MAD AND CRIMINAL SCIENTIST ROUND-UP 009

You know how it is with these guys. Their science is mad and/or criminal!

Felix Zurich, lab assistant to Professor Trent, has hidden the professor away in a castle improbably located in the middle of the jungle in Africa, all so that Zurich can force him to perfect his invention of the ever-popular engine-killing ray. This is a Blackstone the Magician story so of course Zurich is also an accomplished stage magician and there is a pivotal duel of illusions. Ultimately, a high-speed canoe chase ends with Zurich going over Victoria Falls while Blackstone and his companions serenely float down on parachutes. (Super-Magician v1 002, 1941)  

This here scientist and his brother are for some reason trying to turn young women into statues. They don't get very far before being beat up by Ted Parrish, the Man With 1000 Faces (Speed Comics 001, 1939)

Senor Anza here is one of your scientists with mysterious motivations: he's been blowing up passing ships on their way to or from the Panama Canal using his very cool Radium Ray, but just why he's doing it is not elaborated on. Top possibilities are "as a weapons test prior to some other scheme" and "on behalf of the Axis forces" with a possibility of "straightforward homicidal madness" but as Anza ends up stone dead at the hands of super-spy K-51 and his colleague/ fiance/ fellow super-spy Z-19 all speculation is purely academic. (Wonderworld Comics 004, 1939)

The Professor Maxon mentioned above never appears in person in the story but does carry a scientific rivalry far enough that he completes the extinction of the dodo rather than allow his rival Professor Stone get credit for his discovery of a remnant population. (Champion Comics 006, 1940)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 573: THE OWL

(Champion Comics 005, 1940)

Journalist Penny Wright is on the trail of a notorious spy named the Owl! While I am of course broadly anti-spoilers I will give you a hint to the Owl's identity: there are four named characters in this comic and poor Hafiz Bey is murdered on the first page.

Setting aside the compelling and difficult mystery of the Owl's identity for a moment, we must consider the very concept of the notorious spy known for their distinctive appearance. I mean, yes, adopt a persona and stick to it while working so as to remove yourself from suspicion, but once you are known to be a man wearing thick glasses why continue to appear as such? Why is the Owl still running around as the Owl?

The Owl of course turns out to be Cora Zender[s], popular diplomatic hostess, because of course he does. OR DOES HE? I put it to you that Cora is just a decoy, sent to take the fall while the real Owl gets away. After all, the only evidence pointing to Cora was the piece of her dress found in the garden - circumstantial at best! If the Owl and Cora were in fact the same highly successful spy then she surely would have at the very least dropped the easily spotted disguise, if not swapped it out for another look altogether! No, the only conclusion that can reasonably be reached is that Cora is not the Owl, merely a pawn, and that the real culprit is long gone.

Or this was a throwaway story loosely plotted in haste in order to fill pages on an anthology book, but who's gonna believe that?

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 572: JULES CARTIER

(Champion Comics 005, 1940)

"Revenge of the Zombies" is a feature that ran in Champion Comics from issues 003-005 and reads kind like it was written in a free-jazz fugue state, like once the 10-12 characters were introduced by issue 003, page 2, events just proceeded on their own with no real input from the writer. A huge cast gathers at the home of Dr Karl Hartmann in Haiti for no reason that is ever given. Various people are kidnapped. Various people turn out to be other people: the novelist is a police detective; the voodoo cult leader is a gang boss; two guests are crooks but it never pays off. Several people die.

The most striking and interesting thing about the serial is the death's head moth attack in issue 004 that takes out one of the crooks... wait, maybe they were there as disposable victims? After all, who could care if a criminal dies horribly?

Champion Comics 005 saw the wrapping up of several serialized adventure stories in favour of more hero-driven fare (I have Lyle Kenton tagged as the protagonist of this story but he was simply the most proactive member of the cast - it was an ensemble jazz-fusion voodoo mystery). And since gang boss/ voodoo priest Jaques "Frenchy" Atell was already dead: enter Jules Cartier!

