The Most Dangerous Game--Chess?!?!?

Last week, I took a look at a shocking story where a killer used poisoned chess pieces to murder his victim.

Well, it turns out that poisoned-chess-piece-based murder is a lot more prevalent than I believed.

Let's join the Avengers in introducing an important chess match!

NIMROD!

Sure, they jumped the gun on computers beating humans at chess by a few years--it's Marvel Earth, they're allowed!

Uh-oh!

Yow!!

So, I guess the message is: DON'T PLAY CHESS!! (Or at least wear gloves!!)

From Pep Comics #39 (1943) and Avengers #101 (1972)

An Important Message About Chess-Related Hygiene!

A killer has been eliminating the members of an exclusive gentleman's club, using their own hobbies to murder them!!

The Hangman is on the trail...but he was too late!

Moral: DON'T LICK YOUR FINGERS WHEN YOU PLAY CHESS!! 

What, were you born in a barn? How frakking gross. What about all the players who played after you?!?! EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!

Oh, yeah, and the chess pieces might be poisoned. So don't, OK?

From Pep Comics #39 (1943)

Manic Monday Bonus--Fraternity Of Heroes!

This kind of thing probably happened behind the scenes of every issue of Marvel Team-Up:

Then they grab their lunchboxes, punch their time cards, and head home for a beer or two...

From Top Notch Comics #19 (1941)

I Freaking Love Comic Books--Hangman Hits The Nerd Trifecta!!

Look, I know we all think we're pretty cool and post-modern and ironic and hip and knowing,

 But I'm here to tell you that your grandparents were doing geek mash-ups long before silly fanboys.

Our story starts, as they all do, with respected scientists making amazing discoveries:

And it's real, too:

But, as inevitably happens...

DINOSAUR!!!! Ding!!

Well, that's pretty not cool!!

Fortunately, the Hangman is on the scene, and he commandeers some construction equipment!! There's absolutely no chance this won't work!!

Uh-oh...I guess dinosaurs are much tougher than we thought!!

So our unstoppable T-Rex goes on a nationwide slaughter spree. And when I say nationwide...

Wow!!! All the way to San Francisco!?!? On foot?!?! That is one crazy tyrannosaur!!

Ahh, but is there a method to the madness?!? Hangman manages to deduce that the beast's next target will be a defense plant in New Jersey!! So with the help of the workers there, he sets a trap--with tanks!!

Well, that didn't work!! Gosh darn, dinosaurs are far tougher than Land Of The Lost led me to believe!!

Ah, but the attack did have one benefit...

WHAT!?!?

Yes, ROBOT!! DINOSAUR!!! Ding ding!!

So a quick trip into the brute's mouth reveals...

NAZI!! ROBOT!! DINOSAUR!!! Ding ding ding!!! That's nerd bingo, everyone!!!! The trifecta!! The ultimate mash-up!! In 1942!!

Now, if you think about it, this plan is so crazy it's brilliant. A) Invent an unstoppable robot T-Rex B) Pretend you've discovered a real T-Rex, and bring him to America a la King Kong C) Pretend that he escapes D) Send him on a nation-wide quest of destroying defense plants.

Seriously--that's amazing. The Red Skull wishes he ever had a plan this good!! Of course, you might ask, why only one? Why not smuggle a couple of more in and do some real damage? And hell, why not deploy some on the battlefields Europe and Africa, especially if they're so tank-proof?!?

(Duh...this was the only prototype, Professor Gonig's being caught prevented more from being built, because of course he only kept the plans in his head, and the Third Reich didn't have enough resources to build more).

Anyway, the Hangman really doesn't like saboteurs in Nazi robot dinosaurs, so...

Are there steep precipices in New Jersey? Just askin'...

Don't worry, folk--the traitorous Nazi scientist and henchmen are dead, but not the Hangman!!!

Bombs built out of the scrap of Nazi robot dinosaurs, to be dropped on Germany. Because our grandparents did ironic camp FOR REALS!!!!

From Hangman Comics #4 (1942)

My Nazi Is Nazier Than Your Nazi!!

Nobody like to have their costume declare their loyalties like Nazi villains. I mean, the Red Skull was seriously the most subtle of these guys.

Of course, the classic is...

Captain Nazi!!

But he was nothing compared to...

Baron Gestapo!!

But I think the winner has to be...

Captain Swastika!!

I mean, he wasn't at all confident enough to rely merely on the massive swastika on his chest. No, he had to emblazon his face with it, too. And you know what? It worked!!

Gee, how could you tell he was a Nazi?

Love the casual slacks.

Captain Swastika bedeviled the Hangman, both in his own magazine and in Pep, until he died.

But of course, no one dies forever. DC might have lost the licence to the MLJ heroes, but I guess Captain Swastika had slipped into public domain, because DC soon scooped him up to face the JSA:

Of course, the Hangman had plenty of other Nazi villains:

A Nazi monk!! A Nazi armored knight on horseback!!

Sadly, the cover lied to us, as neither of those guys appeared in the issue. But this gentleman did:

I hope you appreciate the restraint used to keep from making "spear and magic helmet" jokes.

Anyway, that's the Hunter, and yes, Geoff Johns revived him to face the JSA, too...when you want to gratuitously kill of a bunch of Golden Age heroes and their descendants, you need a lot of Nazis...sigh.