MINOR SUPER-HERO 022: MADAM FATAL

(Crack Comics 001-022, 1940-1942)

Madam Fatal is the alter ego of one Richard Stanton, famous actor and female impersonator. Shortly after retiring to settle down, Stanton's young daughter was kidnapped by a vengeful enemy and his wife died of grief. Going undercover as the elderly Madam Fatal in order to avoid recognition Stanton spent the next nine years looking for his child. In the first Madam Fatal adventure, he finds the kidnapper but not the kid and since the kidnapper ends up dead, the case of Richard Stanton's missing child just... never gets addressed again.

Madam Fatal comics are pretty fun as a rule. They're short and snappy, and since a big part of the character's appeal is the incongruity of a little old lady (as mentioned in the past, they got no respect in the Golden Age) being in adventure situations, she is extremely kinetic and rough and tumble.

There's absolutely no exploration of gender roles or sexuality because, duh, it's the 1940s, but Stanton and Fatal are generally treated as being two different genders. A modern revival of the character could do interesting things if done right, by the right people. Mostly though, Madam Fatal is a punchline in modern comics.

The exception to this came in The Shade v2 006, 2012. James Robinson (and Darwyn Cooke) introduced Hot Older Lady Madam Fatal, made her just as much of a shitkicker as the original, and even (finally) resolved the case of Richard Stanton's missing child. A worthy if brief revival!

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 190: THE ELECTRICAL WIZARD

(Crack Comics 007, 1940)

This is a weird guy. I'm not entirely sure what his deal is, to be honest. He's developed some sort of revolutionary hydroelectric generator and some sort of lightning projector and claims that they are "useless commercially" but doesn't really outline why. He extorts men with the last name Garr for some reason. I mean, it seems like it should be that the Garrs all got together and quashed his funding because he threatened their own business and now he's getting revenge. Or maybe he's the black sheep of the Garr family and now he's eliminating everyone else to inherit their monies. The guy needs just a bit more motivation!

Drowned by Madam Fatal.

HONOURS - BLACK CONDOR

(Crack Comics 019, 1941)

Black Condor skips out on receiving a Congressional Medal of Honor for rescuing FDR from being kidnapped by Nazis but his secret identity Senator Tom Wright ends up getting one for discovering that FDR had been kidnapped in the first place.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 189: THE MASTER BRAIN

(Crack Comics 007, 1940)

Comics set in the future feature a lot of villains who would be suitable for inclusion here if it weren't for the fact that they are rendered unremarkable by context. Rock Braddon of the Space Legion, hero of this piece, has for instance faced off against several very villainous space pirates and alien conquerors over the prior six issue of Crack Comics, but the Master Brain is his first foe to make the cut.

The Master Brain (also styled the Brain Master) kidnaps brilliant men and, with the help of his brain-stealing machine and his pal Gor, sucks the knowledge out of their heads and into his own. A classic scheme, with a classic consequence: the Master Brain's brain gets too much brain in it, and goes insane. A shame.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 188: THE SKULL GANG

(Crack Comics 006, 1940)

What makes them a super-villain (group)? They're a gang of thieves who are so devoted to this generic hooded guy that they all take small doses of arsenic to give themselves an emaciated skeletal appearance! The penalty for not thieving enough is death! What a dumb thing to dedicate your life to! Absolutely they qualify as a team of very stupid super-villains.

SKULL SCORE: 1/5 Bald guys with gritted teeth just don't cut the mustard, I'm afraid.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 187: THE MASTER

(Crack Comics 006, 1940)

The best thing about the Master is absolutely his henchmen, the Kite Men. Identical shirtless bald guys who shoot lightning from their bracelets as they soar above unnamed, probably American cities, the Kite Men are some terrific weirdo henchmen. They all get blasted by the Black Condor by the end of the story, but until then they have a good run.

The Master himself is your typical world conqueror, whose motivation seems to be that he's sick of being laughed at because he's a dwarf. And as if to illustrate, when Black Condor discovers the leader of this plot who has already killed tens or hundreds of thousands of people, he too laughs. HE'S PART OF THE PROBLEM.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 186: THE JAY BIRD

(Crack Comics 005, 1940) 

The Jay Bird is one of my favourite minor super-villains of all time, I reckon. He's just a guy in a bird mask with a gimmick that is simultaneously very simple and far too complex and dangerous: he simulates flight via a very long tether that is dangling him from a plane. Thus equipped, he swoops down and robs various targets on the streets of New York City, quipping all the time. He's great!

The real unsung hero here has to be his pilot, Spike, for managing to not smear the Jay Bird across a skyscraper the first time they tried this. What a guy! Sadly he was killed in the Jay Bird's encounter with the Clock.