Bold Fashion Choices--What's With The Masks, Super-Villains?

So, why do super-villains wear masks?

No, seriously.

I mean, heroes I get. You still have secret identities, loved ones to protect, etc.

But villains? Part of the premise of comics--reinforced by the Comics Code--is that the hero wins. Which means the villains lose. And are usually incarcerated.

Which means they're arrested. And fingerprinted. And tried. And jailed (or committed). And even if they're found not guilty, all of that is still part of the public record!

Which means their "secret identities" are public knowledge. Everyone--especially the police and the super-heroes--already knows who they are.

So, for example:

Poor Eddie Nigma has been arrested about a million times. He's been sent to prison and/or Arkham more times than we can count. Everyone knows who he is already. So why the mask?

Ditto Selina Kyle.

She almost always wears a mask.Yet it's no mystery who she is. In the Golden/Silver Age, she was caught and sent to jail quite often. Batman knows who she is. The police know who she is. So what's the point of the mask...other than fashion? Does she really think that Batman will go, "Robin, we can't be sure who that feline-attired burglar is behind the mask this time?"

Sure, sometimes there are utilitarian reasons why you wear the mask. I'm sure Captain Cold would tell you the glasses protect his eyes from the cold he's always projecting.

I'm sure Scarecrow would tell you his mask is doubly utilitarian, both to project fear, and to protect himself from the latest version of fear gas he's spewing.

Of course, there's always the case of villains who haven't been publicly unmasked yet--they still have identities to maintain. Hell, they can still try to maintain plausible deniability, even after Pulitzer Prize reporting identified them! So, yeah, masks make sense, then.

Not to mention, of course, that when others subsequently adopt the identity, it allows for confusion and mystery...

Of course, there are the guys trying to cover up...umm...appearance problems, not identities.

But these 12 time losers?

What's their excuse?

I suppose you could give us a 21st century excuse that technology--cybernetic circuitry in their mask/headgear--allows them to operate their stuff, I guess...?

Or maybe they just think it looks really cool.

As for this guy? Why he wears a mask?

You've gotta ask Kirby...

Manic Monday Triple Overtime--You Mean Crime Really Doesn't Pay?!?

In a town not too far from Smallville:

Well, all right, then!!

Surprisingly enough, it wasn't Lex Luthor behind it--it was the Mechanical Master!!

Let's join him and his henchman...

But here comes the kicker:

"WHAT???" indeed!!!

Seriously, that panel has blown my mind!! You mean that you can invent a robotic bank robbing/skywriting mailbox, have it clean out a bank, and end up losing money on "the job"?!?!?

I mean, the whole idea of inventing super-gadgets to rob banks and such is that you'll make money!! What's the point, otherwise?!? Plus, you can't even write off the "business" loss on your taxes, because your activities are illegal!!

Now I'm going back over every super-villain heist ever, trying to figure out if they actually made money on the transaction. Cold guns and giant stilt suits aren't cheap, after all--especially if you keep getting captured and don't get to keep your ill-gotten gains!!

Now I know why they made Lex a billionaire post-Crisis--otherwise, there's no way he could have afforded all of the wonderful toys!!

From Superman Family #193 (1979)

Manic Monday Bonus--Birth of A Super-Villain?!?

Look, we just know this guy is destined to become a Marvel villain, right?

Not to mock too much--I know from experience as a speech coach that many, MANY people could do wonders in their lives by learning to speak a little better.

But just look at the guy!

A scary-looking guy named Feuchtinger who is going to give you a "power voice"???

I can see the whole story...he's a success, but a treacherous partner decides to steal ther income, and leaves him for dead. But he survives, the experience--near death? Exposure to his "process" for 48 hours as he lays beneath rubble inhaling hard water vapors?--reaches undreamt levels of power, and now a has a "super" voice which can command others, and cause things to happen. And so he goes on a revenge quest, initially stopped by Spider-Man and Ghost Rider in an issue of Marvel Team-Up, but eventually just becoming another super-villain who menaces every Marvel hero...until Galactus comes looking for a new herald...

See, this is why I'm not allowed to write comic books. Ever.

From The Perfect Crime #30 (1952)

Villain Most Desperately In Need of A name Change

 A good name can mean so much in the super-villain game. Take, for example...

You know, since everybody is mortal, your name isn't really foreboding or strange or threatening at all. You might as well call yourself Dr. Just Like Everyone Else, right?

Of course, since he apparently dies at the end of every story, and than returns inexplicably to life the next month, perhaps he just means the name ironically.

And Dr. Mortal's  game?

Ambitious. Let's see some of these experiments that will destroy humanity.

A big goomba that can see in the dark? Ooh, I'm so scared...

OK, a bunch of them. That's a step in the right direction. What else do you got, Doc?

Man-eating crabs? Well, that's sort of OK, I guess. But your trap door sucks.

I'm just saying, you've got a long way to go until you reach Fu Manchu levels, Dr. Mortal!

From Weird Comics #10 (1941)

How Young Super-Villains Got Their Starts

At least back in 1975...

And in case you think it's not necessarily the path to evil...

Hmmm...anybody have a dollar I can borrow??