Cartier, the former owner of Dr Hartmann's mansion, has not been dead as everyone suspected but just been living in the basement, farming death's head moths and using hypnotic mind control to turn people into zombies.

When confronted, Cartier literally brings a knife to a gunfight, attempting to take on two armed men using only a throwing knife. It's an honourable way to go for a complete dipshit. 

Cartier's plan comes out in the aftermath: discovering that he can produce high-quality silk from death's head moths and that they enjoy drinking human blood, he researches a more sustainable alternative so that he can produce at a profitable level relocates to a cave to employ mind-controlled locals as both a labour force and blood supply. It's a frankly ludicrous scheme - a cursory bit of searching indicates that Cartier is engaging in an astounding level of risk for something like thousands of dollars, which even in 1940 isn't worth it. But of course, he was an insane textiles-based super-villain... who are we to dictate his priorities?

And in the end it certainly was... a revenge of the zombies.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 571: THE YELLOW SPIDER

(Champion Comics 004, 1940)

Champion Comics 003 featured the murder of the Champ's mentor Dr Marlin and at the conclusion of that adventure the blame for Marlin's death seemed to rest squarely on the shoulders of his assistant Dr Katsu. Champion Comics 004, however, introduces a further development: Katsu was in fact working for a greater mastermind, the Yellow Spider!

(and here I'm going to contrast my usual delight at a villainous note signed with a little cartoon with my deep sighs as I say that yes, the Yellow in Yellow Spider is 100% a racist thing. Early Champion Comics issues are even more comfortable with using racist tropes for their villains than the rest of the comics industry, and that's saying something)

The Yellow Spider is big on indirect action. Beyond employing goons to do his dirty work he also uses engine-killing rays and cuts in on radio and telephone signals to orchestrate events at a distance, such as his successful kidnapping of the Champ here, followed by his doing a solid for the unnamed police officer who was supposed to be driving him around.

The Champ is brought to the Yellow Spider's dirigible/ base, where he eventually learns that the Spider is in fact this one little guy who has popped up a couple of times previously as an agent of what turns out to be himself. It's not explicit but quite possible he wants formula because he is puny (spoiler: much later it turns out that Dr Katsu pulled a double cross and had the formula all along. This Yellow Spider/ Champ beef is all a huge waste of everyone's time).

As the Champ was summarily evicted from the Yellow Spider's dirigible at the end of issue 4, Champion Comics 005 is almost entirely concerned with busywork. To whit:

-the Champ learns to fly a plane

-the Champ and his pal Bird Kelly attack the dirigible, too late remember about the engine killing ray and are knocked out of the sky

-the Champ travels back to Midwest University to talk to a ray expert

-the ray expert is stranded on a mountain; the Champ must go rescue him

-in consultation with the expert, the Champ crafts ray shielding for his plane

-the Champ and Bird Kelly go back up in a now-shielded plane

-the Champ STILL has to go on the dirigible and wreck the ray because it also explodes gunpowder and they only brought grenades for some reason

-the Champ hops back over to his plane and explodes the dirigible, killing the Yellow Spider

I will say that the Champ expressing some remorse over having killed an evil man (or at least not being up to watching the carnage) is a real departure for the Golden Age. Lotta righteous killing going on back then.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 570: OO-LHAT

(Champion Comics 003, 1940)

There's a lot to like about ol' Oo-Lhat. He appears in a gross-sounding mist after explorer Walt Worthington and his aide Snowball (did you know that there was a whole category of racist nicknames for African American characters that has largely been forgotten and that involves naming them after something very black or very white? Well now you do) discover a lost Egyptian tomb containing a blazing scarab (the gem cut, not the insect) that drew them into a pocket dimension when touched.

Oo-Lhat captures the duo and forces them to listen to his life story, employing a magical teevee called the Curtain of Ammon to do so.

A priest of Osiris at Karnak, Oo-Lhat gives it all up and switches allegiances to Set in order to obtain gold, power and the love of a beautiful woman.

