Captain Black Flagg: 1940, The Flame #2 (Fox). Horace "Black" Flagg is a river pirate along the Hudson River. Along with a murderous gang, he commands a small but powerful and swift launch and a base hidden in an old warehouse with a secret bay door on the waterfront. He's apparently sent to a fiery doom by the Flame. Otherwise, Flagg looks like a standard for the time bearded sea captain
Captain Colorful: May 1937, Don Winslow of the Navy (P), Vol. 1, No 1 (Merwil Publishing Co.) Captain Colorful is an 18th century pirate. His descendent is Charles Colorful who, with the mysterious blonde Adeline, is competing with the unscrupulous modern day pirate Captain Scarbo in finding Captain Colorful's treasure buried on Colorful Island, rumored to be haunted by his ghost. NOTE: This is one of two strips running in the Don Winslow pulp, the other being about a sailor and boxer, Jupiter Jones. Something of interest is that both strips are credited to M. Sheldon. The similarity in the name and in the cartooning style leads me to believe that this is none other than Sheldon Mayer. There are some other connections to Mayer to support this supposition: Merwil Publishing (the publisher of the pulp) first published comic strip reprints of Don Winslow before the character moved to Dell Publishing where Gaines and Mayer were working at the time. Merwil Publishing was also apparently started by Harry Donenfield and Jack Liebowitz making the company a sister company to "Detective Comics" where Mayer would be working in about a year when he brings that Superman character to editor Vin Sullivan's attention.
Captain
Heroic: 1944, Prize Comics #46 (Prize). Foe
of Boom Boom Brannigan. One can only assume that Heroic
aka Percy Appleby was in reality less than heroic.
Captain Hood: 1941, Captain Aero #1 (Holyoke). Captain Hood is an enemy operative operating out of Easter Island. His plans involve an undersea tractor hauling a bunch of explosives to blow up the Panama Canal. His right-hand man is a Japanese Major Kato. His plans go awry when he
blows up a ship that gets too close to the island, but leaves its captain Grit Grady as sole survivor to sneak on to the island.
Captain Klegg: 1940, Keen Detective Comics #23 (Centaur). He and his pirates boarded a ship carrying Air Man's father and killed him along with a number of other passengers. This served as the impetus for Drake Stevens to adopt the id of Air Man and soon tracked down and captured Klegg and his pirates.
Captain Lash: 1938, The Comics (Dell). Captain Lash is the captain of the ship Lady May. Pedro is his right hand man and a knife-fighter and the rest of the crew save one is no better. They are after the treasure that pretty Miss Trew knows about. However, their plans have one hitch and a half: the tough bosun Bill and his kid pal Davey.
Captain Nemo: 1940, Science Comics #5 (Fox). Yes, that Captain Nemo. He appears on the scene in time to help Navy Jones and Princess Coral out of a jam. Turns out, he and his crew are looking for a sunken Roman Galley that has a map to Atlantis. He, Jones and Coral team up, fight some Octopi-men in a hidden grotto, find the map and then part company. As such, maybe he should be on the heroes' pages, but even when he's being benevolent, it's hard for me to accept him as a good guy. No explanation for his longevity.
Captain
Nippo: (Ace). 1943, Four Favorites #9 (Ace). Masked Japanese villain who regularly fought Captain Courageous. He eventually changes costumes and even faces Captain Courageous after the Captain no longer had super powers but was still defeated.
Captain Nomo: 1941, Fantastic Comics #18 (Fox). Nomo leads two lives, one as a respected member of the Coast Patrol and a second as a masked enforcer for a smuggling racket paid to get Sub Saunders out of the way. Instead, he gets captured.
Carro: 1941, Yankee Comics #1 (Harry "A" Chesler). Notorious New York gangster reads about Roger Chalmers returning to America from Africa with an enchanted dagger and decides he wants it. Unfortunately, all he does is draw attention to himself, and the Enchanted Dagger vows to fight his gang, "in fact all gangs, until crime itself has been wiped out."
