Now then, where was I?
Ah yes: Despite the emotional rollercoaster of the past couple of days, I think there’s one thing that we can all come together and agree on, and that is that this guy right here is totally awesome:
Yes friends, feast your eyes on Albert Elwood, alias the Crimson Avenger–not to be confused with the Crimson Avenger or the Crimson Avenger, who briefly joined the war against crime in the pages of World’s Finest #131
And he is only made more awesome by the fact that he ends up fighting this guy:
The Octopus, who–as should be expected at this point–is not to be confused with the Octopus, despite a pretty similar modus operandi. See, even though he’s gone through the trouble of getting a custom-made super-villain outfit, the Octopus of WF #131, like his Eisnerian counterpart, prefers to run things from behind the scenes, building a criminal empire that ends up being pretty successful, despite the fact that he employs thugs that are hat-poppingly afraid of costumed law enforcement:
And yet, he manages to mount a crime wave that stymies both Batman and Superman, although to be fair, there’s a good chance they were off teaming up to punch out lions or something when he was taking over his underworld empire.
Regardless, it’s enough to drive one of the Silver Age’s seven million Crackpot Inventors to take up the mantle of a crime-fighter, and before long, Elwood’s actions have officially reached “galavanting” status. To be fair, while he lacks training, the Crimson Avenger does have a pretty impressive array of homemade equipment, including a gun that shoots rings of fire, a car that shoots a remote-controlled battering ram that can fly under its own power, and, perhaps most impressive…
A hood with articulated eyebrows! It’s the same technology that would later be applied to the MARS Corporation’s popular line of beryllium steel masks.
Unfortunately, the Crimson Avenger’s career ended up being pretty short-lived, because… well…
…once Silver Age Robin calls you out for being corny, you’re pretty much done.
I once created a character called “Octo,” who was basically a mutated octopus, and he fought Spider-Man in homemade comics of mine … at a pet store in the mall, where Octo was trying to set free the caged animals.
I shit you not.
You left out the Crimson Avenger from Gummi Bears! He made sure Duke Igthorn never discovered the secrets of Gummi-Berry Juice!
…why are you looking at me like that?
I have to say I am honestly curious why the batmobile looks like a horse drawn carriage. And why Batman’s cowl doesn’t just yank him right off that sucker, is Bernoulli’s law not in effect [i]because he’s Batman?[/i] Not curious enough to actually look it up, or anything, just curious.
Damn BBC. I give up. How the heck do you do italics here?
He may have been called out by SIlver Age Robin, but the awesomeness of articulated-hood-eyebrows cancels it out.
Ley, you want to use for your anchors, not []. Like so.
Huh won’t even let you post a “<” (that’s the greater than/less than symbols in case this doesn’t post again).
And now, but to your regularly scheduled comments.
That Silver Age Robin! What a card.
Did anyone in the Silver Age not have a stash of kryptonite?
Let me see:
1. Gun that looks like a bong and held at the appropriate phallic level.
2. Articulated hood eyebrows
3. Being called corny by Robin
and
4. A backup musket like pistol on your hip.
one word:
AWSOME!
Now let us see any current hero/villian top that!
There was an interesting crossover in THE FLAMING CARROT where Raphael of the TMNT went out walking, lost his memory, got rescued by the Carrot, and was repurposed into a superhero named the “Dark Avenger.”
He looked suspiciously like the Crimson Avenger, except he was fatter and had a cape that had the word “BREAD” on it. He was just as melodramatic, too.
I’d never realized Bob Burden was parodying an actual character until now. Thanks for the context, Chris.
Chris, if you continue to do these superficial comics posts instead of properly blogging about politics, I may have to pull my support for you and your site.
The Octopus! I just picked up Showcase Presents WF Vol. 2, and was wondering if anyone was going to blog about him. He was the sensational character find of 1963! A perfect candidate for a modern age update.
Metropolis! Where the streets are full of hooded minions dressed as rustlers, and superheroes on a stagecoach.
What a great place to live!
On the other hand: Frequent bouts of super-dickery.
Why is Robin so small? Is he a) a midget or b) 5 years old? He does not even come up to Batman’s waist. I never realized that robin was so tiny.
Hey, Chris. You’ve got a bad image link there for the second “not to be confused with” Crimson Avenger image.
Looking like a superhero KKK member probably didn’t help his carreer either.
Hey, Chris. You’ve got a bad image link there for the second “not to be confused with†Crimson Avenger image.
Whoops, so I do. I’ll fix it when I get home, but until then, just imagine the Crimson Avenger from the Johns run on JSA.
Time for a test-toast.
Sometimes I just feel so old, I can only imagine how actual old people feel.
Thanks, Phil!
This story always makes me a little wistful; it’s Dick Sprang’s last original work in the Silver Age.
Hurr, Dick Sprang!
Yeah, the combination of the KKK hood and the old Negro League Chicago-American Giants logo on his chest is giving me some kind of Stroop Interference. It’s actually kind of hard for me to look at him. I do admire the fact that he seems to carry no fewer than four guns. Not bad for any pre-’90’s comic, let alone World’s Finest.
Pat: I *thought* it was Dick Sprang! Do you reckon the inker’s Charlie Paris? Doesn’t look quite right to me, but I’m happy to be wrong…
It’s the final panel that really puts the hood on the insanity. Why are they just letting him walk away as he boasts he’ll become a master criminal? And dig that corny upraised index finger.
“The Octopus, who–as should be expected at this point–is not to be confused with the Octopus…”
Is it okay to confuse him with Doctor Octopus? Or perhaps even Octopussy?
I say, when in doubt, go with the Ditko character!
“Why are they just letting him walk away as he boasts he’ll become a master criminal?”
He said he was going to be a nemesis of crimedom. Well, beyond Robin dissing him in to character limbo. Speaking of which, I’m surprised I haven’t seen him in Morrison’s actual character limbo. Maybe I missed it.
The Crimson Avenger is the Black Glove.
Re, the hat-poppin’ hood:
I’m surprised that all of you have missed recognizing the future Cobra Commander in his first Evil Villain role. He was ‘trying out’ his new nefariousness back then. There were a long string of sad jobs like this as a minor henchman for lesser villains before he finally hit the big leagues with a command of his own unit…
And where do you think he learned the ‘retreat!’ strategy from, anyway?
Ley:
is Bernoulli’s law not in effect [i]because he’s Batman?[/i]
The answer is simple, he may fight for justice, but Batman operates outside the law.