamed gobliny humanoids 

In Weird Comics 002, the Sorceress really ups the stakes. This might be her most villainous appearance, as she first attempts to get the king of Bango, a... European city-state? to surrender 300 people so that she can kill them and turn their corpses into her goblin-men, and when he refuses to do so, she razes the entire city and turns the slaughtered population of Bango en masse.

The only surviving Bangonian, Prince Paul, escapes to the nearby city-state of Zoda and when the Sorceress appears there, conceives of a plan to evaporate the cloud that Zoom sits upon - this marks the first of many times that Zoom is destroyed, but the Sorceress seems to be able to recreate it at will, so that's not as consequential as it seems.

I really enjoy the flying throne that the SoZ escapes on, so here it is.

Sorceress' Motivation: power

Inhabitants of Zoom: The same gobliny humanoids, now revealed to be necromantically created out of human corpses.

Weird Comics 003 really highlights the mercurial nature of the Sorceress' character, as she is fully the blameless protagonist here. She and her friend Allan are just hanging out in Zoom when a nefarious character called the Wizard attacks them and makes off with the entire dang city, forcing the Sorceress and the tuxedo-clad Allan to quest in search of it. The Wizard is number 1 of 5 upcoming Minor Super-Villain entries dealing with foes of the Sorceress, so more on him later.

Sorceress' Motivation: vengeance, good times

Inhabitants of Zoom: Seemingly just regular people, who are all slaughtered by the Wizard. The hazards of living in a magical city owned by a super-villain, I suppose. 

In Weird Comics 004, the Sorceress attempts to ally with a fellow called the Wizard of Zoro to take over the US (? Possibly - a sense of place is not the strong suit of the Sorceress of Zoom comics), but he is too full of himself to work with someone else, making him the second of our future entries and giving the Sorceress a real opportunity to show off her flying, lion-driven carriage as she makes a brief tactical retreat.

The Sorceress once again threatens to return and steal someone's fairly generic man at the end of this one, and as far as is shown she never really follows up on these impulses.

Sorceress' Motivation: vengeance, lust

Inhabitants of Zoom: The coachmen above are the only ones shown, so presumably more regular people have decided to live on the edge by inhabiting a magical villain's lair. 

 

Weird Comics 005 sees the Sorceress kidnapping the magical men who live in Nagpur, India, both to beef up her forces and to prove that she is better than them.

What the Sorceress doesn't count on is the fact that one of the magical men might have a magical son, and that magical son might effect a magical rescue. The magical men, once released, are able to prevent the Sorceress from making any more attempts to deprive them of their freedom.

This issue also attempts to inject some continuity and foreshadowing into the ongoing Sorceress of Zoom narrative with a bit of a cliffhanger about just what the general and the king in her cryo-chamber could be doing there. This is to my knowledge never revisited.

Sorceress' Motivation: pride, power

Inhabitants of Zoom: The gobliny humanoids are back!

In Weird Comics 006, a somewhat off-model Sorceress of Zoom attempts to take over the Middle East with the help of some dragons. This attempt is foiled by young Prince Ja'afar, who is gifted a protective amulet and a flying carpet by a friendly desert mage and invades Zoom to rescue his love, the Princess Shahzarad.

Sorceress' Motivation: power, lust

Inhabitants of Zoom: Slaves and dragons.

Weird Comics 007 sees the Sorceress transporting Zoom back in time to escape the chaos of the growing World War II. She ends up in Arthurian England, mixed up in a conflict between Sir Gareth of the Round Table (who she of course wants, carnally) and Morgana le Fay (upcoming minor super-villain 3/5), before being run out of town by Merlin.

Sorceress' Motivation: lust

Inhabitants of Zoom: Big beefy shirtless men, mostly. 

The Weird Comics 008 story is the first of what I think will be a pattern of adventures going forward: the Sorceress rolls into some area and starts causing trouble, then gets into a scrap, then undoes some or all of the mischief that she caused and leaves. My theory is that this is what she does when she gets bored.

In this case, the Sorceress annoys a young couple and attempts to seduce the man away from the woman (who has been turned into flowers, natch), then attempts to conquer a nearby city before having a real tussle with upcoming villain 4/5, the Super-Scientist, and leaving (after turning the flowers back into a lady).

This issue also features the second time that Zoom is destroyed and recreated.

Sorceress' Motivation: lust, boredom, power

Inhabitants of Zoom: the very cool-looking Vapor Men. 

Weird Comics 009 is another of these boredom issues, in which the Sorceress is ostensibly transporting some treasure out of the North African desert but really seems to just be having fun torturing the poor people who she has enslaved to do so. Eventually, she gets into a conflict with out final upcoming super-villain, Gobi, the Super-Wizard of the Desert, who wants to use the Sorceress' slaves as food for his vultures. Zoom is destroyed yet again this issue.

Sorceress' Motivation: wealth, boredom

Inhabitants of Zoom: None shown. 

That's it for the Sorceress of Zoom in 1940: stay tuned for her 1941 adventures!