Garboil: 1941, Pocket Comics #1 (Harvey). Garboil is a Hollywood movie director, one of many that came from Germany. Only Garboil is working for the Nazis. In his first venture, he plots to insert scenes that will give instructions to a spy ring. However, he's suspected by his leading lady, Linda Turner who adopts the identity of the Black Cat to stop him. He's not captured though, she and reporter Rick Horne opt to leave him free in order to catch other spies as they thwart plan after plan of Garboil's.
The Gargoyle: 1946, Mad Hatter #1 (O.W. Comics Corp). Fank Faro is a ruthless criminal who was captured by the Mad Hatter and sent to the electric chair for his crimes. A scientist is given the body for his experiments, and he transplants the brain into the body of a gorilla. Coming to, the gorilla-man kills the doctor in his confusion. Stealing clothes and a rubber mask, he uses his strength to carve a new criminal identity in the Gargoyle, taking over Faro's gang. They commit daring robberies as well as allowing the Gargoyle to enact a little vengeance. Eventually, his gang tires of the murders and the attention they attract and he is forced to rub out his whole gang and continue alone. He is unmasked as the gorilla-man and falls to his apparent death while fighting the Mad Hatter on a roller-coaster, leaving the Mad Hatter in the dark about the death and re-birth of Frank Faro and the reasons behind the killing spree. NOTE: The source of where I read this story actually lists it as being in issue #2, but the cover to issue 1 clearly references this particular story. Whether this is an error on the part of the reprinter or if the story somehow ended up in a separate issue from its cover or whether issue #2 reprinted stories from issue #1 (not unheard of), I don't know. But, the cover appearance clearly makes the Gargoyle's first appearance the first issue, even if his actual story comes in another issue.
Garlock: 1940, Amazing Man Comics #11 (Centaur). A large bearded man, he led a crew of pirates in the lost bayous of Louisiana. He ruled with an iron fist and kept panthers to guard his treasures which he kept under control with a cat-o-nine-tails. He and his band hid out in a "Lost Castle" built by pirates 150 years earlier hidden in the swamps near New Orleans. His chief henchman seems to be Slick and he has the large and powerful bald brute Harper as an enforcer and torturer. Amazing Man easily out-fought them, rescued the reporter Zona Henderson the pirates had captured earlier, and sent the authorities back to retrieve the defeated pirates.
The Genius: 1940, Science Comics #3 (Fox). Foe of Dynamo. Actually this entry is here mainly because I loved the look of the creatures he fought on the cover.
The Genius (II): 1944, Super-Mystery Comics v4n4 (Ace). After failure to successfully complete their missions, sexy spy Fay Morganna, the Hun ( a long-haired brute of a man), and the Goth (a bearded older gent) are fearing punishment by Hitler and the Gestapo when they are approached by a dimunitive mastermind calling himself the Genius to lead the group. He quickly proves his worth as being able to think cleverly on his feet and not bad in a fight thanks to his quick wit and various little gadgets and tricks. However, like them, his plans are foiled by the Sword, Lancer, and Merlin who manages to quickly catch the rest of the gang though he escapes to fight another day..
The Gentleman: Exciting Comics 15 (Better). Notorious jewel thief, confident enough to warn victims of his crime ahead of time. However, when he threatens to rob the Bennet Galleries, they contact Tony Colby who's secretly the Mask. The Gentleman actually robs the gallery in disguise as an old woman and hides the necklace in hollow dog collar.
Ghenghis Khan: Champ Comics, (Harvey) Giant would be conqueror, armed with an electrical sword and head of his own army leads his forces against the Tibetan retreat where the Human Meteor gained his power belt from the monk Wah Le. The Human Meteor arrives and defeats the giant Khan and his forces.
Ghonda: 1945, Four Favorites #19 (Ace).Ghonda is a suave and extremely capable smuggler out of India. He's hired by gem merchant Lorenzo to smuggle diamonds. He and Lorenzo are captured by Lightning and Lightning Girl. While he wears a western (as in European/American, not cowboy) suit, Ghonda sports a red turban and a big black mustache. He prefers using his wits and a sacred dagger he keeps on his person to a gun, though his comrades don't share that compulsion.
The Ghost: 1940, Amazing Man Comics #13 (Centuar). The Ghost and his gang have a small fighter plane which they use to force down large transport planes for loot and hostages. However, on one such flight is Minimidget and Ritty who escape capture. They rescue the hostages and mount an attack against the gang. The Ghost himself sneaks off and gets in his plane for a getaway. Minimidget and Ritty tie a line across the path and cause the plane to crash on take-off and burst into flames, apparently killing the Ghost. The Ghost and his gang wear red hooded robes, the Ghost's has a skull on the front. With the sole exception of strongman and guard Jo-Jo who walks around bare-chested.
Ghost II: Champ Comics 22 (Harvey): In this goodie, a jewel thief, pretending to be a ghost by decking out in a long flowing hooded white robe, steals jewels from an art show at an imported castle and isn't above torture to get what he wants, relegating a poor soul to the rack. Foe of the White Mask.
The Ghost III: 1941, Wonderworld Comics #23 (Fox). aka The Ghost of El Morro, the Ghost of the Fortress of El Morro. For 400 years the ghost has been supposedly haunting the fortress of El Morro at San Juan, Porto Rico (sic) and people that have investigated just disappear. Dr. Clark and his daughter set out to prove it to be hokum, but they too see a ghostly robed figure before vanishing. Yarko gets a telepathic feeling of their plight and heads down to investigate. He discovers that the Ghost is really just a projection using a magic lantern. A gang uses the Ghost myth as cover while they kidnap slave labor to work in a gold mine deep beneath the fortress.
Ghost Crook: 1941, Blue Bolt v2 #3 (Novelty). America Suez is a hypnotist and stage magician who uses his abilities to become invisible and loot unsuspecting masses. However, the crimes of a "ghost crook" prompts the investigation by a ghost cop, Sergeant Spook.
The Ghost Gang: America's Best Comics 20 (Better). Reclusive Professor Onslow Bradley had invented something he called the spectro-disperser, a device that would rob something of all color, bathing it in white and making it almost invisible. Unfortunately for him a gang looking for a place to hide out happen to come to his secluded home. He hopes to scare them off by using his device which makes him look like a white robed ghostly figure. Instead they overpower him and taking his ghastly cue, the gang makes use of his findings to rob banks as the ghost gang using his home as hideout. Ultimately, they were stopped by the efforts of Doc Strange.