The Cat: 1945, Exciting Comics #44 (Better). "Electrical wizard whose twisted, power-mad brain led him to fight his own country‹America" through the use of his invention, a flame ray that causes anything it¹s aimed at to burst in flames. With this attached to his gang¹s planes he looted trains and airplanes until he was stopped by American Eagle and. Despite a great name and invention, he was a rather pedestrian villain with delusions of grandeur.
Cat Maidens: 1948 All Top Comics #12 (Fox). In jungle city, a woman in a leopard skin and cat ears rules a cult of Cat Maidens, dressed in black skin bikinis and cat ears. Their nails are sharp as claws and the Cat Maidens only make cat-like sounds, only the Queen speaks and commands. She uses them to commit various acts of human sacrifice, save for the few natives such as Togo who serve her (but is quickly killed when he fails). The Queen orders Togo and her Maidens to bring back Saber, Rulah's trained panther. Which they do, but Saber proves too well trained against perceived injustice and thus too dangerous to keep around. Meanwhile, Rulah tracks them using the commissioner's trained bloodhounds. When they reach the city, Rulah is fighting the Cat Maidens but is threatened to be overcome when the dogs charge in and chase them into a pool where they drown. Sensing opportunity. Saber goes after the Queen and kills her.
Cavemen of the Mountains: 1941, Blue Bolt v2 #3 (Novelty). The cavemen of the mountains are large hairy brutes that can only see at night and live in a cave in the forests. Chocolate is like a drug to them, and lumberjack Pierre uses that to enslave them as workers for his boss Big Nick. The hero Twister happens to be nearby, investigating Big Nick for some untold (at least in this tale) underhanded dealings. He takes them all on, sending the cavemen back to their caves
The Censor: 1942, Green Mask Comics 9 (Fox). A city and its newspapers are terrorized by mysterious deaths that turn the victims blue accompanied with a calling card with a picture of a man with a devilish mustache and beard. The Nightbird (secretly photographer Lens Crockett) manages to uncover that the devil's face is a mask concealing the identity of Ricardi, the society editor. With the help of a crooked police commissioner, Ricardi had been getting dirt on and blackmailing the wealthy. In the end, he fell victim to one of his own poisonous devices.
Chameleon:(Better) A villain mastermind who appeared to be in several places at once. Stopped by the Grim Reaper.
Chang:
1940, Fantastic Comics #13 (Fox). An evil lama in a lamasary on the highest peak in Tibet. You can tell he's evil as he has a severe widow's peak, pointed ears and fangs. Chang has allied himself with demons from the Fourth Dimension, setting himself against the hero Flip Falcon. He has managed to use science to call forth and control all manner of evil spirits and things. He and his machines are apparently destroyed when Flip directs his dimension beam against the lamasary.
Chen Chang: Mystery Men #1 (Fox Features). Chen Chang is the "Master Mind," "highly cultured and wealthy" but desiring only "to bring disaster upon the White Race!" He's a Yellow Peril menace, head of a Mongol army and aided by the sultry murderous River Lily. His plans of conquest are continually foiled by the white man Richard Kendall.
Checker: Clue Comics (Feature Publications). Decked out in a checkered mask and costume, this villain kidnapped whole buildings and held a city at ransom. His operations led to the formation of the costumed duo Nightmare and Sleepy who put an end to his plans.
The Chief (otherwise un-named): 1940, Crackajack Funnies #29 (Columbia). Robed and hooded criminal mastermind who heads a saboteur ring and goes after some valuable plans which bring in the Owl and reporter Belle Wayne investigating. When he kills the young industrialist Mitchell Carr it leads to socialite Barbara Belford donning a mask and costume to also get to the Chief, to possibly throw in with him. It's a ruse though, to get him to use a gun that she rigged to explode when used, the shrapnel ripping out his throat and killing him. Thus Barbara Belford gets revenge against her man-servant Thor for killing Mitchell Carr, her fiance.
Chief Crane: 1940, Silver Streak #6 (Lev Gleason). A strange flying winged creature (the Flying Dragon of the bare-bones entry?) is attacking boats in what looks to be China. Seeing it on his televisor, Sky Wolf flies to investigate and gets involved in an arial battle until magnetic rays force his plane down. What he finds is a gang headed by their mustached leader Crane who has used advanced science to rob and plunder and he hopes to force Sky Wolf to join him in his grand smuggling operations. Their den is wholly magnetized making attacks from conventional weapons useless while Crane and his men use plastics. The creature that started it all, was little more than a cleverly disguised propeller-less airplane, complete with a flame thrower in the "mouth". A very short story, light on details but interesting nonetheless. This Sky Wolf is not related to the Hillman character, he wears just plain monotone flying togs (in the comic they are orange but probably meant to be brown) and a white mask.
