Missed Villains Month Opportunities--Needlenoodle!!

If only DC had held onto the "Red Circle" licence, they could have had this guy featured in his own Villains Month issue:

You may mock Needlenoodle, but c'mon...he's at least as deserving as most of the recycled chumps DC is putting on their covers this month.

So what is Needlenoodle's game, anyway?

Well, Kip Burland is a hero, and there's no convenient deus ex machina lying around, so...

Not a dream, not a hoax, not an imaginary story. In Black Hood #19 (1946), the final issue of his own series, Kip Burland was unmasked!! For reals! He retired as a cop, and a costumed crime-fighter, and set up his own private detective agency. Oh, he was still called "Black Hood" by everyone, but for for the rest of that era's MLJ appearances, he was just a plainclothes private dick who punched people!

But we're not done yet!! The second Black Hood story in the issue features the return of Needlenoodle!

True--revealing a hero's identity is not a crime!! However, assualt, kidnapping, attempted murder, racketeering...those might be crimes.

Anyway, Needlenoodle wants to hire Burland as a bodyguard, in what is an overly complicated plot to frame him for murder. Which, of course, ends up in a fight atop a train:

Ewwwwww.

Kids, never fight atop moving trains (unless you're James Bond).

And those are the only appearances ever for Needlenoodle.

But just think what DC could do with him in a Villains Month special--he's an orphan!! After his parent(s) abused him terribly!! And kids teased him mercilessly!! And it's not his fault he became evil!! Just feel sympathy for him, dammit!!

Oh, wait--that's all of the other Villains Month issues...