Ghost Knights: 1946, Four Favorites #23 (Ace). After Magno and Davey give documents to Dr. Meade, curator of a local museum, he reads an incantation that raises ghosts of marauding knights. They take medieval weapons, kille Meade and start wreaking mayhem on the local populace who can only see the weapons. Magno correctly deduces that they may have something to do with the museum. He returns there and finds the incantation and returns them to the afterlife.
The Ghost of Blasco: 1947, Black Cat Comics #4 (Harvey). Actress Linda Turner's father Tim Turner buys an old theatre which he plans to revive with new shows. When he refuses to sell to some ruffians, a ghost soon appears hanging from the rafters and intoning "I am the Great Blasco! I hanged myself here years ago when my last play failed! No one else shall enjoy success where I tasted failure!" Luckily, for old Turner, his daughter is the Black Cat. When one ghost doesn't work, she has to repel a group consisting of a devil, a witch doctor, a viking, and a skeleton. She tracks them back to a group of all too human gang under the theatre and it's her, boyfriend Rick Horne and her father (a one time silent movie western star) against the gang. Turns out the gang had been using it as a secret base for their counterfeiting setup
Ghost of Duke Edgeroy: 1941, Cat-man Comics #4 (Holyoke). The legend is that for 200 years, the ghost has haunted the Glascow castle in the Blue Stone Mountains and recently Sir Wilkens Sidney has been seeing the ghost and has called on Rag-man to help clear up the mystery for a hefty award. The ghost promptly does appear dressed as a cavalier with a yellow-greenish death-head face. Rag-man captures the Ghost and exposes him as Marty Vance, a well known racketeer who with Sidney's servants was running a counterfeiting operation out of the castle. NOTE: The various elements of the story don't really add up. The location is obviously meant to be America despite the presence of a castle with a knighted owner and a ghostly duke. The ghost's appearance suggests the Duke being from centuries earlier than 200 years ago as well.
Ghost of Graydon Castle: 1941, Victory Comics #1 (Hillman). Carl Meyer is a Nazi scientist. His experiments with spiders in South America drove some natives insane and he was forced to flee to the USA and he chose Graydon Castle (it was transported stone by stone to overlook the Hudson) as a prime place to continue them, especially as the owner was away. He made a clay mask and illuminated it and his hands and started spreading the idea that it was haunted. He killed and replaced Graydon's lawyer and so was able to doctor the will so that ownership of the castle would go to Meyer if Graydon's heir could or would not live there. Then one night, as the ghost he visited Graydon and frightened him to death. When Ruth Graydon decides to disbelieve in ghosts and take up residence at the castle, he's forced to either scare her or kill her. What he doesn't know is that the mystery-man the Crusader has been on his trail and had tracked him down. Meyer had developed red spiders whose bites would drive their victimes mad, to thinking they were spiders themselves. At the present, they were attracted to a specific perfume but he was working that they'd be attracted to human odor and thus would unlease a plague of madness on the USA for the Reich.
Ghoul: 1941, Silver Streak Comics #17 (Lev Gleason). Foe of Daredevil. Created by Don Rico.
The Ghoul: 1941, Fantastic Comics #17 (Fox). The Ghoul wears a skull mask and dark suit and is a criminal mastermind.
Ghoul of Galhalla: 1949, Rulah #22 (Fox). Tyrr is a huge native who is robbing burial grounds for human bones to create exquisite carvings. Rulah travels with ace reporter Madge Adams to find this ghoul. Tyrr runs out of bones, so he kills his mate and starts carving a statue of a woman from her bones. Madge is ill-equipped for life in the jungle and goes from danger to danger, finally getting kidnapped by a large ape which promptly crosses paths with Tyrr. Upon seeing the dead and desecrated body of Tyrr's mate, Madge's mind finally snaps while Tyrr himself battles and kills the ape. It is then that Rulah catches up to the girl and the ghoul and easily dispatches the madman. Poor Madge is sent to an asylum, but she eventually escapes and drowns, protecting the statue that she calls "dolly".
Giant's Dagger: 1941, Big Three #2 (Fox).Tom Patten and Roxdon cooked up a scheme where the thief Patton would steal millionaire Roxden's jewels and collect on the insurance money. Only Roxden betrayed Patten and he went to jail where he apparently perished in a fire in 1937. Years later and Roxden is slain by a giant dagger which skewers him. Which has Blue Beetle investigating and tussling the mysterious man known as "Smith" who seems a match for his strength. Smith is later revealed to be Patten who was disfigured in the fire and now has a headquarters under the cellar of his old home. Deranged, he kills his wife before she can betray him and almost succeeds in killing the Blue Beetle, Mike and Joan with a torture device before a replica of the Giant's Dagger which holds up the ceiling gives way and buries just him. Patten is a large man, bald and with a leering face when he's in his murderous rage but otherwise doesn't seem too disfigured. The giant dagger he carried around in a "violin case" and which he could use as a spear (the size of it, it would have to be a bass, not a violin).
Gila: 1941, Stars and Stripes #5 (Centaur). An American who while working for the government suffered a terrible accident that disfigured his face. While not a Nazi (and he's quick to point that out) he still allies himself with Nazi agents to get revenge against the government through acts of sabotage. He even challenges Amazing Man over television.
Glock and Saturnia: 1944, Blue Beetle #34 (Fox). A multi-part adventure serialized over several issues In "The Threat From Saturn" Blue Beetle must fight the criminal duo of Glock and Saturnia, a bald ogre and an evil glamour gal. On Saturn, they are criminals and when captured, they are imprisoned in a meteor in the hopes that it would kill them, instead it brought them to Earth.. In issue 39, BB teams up with an Italian peanut vendor to as the criminals manipulate a cult of elephant-worshippers into rioting throughout the city.
Glunken: Fighting Yank #5 (Better). Herr Glunken was among a group of German saboteurs practicing their craft in the Alps. They uncovered a cave with a blonde giant, a prehistoric man trapped in there for centuries. The long time in sub-zero temperatures made him bigger, stronger and made his body radiate intense cold. After slaying several of the Nazis, he falls under the sway of Glunken who recognizes him as a German even if a prehistoric one. It is Glunken who gives the giant the name of Blitz. Glunken takes him to America to perpetuate several acts of sabotage but they were ultimately stopped by the Fighting Yank.
The Glutton: 1946, Jumbo Comics #93 (Fiction). A large criminal genius who is constantly eating while planning and committing crimes. His crimes are consistently foiled by ZX-5, though he makes a habit of getting away. NOTE: I have no way of verifying if this one story is his only story or not at this time. The story refers to a history between him and ZX-5 and he escapes at the end, promising future encounters, but that doesn't mean that those adventures ever made it into publication.
