| Abdul the Arab: 1939, Smash Comics #1 (Quality). Abdul, son of Ali Bey, was a handsome young Arabic man who operated out of Bagdad and friendly to British rule. Thus willing to undertake missions that would pit him against his own people if necessary to maintain peace. Aided by his close friend Hassan. A wonderfully rendered strip with a minority hero. | |
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Ace of Space: 1940, Feature Comics #38 (Quality). Millionaire sportsman Ace Egan is flying his plane back to his estate when he sees a space-ship crash landing on his property. When he investigates, a giant creature comes out of the ship, warning of an impending invasion by the Slogons and his own imminent death due to an inability to breathe Earth’s atmosphere. Before he dies, he instructs Ace to take his belt upon which the creature shrinks to more human proportions. When he puts on the belt, Ace grows to gigantic size, finds his mind flooded with knowledge, and has Superman-like powers such as able to leap vast distances and supervision. He rushes the creature to the hospital where it later dies and returns to the spaceship which he now knows how to operate and turn invisible. When the Slogons launch their attack, he uses the ship and his knowledge to repel them. Removing the belt returns him back to normal. He decides to use the belt and ship to do good. Interesting just how much of this origin story anticipates the silver-age Green Lantern. |
Black Condor: 1940, Crack Comics #1. Richard Grey is orphaned when his parents are killed on an archaeological dig in Mongolia by Gali Kan and his bandit raiders. The baby is rescued by a condor and raised with her young who by observation learns how to fly and gains other bird-like traits like superb vision. Older, he falls in with Father Pierre who teaches him of civilization and its ways before he too is killed by Gali Kan. Grey uses his unique skills to put an end to Gali Kan and then heads to the States. Along the way he gets a black ray gun that can fire destructive blasts and for awhile operates as a superhero with no real secret identity. It's in the eleventh issue that he secretly takes over the role of the murdered Senator Thomas Wright with only Wright's fiancee Wendy Foster's father knowing the truth. |
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| Bruce Blackburn: see Destroying Demon. | |
| Blaze Barton: 1940, Hit Comics #1. In the future year of 3000, Professor Solis predicts that the Earth's orbit will actually take it closer to the sun and doom life if drastic measures aren't taken. At first, the world's leaders scoff his findings until the heat does start increasing and people start dying. Solis has built his own city, proof against the heat and all the world's knowledge and most influential citizens are taken. The world is cracked open and new tropical jungles and strange peoples from beneath the earth immune to the heat now populate the surface. Into this ventures the adventurer Blaze Barton, Professor Solis and Blaze's girlfriend Betty, the professor's daughter, to help the remnants of humanity to wage war against the Core-men. Succeeding that in the second issue, they set out to explore and rebuild the Earth. By issue 5, several years have passed and mankind has again conquered the surface with new cities and Blaze and a girl named "Teddy" (a re-named/mis-named Betty) head to outer-space. | |
| Betty Bates: 1940, Hit Comics #4. Betty is a "Lady-at-Law" aka a lawyer. She's a good detective, a good scrapper when need be as well as a good shot with the small automatic she keeps on her person. More importantly, she's a good lawyer. | |
| Blimpy: 1943, Feature Comics #64. Blimpy the Bungling Buddha was originally a statue in a museum. One day Tabby Tyler was reading Greek myths, specifically the story of Pygmalion. He thinks it's all hooey and sets out to prove it by trying out the magic words on a statue himself. And thus, a large blue buddha statue comes to life and hijinks follow. A humor strip, Blimpy even breaks the fourth wall in one adventure, when he must stop an imposter Blimpy from using his strip to commit sabotage. | |
| Bob and Swab: 1940, Hit Comics #1. Taking a bit of license here. Bob and Swab is the title of a light-hearted adventure strip starring two men: Bob Masters and Swab Decker. Their relationship could be seen reflected in other comics as both are capable men in their own right. Bob is the always dressed in his Marines dress uniform while Swab is always in his sailors' whites and are stationed on the same ship, U.S.S. Scarab. They are simultaneously best friends and rivals, perpetually at each others' throats for some perceived slight when they aren't fighting Nazis and other enemies. | |
| Captain Fortune: 1939, Feature Comics #25. Captain Tyrone Fortune is an English sea captain in the days of the Spanish Main and the age of piracy. As such, he and his loyal crew fought the enemies of the crown and pirates on the high seas. The artist Vern Henkel had a wonderful illustrator quality for these stories. Not as lush or polished as Hal Foster a pretty line nonetheless. | |
| Mr. Mole: Kid Eternity #8. Caleb Ness invents the Terrebore, a machine that is capable of burrowing through the Earth. He is kidnapped and it is seized by a bald criminal mastermind, Skull Mootz (no wonder he turned to crime). After using the machine to cause untold destruction and deaths, he then sends a message extorting money from his next target, signing it Mr. Mole. Caleb rebels but is knocked out as Skull has seen enough to operate it on his own now. Kid Eternity and Mr. Keeper witness armed troops and tanks useless against the machine and even Goliath is only able to slow it down. The kid calls forth Jove to use his lightning bolts against it which works, electrocuting both Skull and poor Cale | |
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Destiny: 1943, Police Comics #16. A nameless drifter with no home nor job, goes to the theatre to try his hand at a contest for $500. While waiting for that game to begin, he catches a show by mindreader and psychic Professor Seezall Nozal. During the show, the Professor tries to read the man's future and suddenly ends the show, taking the drifter backstage where he tells him what he foresaw: that trouble surrounds the man and that he is gifted with the ability to foresee death, trouble, and disaster, past and present. All he has to do is clear his mind and he'll be taken to the scene of trouble where he must act to bring the evil doer to justice. He's become a force of fate, Destiny. The first criminal he's drawn to is Oscar Jones, the muderer of the hero 711. An interesting tidbit, on the marquee of the theatre where Nozal is playing is also that of Gil Fox, the Big Snatch. Fox is one of creators another strip in the comic. Destiny just wears his street clothes unlike the masked and cloaked 711 whom he had replaced. |