This is where Oo-Lhat starts to make the transition from small-b to big-b Bad Guy. He makes his way to the Oasis of Memthet, where a cult had gathered to worship the same scarab encountered by Walt and pal. Oo-Lhat takes over by the simple expedient of murdering all of the other contenders.

Discovering the pocket dimension accessible through the scarab, Oo-Lhat moved his cult into it and had them build a city, from which they raided caravans under the somewhat grandiose name of the League of Assassins - pretty sure just jumping out of a portal and stabbing someone is just regular murder, bro.

The real appeal of the scarab dimension, though, was the fact that time essentially did not pass there and so the population was essentially immortal - even those killed by gross bodily trauma came back as weird ghosts. Possibly the best aspect of this is the fact that animals could not properly comprehend this state of being and so immediately died and came back, and as they presumably had an imperfect vision of themselves they came back wrong, leading to the city being full of weird lumpy camels.

The timelessness of the scarab world eventually backfires on Oo-Lhat and his followers when the temple is buried in a sandstorm, trapping them for thousands of years with nothing to do but twiddle their thumbs.

Oo-Lhat is all set to resume his ways as an "assassin" but his followers have other ideas. Presented with the choice of whether to leave or stay, every single one of them leaves. Including Oo-Lhat, after a little five-fingered persuasion from his lieutenant Kardak.

The explorers eventually follow (along with some babes they found and fell in love with) and discover the final fate of Oo-Lhat and the League of so-called Assassins: time spent in the pocket dimension, it turns out, was not avoided so much as deferred: Oo-Lhat, the League and even the babes were reduced to skeletons the instant they exited.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 569: NEPTINA

(Champion Comics 002, 1939) 

I can't say for sure that whoever created Neptina sat down and said "I will make a lady version of Namor the Sub-Mariner" but it's at least plausible. Neptina is the ruler of the undersea kingdom of Amloza, and has designs on a total conquest of the surface world as well as the depths.

Neptina is, like Namor, a horny character. She captures US Navy Lieutenant Brad Fletcher early in her series and spends a considerable amount of mental, martial and political energy in subsequent installments in service of keeping him near her and away from other women.

(note the little tuning fork thing that Neptina is holding - it works in concert with a telepathic receiver as a form of communication for the Fish-Men of Amloza. There are lots and lots of panels featuring characters who look like they're playing with a toy from the 1920s when in fact they are talking to one another. It's fun!)

Neptina is shown to be a ruthless slaver with ranks of surface men pillaged from ships and equipped with gills in place of their human lungs. The reverse operation can be performed on Fish-Men to allow them to become fully amphibious, though the lungs involved must be harvested from a human. Neptina's vanity is showcased when she demands that the lungs for her operation be harvested from a beautiful woman only. This also proves to be Neptina's first major stumbling block, as Brad Fletcher immediately falls in love with movie star Norma Kane when she is brought to Amloza, and rescuing her is one of his major motivations for disrupting Neptina's plans in early installments.

More interesting than Neptina's schemes is the biology of Amloza's population. There appear to be at least two biological castes, with more humanoid Fish-Men Nobles like Brad Fletcher's friend Gakk holding higher station than the fish-headed commoners (Neptina's chief scientist Mogg is a regular Fish-Man and probably the most competent character in the comic, in a welcome nod to the foolishness of biological determinism).

Complicating things further is the fact that the female population of Amloza appears to consist entirely of bodacious blonde babes in shell bras. If it were just Neptina I'd figure that she was a surface woman somehow elevated to the throne (the racial politics of the time would almost demand that a non-white/nonhuman group would instinctively subjugate themselves to a blonde bombshell), but this suggests the kind of sexual dimorphism we see in fantasy and sci-fi character design (mildly NSFW comic, but Oglaf as a whole is wildly NSFW).