The Goblin: March 1944, Clue Comics #7 (Hillman). Ronald Byrd, yet again: Taunted since 1923 for his goblin-like appearance, Eric Hessler constructs a death-trap amusement park and sends his employees into it to die. During a battle with Zippo, the Goblin is seemingly killed in a roller coaster accident.
Golden Monkey Society:1955, Phantom Lady 3 (Ajax-Farrell). In the country of Formosa this secret Asian society plots to overtake the country under the leadership of Lee Kim and want Senator Knight to take word back to America that it¹s for the good of the country that he do so. However, his plans of conquest are undone by Phantom Lady.
The Golden Skull: 1941, Jungle Comics #23 (Fiction). Anthony Durrant writes: The Golden Skull is the statue of a red devil that is worshipped by the Mobalo tribe. After two brothers go into the jungle looking for the Skull, one of them returns injured and is killed by one of the Mobalos using a poison dart. Roy Lance, the jungle ranger, then heads down into the tribe's territory, where he discovers the Golden Skull in a cave at the foot of a volcano, in the process saving the life of a Mobalo named Bomba. Bomba then returns the favour by hiding behind the Golden Skull and ordering his people to release Roy. Roy and Bomba then topple the statue, save the life of the dead man's brother, and escape from the cave through the secret passage that had been behind the idol. The Mobalos are killed when the volcano erupts; Bomba is the sole survivor of his entire people. (As can be seen from the description above, the name "Golden Skull" is a misnomer, and the statue was probably supposed to be called "the Red Devil," but the name was changed.)
Goldmaster: 1940, Big Shot Comics (Columbia). Dennis Durrant imparts: Goldmaster is a criminal obsessed with gold. In his first appearance, he killed two of the men who had sent him to prison years before. In his last appearance, in Big Shot Comics #3, he shared the secret of how to make gold with a wealthy banker, who intended to use his unlimited gold supply to "buy the government." However, they ran afoul of the Face, Goldmaster's perennial foe, and Goldmaster took his own life by swallowing poison, while the banker and Goldmaster's henchmen went to prison. Goldmaster was a tall robed man very much in the mold of the Claw; he wore a grey skullcap and had pointed ears and a goatee.
The Gorgon: 1937, The Comics (Dell). Masked super criminal and kidnapper. Opposed by Tom Beatty.
Gorgon's Head: Yankee Comics: 3 or 4 (Chesler) A masked and cloaked figure, ala the Shadow, carrying a Medusa head attacked various patriots that worked for the war effort, turning them to stone. Yankee Doodle Jones and Dandy investigated with Dandy almost falling prey to the hideous head himself. They revealed that the masked figure was Bogardus, the federal representative. He had developed a fluid that turned the victims to stone and made a plaster Medusa head to spray his victims. He drank the formula himself rather than being captured.
The Gorilla: 1941, Blue Beetle Comics #9 (Fox). Jack Castle is the assistant to scientist Dr. Brock. Brock has been experimenting with transplanting brains of humans and apes. When Castle shows up once again drunk and apparently having tried again to make time with Brock's niece Elsa, Brock knocks Castle out and transplants his brain into the ape instead of some poor bum's. When Castle comes to, he's enraged and kills Dr. Brock. He flees to his oldest friend a world-renowned scientist by the name of Mishkin. Mishkin panics seeing a talking gorilla and contacts the police and Castle must kill him as well. He then tries confronting Els who shoots and wounds him. Maddened, he vows a war on mankind. Meanwhile, Elsa and new boyfriend Ken Connors team up to stop him. An interesting strip built around the villain.
Gorilla II: (Fiction). Anthony Durrant writes: Gorilla was a bearded sea captain with one eye and a hook for a hand, who captured apes for a doctor and his assistant (who were trying to cure the black fever through an electrical treatment). Gorilla tried to discredit both the doctor and Sheena by turning the natives against the doctor, which caused them to go to war against all whites, but he was stopped by Sheena and taken to the Commissioner.
The Gorillas: Anthony Durrant writes: A band of gorillas is wreaking havoc in Kenya, and Keith Richards, the adventurer, is sent in to investigate. He and his assistant Betty discover that the gorillas are actually German saboteurs in gorilla skins, and in the process she shoots one of them who has come to kill Dan himself. In the end, the "gorillas" are captured, and their ringleader is revealed to be Keith Vincent, the hunt licenser, who had tipped the saboteurs off when someone applied for a hunting license at his station, after which they would strike.
Gorilla Men: 1941, Exciting Comics #8 (Standard). In Africa, a train wreck is blamed on gorillas and Ted Crane and his gal Betty investigate. The gorillas seem intelligent as well as tough, Ted puts 4 bullets in one to no avail. At the end, the gorilla men are revealed to be a gang headed by Vincent, a game protector hired off by the Germans. They wore gorilla suits that had weighted knuckles and bullet-proof plating to help them carry out their charade.
The Grand Zombie: 1940, Weird Comics #4 (Fox). A master Zombie maker living in a palace of his own in the jungles. He and his wife (?) are poisioning some native villagers and turning them into their zombie slaves after they fall into a death-like state. He's killed by Bob Warren, returning the will back to the zombie victims.
Great One: 1940, Amazing Man Comics #13 (Centaur). The Great One is a mysterious mastermind, commanding the Eurania, a huge mobile and submersible ship that he calls his floating continent. He uses a magnetic-ray to capture aircraft that he keeps in hangars below deck. His own powers of hypnosis enslave the pilots to his will. He wears a black hood and robe that covers most of his face. His loyal soldiers wear similar outfits though their faces are visible. His plans of conquest are stopped by the Scarlet Ace. He apparently falls to his doom from an airplane while dueling with the Ace in the skies.
Great Question: 1939, Amazing Man Comics #5 (Centaur). This mystery villain was one of the head lamas at the lamasery where Amazing Man was raised and trained. With his incredible telepathic powers (he could project his thoughts across the world and could hypnotize all but the strongest mind) he was the lama in charge of interrogations. All under the observation of the other lamas the Great Question was able to create a world-spanning criminal organization. Throughout Amazing Man's life, the Great Question attempted to take control of his mind; in the end, Amazing Man's mind proved too strong for him. Amazing Man revealed his criminal plans to the other lamas and the Great Question found himself banished from the lamasery. He continued to hound Amazing Man in the outside world. In one issue, he 'piloted' a giant metal robot referred to in one panel as the "Iron Man." The Great Question is able to mystically turn himself invisible and/or teleport over great distances. By issue 22, he teams up with Hitler and the Nazis and aids them through his science and mysticism now called "black magic". At this time he starts using different names: Mr. Que, the Great Que, and just plain Que. He trades in his hood and robes for more military garb and a white eye mask. As the Great Que, he has a secret base in the Pacific, his own army and air forces and super science weapons. His base is high in the stratosphere, so he and his men have to wear oxygen helmets. In the summer of 1941, he launches new attacks against America, starting with his air squadron bombing the bases at Hawaii and laying waste to the island, more complete than what the Japanese would do in several months. Amazing Man is able to destroy the base and help American pilots handle Que's air squadron. Que himself teleports away.