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Destroying Demon: 1940, Feature Comics #32. Captain Bruce Blackburn is a "counterspy" meaning he goes after other spies and saboteurs. In one case (#40), he puts on a costume and puts the fear in his foes by pretending to be a demon. |
| Jack and Jill Doe: 1940, Hit Comics #1. Jack and Jill Doe are a married sleuthing team ala Nick and Nora Charles only they run a detective agency which they depend upon to pay their bills (though it appears they do quite well for themselves) and Jill just may be the better detective. | |
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The Dragon: Doll Man Quarterly. "'The Dragon' is the name stubborn Chinese guerillas have bestowed on their two fisted Marine leader Red McGraw who leads them into battle against the invading hordes of Japanese…" While a soldier, the Dragon does go in for a bit of flair, wearing a tight red shirt with a monstrous face on the chest. All in all, it seems to be a well done little war strip, with above average art that does not caricature its renderings of the Asian peoples. |
| Fargo Kid: Feature Comics (Quality). At first glance, the Fargo Kid aka Tim Turner seems your average cowboy strip. However, his adventures take place in the “Modern” West as he fights Nazis among other bad guys though he wears the traditional cowboy outfit complete with six-guns and chaps. Turner’s moniker seems as much a nick-name as anything else, he doesn't wear a mask or anything else that differentiates the Fargo Kid as a separate identity. | |
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Ghost of Flanders: 1940, Hit Comics. The still living soldier 'Rip' Graves finds himself reported dead in battle at Flanders and honored as the "Unknown Soldier". He decides to use the tomb as his base as a costumed hero. |
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Hercules: 1940, Hit Comics #1. Joe Hercules was born in the north woods and has grown up in Maryville, somewhere in the mid-west where he uses his great strength to earn him prize money at places like the State Fair. He plans on using the money to take care of his mother and go to college to become a doctor or a lawyer. However, fate intervenes as his mother dies of a heart-attack when reading an eviction notice from a swindler and racketeer named J. Willstone Jyppe. When Joe confronts him, he is thrown in prison by the Law. While there, he wishes someone could stand up to the crooks where his cellmate points out they do so in the comics ala Dollman. Inspired, Joe busts down the walls and puts on a minimalistic costume to fight crime as his namesake Hercules. While there is nothing odd about his birth or upbringing, Joe Hercules is obviously far stronger and tougher than a normal human could be, able to crash through walls, tow a ship, haul an elevator up a shaft, catch bus, and possibly bulletproof. |
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Invisible Hood: 1941, Smash Comics #22. Kent Thurston appears to be a consultant to the police, called in by Inspector Bill Blake for his expertise on strange crimes (inferred from the story as his relationship with the inspector or why he is called in on a secret case is not explained). However, the Inspector might act differently if he knew that Kent was also the mysterious crime fighter called the Invisible Hood. The Invisible Hood is a capable crime fighter, keeps records of various foes and gangsters but he's not really invisible, he's just called that because no one knows his real identity (and he's sneaky). Otherwise, there is no real info on who he is and why he does what he does. However, with his second appearance, he meets up and rescues a Professor Van Dorn who has developed a chemical process for making clothes invisible and treats the Hood's robes and cloak. However, Van Dorn is ultimately killed by the crooks, leaving Kent with the sole secret to invisibility. NOTE: There has been some confusion over his name as the name of the strip had been both Hooded Justice and Invisible Justice, neither actually names that he used. He's only referred to as the Invisible Hood in the few stories I read. |
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Jester II: 1941, Smash Comics #22. Rookie cop Chuck Lane is a descendent of a medieval court jester which is all that is needed to inspire him to fight crime outside of his police duties in the ancestral garb as the Jester. He also makes use of a rubber ball with a face on it. In his first appearance, it is noted that it's Chuck Lane's first day on the job as a cop. However, the Jester has been around for a couple of years, long enough to antagonize Inspector Mulligan and the other police enough to want to catch him and for crooks to jump at the sound of the tinkling bells from his cowl. Close up shots in his first issue also reveal the image of a skull on the front of his collar. The majority of the stories had Inspector McGinty as the police officer that the Jester most often showed up and the little rubber ball with a face he called Quinopolis. Eventually, he got square with the police, though years later, Lane is still a rookie cop. |
| Casey Jones: 1940, Hit Comics #1. Casey is a heroic train driver/engineer. Not only does he have a sparkling record for being on time, he finds himself fighting crooks and the such. | |
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Just 'N' Right: 1941, Doll Man Quarterly #1. On his 26th birthday, lumberjack Justin Wright is notified that he lost his parents to crime when he was a baby and bounced from relative to relative until he was lost in the system, but now finds he is heir to their fortune as well as their old house and a box that only contains a red silk scarf. He discovers that the scarf makes an excellent mask that he can see through and look a little like the figure of blind justice. Still angry at losing his parents to crime and having never gotten to know them, he becomes the hard hitting hero Just 'N' Right. Note: In the splash page, the scarf is white, but in the story itself, it is consistently shown to be red. |
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Pen Miller: 1940, National Comics #1. Pen is a cartoonist but also a detective and uses his adventures to inspire his stories. He's aided by Chop Chu, his Chinese houseboy. |
| Neon the Unknown: 1940, Hit Comics #1. Lt. Cracket of the French Foreign Legion is a cruel commander and sends his unit on a suicide mission across the desert, and one by one dies in the crossing from thirst and exposure until only Tom Corbet remains. He sees an oasis and drinks from the waters which contain some strange phosphorescent vapors and elements. It not only refreshes him, but he stands up transformed, even his uniform is altered to a costume. He names himself Neon and calls the energies that infuse him Neonic. He can use the neonic energy to fly in spirals of light, start fires, bring a train engine to a stop without harming it, as well as firing destructive and deadly bolts, or simply casting light, and able to mentally sense danger or apparently pick up radio waves. Pretty much anything that he needs the power to do. | |