Chief Zombie: Mystery Men Comics (Fox). Down in the swamps of Louisiana, this white bearded man uses local superstition by hiring men to pose as zombies and terrorize people so he can buy their land cheap and sell at a profit later. However, he runs afoul of real magic when Zanzibar opposes him.
Chen Chang: 1939, Mystery Men Comics #1 (Fox). Chen Chang is an Asian mastermind bent on conquest. This brings him into conflict with the International detective/trouble shooter Richard Kendall. He is frequently thought to be killed but seems to always return with some new plot. He has exotic weapons like the eye of the Cyclops Snake which glows and can bend any man, including the hero, to his will. Or a hag in some hidden grotto that will torture for him and who seems to be surrounded by supernatural beings (or an effect of some kind of drug). He's also aided by the beautiful but deadly River Lily. NOTE: One of several Fox strips that was titled after the villain but had him constantly thwarted by the same hero each time and usually presumed dead by the hero only to reappear the next issue. Chen Chang ran for two years in Mystery Men Comics and a couple of issues of Green Mask.
Lu Cheng: 1940, Fantastic Comics #13 (Fox). Lu Cheng is a vampire whose lair is in a cave in the Gobi Desert where he has a group of Asian women hypnotized into believing they are vampires as well. He's blown apart by a grenade thrown by Captain Kidd, freeing the women from his control.
Chopper: 1942, Boy Comics #4 (Lev Gleason). The Chopper was chief executioner for Hitler in Germany and he comes to America to help Iron Jaw in his campaigns. He wears a black costume and carries a double headed axe. He's knocked unconscious fighting Crimebuster, but his final fate is unsure as the hideout was set on fire and he's not seen in the rest of the adventure.
Fu Chu: 1940, Wonderworld Comics (Fox). Recurring Yellow Peril menace against Yarko. While he has some telepathic abilities, his skills pale against the magics of Yarko and usually has to rely on henchmen and stolen inventions.
The Claw: (Lev Gleason) The most outlandish of the Yellow Peril characters taken to the extreme. Reports of this villain has him towering stories tall, a mouth full of sharp fang-like teeth, skeletal hands with long fingernails. Although obviously born out of the "yellow menace" hysteria, he seems to be beyond that, more of an embodiment of nightmares, hatred and paranoia. His goals seem to be nothing less than subjugation of mankind and he is frequently opposed by the heroes Daredevil, the Ghost, and Silver Streak. In his first appearance, he is a supernatural being, leader of a band of plunderers and has imposed a reign of terror on the mid-Pacific island of Ricca and its 1000 inhabitants. He operates out of a remote castle and on nights when the moon is full, his great form can be seen looming into the sky with a hypnotic hum that sends the natives scattering, save whoever his target is for enslaving. The Claw holds sway over his band through dreams, good dreams as addictive as any drug while nightmares are used to punish those that fail.
In Boy Comics # 89, the Claw resurfaces and gets a new origin, this time as an alien invader from the planet Zylmarx who is stopped by Rocky X of the Rocketeers.
The Claw II: 1946, Startling Comics #42 (Standard). The town of Howland is proud of its history and its heroes who have fought for their country in wars past. Into this town, stalks the menace of The Claw, threatening various residents to pay lest he kills them. The Fighting Yank and Joan decide to investigate. When they are captured, it's the one-armed hotel manager Ed Rice who saves them, having deduced the identity of the villain as lawyer Jones. Jones had embezzled money and was using this as cover to both get money and avenge himself on bankers that denied him a loan. Ed Rice is wounded for his efforts and Jones is accidentally shot and killed by one of his own men aiming for the Yank. Ed's father and grandfather's names are on the statue dedicated to the town's heroes, but Ed himself could not join the army in the last war because of his losing his arm in a car accident. However, his actions here earn him a spot on the monument. As the Claw, Jones wore a taloned gauntlet over a hand that he used to do his killings.