The Great Question is possibly comics' first really great super-villain. He not only predates most others when the the heroes fought mainly spies and crooks, but he was in almost every Amazing Man story, directing the scenes through henchmen and different parts of his criminal organization and sometimes taking direct hand in affairs himself and almost always managing to elude capture.
Green Claw (alias for the Claw): Silver Streak Comics #6 (Lev Gleason). Created by Newton Alfred.
The Green Mask: 1940, Sure Fire Comics #1 (Ace). A green hooded man and his gang steel government secrets, torture agents to death all in plots to bring governments to answer to them. Turns out he's the famous sportsman Sam Barkley, his hatred of American stemming from his American father abandoning his foreign and presumably ethnic mother. He takes poison to avoid capture by X, the phantom fed. This story is a re-telling of the story "Ambassador of Doom" in the Secret Agent "X" pulp.
The Green Skull: 1942, Dynamic Comics #3 (Chesler)/Jan. 1943, All-New Comics #1, (Harvey). Green-death's head villain that fought the Nighthawk. When captured, he stands revealed as Norris, the partner of a tank manufacturer. The villain seems to have first appeared in a text story in the Chesler comic while the Harvey one is his first depicted appearance.
Green Sorceress: 1940, Blue Bolt Comics #2. Villainess that opposed the underground kingdom that Fred Parrish, aka the Blue Bolt allied himself with. She later went to the surface and aided Hitler? Later reformed.
Gremlin: Fighting Yank (Better). Looking like a man-sized cobbler's elf, the Gremlin is billed as a denizon from "the realm of death." However, he works for the Nazi cause. Lighter than air, the Gremlin maneuvers through the sky by being suspended by a large motorized propellor. He fought the Fighting Yank.
Grey Destroyers: Startling Comics #39 (Better). Dick Martin and his girlfriend Joyce head to the mountains of New Hampshire for a skiing holiday. However, they run afoul of a gang of five men who are setting themselves up for conquest. The leader is an inventive genius of electricity and magnetism. He is using the state's own power to set up his base. In addition to guns that fire paralyzing rays, he has massive cannons that fire ricochet bombs, and man-sized radio directed spheres capable of electrocuting everyone in a three mile radius where they crash. He even is able to come up with a trap that temporarily immobilizes Pyroman. Ultimately, Pyroman is victorious and capturing the gang. The Grey Destroyers, including the leader, all dress in gray rubber-asbestos suits with cowls that cover their head but leave the faces exposed.
The Grey Hood: ?1942, Doc Savage #8 (Street & Smith): In formal attire with tails and a cadaverous face in a gray hood, this villain and his gang attempted a scheme to kidnap the rich boy Sylvester Ritzbilt. However, he ran into a couple of obstacles. One being, on a lark the boy exchanged identities with a poor boy, Tommy Dunn ala “The Prince and the Pauper”. The other being the involvement of the hero Ajax, the Sun Man. He gave it a good shot, converting an old residence on the Seaside Cliffs into a “Murder Manor” with death traps galore and even a moat to deal with unwanted guests. However, in the end, Ajax triumphs, restoring both boys to their respective parents and the Grey Hood was revealed as Jordan the butler.
Groff: August 1941, Victory Comics #3 (Hillman). Groff is a daring Gestapo agent, doesn't even bother changing his name while operating in the US. He has green eyes that seem to work like a flashlight (or maybe artistic way to show that he can see in the dark) as well as being a powerful tool for hypnosis which he is a master. Although, he fails at bending the Crusader to his will who captures him.
Guinn, Mrs. Fay: 1947, The Fighting Yank #22 (Standard). Mrs. Fay Guinn is a large woman who runs an orphanage for children. It's actually a front for her gang and they use the kids as pickpockets, purse snatchers and thieves. Fighting Yank gets involved when his alter ego Bruce Carter III and fiance Joan witness one of the thefts. As the Fighting Yank he follows the young thief back to the orphanage. In a knock-down fight with Mrs. Guinn and her gang, she stands revealed as a "he". He's Frank Guinn, ex-strongman for the Holloway Circus. But, not quite strong enough to stand up against the Fighting Yank.
The Gypsy: 1942, Lightning Comics v3#1 (Ace). This dark robed hag came forth, telling fortunes with her crystal ball, foretelling doom and a curse upon Lake Aircraft Company. Turns out, her son was foreman of the plant and he had convinced her she had real powers with the aid of her husband (who also dressed like a gypsy). When her husband and son die in a plane crash while fighting the Sword, she confesses to all.
The Hag: May 1941, Catman #1 (Holyoke). The hag is tall and thin with pale skin and a witch-like face. Her son Igor is short and strong and apparently mute. As winter approaches and they have no food nor money, she uses their ugliness to help in committing crimes, their very appearance is able to shock weak hearts into giving out. The Black Widow tracks them down but is captured by Igor, even after shooting him several times. Igor succumbs to his wounds but not before bringing her to his mother. Crazed she sets her shack on fire in an effort to kill the Widow but when she escapes, the hag chooses burning to death over being turned over to the police.
The Hag II: September 1941, Yankee Comics #1 (Harry Chessler). An ugly witch said to be the last witch of the Dark Ages by her partner/master the Fear. She could kill others at a great distance by use of a strand of her victim's hair. She and the Fear were stopped by Yankee Doodle Jones and Dandy on their first assignment.
Hag From Hades: 1943, Air Fighters Comics #5 (Hillman). A witch crone in service of the Nazis, she flew on a mass of flames, threw flameballs, created werewolves and fought the Black Angel. It was revealed that the flaming mass actually hid a small airplane she stood upon and it was drugs that turned men into werewolves.
Colonel Hakashi: 1949, Spy and Counterspy #2 (American Comics Group). Anthony Durrant reports: "Colonel Hakashi was a survivor of the atomic bomb explosion at Hiroshima whose face was left so disfigured that he had to wear a black mask over his head. Hakashi founded a society called the Black Avengers in order to get revenge on America for the atomic bomb blasts, but was stopped by two American agents, one of whom was Lotus Blossom, the only female member of his group and the girl who had discovered his prototype atomic balloon bomb years before. Colonel Hakashi appeared in Spy & Counterspy #2, which was the last issue of that comic to bear that title, it changed to Spy Hunters by the third issue."