| The Old Witch: 1940, Hit Comics #1. The hooded and robed hag and her black cat reside in a house hidden deep in the forest surrounded by old trees. Here she greets you weary and lost travellers and will entertain you with tales of ghosts and horror. | |
| Lee Preston: 1940, Crack Comics #1. Lee is a young pretty aviatrix and nurse for the Red Cross, starting off in China ferrying medicines to remote outposts and missions and having adventures along the way. | |
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Red Bee: 1940, Hit Comics #1. Rick Raleigh is the Assistant DA to Tom Darrow in Superior City, a city rife with corruption and mob bosses. He keeps "trained" bees in his belt and uses them and the innate fear most people have of bees to become the crimebuster, the Red Bee. By the time of his first appearance, the mob seems already aware of his work and think he's the DA. The bees are remarkably intelligent and strong as three are able to carry a razor blade to help the Red Bee cut himself free when tied up. One of the bees is named Michael. In addition to the bees, the Red Bee in one story has a powerful car that has an automatic driver feature. |
| Scarlet Seal: 1948, Crack Comics #57 (Quality).The Scarlet Seal is in reality policeman Barry Moore who had been an actor before taking a job at his father's police department. And like other policemen turned mysterymen, he found that his hands were hampered by the system and bureaucrats. So he devised a secret id to infiltrate the underworld. Interestingly, the id is pretty much the same as his last role in Hollywood, that of a Chinese mandarin. | |
| Perry Scott: Feature Comics (Quality). Recurring adventurer in the text stories of Feature Comics, he operated in the South Pacific taking on missions that were too tough for others both freelance and for Government Intelligence. He worked alone but also sometimes commanded a crew with his chief officer Spike. | |
| Spitfire: 1941, Crack Comics #15. Tex Adams is a heroic pilot although not officially tied to a squadron. The name of the strip is "Spitfire" but he doesn't seem to be called that, nor does he seem prone to flying just the one type of plane, but it's the name under his profile on the cover. | |
Douglas Strange: 1940, Hit Comics #1. Twenty-five years ago, the Chinese pirate Sin Chow seeks revenge on the Englishman Neville Strange who had smashed his operation. He orders the kidnapping of one of Neville's twin sons. Douglas grows up with the advantages of a fine home and wealth and becomes a famed detective of Scotland Yard while his brother Rodney grows up to rule the underworld of the Limehouse district, each unaware of their relationship. They come to know of their similarity when Douglas is forced to spend years in prison for a crime he didn't commit and discovers that the crooks recognize him as their boss when he tries to clear his name when he gets out. From there, it's only a short time before he and Rodney meet. Only Rodney's right hand man Wing Low knows the relationship between the two. The two are often confused for each other though Douglas smokes a pipe and Rod smokes cigarettes. |
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Swing Swisson: Feature Comics (Quality). In comics from the golden-age, no hook is too oddball for a character. Thus, you get Swing Swisson, a dark haired hip big band orchestra leader but also a rough and tumble detective aided by his closest friends Bonnie and Toby, singer and sax player of his band. Created by Phil Martin. |
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Tor: 1941, Crack Comics #10. Jim Slade is a reporter/photographer. He also operates as the magician superhero Tor which helps him in his career getting photos and stories and such. While many magicians operated as stage magicians and fought crimes in tuxes and such that they seemed to wear on stage and everywhere, Tor is one where the suit, cape and mustache (clean-shaven as Slade) are all part of his disguise and not a stage persona. He speaks the backwards magic of Zatara. |
| Eric Vale: 1940, Crack Comics #1? Eric Vale is a pilot of a black plane and a clever adventurer and investigator. His stories were regular two page text tales in the comic | |
Wizard Wells: 1940, Crack Comics #1. Wells is a former All-American athlete and a talented scientist and inventor. His adventures revolve around him using real and probable science to outwit crooks. He's aided by punch-drunk jack of all trades Tug and his would-be girlfriend Mary Perry whose father he saved from racketeers. In issue 14, he ingests radioactive salts to give paralyzing shocks through his hands ala the pulp's Green Lama. |
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| Wonder Boy: National Comics #1. (Quality). Anthony Durrant tells us: An un-named native of the lost planet Viro crashlands on Earth in a meteor after his planet is destroyed in a collision with a star. A stranger on a strange planet, he wanders the Earth having adventures wherever he goes, and fighting for freedom with his super-strength. | |
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X-5: 1940, Hit Comics #1. X-5 is a suave secret agent. You can tell he's suave because of the pencil thin mustache he sports. He's also a little taller than average due to a comment from a lady villainess calling him a "blond giant". Other than that, he's your typical secret agent. |
| X of the Underground: 1942, Military Comics #8 (Fox). X is a raven-haired beauty and spy in Germany often disguised as a female Gestapo agent. Among various spy talents, she knows jiu jitsu. |
Quality Villains
Black Gondolier: 1941, Doll Man Quarterly #1. In a black gondolia, this daring thief stalks the Hudson River. He pulls up next to large ships and uses suction cups to climb aboard and rob them. However, he makes a mistake in going after the same gold that some gangsters are after as well as kidnapping Martha Roberts. Doll Man, cops and gangsters all converge on the Black Gondolier's hideout. He manages to kill the gangsters, but he's gunned down by the cops.
Black Shark (aka the Lone Shark): 1940, Crack Comics #7. This villain made use of specialized diving gear to bedevil the Red Torpedo. Nothing particularly black or shark like about him. He was actually a bald man with a white billy-goat beard. However, he proved to be a capable villain and kept coming back.
Brick Bat: 1941, Police #5.The Brick Bat wears a Batman-esque mask with a green business suit and went up against 711. Don't know any more details.
