DOCTOR DILL

Real Name: D.D. Dill (first name unrevealed)

Identity/Class: Human (Post-World War II era)

Occupation: Scientist, criminal

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: His gang

Enemies: Sub-Mariner

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "The scientific arch-fiend"; "The Most Amazing Villain in Comics!" (as called on cover)

Base of Operations: Mobile

First Appearance: Sub-Mariner Comics#31/1 (April, 1949)

Powers/Abilities: Doctor Dill was knowledgeable in chemistry, and also talented in organizing crimes.

History: (Sub-Mariner Comics#31/1) - