A “Circus of Crime” would be an unlikely and unwieldy enterprise, yet Marvel Comics has frequently found them irresistible over the decades.
Why? It’s easy to see the answer in the first such story, The Ringmaster of Death (Captain America 5, Aug. 1941).
A circus provides a superhero any number of built-in colorful challenges — lions, gorillas, elephants, acrobats, clowns, human cannonballs, the lot. And after all, superheroes owe the existence of their very costumes to the circus tradition. Jack Kirby and Joe Simon exploit the setting to full visual effect here.
Cap gets kayoed by a strong man and hurled aloft by an elephant. He performs acrobatic rescues on a trapeze, breaks a tiger’s neck and corrals the Nazi saboteur Ringmaster.
Another Circus of Crime — complete with its own hypnotically powered Ringmaster — fought the Incredible Hulk in September 1962, Spider-Man and Daredevil in September 1964, the Mighty Thor in November 1967 and Howard the Duck in June 1978.
An old West version of the Circus of Crime even turned up in Kid Colt Outlaw in September 1962 — which meant that Marvel heroes were tackling two Circuses of Crime the same month!
Joseph Lenius wrote:
ReplyDeleteDan, kid me was like, "Damn, another Ringmaster!" 😂
Bob Doncaster wrote:
ReplyDeleteThe circus shut down not because of their many crimes but because of their mistreatment of animals
Tony Scheuhammer wrote:
ReplyDeleteYet another Kirby 'sinister circus'! Simon & Kirby's Carnival of Crime (Adventure #84 1943), reprinted in Kirby's 1970s Sandman run.
Melody Ivins wrote"
ReplyDeleteExquisite. And in page 2, it's a good thing the bad guy announced his intention of plugging Cap instead of just shooting. You'd think Villain School would teach them to keep their yaps shut.
Michael Fraley wrote:
ReplyDeleteSome heroes even enlist help from the circus -- lookin' at you, Bruce Wayne!
Mike Fuller wrote:
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Given that the circus is all but dead, I doubt we’ll see a revival, though.
George Alf Jensen wrote:
ReplyDeleteI've always liked the crime circus appearances and regard them as the same circus just different time periods with natural personnel changes over the years.
Mark Marderosian wrote:
ReplyDeleteMan, Captain America #1-10 read like a fever dream. Mr. Kirby's art was esp lurid. I remember seeing how when Marvel reprinted a Red Skull story in the 60's they had to re-work his insane gaping jaw as it was too frightening.