Cadava: 1940, Smash Comics #15 (Quality). Anthony Durrant writes: Cadava was a socialite who was engaged to a wealthy beauty. When he was horribly disfigured in an accident, he took to hiding in the sewers and wearing a knight's costume and helmet. He abducts the woman to whom he was once engaged and brings her to his hideout in the sewers, where he begins a rampage of death and destruction by means of remotely-controlled explosive charges. He eventually dies in a struggle with the crime-fighter called the Ray, whom he had beaten and tried to kill earlier in the story.
Cateye: Mad-eye Anthony Durrant tells us: This monster was killing off the children of Ken Armstrong, an ex-gold miner, to prevent them from finding out that the mine was worth millions. When stopped by Doll Man and unmasked, Cateye was revealed to be Kain Hodder, Ken Armstrong's old partner. Hodder - afflicted with a rare eye disease that allowed him to see ten times better than normal at night, but left him blind in the daytime - succeeded in killing Ken Armstrong and his son Bill before being apprehended by Doll Man.
Chango: 1941, Smash Comics (Quality). In the days of vaudeville, Chango had a great magic act, people paid loads of money to see him perform. However, once it died, so did his career. However, Chango has real magic and decides to use it to rob and steal by speaking spells in pig latin. He was stopped by the masked hero Midnight.
Core-Men: 1940, Hit Comics #1. In the future when the Earth's orbit takes it too close to the sun, much of humanity is killed off, new tropical jungles grow, and the planet itself is cracked open with crevices deep into the Earth. Out of those crevices come the Core-Men, monstrous humanoids immune to the great heat, civilized to the point that they do have a king. However, not interested in peace, the humans of the last Earth city (Solis city, named after the professor who built the heat-proof city) realize they must engage in war for supremacy of the surface aided by Professor Solis, his daughter Betty and the adventurer Blaze Barton.
The Crime Mayor: Anthony Durrant says: The Crime Mayor was the ruler of crime in the Doll Man's city, a figure who turned law and order on its head and put the Doll Man on trial for fighting crime. After his conviction, Doll Man broke out of prison and helped the police to apprehend the Crime Mayor and his men.
Crimesmith: 1947, Feature Comics #107. The Crimesmith was a criminal and scientific genius back in the days of organized crime until he was captured and put away for many years. When he's finally released, he's changed: grown old and weak. But, as he notes, science has changed greatly as well. He creates a taloned robotic hand that he can control from the comfort of his home which he sends out to murder those that were responsible for putting him away, including Dr. Roberts, a close friend of Darrell Dane, the Doll Man. Doll Man foils the attempt on Roberts and tracks the hand back to the villain controlling it.
Morgan Crooke/Crookes: 1940, Hit Comics #1. A great man of wealth, he dreams of world conquest. To this end, he has organized the world's savage races into great armies, outfitting them with the tecnologies of the white men. His invasions and armies are stopped by the aid of the fledgeling hero, Neon the Uknown. Note: The villain's name is presented both ways, but more consistently without the "s".
The Crow: Vicious and cunning foe of the Spider, dresses a bit like the hero's pulp counterpart with slouch hat and cloak.
Crow, Jaspar: 1941, Crack Comics #11. Anthony Durrant writes: Jaspar Crow is a crooked politician whose enemy is Senator Thomas Wright, an exact double of the superhero, the Black Condor. He orders the murder of Wright, and the Senator is shot from behind from a speeding car. The Black Condor comes on the scene, finds the senator dying, and takes him to his home. Meanwhile, Crow sends a servant of his to cast Senator Wright's ballot in his favour, but the Condor foils the scheme by impersonating Senator Wright himself and casting the deciding ballot. Shortly thereafter, Senator Wright dies, and the doctor treating him - who, by an odd coincidence, is Wright's fiancee's father - urges the Condor to take up Senator Wright's identity permanently. As the Black Condor, "Senator Wright" brings Jaspar Crow's henchmen to justice, but Crow himself escapes to South America to escape prosecution for his crimes.
Death Emerald: 1943, Feature Comics #64. Little is known about this artifact other than a figure resembling the embodiment of Death who wants it back for his tomb. When Vern Hobson gets it from King Zut's tomb (maybe he's the figure of Death), his sister Ann dies and she's sent to retrieve it, even if she must kill her brother to get it. The ghost detective Zero manages to save Vern but in luring her to the graveyard, other ghosts come interested in the Emerald and they fall to fighting over it. Ultimately, Death must call them all back and no one gets rewarded with a return to life, Ann laments she may have to wait another million years for another chance.
Yvette DeMortire: 1942, Feature Comics #61. This beautiful woman scientist possesses a hatred of men and uses her knowhow to rob scientists of their minds and discoveries. Dollman investigates and discovers the root of her psychosis is feeling abandoned by her fiance as told by her hideous sister when the reality is he died in researching the deadly tse-tse fly in Africa. When presented with the truth she reforms.
The Dress Suit: Anthony Durrant writes: The Dress Suit was a headless robot in an immaculate dress suit operated by Sorbin, a member of a firm of accountants, who used it to get his partner's confessions from their homes and to kill them as well, to make it appear that the man they accused of their embezzlement had come back from the dead. Sorbin was apprehended by Doll Man, who exposed the Dress Suit as a robot.
Druids: 1951, Doll Man #38. A secret sect of druids have survived hundreds of years. They become openly active again when an ancient druid temple is found with a parchment that details where a great treasure is hidden. Stopped by Doll Man and Doll Girl.
Faux Black Condor: 1941, Crack Comics #14. This Black Condor look-alike is in the employ of Jasper Crow to help keep his disgruntled workers in line as well as ruin the real hero's reputation by showing himself to be a coward, not so tough and not really able to fly.
Atmos Fear: 1943, Smash Comics #44. Atmos Fear is the great-grandson of the last of the warlocks; on his thirteenth birthday, he develops the power to either heat himself up to boiling point or to lower his body temperature to the freezing point; this power is a last gift from his great-grandfather. Using his new power, Atmos goes on a crime rampage until he is stopped by the (lady) wrestler Daffy Dill, whose figure he reduces with his heat power until she is slim and shapely. Daffy uses him to replace her old heating system and thereby save on her heating bill.