The other option, and the one I favour, is that the group represented by Neptina and the Fish-Men are two morphologically distinct but related species operating as a unified society - perhaps the Neptinans are naturally parthogenic (sp) which explains their seeming single gender, while the Fish-Men could lack any sexual dimorphism. The Fish-Men Nobles would thus represent hybrids of the two populations and thus their role as nobles could be seen as a bridge between the two.

Speculative biology aside, here's a timeline of Neptina's deal:

-after Brad Fletcher and Norma Kane escape, she acquires lungs from a second, less fortunate surface woman and makes her way to NYC.

-while attempting to raise capital by selling some huge pearls, Neptina runs afoul of both the NYPD and a gang of crooks, who foolishly attempt to get rid of her via drowning and end up on the bottom of the harbour themselves.

-the pearls in question are the sacred Tear Drops of Neptune and scientist Mogg, already a mite anti-monarchist in his leanings, embarks on a) a mission to recover them and b) an attempt to undermine Neptina's plans of conquest.

-also set against Neptina: Gakk the Fish-Man Noble and her own half-sister Mhersa, leader of a rebel group called the Maella.

-Brad returns with a diplomatic envoy. Things are tense but civil until the surface folk help drive off an invasion by Dhakka Snail-Men. At this point, Neptina effectively reforms - Mogg has even seemingly forgiven her for making off with the sacred pearls. More dark: the US Government in the form of Brad Fletcher has forgiven her for the many crimes against its citizens in pursuit of a powerful alliance. 

As 1940 closes, Brad, Norma, Neptina and Mogg are stranded mid-ocean and Mhersa has taken over Amloza. Will she be villainous enough to appear here? Find out when I make my way to the 1941 issues of Champ Comics!

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 017

Another fresh hot basket of also-rans, just for you.

the Mask:

Scoop Cody, society reporter, is secretly vigilante crimefighter the Mask. He's not terrific at concealing this fact - both love interest Elaine and villain Carlos figure it out during the course of the one extant Mask story - but he gets the job done. Of mild interest is that Scoop Cody is also the name of the Marvel's reporter pal. (Star Comics v1 013, 1938*)

the Phantom Rider: 

The Phantom Rider is your standard masked cowboy, identity unknown. Given their similar names and that they are both Centaur Comics characters it is equally likely that he is a renamed Phantom o' the Hills as it is that he is a separate creation. His horse is named Thunder. (Star Comics 016, 1938*)

Air Man:

Air Man is Drake Stevens, an ornithologist who embarks on a vigilante career after his father is murdered in an insurance scam on the high seas. He only makes a handful of appearances before Centaur folds, and here are the salient things about him:

-Air Man is a "realistic" version of Hawkman, i.e., not realistic but in a slightly more plausible way than an antigravity belt. His wings are filled with helium and he has a little jet engine for propulsion (at least, as of his second appearance. Maybe he's just very slowly gliding around in his first). He also has egg-shaped bombs, which isn't relevant to the flying but is fun.

-Air Man is not a generic bird-themed hero but in fact an albatross-themed protector of the seas, which is a niche that I have not encountered before and the closest that I can think of is the Marvel hero Stingray, and that's just because they both fly and are ocean-based.

 -Air Man believes in protecting the high seas so much that he breaks up with his fiance rather than just... living in a lighthouse with her or whatever. Super-heroes love breaking up with people and then feeling noble about it. (Keen Detective Funnies 023, 1940)

TNT Todd:

TNT Todd had been a regular FBI agent having FBI agent adventures in Keen Detective Funnies for about a year when he became if not the earliest then certainly our first example of a non-super character getting a super-heroic makeover to fit comic trends (I tell a lie Tex Thomson/ Mr America has come up before but he made the switch in 1941). While overshadowed by fellow explosion-based hero the Human Bomb a year or so later I must admit to enjoying TNT Todd more on a conceptual level. Just a guy careening through a city via a series of explosions, theoretically helping people. (Keen Detective Funnies 021, 1940)

*there are several issues of Star Comics from this time that are not readily available, including issues 012, 014 and 015. This means that both the Mask and the Phantom Rider could have earlier first appearances.