Cleopatra: 1945, Speed Comics #38 (Harvey). In Egypt, Cairo dancing girl Tesmen Beh, working with Japan, pretends to be the reincarnation of the legendary queen. She is killed when she is struck by her asp while fighting the Black Cat. Anthony Durant provides: a dancer, who was hired by the Japanese to impersonate Cleopatra so that she could trick the Egyptians into attacking the Allied forces with weapons left behind ten years earlier by the Japanese in a pyramid near her underground hideout. She first saw Linda Turner, the Black Cat's alter ego, while dancing at a club with a cobra (yes, that kind of dancing!).
Cloud Clipper: 1948, Target Comics vol. 9, #8 (Novelty Press). The Cloud Clipper is acrobatic and the head of small gang of thieves that use a camouflaged plastic blimp to appear as if they are riding on a cloud and stage daring robberies on the top floors of tall buildings including going after the world's largest diamond. However they couldn't handle the Target and the Targeteers.
Cloud, Eve, Dr.: 1940, Amazing Man Comics #16 (Centaur). This mad scientist experimented with a shrinking formula on a island in the Pacific Ocean. He had shrunk one of the island's strange natives and then the Shark. He falls on a syringe with the shrinking formula and apparently dies as his lab goes up in flames. The small Shark is rescued by a befriended lab rat and eventually returns to his own size.
The
Clown: 1940, Super Mystery Comics #5 (Ace). A malevolent
psycho who at times seemed to work for himself and other
times for Hitler. He was decked out in a clown's garb
and a frequent foe of Magno. He made use of many inventions and partners over his career and seemed a master at faking his own death as he repeatedly returned from certain death. One such was a chemical that when coating his clothes allowed him to fly.
The Clown II: 1942, Green Hornet Comics #7 (Harvey). Murderous thug in Clown attire, and avowed enemy of both Britt Reid and the Green Hornet. Despite his thuggish demeanor, he's fiendishly clever and make-up artist expert and manages to avoid his own execution. Harvey also had a hero by the name of the Clown.
The Clown III: 1943, Shadow Comics v2n11 (Street & Smith). This villain proved to be no laughing matter for Danny Garrett.
The Coal People: 1940, Amazing Man Comics #11 (Centuar). Centuries ago, a race of Indians were forced underground where they built a huge city. The strange gas and their eating coal (?!) turned them into giant coal people: about 12 feet tall, with coal like skin. When they see their first white man and with white hair, they think he's a god and so imprison him. However, when they later find a dead coal miner, they eat him and discover he's quite tasty and so start raiding the coal mines for other miners. Mighty Man discovers their hidden city and that they are a match for his strength. However, he also discovers they are afraid of fire and so escapes after rescuing their "god" and seals off the mine, sealing them and their city in.
The Cobra: 1942, Prize Comics 19 (Feature Publications). The Cranes inherit a castle with a hidden treasure and they hire private detective Terry Dane to help them find it. Unfortunately, they find themselves opposed by a gang led by a man with a cobra head mask. Though he's strong and devious, he is stopped by the Black Owl (Terry's boyfriend Doug Danville) and revealed to be Tom, the caretaker.
The Cobra: (Ace). German agent with fang-like teeth and dresses in a green snake outfit. His most frequent adversary is Magno.
Cobra Lady: 1943, Daredevil Comics #20 (Lev Gleason). Ally of the Claw; foe of the Ghost. Created by Bob Wood.
Colossus: 1940, Colossus Comics #1 (Sun). In the year of 2640, Earth is about to be invaded for the first time in 60 years by the aliens Plantaliens. Meanwhile, ignorant of this, Professor Albert Blitzmann has concocted a glandular formula that controls human growth and has called forth the meek and envious Richard Zenith and the powerful 6 ft athlete Bryn Hale. Without much warning or even permission he injects Zenith just as his daughter Eve rushes in to tell him she made a major mistake. Her father requested two one-hundredths parts of the catalyst and she put in two hundred parts. The result, Zenith grows uncontrollably, until people are mere inches tall compared to him. Mad with power, he kidnaps Eve and puts her in his breast pocket (luckily his clothes grew too) and sets out to establish himself as ruler of mankind. While fighting off attacking airships, the Plantaliens attack and the Colossus must deal with them as well. While distracted, Hale climbs the giant to rescue Eve and the two of them parachute to safety undetected. A rocketship crashes into his chest shortly after and the Colossus thinks Eve dead. Once the Plantaliens are defeated he jumps into the sea and strikes out for Europe. On the cover, he wore some kind of armor, but in the story he was in regular clothes.
Commander Darke: 1941, Bang Up #1 (Progressive). Nazi who opposed Cosmo Mann.
Comrade Ratski: 1940, Speed Comics #10 (Harvey). Ratski is the employ of a foreign government and kidnaps leading scientists to come up with fantastic inventions in his bid for conquest such as an earthquake machine and a way to grow giant insects. Stopped by Shock Gibson, he returns the next issue, teaming up with Baron Von Kampf, an early recurring villain of Shock Gibson's not seen for several issues. At this point, it's unsure if Ratski is still working for his home country or now an independent though he's still billed as "comrade". They meet up in the Florida Everglades where Ratski has command of an army of "zombies". Their plans stopped again by Shock Gibson, it looks like the end for them as the pair are surrounded by alligators. Ratski has a thick brown beared with a spikey waxed mustache.
The Condor: 1941, Big Three #2 (Fox). A modern day and ruthless pirate, he bribes city officials to not call out the Coast Guard while he launches his deadly raid. He apparently drowns while fighting against the Blue Beetle. He survives for a return visit, wearing a yellow cape. It is also revealed that he uses a claw-handle dagger. This time he's apparently killed when he falls into the hold of a ship onto the boiler. The Condor was a powerful looking man, dressed in a black suit, yellow cape and wore a black pirate's tri-cornered style hat when looting. Otherwise, he sported a dark widow's peak.
Condor Legion: 1942, Fight Comics #20 (Fiction). The Condor Legion is a fascist organization in Argentina that's in league with the Nazis and planning a takeover. The leader is a half-German named Graf who goes around wearing black semi-military garb and carries a whip. Senorita Rio goes undercover, romances his right-hand man Saenez and sows 
seeds of discord resulting in them being called before three men in black hoods, the judges of the Condors, of which Graf is one. Graf kills Saenez but is stabbed in turn by the Blanco, a servant to the father of a man he killed.
Conquering King (and the Conquering Knights): 1947, America's Best #21 (Better). A group of 40 crooks become would-be conquerors with an ultraviolet gun that blinds opponents. Defeated by Doc Strange.
Conqueror: (Centaur). Bolton Gates is a criminal mastermind was constantly thwarted in his attempts to conquer the world (or, at least, a large chunk of it) by the intervention of Dean Denton. He had a large organization of loyal followers and an impressively varied armory of chemical weapons. He tended to wear a red robe and hood.
The Conqueror: 1939, Amazing Mystery Funnies (Centaur). In the future, he's a mysterious figure, a scientific genius turned towards criminal activities, leading a band of outlaws on Saturn until the gang was wiped out and he disappeared for five years. Captain Tim, Professor Gray and Rita, the crew of the Air Sub 'DX', discover the villain and his forces on Mysterey Isle (sic). Clues suggest that the Conquerer might be explorer Montan who had disappeared on expedition to the isle 50 years before.
The Corpse: March 1943. Clue Comics #3. (Hillman). Three of the town's wealthies men bet the undertaker Westly that they'll outlive him. In fact Westly dies almost immediately after. However, a faceless corpse starts luring the men to their deaths one by one, when they get close to the Corpse, they see their own face, which even startles the hero Nightmare when he sees his own skull-face on the villain. He and Sleepy capture the Corpse, a well placed fist shatters the mask which is only a mirror. Westly says he was diagnosed with a rare blood disease, he felt no pain but would die in about ten days. And, as his ten days was up, he dies for real this time..
Corzen: 1940, Keen Detective Funnies #24 (Centaur). Corzen used a ghost ship (a glowing tall ship) as bait for ships while they followed in a submarine. When their prey would stop to investigate, he and his crew dressed as classic pirates would board and loot them. His submarine was sunk by Air Man, presumably killing all on board.