Half-Man: 1941, Air Fighters Comics #2 (Hillman). This villainous Nazi was so severely wounded, that the left side of his body was replaced with cold steel. He partnered with Goro, "the yellow butcher of Tokyo". The pair went up against Skywolf and his squadron of fliers.
Hammerfist: 1940, Target Comics 11 (Funnies Incorporated). Bald gangster with a metal ball for a right hand. He and his men in trying to gain control of the area night clubs, frame the D.A. Bill Reed for murder and he's sentenced to death. When his brother Niles tries to free him, Bill is shot and killed. Niles with two other young men become the Target and Targeteers in order to fight crime and oppression and track down the men responsible for framing Bill Reed. It is later revealed that Hammerfist works for another gangster "Mighty Mite" who in turn works for another.
Lydia Hampton: 1953, Adventures into Darkness #12 (Better). When her husband is fired, he is afraid to tell her he lost his job and buys a strange necklace shaped like two snakes holding a gem between them in their mouths from a strange old man with scaley skin as a gift to appease her. After Lydia puts on the necklace and wishes she was someone important, the necklace bites her. The old man then visits her and tells her she's now a priestess of Seth and the necklace will grant her wishes. Sure enough, she's visited by an serpent man who directs her to kill her husband, that she'll be protected. She does so and marries her defense attorney, who later dies in an accident. She then marries his business partner. However, she too late discovers the price of these wishes that come true, she likes cool dark places and her skin slowly becomes scaley, she's becoming a snake person like all those before her. The only way to rid herself of the curse is to find someone just as greedy to buy the necklace. Do you crave power and wealth? Someone has a good deal for you!
The Hand: (Fox). A robed foe of the Eagle and Buddy.
Chung Hang: 1940, Fight Comics #2 (Fiction) This yellow peril menace is a bit of a visionary. He forsees "soon the world will exhaust itself in war. Then it shall be ready for my super-science...I will control the thoughts of all men!" He's not an idle boaster either as the rays from a rod he holds allows him to controll anyone they fall upon. Unfortunately for him, he had apparently been using Americans trapped in war torn China to experiment upon and pilot Chip Collins and his Skull Squadron (their bi-planes have paintings of skulls on the side) as well as his girlfriend Wendy fly to the Chinese village to rescue them.
Hans: 1944, America's Best Comics #12 (Better). Called the strongest man in Europe, Hans' brain cells were grafted into the dimunitive genius Little Fuehrer and is ostensibly a slave to him. Hans is a big man with oversized hands able to trade blow for blow with the American Eagle who eventually defeated him and the Little Fuehrer.
The Hare: Red Dragon Comics (Street & Smith). Cunning thief that opposed the Red Knight. Not much else to recommend about him other than that the Red Knight for a chess genius and gifted with some rare instances of incredible foresight is also rather dense at times (although I don't think this is the impression the writer intended to give, just he's not that good of a writer). Thus to be charitable to the Knight and forgive him the lack of a decent writer, let's just assume the Hare really is a Napolean of crime the writer wants him to be.
The Harrow Brothers: March 1943, Clue Comics #3 (Hillman). Ronald Byrd tells us: James and Billy Harrow are identical twins with a psychic link that enables them to sense each other's emotions. The stronger-willed James mentally forces his insane brother to aid him in blackmail and murder. Micro-Face brings them both to justice.
Hawk: a magician and warlord who fought Don Winslow.
Hawkina: (Fiction). Anthony Durrant writes: Hawkina was the queen of a tribe of slavers who beheaded Blackbeard, another slaver. She raided a village where Sheena's people lived, and took away the women to be sold as slaves. However, she was stopped by Sheena and her mate, Bob. Sheena freed the slaves from captivity and was able to destroy Hawkina and her henchmen. Hawkina was also distinctive-looking, as she wore a hawk's head on her head and her bra was actually two tresses of her own hair.
Hawkmen: 1944, Tops Comics (Lev Gleason). In the Pacific a ship bearing army nurses is caught in a mysterious fog and when it clears, the ship is near an uncharted island. Suddenly, the ship is attacked by hawkmen who kill the sailors, set fire to the ship and kidnap the nurses. Nurse Doris Kane is trapped below decks, but the hero Jack of Spades bursts from a deck of cards and saves the nurse taking her to the island where the hawkmen live. From there, the strange plot unfolds. Mercuro the leader of the hawkmen has kidnapped the women in hopes to create hawkwomen. He is successful with one but then the Jack of Spades bursts in, who seems to recognize him. Mercuro is accidentally speared by his own men and other monsters of his creation begin to run amok, free of Mercuro's will. As Jack of Spades and various winged hawkmen fight a huge dragon, Lotho and Bosco decide to submerge the island, saying only they can survive under water, leading to an open revolt between them and the winged hawkmen. The hawkmen scoop up the nurses, taking them to nearby ships while one skewers the traitors Lotho and Bosco. NOTES: This is the second story in the two of the one issue of "The Jack of Spades." Both stories are breezy and fun despite the smaller size of the comic and the haphazard coloring (some pages full color others black & white & red ). There's quite a bit to be inferred from the story. One, there are two types of hawkmen. The guards and soldiers who had clawed feet and hands with massive wings out of their backs. Then the leaders Mercuro, Lotho, and Bosco who have wings from the sides of their heads but not backs and who possibly cannot fly. Then there are the references to the leaders being able to breathe underwater, from being below ground, and the fact that Mercuro is seeking to make hawkwomen suggesting that possibly all the soldiers and guards are also creations of Mercuro especially since the one hawkwoman made is similar to them.
Head: 1941, Amazing Man Comics #19 (Centaur). American Senator Manski was the leader of a successful and clever spy ring. He and his servant Toka were exposed by Minimidget and Ritty. Rather than face his crimes, he jumped from his penthouse to his death.
The Head II: Shadow Comics (Street & Smith). Criminal mastermind and master of Dundril the dwarf. When he¹s killed while opposing the Hooded Wasp, Dundril finds a new master in the Mask and sets out to even the score.
The Headless Horseman: (Standard) Mr. Anthony Durrant recounts: The Headless Horseman was a criminal who operated a protection racket; he carried a bald head under his arm and wore a black robe that covered his real head. He and his hooded henchmen - similarly attired in black robes - would raid the stores of all people who were not American-born, and it was these people who were the victims of his protection racket. He was apprehended by the Fighting Yank, and unmasked as a criminal who was wanted in ten states (whose name was never given in the story).