Frio: Dollman Comics? (Quality). Anthony Durrant writes: Frio was a criminal from the year 2250 who went back in time in a time machine to the year 1950. On the way there, his time machine was intercepted by the one built by Darrel Dane, the brilliant scientist who was also Doll Man. On his arrival in Darrel Dane's time period, Frio - who wore a special suit that maintained his body at the temperature of one degree above absolute zero - announced his intention of robbing Fort Knox and taking the gold back to 2250. Doll Man and his partner Martha Roberts - also known as Doll Girl - were able to destroy Frio by subjecting him to such heat that his body cooked from within, at the suggestion of a police officer in Frio's own time era, 2250.
General Korn: 1941, Crack #13. A masked man and his gang of seeming beggers (actually wanted killers and such) kill an inventor of a remote control bomb device and starts blowing up buildings and threatening to blow up the Senate. Turns out that General Korn was the real inventor of the bomb, that he had hired inventor Stark try to sell it to the government. When Stark failed, he killed him and tried to kill the senators that rejected it. He was captured by Black Condor.
Ghost Werewolf: 1943, Feature Comics #71. While visiting a close friend Dr. Turner along with a pair of siblings, Jim and Lila, Zero is prompted to tell a tale of a werewolf as a storm rages outside, the perfect weather for ghost stories. However, his tale is cut short by Jim who claims such a story will bring them to life and shortly they hear something like a werewolf’s howl. While the men investigate, Lila is killed by what appears to be a werewolf. Zero is later attacked by a growling cloaked man who manages to escape from Zero but not before he’s revealed to be Jim who blames Zero for his sister’s death. Zero is wondering about Jim’s growling when he sees Jim is attacked by the “Ghost Werewolf”. Zero tries to stake the wolfman, but unable to do that, instead uses his Ghost Disintegrator, not knowing if it would work or not. Luckily for Zero it does, and as he and Dr. Turner check Jim, they discover in death, his face has changed… he too was a werewolf. NOTE: In this story, full of holes as it is, it also seems to confuse werewolf lore with Hollywood vampires, that it takes a stake through the heart to kill them.
God of Breeze: 1943, Feature Comics #71. A sentient wind, depicted as an anthromorphic cloud with a cherubic face, not too dissimilar in appearance from a Casper-style ghost, he blows across the country causing destruction. His saboteur ways are deflated by the hero Inferior Man. A humor strip.
The Hag: Patricia Wentworth is a beautiful woman who dressed up as a traditional styled witch and used science tricks to mimic magic in her crimes. She was foiled by Doll Man.
Fraulein Halunke: 1943, Smash Comics #48. A superb athlete and champion wrestler as well as incredibly beautiful, Halunke is recruited by the Nazis to trap the Marksman. She disguises herself as a Polish peasant and is taken in by him and his assistant Vorka where she discovers their undercover roles as German officers. However, while fleeing back to the Germans with proof, she is gunned down by German guards who think she's just a lowly Polish peasant woman out after curfew.
Mr. Harrow: Smash Comics #85. Anthony Durrant writes: Mr. Harrow was the leader of a ring of criminals who were selling multiple copies of famous paintings which he had himself painted. When his valet called the famous detective Black X to admit what he and his employer had done, Mr. Harrow had him killed, then pretended that a burglar had tried to rob him of a painting that was hanging on his wall. After Black X discovered that the painting was a fake, Mr. Harrow's henchmen coldcocked Black X's friend Inspector Burton and retrieved the painting, then tried to kill Mr. Harrow himself to cover their tracks. They were apprehended by Black X and his hindu valet and the two of them had Mr. Harrow arrested shortly afterward. Mr. Harrow has the distinction of being the last criminal brought to justice by Black X.
The Headless Men: Smash Comics #24. When government contractors appear to be dying of heart failure and their secrets stolen, Hugh Hazard and his Iron Man (Bozo the Robot) are called in to investigate. What he soon discovers is a small gang of men with no heads. After capturing them (for they are otherwise normal men), it is revealed to be a trick of a frame of fake shoulders under the clothes. The group are three men whose ugly features had driven them to poverty and desperation as they couldn't find jobs due to the way they looked.
The Headsman: Anthony Durrant tells us: The Headsman was a serial killer who chopped off people's heads; the Ray had been after him for some time. He kidnapped the Ray's girlfriend and, when the ray attempted to rescue her, drugged her so that it appeared that she had been beheaded, then promised the Ray that he would let her die if the Ray left the Headsman alone. In the end, the Ray captured the Headsman, and he proved to be the descendant of an executioner for the French royal court who still had his ancestor's urge to kill.
The Ice Demon: Smash Comics (Quality). Anthony Durrant provides: Chic Carter is sent to interview a man named Mr. Barker, who claims to be haunted by an ice demon that he has inadvertently brought from the Arctic Circle. However, he has made up the Ice Demon story in order to murder his assistant by freezing him in a room cooled by radiators. He even attempts to kill the reporter Chic Carter, but Chic outsmarts him by turning off the radiators and waiting for him to return, at which point he is arrested.
Invisible Menace: 1942, Feature Comics #61. Scientists J. M. Fon and Windsor were researching reincarnation and bringing people from the dead when their housekeeper winds up dead and Fon goes on trial for the murder. The ghost detective Zero suspects he might be innocent and upon visiting Windsor, realizes that an agitated parrot sees something he cannot, a robed skeletal ghost. The ghost serves Windsor for the promise to be brought back to life (turns out that all of Windsor's experiments were a failure). Zero dispatches the ghost and brings Windsor to justice.
Jeenie with the Light Brown Harem: 1943, Feature Comics #71 (Quality). When Rusty Ryan and his Boy Brigadiers are stranded on an island, the two most recent additions, Alababa and Pierpont Lee are helping to find a boat. What Pierpont discovers is a magic lamp and is rubbing while singing “dreams of Jeenie with the light brown harem” and lo, one appears with attractive dark-skinned lasses in tow. While they get the genie to create a boat with which the group can sail away, Lee and Alababa’s hijinks and fight over the lamp causes them to lose it in the sea. Knowing Ryan wouldn’t believe their wild story, they decide to keep the way they got the boat secret.