Cosmirayer Gang: 1941, Big Shot Comics #10 (Columbia). This gang has special guns about the shape and size of a flash light but fires cosmic rays. These rays do not turn people into superheroes, but disintegrates them and melts steel like butter. They kidnap steel tycoon Homer Flanders on his wedding day and use the “cosmirayers” to rob banks and keep Skyman at bay (having gotten involved as Allan Turner is friends with Homer and his girlfriend private detective Fawn Carroll is hired to bodyguard Homer). Skyman manages to capture the gang. The leader of the gang is Grover Garson, son of the chief chemist at Flanders' steel plant. His father was researching cosmic rays and it's assumed that Garson stole the discoveries, being nothing more than a cheap crook himself.
Cougar: 1944, Super Mystery Comics vol. 4 # 1 (Ace). Fritz Martin was blackmailing the father of twins Tom and Tim Turner. Tim follows his father to learn who's bleeding his father only to be seen and recognized. Fearing for his life Tim calls in Mr. Risk. As the Cougar, Martin dresses in a black cat suit and has poisoned claws that he can throw with a deadly accuracy.
Council of Vampires: 1939, Wonderworld Comics #4 (Fox). Not much is revealed about the Council other than they are ruled by their queen, Anya. Anya's husband is the mortal Luigi Bishop, curator of the London Museum who is anxious to get his hands on the fabled Vampire Ruby that will allow Anya to co-exist among the living. However, when denied the ruby by the current possessors Dr. Fung and Dan Barr. Luigi sets fire to his castle in order to burn them all to death. Dr. Fung and Dan escape, but the ruby and the unholy couple are apparently burned to death.
Count Irban: 1944, Clue Comics #8 (Hillman). Ronald Byrd says: Descendant of a Swisslakian rebel routed by the Boy King's Giant 500 years earlier, Count Irban poses as carnival owner Rudolpho in order to steal Swisslakian gold and depose the Boy King. He is aided by trapeze artist Carlos, knife thrower Emil, trick rider Rondo, and the magician Captain Fingers. All are defeated by the Boy King, his brother Muggsy, and the Giant.
Count Morphine: 1945, Red Seal Comics #15 (Chesler). Bald half-Japanese bootleg baron who spent a stretch in jail. When he gets out, he pretends to going straight, opening up some kind of matchmaking service/dance club as cover. The reality is that he picks a couple, tortures the girl in order to coerce the guy to commit robberies. His scheme is exposed by reporter Lucky Coyne and crew. Despite being older, he shows himself to be a formidible fighter. Carries a cane and smokes cigarrettes in a holder.
Count Vesti: 1946, Yellowjacket Comics 8 (The Frank Publishing Co.). The entire village of Pabst in Balkania is affected by moon madness and when the weak-minded villagers are such the evil Count Vesti commands them to rob and kill any who oppose him. However, under the command of Zeus, he is stopped by Diana the Huntress who uses Mercury's caduceus to put the villagers to sleep and seals Vesti inside his castle.
Countess Belladonna: 1941, Mystery Men Comics #28 (Fox). The Countess is an elderly woman and a criminal master mind of theft and murder. In her first appearance, she is knitting a scarf with the names of the people she plans to kill, including Brenda Talmadge for a jewel the young woman possesses. She kills with just a prick from the large knitting needles that are poisoned. When the Blue Beetle captures her, she's revealed as Judge Talmadge, Brenda's step-father. The Countess proved to be a capable foe, escaping from the Blue Beetle to commit crimes anew.
The Crab: Speed Comics 20 (Harvey). A robed Yellow peril menace, this Japanese worked his evil in Korea. Only, in his case he's twins, allowing himself to appear in several places at once. His chief agent is by the name of Zero. He and the Crab(s) are captured by War Nurse and the Girl Commandoes, with the aide of two aviators and some Korean nationals.