Herr Death: 1941, Silver Streak Comics #16 (Lev Gleason). Animates corpses; foe of Captain Battle. Created by Otto Binder & Jack Binder
Herr Phew: June 1943, Clue Comics #4 (Hillman). Ronald Byrd odiously gives us: The unhygenic Nazi Herr Phew emits an overwhelmingly foul odor, which he uses to destroy the livestock and crops of Stupid Manny's home town. Manny rises to the challenge by eating "onions, garlic, scallions, limburger cheese, an' any other smelly food," defeating Phew with a horrendous blast of super bad breath. On an ominous note, Phew is jailed until "U.S. gas experts take [him] apart to see what gives [him] such an awful smell."
Herr Von Krane: 1941, Yankee Comics #1 (Chesler). "Ruthless agent of a European Dictator" ie Hitler. Leads a gang of 5th Columnists but is stopped by the actions of the Scarlet Sentry.
He-She: Boy Comics #9 (Lev Gleason). "The deadliest is the female...the strongest is the male...combine the two with the killer instinct and you have He-She"; foe of Crimebuster. Created by Charles Biro.
Hillcrest Phantom: 1939, Amazing Mystery Funnies v2 #3 (Centaur). At the Hillcrest Sanitarium, there are mysterious suicides as well as a hooded cloaked figure that is sometimes seen. When the actor Bruce Baron commits suicide, ace investigator Chic Farrel is sent to investigate. The mystery figure kidnaps nurse Mary Black, claiming that she had spurned his affections and now he was going to prove his theory that brain transplants are possible by swapping hers out with his hulking idiot assistant Quando. When interrupted by Farrel, he chains him up and decides to bury the nurse alive. Chic gets free and outfights Quando, while a Dr. Reynard saves the nurse. The mystery man stands revealed as the head of the sanitarium, brain specialist Dr. Delamorte who had been blackmailing his patients, destroying their minds with drugs and killing them when done. NOTE: The masked figure had no name perse, so I made one up. Also, there's a flaw in the story as while the figure was supposed to be about to operate on the nurse in his secret lab, Dr. Delamorte was in aother operating room and Farrel sees him there. So, there might be a little more to this mystery than published.
Him: September 1944, Speed Comics #34, 35, 36 (Harvey). While on location in an American desert, black hooded villain named Him antagonizes a film company, first by kidnapping a group of actors, later leading renegade indians against a western movie and then bringing in Japanese soldiers to disrupt a war picture. The Black Cat, who is actress Linda Turner, manages to stop Him each time but not unmasking the villain until the third story. SPOILER: Him is revealed to be none other than petulent actress Hedy (Delores in #35) LaRue
Hitler-Devil: 1943, Four Favorites #12 (Ace). George Smith is in Tunisia where his unit is slaughtered and it looks like sure doom for him until he's visited by Hitler-Devil mix. He looks like Hitler only with a red cape, a forked tail and a red skull-cap with horns and a swastika emblem. He offers George safety and another 100 days to live if he swears to give him his soul. After he makes the agreement, George discovers he cannot die so he decides to kill as many Germans as possible before Hitler comes to collect. Then the Hitler-Devil makes him a coward and to betray all that he holds dear, to demoralize his fellow soldiers and their faith in America. However, the Unknown Soldier intervenes, and goes to the Master of Good and calls forth spirits of patriots to inspire the heroic patriotic spirit inside George and he goes forth to fight and die as a true American hero, thus thwarting the Hitler-Devil's plans.
John J. Hix/Ghost: 1940, Silver Streak Comics #2 (Lev Gleason). John J. Hix was a millionaire fanatic who developed a fixation on the pretty Doris Dare of radio and sent her threatening letters and was sent to an insane asylum. After a couple of years, he kills one of the attendants, escapes and holes up in a supposed haunted house. From there, he dresses up in a sheet as a horned ghost and hires a couple of thugs to kidnap Doris. She's rescued by "the Duke" Kelly. Hix had wired the house with explosives and blows the house up trying to kill Doris and Duke, but they manage to escape. Hix is presumed killed in the explosion. .
Dr. Hodl: 1940, Exciting Comics #3 (Standard). Bald-headed mad scientist in league with one General Pasko but it's Hodl who is the mastermind of their bid for world power. Hodl invents the Red Blight, a powerful ray gun that can send out a red ray to almost anywhere in the world from their Transylvania headquarters. Whatever the light illuminates is violently destroyed, shaken apart as if struck by an earthquake, from a simple building or train to whole cities. He is stopped by Thesson, hurled apparently to his death from his castle tower.
Hogin: March 1943, Clue Comics #3 (Hillman). Ronald Byrd speaketh: Recognized as an "ace scrap collector," Hogin increases his output by using a powerful magnet to pull cars into the air and his "flying junkyard" to be turned to scrap metal. Twilight scraps Hogin and his underlings.
Dr. Holmes and Hideous: 1942, Dynamic Comics #3 (Chesler). In brown face mask, hat and overcoat, Holmes took over the local gangs and started killing doctors and cornering the drug markets. He's aided by the large and murderous ape-man Hideous. Both are stopped by Dynamic Boy. There is no explanation given as to just what Hideous is supposed to be, he might just be a large African American psychopathic simpleton.
The Hood: 1940, Amazing Man #10 (Centaur). This evil genius operated at some time in the future, amassing weapons and an army for universal conquest. First, he had to try to get rid of Jane QX3,the beautiful Magician from Mars. Instead she destroyed his secret plant and headquarters, forcing him to flee to escape destruction. In addition to devilish devices, the Hood can make himself intangible. The following issue find the Hood sowing war on Mars, and the Magician must return to put a stop to his plans. Along the way she falls in love with Prince Taal who gives his life, taking a bullet for Jane. Jane manages to unmask the Hood as her Aunt Vanza and as her aunt, somehow has the same powers as the Magician and escapes by dematerializing. Her having the same powers doesn't track as Jane gets her powers by being 1) a hybrid between an Earthling and Martian couple and 2) being exposed to cathode rays as a child
Hood II: 1940, Speed Comics #10 (Harvey). Underneath a lighthouse, the Hood maintains a secret base of spies, with a U-boat and seaplane, from which they are sinking convoys. The Hood and his gang are captured by Captain Freedom and the Young Defenders. The Hood is revealed as an agent disguised as Mr. Borgam, the head of United Shipping which was how he was getting info on the convoys as they were using his ships. At the end of the story, the real Mr. Borgam is presumably still held captive in Germany.