The Jester: 1941, Crack Comics #10. The Jester in his middle ages clown suit commits daring robberies. However, he steps in on the side of law & order when Professor Mason is kidnapped by someone dressed like him for Ratney's gang. The Jester intervenes and his own life is saved by Madam Fatal who is also investigating the kidnapping. Fatal lets the Jester go as payment for helping to save Professor Mason, but not before noticing a tell-tale scar on the Jester's hand which identifies him as Mason's estranged son. NOTE: The costume of this rogue is almost identical to Quality's hero by the same name, the main difference being the mask. But, the villain debuted a few months earlier.
Oscar Jones: 1943, Police Comics #15. A big-time racketeer with a Brooklyn accent. He started off as a youth, running a protection racket on newsboys. When he gets a colt, he specializes in a life of crime, arson, knocking off witnesses, and forming his own mob. But, when he kills a cop, he is captured and is sent to prison. He escapes but finds no one wants anything to do with him. He is tracked down by the hero 711 and a huge brawl is started. Jones finally gets an opening and he empties his colt into the hero, and thus becoming one of the very few villains to kill a mystery man. He was eventually captured and brought to justice for his crimes by the fledgeling hero Destiny. A tougher bad guy than most, his crime spree spanned 3 issues (Police #15-17, with the death of 711 in #15).
Kite Men: 1940, Crack Comics #6. From a secret advanced lab hidden in a crater strike the Kite Men. Strapped to giant kites and armed with lightning guns, they lay waste to one city and set their sights on Washington. The Black Condor manages to fight off one invasion and track them to their lair where the inventor Karlo Klug operates the kites by remote control. Klug himself follows the commands of an unseen "Master" who communicates via radio. After defeating the Kite Men, the Black Condor uncovers and captures the Master, a funny looking dwarf with long beard.
King of the Caverns: 1940, Crack Comics #7. An undersea monster man whose kingdom of like men was in deep water caves. He and his men opposed Queen Klitra and her Mermazons (underwater amazons) and teamed up with the Black Shark in an attempt to overthrow her. Stopped by the Red Torpedo.
The Knife: 1944, Feature Comics #76?. Anthony Durrant writes us: The Knife was a knife-wielding killer who escaped from the state penitentiary during a breakout engineered by himself and killed the gang boss who had sent him to prison right in front of the hero Doll Man. He then tried to kill his former gun moll, who was married to District Attorney Malone and didn't want him to know about her past, but Doll Man stopped him. Pursued to the city zoo by Doll Man and the police force, the Knife locked himself in a cage with a hungry tiger. Although the knife was thrown a gun by the District Attorney, ironically, he died at the hands of the tiger because he was terrified of guns and so could not use one even to save his own life. NOTE: Durrant credits the story to Feature #76, but the GCD lists a different Doll Man story in that issue.
The Mad Poet: Uncle Sam Quarterly #1. The Mad Poet creates some nonsense verse that proves to be actually a curse. Whoever hears the little ditty must repeate it city to city. All to improve his station, the Mad Poet wants to rule the nation. His plans are brought to naught, for Uncle Sam won't be out-fought. In jail, the poet brings about his end, as a parrott recites his words again and again.
Madame Doom: 1939, Smash Comics #4. In a war torn Europe, Madame Doom operates as a master of espionage, selling secrets to the highest bidder. Her actions have her run afoul of Black Ace (aka Black X) more than once. The two seem to have a Sherlock Holmes - Irene Adler type of relationship.
Man of a Thousand Faces: 1942, Feature Comics. A foe of Rusty Ryan and his pals. From Anthony Durrant: The Man of a Thousand Faces was the leader of the Black Dragon Society, which was made famous in the movie Black Dragons. As the name suggests he was a master of disguise who hid his real face under a series of masks. He kidnapped a woman and a Federal agent with the intention of injecting them with a solution that would make their dead bodies look like Japanese people. He was finally shot dead by a female agent who was impersonating an old spinner, and unmasked as the consul who was supposed to have committed suicide after Pearl Harbour. The Man of a Thousand Faces last appeared in Feature Comics #59.
Dr. Marah: 1940, Hit Comics #4. A Hindu type fakir, Dr. Marah heads The Future Society. He conducts crystal ball fortunes and consultations for millionaires who change their wills to leave money to the Society before committing suicide. The Red Bee uncovers the plot and how he was using a contraption to quicky inject the subjects with a powerful hypnotic while they sat before the crystal ball.
Mr. Fearless: 1944, Police Comics #26. In the days of vaudeville, a performer billed as the Ghostmaster was the a great make-up artist and a master of the quick change and bringing the dead to life. He made a great living but then vaudeville died. Bitter for the end of those days, he planned and plotted until he found Mr. Trueman, a bank president so trusted, that Fearless' impersonation wouldn't be questioned until he emptied the vaults and faked a suicide. However, one man didn't see it as murder, policeman Dan Richards. He gives the game away when he adopts Richards' identity as a disguise and meets up with Richards' other identity, Manhunter investigating. Manhunter captures Mr. Fearless and recognizes him as the Ghostmaster, a performer that inspired him as a youth (to the point that Richards is a bit of a quick change artist himself in and out of his role as Manhunter).
Mr. Mite: 1941, Smash #21. Mr. Mite is the short timid elderly manager of the tavern One Way Inn. Yet his true nature as a strong and formidable scrapper is revealed when it’s revealed that he and the Inn are behind the sea captain Black John’s smuggling spies out of the country. They’re all captured by the efforts of the Invisible Hood and an undercover cop.