Mr. Crambell: 1941, Silver Streak Comics #7. Daredevil Durrant writes: Mr. Crambell was a smuggler who was apprehended by his employee, Bart Hill (not the original Daredevil this time), a "timid soul" who was transformed into "a peerless dynamo of battling courage" when his doctor informed him he had a fatal illness that would kill him after sunset that day. Bart knocked out Mr. Crambell's henchman Aubrey, and then ran into his office where he found Crambell pointing a machine gun out the window! After a struggle with his employer, Bart captured Mr. Crambell and received an award for exposing him and his fellow smugglers. Bart Hill and Mr. Crambell appeared in a story entitled "Dynamo Hill" in Silver Streak Comics #7. They were slated to appear in the next issue, as the last frame suggests, but never did.
The Crane: 1943, Clue Comics #2-5 (Hillman). A German commander whose natural arms and hands were replaced with robotic ones that can telescope many times their normal length. He often made use of infernal inventions such as a huge robotic tyrannosaurus to put him on an even playing field with Boy King and his Giant.
Creeper: 1945, Green Hornet Comics #24. The suspicious death of the acrobat known as the "Thin Man" sends the circus' attorney John Doyle to investigate as the Zebra. He finds out from the Fat Lady before she is killed that the victims are sent a box containing "creeping vines" before their deaths. Later the circus manager Bill Matson is also sent a box. The Zebra discovers that Matson is the killer himself, that he is a modern Jeckyll and Hyde type. Insanity runs in his family and he started killing the freaks of the circus because he felt he was turning into one. He apparently falls to his death fighting the Zebra. While dismissed as a case of split-personality, Matson appeared to be physically different as the Creeper, including going from caucasian to yellow skinned.
Crime Boss: 1946, Mad Hatter #1 (O.W. Comics Corp). Jim Murray is editor of the Daily Clarion newspaper. His girlfriend is reporter Barbara "Babs" Blake. He assigns her the task of going on a date with the fledgeling hero the Mad Hatter to find out his secret identity (unknown to them, the hero is her friend Grant Richmond. Both she and the Mad Hatter are following a lead on Hunky Henders, a crook in the employ of the Crime Boss. Meanwhile, Crime Boss discovered that Hunky was stealing from him. The two are captured by the Crime Boss, who then kills Hunky.
When Barbara reports to Jim that Hunky is killed, he is packing for a vacation. He proposes to her and confesses that he's the Crime Boss. The Mad Hatter happened to be listening in and overhears the confession. He is actually outfought by the Crime Boss and Jim would have escaped if Barbara didn't intervene and trip him, allowing the Mad Hatter to gain the upper hand. She then asks the Mad Hatter to take her somewhere that she could laugh and forget her troubles, leaving the Hatter to remark that she is thus carrying out the Crime Boss' orders to go on a date with the hero. Sadly, the Crime Boss was the rather mundane hooded figure as opposed to the more menacing looking figure on the splash page.
The Crime Merchant: 1944, Power Comics #3 (Narrative). Shylock Green is a ruthless, cold-hearted businessman. When his unfair cut-throat practices result in him going bankrupt, he decides to organize crime into a business and become The Crime Merchant. As such, he plans crimes including possible escape routes and offer them for sale to criminals. However, his always trying to cut corners and be as cheap as possible lead the Black Raiders to him.
Crime Syndicate: Amazing Man Comics #22 (Centaur). A powerful and murderous gang that wears blue coveralls and large gray hoods, completely masking their identities as they carry off daring crimes. They plan on pulling off the crime of the century tunnelling under and through the vaults of the Sub-Treasury Building. However, their actions attacted the attention of the mystery man known as the Voice and were no match for his hypnotic voice and incredible fighting ability.
The Crimson Abbot: 1942, V...-Comics (Fox). Investigating a murder, the Banshee sees a giant of a man dressed in red abbot's robes and there's an abandoned abbey nearby. He eventually uncovers the Crimson Abbot to be Cormin, the landlord of the local hotel. Cormin was using his hotel as a storehouse for stolen goods. The goods were hidden in a creek in waterproof bags so he wore stilts to wade in the creek and the robes to frighten off the curious.
Crimson Circle Gang: 1941, Big Three #2 (Fox). Murderous gangsters who mark their crimes with a large flaming circle on the fronts of buildings they attack. Stopped by the Flame.