Hood III: 1940, Speed Comics #10 (Harvey). The Hood is a cadaverous looking scarecrow of a man, his skin like wrinkled brown leather over a thin frame and long blonde hair. He wears a long over-coat and a tall hat, completing the scarecrow look. He's a murderer and a robber, he and his tough man Mr. Gabby rob a plane, murder the co-pilot and parachute out. However, also on the plane is Joanie of the Young Defenders which draws the rest of them and Captain Freedom into the case. Gabby is killed by members of the Hood's gang when he's disguised as Captain Freedom. The Hood himself is spooked by Joanie who he thought was killed and fleeing her "ghost", he runs into the path of a train and his body is last seen falling from the bridge (so I guess there's a chance that he survived that less than sure death).
The Hood IV: 1940, Fantastic Comics #9 (Fox). In the future, this mysterious man gives the villain Dablo his ray powers back that allows him to escape on the day of his execution. The Hood plans to use Dablo to take over the city and then dispose of him later. The two hole up in Dablo's lair at the bottom of the sea. Sub Saunders comes to investigate though. He outfights Dablo and fights with the Hood. Unmasked, the Hood stands revealed as Judge Ord, head of the Tribunal that had tried and convicted Dablo. During the fight, the Hood is thrown off a cliff and killed.
The Hooded Ravens: 1939, Silver Streak Comics #1 (Lev Gleason). In the modern West that looks a lot like the Old West operates a gang of owlhoots who wear white hoods with their cowboy gear and call themselves the Hooded Ravens. Their leader in places looks to be dressed all in white, looking like the original Ghost Rider. But, the story is a little confusing on that part. They are captured by Barry Lane.
Hooded Riders: 1940, Speed Comics #7 (Harvey). Dressing in white hooded robes along with cowboy gun belts, they are terrorizing ranchers in the modern American West until stopped by Shock Gibson. They even keep a captured grizzly bear on hand, but it's handled easily by the hero.
Hooded Spectre: 1942, Blue Beetle #13 (Holyoke). A boy discovers the secret of the bank robber, the Hooded Spectre and is targeted for death. He's saved by the intervention of the Blue Beetle and the Hooded Spectre is revealed as Silas Spencer. While the text says his hood is black, it's colored light blue throughout. The publishing info correct as Holyoke did publish the Blue Beetle for a little while.
The Hotel Rackateers: Yankee Comics: 3 or 4 (Chesler) This group extorted money from hotels by planting bodies of the recently deceased where patrons would come across them. While working their game on the Hotel Magnus, they ran afoul of the Enchanted Dagger.
Tuffy Hulks: 1941 Crackajack Funnies 42, (K.K. Publications) They don't come much lower, meaner or tougher. A counterfeiter put away by the Chief, Tuffy jumps the prison wall to escape, beats the Chief up within an inch of his life, gives his own girlfriend a black eye, beats up one of his men for lying, and even chains his dad in a cave and cons him into making funny money for him. But, the Owl proved to be tougher.
Human Brute: 1946, Speed Comics #42 (Harvey). This is how he's billed in the title, but doesn't seem to go by any real code name. He's Hector Game, a taxidermist who has gone off the deep end. He hates hunters and concocts a formula that will put animals to sleep in a death-like trance. He replaces the dead stuffed animals with the the sleeping live ones and when they come out of their trance, they kill anyone nearby. His plan is uncovered by Captain Freedom and he's killed when he flees to a locked room where a bunch of his sleeping animals are coming out of their slumber.
Human Fly: 1944, Red Band Comics #3 (Enwil). This Nazi agent posed under the guise of a Human Fly, dressed actually like a winged insect. His plan was to use his suit as an alibi to a murder. He climbed up the outside of the building until he reached the floor of General Tisot. With the large wings blocking the view from onlookers, he slipped out into the room while the wings were actually mechanized to continue climbing up and then back down where he slipped back into them. His plot is uncovered by newspaper editor King O'Leary and his photographer Kitty Allen.
Humpty Dumpty: 1946, The Mad Hatter #2 (O.W. Comics). A bald overweight criminal, he's smart at planning crimes. After a close call with the hero Mad Hatter and barely escaping by running away and jumping into a river, he decides the life of committing crimes is too strenuous. So, he decides to hire his services out as a planner. That doesn't go terribly well as one of the men who avails himself of his services ends up leading the Mad Hatter right to the rotund villain. The villain is played up as being somewhat well known by both police and the crooks. Despite his laziness, he is a competent fighter and carries a cane that the top folds out into a seat, and the staff hollowed out to turn into a rifle.
Humpy: A hunchbacked malevolent genius. He had built a small idol-like statue that could cause explosions. He was captured by the Skyman.
Hyena: 1941, Silver Streak Comics #13 (Lev Gleason). Foe of Silver Streak. Created by Don Rico.
Hypnotist: Mystery Men Comics 12 (Fox).Unnamed fat Chinese (?) man working for a sexy woman hypnotizes Asian men so that they will sleep while being smuggled inside large fish. The plot is uncovered by Lt. Drake of Naval Intelligence and he¹s captured.
The Hypnotist: 1946, Startling Comics #40 (Better). The Hypnotist seems to be a member of a hooded gang though he only wore a tuxedo and simple domino mask. He hypnotized a woman into believing she was an Egyptian priestess and about to commit an act of human sacrifice if not for the intervention of the Fighting Yank. NOTE: This is a cover only, one of the greats by Alex Schomburg that tells a whole story by itself.
Immortal Emperor: (Better). Tall and lanky with a cylinder head and a face like a wall outlet, he teams up with Lilith and Dr. Voodoo in efforts to defeat Wonderman II and conquer the solar system.
Indira: 1940, Reg'lar Fellers #2 (Eastern Color Printing). The beautiful Indira is the Queen of Dacoits in modern day India. Her goals for power have two obstacles: Kalla Khan who rules a thuggee cult and the American writer Chickering Mann.
The Invincibles: 1941,Yankee Comics: 3 (Chesler) The Invincibles are foreign soccer team is secretly made up of spies to spread Nazi propaganda. When their underhanded and rough playing decimates the ranks of the American team, the kid gang Young Americans get involved. The Young Americans is a bit different from most kid gangs in that it actually has at least 2 girls and one African American as part of the group, all playing active and equal parts in the story.
Iron Jaw I: 1941, Silver Streak Comics #9 (Lev Gleason). A robot; foe of Silver Streak. Created by Bob Wood
Iron Jaw (II): Boy Comics (Lev Gleason). An incident during WWI left a German soldier by the name of Von Schmidt horribly disfigured and doctors were forced to replace his jaw with one of metal. He's a vicious soldier who has been reported dead many times. He killed Chuck Chandler's father for daring to speak out against the Nazis. A German sub sank the transport bringing Chuck and his mother over from France, and gunned them down in the ocean. Surviving, Chuck became the Crimebuster, Iron Jaw's most implacable foe. Iron Jaw could take a large amount of punishment, such as a chair breaking across his head without flinching and was thought to be dead on at least one occasion.
