Speaking of rogues galleries of villains, one popular DC character that did not have one for many years was the Golden Age Green Lantern. That finally changed in All-American Comics #61 (August 1944) with the introduction of Solomon Grundy – an evil spirit encased in a physical body made of swamp matter.
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Giganta makes her debut in Wonder Woman #9 (May 1944), as a female ape that had been evolved through “hyperatomic energy” to a giant aggressive woman. In this story, she has no other powers except for being tall and strong and a bit of a jerk.
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I picture Stan Lee in the 1960s poring through old Marvel comic books in search of new villain ideas and coming across Captain America #32 (Sept 1943). In that issue, Captain America faces off against two new Nazi villains in two separate stories: The Mole Man and The Vulture. Not to be confused with their […]
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Wonder Woman finally gets a recognizable villain in the form of Cheetah in Wonder Woman #6 (August 1943). Priscilla Rich has a split personality and takes it out on Wonder Woman by dressing up in a skin-tight cheetah costume. This is, of course, the Golden Age version of the villain and not the version of […]
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A new recurring villain for Wonder Woman is introduced in Wonder Woman #5 (May 1943): Doctor Psycho. Doctor Psycho is a misshapen mysogynist dwarf with abilities to hypnotize and can shape ectoplasm into human forms. An equally grotesque villain, The Duke of Deception, enlists Doctor Psycho to prevent women from helping with the war effort.
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Batman’s rogue gallery of villains get two more additions in the form of Tweedledee and Tweedledum in Detective Comics #74 (February 1943), created by Don Cameron, who was busy in the DC Universe in 1942 and 1943! Dumfree Tweed and his cousin Deever Tweed look so much alike they are often mistaken for brothers… they […]
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One of the uglier Wonder Woman nemeses is introduced in Wonder Woman #2 (October 1942): The Duke of Deception! He was one of several generals that the God of War, Ares / Mars kept around. His demigod peers were the Lord of Conquest and the Earl of Greed.
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Detective Comics #66 (June 1942) saw the introduction of another great macabre Batman villain: Two-Face! This origin story features everything: Handsome public defender, angry criminal court scene, acid splash and then a psychotic break into a supervillain with a fascination for the number 2. The only difference from the modern day version is that he […]
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In June 1942, Superman gains a new supervillain in his roster: The Prankster. Looking like a creepy human representation of a vaudeville style ventriloquist dummy, complete with half-lidded eyes, he plagues Superman with practical joke-themed crimes.
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Detective Comics #40 (May 1940) introduced another Batman rogue: the original Clayface, whose alter-ego is Basil Karlo, a movie actor that goes crazy.
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