Mr. Mole: Kid Eternity #8. Caleb Ness invents the Terrebore, a machine that is capable of burrowing through the Earth. He is kidnapped and it is seized by a bald criminal mastermind, Skull Mootz (no wonder he turned to crime). After using the machine to cause untold destruction and deaths, he then sends a message extorting money from his next target, signing it Mr. Mole. Caleb rebels but is knocked out as Skull has seen enough to operate it on his own now. Kid Eternity and Mr. Keeper witness armed troops and tanks useless against the machine and even Goliath is only able to slow it down. The kid calls forth Jove to use his lightning bolts against it which works, electrocuting both Skull and poor Caleb.
Mysto: 1942, Crack Comics #20. This Hindu fakir is a stage magician wowing them with his powers of hypnotism and stage magic. However, he's also aiding the crimelord Jasper Crow and his gang in knocking over banks and wiping out the memories of any witnesses. He's captured by the high flying Black Condor.
The Owl: 1938, Feature Funnies 7. For 3 months this villain in an owl mask committed daring crimes and confounded the police. Their first lead comes when he sends a warning of his robbing former rum-runner Getzmore. However, the Clock correctly reasons that Getzmore is secretly the Owl, afraid that the police might tumble onto him and staged the supposed robbery to divert suspicion.
Phantom Duelist: 1941, Doll Man Quarterly #1. The legend is that at midnight, the portrait of a cavalier swordsman comes to ghostly life and will challenge bystanders to a dual. Movie producer Reynolds brings the castle and painting from England to America to film a movie based on the legend. However, he has earned the enmity of several people and when he's murdered at the wrap party by the Phantom Duelist, the Doll Man has no shortage of suspects. He manages to outfight the Phantom who falls to his death from a castle tower. Dying, he's unmasked as Reynolds' publicist Steve Morton who was being blackmailed by Reynolds who witnessed him committing a murder years before.
The Pharaoh: 1943, Feature Comics #70. A man named Janus takes advantage of a Pharaoh's curse to disguise himself and his crimes. He's stopped by Doll Man.
Porcupine: 1948, Crack Comics #52 (Quality). A large buck-toothed villain, nicknamed for his spikey quill-like hair. Before he finished his prison sentence, he accidentally stubled into a charged electric chair, but survived and able to withstand great shocks. He wears a coat coated with fine quills that he throws at his opponents. The coat is also charged with batteries allowing him to electrocute his opponents with charged quills. However, when tussling with Captain Triumph, his coat is taken off and he started growing weaker, he'd grown dependent on the charges. Falling off a pier, the water short circuits his system and he perishes.
Professor Moray: Feature Comics (Quality).. A mastermind villain that bears a facial resemblance to the piranhas are his obsession. Years ago he led an expedition up the Amazon river in search of rare piranha. While dangling his arm to cool off in the oppressive heat, they mangle it down to bone. Now, he's willing to have his men to kill to get ahold of the fish and they soon take to dognapping to feed them, all for his unknown purposes. While tussling with the hero Doll Man, he knocks his own men into the tank with the fish, he himself is captured by the hero.
Purple Hoods: 1939, Feature Funnies #16. The Purple hoods are a secret group of four men (their leader is not masked) who are employed by a foreign power to undermine the country. Stopped by Black X of Espionage with the help of his aide Batu.
Raffrey: 1947, Crack Comics #51 (Quality). A werewolf that fought Captain Triumph.
The Robber Fly: 1949, National Comics #73. Emil is a human fly for a circus when he’s told that his act no longer thrills audiences and he’s being let go. Inspired, he dons a costume making him resemble a man-sized fly and commits daring cat burglar type robberies as the Robber Fly, his appearance frightening his victims. Policewoman Sally O’Neil sets herself a fly-trap and captures the villain.
Sapphire King: 1940, Crack Comics #5. On the Danger Islands off of Ceylon there is a cavern with a deep pool, probably connecting to the sea. At the bottom of the pool is a fortune in sapphires. The Sapphire King is a brutish man, leader of a small band of armed men and a flock of giant eagles, able to carry a grown man in their talons. He uses the eagles to raid merchant ships, stealing their cargo as well as kidnapping the sailors whom he forces to dive for the jewels. The Black Condor investigates. He manages to kill the eagles with his black light ray gun but only after a fierce aerial battle. The Sapphire King tries to hide his jewels in a another cave in which the Black Condor seals him in, where all those blood jewels will do him little good.
Sihn Fang: 1940, Crack Comics #4. Beneath Mount Doom, possibly somewhere in Europe, a village exists where crops don't grow, trees are withering and dying and into the village walks an old man. The adults are emaciated and in tatters and run when he questions them, but the children direct him to the top of the mountain where rays lay waste to their fields. The old man happens to be the Black Condor in disguise and up he flies to find a fortress with great lightning-ray cannons. Here resides the portly would-be conqueror Sihn Fang, his number one man De Graf, his beautiful red-headed daughter and his numerous troops. In an attempt to kill the Black Condor, the daughter is badly injured. She throws a destruct switch destroying the fortress and killing her, her father and their dreams of conquest.
Raddo, Silas: Smash Comics #26 (Quality). Silas Raddo runs the Midville Orphanage. He decides if he could get rid of the kids, he could pocket the endowment money so he plans on a holiday excursion for the kids aboard a ship that he has rigged to go down on the flames. Wildfire saves the kids and then dishes out deadly justice, throwing Raddo into a furnace and blowing up the small boat with his henchmen in it.
Sitok: 1948, Crack Comics #57 (Quality). Sitok is the "Green God of Evil" and a priest of his (dressed in blue Egyptian type garb) fought Captain Triumph.
The Skeleton: 1942, Crack Comics #20. In Candlewood, a spooky old castle transplanted to the States, a group of the Martin family gather to hear a will. However, before it can be completely read, a robed skeleton kills the lawyer and apparently burns the will. Turns out, going back five generations, with each new generation, the elders are stalked and killed. Until now, and the Skeleton seems bent on killing the whole family. Through the intervention of the Spider, the plot stands revealed. Five generations ago, Lord Martin had a deformed twin who was declared dead but secretly kept in the hidden rooms of the old castle. Eventually he escaped, and he and his descendents would kill off the preceding generation of the family until the present day when he decided to to kill off the whole family and take the castle and inheritance for his own.