Princess Istrid: 1939, Amazing Man Comics #8 (Centuar). Haughty Princess Istrid is the step-daughter of Kustan, the ruler of the subterranean kingdom of Aquatania. She resents the popularity of the outsiders Chuck Hardy and his blonde girlfriend Jerry and would like to see them dead. She meets her own untimely end in a foreign land a couple of issues later when men that were bribed to carry her back home just kill her on the way as they already have the gold and no one would know.
Jack the Clipper: 1945, Topsy-Turvy Comics #1 (R. B. Leffingwell and Co). Anthony Durrant writes: Jack the Clipper was a maniac who clipped off the beard of the famous Civil War veteran Admiral Rockjaw, and later cut off the long white hair of a United States Senator. He was caught by the boy detectives Mickey and Ickey and unmasked as their favourite cartoonist, J. Drawingboard Easel. Easel had been running out of ideas and had adopted the nom du guerre Jack the Clipper in order to gather material for his comic strip, Subman.
Jack the Rabbit: Champ Comics 22 (Harvey): Recurring foe of the Liberty Lads: Skip and Chuck, two Simon & Kirby boy types who seek out excitement accompanied by G-man Lee Hunt. Jack was a round fella with pointed ears, loud clashing clothes and not above gruesome torture.
The Jackal: 1944, Green Hornet Comics #17 (Harvey). Dressed in a canine outfit, the Jackal looks like a human-sized version of his namesake. He embarks on murderous acts of sabotage but is stopped and unmasked by the Zebra. Turns out he's a timid weak looking clerk in the shipyard office pushed to murderous rage by the continued bullying and taunting of the burly shipyard workers.
Jackel: 1940, Silver Streak Comics #7 (Lev Gleason). "Fat Sam" Jackel runs an airline and at the behest of the exotic Euroasian beauty White Dragon Flower, plans on replacing several pilots of a General Staff flight with those of her spies in order to kidnap the officials. Stopped by Cloud Curtis.
Jake & Lil: 1948, Dynamic Comics 24 (Superior Publishers). Billed as the king and queen of the silver wire (high wire), this couple employed a large rubber ball that Lil would burst out of during their act. She would then give a small souvenir ball to someone in the audience. Usually this person was the kid of someone they planned to rob. At home under electric lights, the ball would expand and burst, letting loose a gas that would kill everyone in the house. Then Jake and Lil would pilfer the house at their leisure. Unfortunately for them, Dynamic Man figured out their scheme.
Japanese Sandman: American bomber pilots are executed by someone calling himself the Japanese Sandman and sends word back to the Americans. Captain Raleigh aka the Boomerang flies to Japan in disguise to get to the bottom of the mystery. What he finds is a wily Japanese Colonel and some Japanese men schooled in the arts of Jiu Jitsu and hand to hand combat, the best of whom is the Japanese Sandman. Thanks to the timely arrival of his girlfriend Diana in a costume near identical to his and armed with a bow and arrows, Boomerang wins the day.
'Faces' Jeffre: 1940, Amazing Mystery Funnies v3 #1 (Centuar). Faces had been a noted actor in vaudeville, able to to easily change his voice, face and mannerisms to suit his roles. However, when vaudeville dried up, so did the the demands for him as an actor and he turned to the easy life of crime. He quickly discovered that his abilities on stage gave him a great advantage, to be almost unrecognizeable. Eventually, his crimes and boldness grew to the point that he wasn't above committing murder and he was captured, tried and sentenced. He used his acting ability to escape prison and met back up with his gang. He didn't stay free very long as he opted to disguise himself as a local farmer while shopping at a store in New Jersey. He gave himself away as his acting seems to have been more of mimicry than method, so he bought more stuff than a down and out farmer would have, didn't bother to disguise his decidedly non-farmer hands and the clincher, after giving exact change for everything, he did the same for a pack of cigarettes - not realizing that in New Jersey, they didn't charge tax for cigarettes like they do in New York. A small text story, that doesn't have him facing any super detectives or such, but his skill at disguise made him notable enough.
The Jester: February, 1949, Western Adventures (A.A. Wynn): This murdering owlhoot and his gang were raiding local gold-mines as well as Wells-Fargo stages forcing townspeople to go to Jake Bellum for extravagent loans. Even Bellum was a bit of a mystery man, who kept his face in shadows while making his deals. Things were good for the Jester and Bellum until the Cross-Draw Kid interrupted one of his gold heists. He soon tracked the wily thief to the office of Bellum and discovered Bellum was nothing but a stuffed dummy used by the Jester. Following his trail, the Cross-Draw Kid revealed to the townspeople that the Jester (and Bellum) were aliases for "Lips" Hawkins, a ventriloquist who performed at the saloon. Chasing the Jester, the Kid uncovered the fact that the big gang that the villain had used to terrorize the small town was also nothing more than dummies on horseback. After a big fight, the Kid took the Jester back to town to face justice.
The Jingle Man: This killer sent rhyming letters to his future victims, signed the Jingle Man. He was captured by the Scarlet Archer on his first case revealing him as the Archer's romantic rival, bitter at the death of his father blamed on a group of financial schemers who had forced him out of the group. He targeted each man (and the girlfriend since her father died years before) and killed them in keeping with their specialties: finances, food supplies, etc.
Joltin' Joe: 1945, Star Studded Comics #1 (Cambridge House). This bug-eyed crook was insuring packages that were being shipped, and then sinking the ships in order to collect on the insurance. Turns out he was in league with the insurer who was milking his own company, defrauding the stockholders. Both discovered it was very unlucky to cross Luckyman.
Josef: Gordon Fife and the Boy King (newspaper strip?) The large Sydney Greenstreet type villain headed a criminal gang in Kovnia. He was a little unique in that he used hypnotism to hypnotise Gordon Fife to steal the crown jewels.
Juke Box John: 1942, Four Favorites #6 (Ace). Juke Box John runs a diner of the same name near a construction plant. He forces Arlene Clark, an escapee of a woman's reformatory to steal plant secrets or he'll continue killing workers through his unique method: he fakes a phone call for a worker when they are in the diner and the phone squirts a special liquid deep into their easr. Then he has a particular record on the juke box play that hits a specific frequency causing the atoms of the liquid to explode, destroying the victim's brain. Magno and Davey expose Juke Box John as being Arlene Clark's father John Clark who owned a rival company that would have gotten the contract if the company couldn't finish on time. When Arlene got wind of it, he originally had her framed and sent to the reformatory and then blackmailed her into helping when she escaped. Magno seemed more than a little smitten with Arlene through the course of the story.