Crimson Conqueror: 1944, Complete Book of Comics and Funnies #1 (Better). With his headquarters in the jungles of Africa, he's building an army of natives armed with modern rifles. The first foe of the Magnet.
Crocodile:~1937, Popular Comics (Dell). Green robed foe of Don Winslow and who flies through the air in an immense sky island called the Sky City and kills U.S. sailors in the South Seas by dropping ice cubes full of poison gas on them. He is apparently killed, falling from the city right before it's destroyed. He killed off an entire island's inhabitants through poison gas, so a little mass murder doesn't bother him. NOTE: This serialized story is reprinted from the Don Winslow comic strip.
Crooked Arrow: Ajax-Farrell. Anthony Durrant writes: Crooked Arrow is the twin brother of Swift Arrow, the mighty Apache chieftain and warrior. The two brothers had been separated at birth, and eventually Crooked Arrow had agreed to settle in the mountains with a part of the tribe. He comes down from the mountains and raids a wagon train, which sends the Lone Rider after his brother, Swift Arrow, who is forced to reveal his brother's existence to the Lone Rider to save his own skin. He then retires to his wigwam to mourn the loss of his brother as the Apache death drums are struck and sound throughout the land.
The Crooked Nine: 1943, Clue Comics #5 (Hillman). A group of thieves while in prison form a baseball team. As luck would have it they are paroled at the same time and decide to embark on a life of crime using their baseball skills and costumes to steal jewels, especially diamonds. Nightmare and Sleepy put an end to their crime spree.
Crow King: 1944, Boy Comics #17 (Lev Gleason). Foe of Young Robin Hood. Created by Alan Mandel
Cruelblitz the Dictator: ~1941, Popular Comics (Dell). His army drove the people of Unpreparda from their homes and plans to slaughter the refugees as they try to return to their war-torn country but is opposed by Supermind and his son. Cruelblitz looks like Hitler and refers to himself as der Fuehrer and his soldiers look like Nazi troops, so it's obvious the names were changed since America was still a neutral country.
Cruor: 1941, Weird Comics #16 (Fox). Cruor is a man bent on conquering with a camouflaged base hidden in the jungles where he can keep watch on the comings and goings of government men. Despite the efforts of Ted and Marga the Panther Woman, he steals plans to an “electric repressor ray” and builds a large gun that he can aim the rays at planes, forcing them to crash. Ted designs a plane that is better for gliding so that he can land when Cruor turns the ray onto them. From there, he and Marga find Cruor's lair, escape its many traps and capture Cruor and his gang. Cruor apparently suffered some horrible disfigurement some time in the past. He has a skull-like death-head face: bald head, slightly pointed ears, round eyes and slits where his nose should be.
Crutch Killer: 1941, Wonderworld Comics #31 or 32 (Fox). A movie is being made under mysterious conditions that will expose the type of man that the deceased Ransford Booth was in life. However, accidents plague the set and its only by threats that the director can keep the movie going though earning him the enmity of all involved. He sends for Gary Preston who arrives with as the Flame with Flame Girl and their pal Pug in tow. Following him and trying various tricks to kill him and others is an older crippled man (with fangs for some reason). His crutch is actually a dart gun that fires quick acting lethal poisonous darts. He ultimately stands revealed as Ransford Booth, trying to prevent the movie from being made as it would have revealed he was head of a fascist ring and had faked his death to continue his efforts in that endeavor.
Curley: 1939, Amazing Mystery Funnies (Centaur). So named because of his curley hair, he's the despotic rule of an undersea country in the future and he wants Professor Gray's Air Sub 'DX', a vehicle that can fly through the air and travel under the seas with equal ease and armed with dissolving guns. With it, he thinks he can rule the universe.
Cyclops: 1940, Fantastic Comics #9 (Fox).In the Lost Valley, there's a race of one-eyed beast men. When Captain Kidd discovers it, he finds they are headed by one that speaks very good English. Rescuing a white girl that had been captured, Kidd takes the fight to the head cyclops, unmasking him as an explorer called Perez apparently gone insane and whom Kidd had been searching for. Perez leaps to his death to avoid capture. The story is unclear whether the other beast men are the real deal or natives he had made up.