Skull-Face: A dual mystery faces the Black Condor. 1) Strange and terrible storms are striking places where they shouldn't, wiping out towns and farms. Condor sees a link between the oddity of the storms and the fact they hit strategic defense supply areas. 2) Dr. Foster has developed a concentrated vitamin pill but the formula is stolen by a robed man with a skull for a face. The Black Condor discovers the two problems have a single answer, his arch villain Jasper Crow is working for Hitler and is using a ray from a super-flier airplane to cause the storms and one of his henchmen is the un-named death head villain. Crow's gang is captured, though Crow himself escapes. This story almost seems like two tales crammed into one, Skull-Face seems almost an afterthought, a shame considering Lou Fine's wonderful rendering.
The Skull Gang: The Skull Gang was a group of robbers and thieves whose faces looked like skulls because they were arsenic eaters. They were brought to Justice by the crimefighter known as the Clock and his assistant and double Pug, who also were able to bring to justice their masked ringleader. NOTE: The placement here is a guess, as the Clock ran longest at Quality. However, he was earlier published by Centaur comics.
Spectra: 1950, Modern Comics #96. From Darci: She appeared in two issues (that I know of): "Modern Comics" #096 (April 1950) "Blackhawk" #045 (Oct 1951) The origin story describes her as a "raider, robber, and wrecker." She was also a terrorist and pilot.
Rodney Strange: 1940, Hit Comics #1. Twenty-five years ago, the Chinese pirate Sin Chow seeks revenge on the Englishman Neville Strange who had smashed his operation. He orders the kidnapping of one of Neville's twin sons. Rodney grows up as Rodney Wing Low and comes to rule the underworld of the Limehouse district while his brother becomes a Scotland Yard detective, each unaware of their relationship. They come to know of their similarity when Douglas is forced to spend years in prison for a crime Rodney committed and discovers that the crooks recognize him as their boss when he tries to clear his name when he gets out. From there, it's only a short time before he and Rodney meet. Only Rodney's right hand man Wing Low knows the true relationship between the two, but keeps it a secret to himself. After this, he finds himself hounded to the four corners of the Earth by his twin.
Thinking Machine: 1940, Crack Comics #8. The Thinking Machine is torpedo shaped, has tracks like a tank, two arms with small pincer like hands, and a drilling rotator nose like those underground burrowing vehicles. On top of that if flies, much like a rocket. Invented by an elderly Chinese man for two unsavory types, he warns them that the death machine is so sophisticated, it might possibly be able to think and thus rebel. They scoff but it does just that and more. It turns on them, returns to Woe's lab, seriously wounds him and then sets out to make copies of itself in order to conquer the world. Before he dies, he's able to impart the secret of the one vulnerable spot, the tip of the rotator, to the Black Condor. Using his ray gun, the Condor destroys the Thinking Machine, which seems to shut down all of its duplicates.
Undertaker: Doll Man Comics. Sort of a reverse Spirit, the Undertaker is a balding, big chinned well dressed man with a fondness for dead things, so much so, he resides in a graveyard. Foe of Doll Man.
The Vulture: 1941, Doll Man Quarterly #1. Alymer is a dimunative man with a bird-like face (despite a pair of fang teeth) creates a bird-like suit with an energy device that allows him to fly and look like a human sized vulture. He usesit to commit daring robberies. He has his elderly father who has a bird stor train some falcons to grab shiny objects to help out his career of crime. But, his father gets suspicious and Alymer strikes him hard enough to kill him. He falls for Martha Roberts and kidnaps her and steals her diamond. His plans are foiled by Doll Man.
Witch Doctor: 1952, Doll Man 43. Darrell Dane, Martha Roberts and scientists Ronald Cable and Frank Benson are on an expedition to Haitian jungles where they interrupt a witch doctor’s zombie making ceremony through the use of an enormous jewel called the Emerald Eye. Cable later sees the Eye in his cabin aboard ship and then in his home in the States where he’s hypnotized into killing his friend and fellow scientist Benson. The Eye shows up again, this time to Martha, sending her to kill Darrell Dane. However, the witch doctor behind these hypnotic suggestions doesn’t realize that Martha Roberts “possesses amazing will power… enough to make the change to Doll Girl” and is able to fight off the hypnotic effects of the Emerald Eye. She and Doll Man easily defeat the witch doctor.
X-1: 1940, Crack Comics #3. X-1 is Wilhelm Wotan, head of Eutonia Lines. As X-1, he's the mastermind behind a masked group of pirates and raiders using submarines, with Z-3 as his #1 man in the group. His crew is captured due to the work of the Red Torpedo and his role is exposed.
Yaho: 1940, Crack Comics #7. Yaho is a ten foot tall statue-god of the believed extinct ancient tribe of Waquo Indians. When a specific amulet is put around his shoulders, Yaho comes to life with one purpose, to destroy the white man. Turns out the tribe is not completely extinct. One of the surviving members kills the famed explorer who currently owns the amulet and Yaho is subsequently brought to life. Luckily, the explorer was friends with the Black Condor who is familiar with the legend. He stops Yaho's rampage by removing the amulet and then blasting it to pieces with his ray gun.
Yellow Scorpion: 1942, Crack Comics #23. Robed Japanese agent and considered "the greatest criminal mind in the world." He is leading a group of saboteurs meeting in an old sewer that runs under almost all of the defense industries in the city. His plans are initially stopped by the Spider though he escapes.
Zaro: 1941, National Comics #14. An honest to goodness hypnotist and mindreader at a local club, Zaro also dabbles in a little murder at the behest of a gang boss, hypnotizing the victims into committing suicide. His crimes are unraveled by the lovely policewoman Sally O’Neil with some two-fisted help from her movie actor friend Barry Gilmore.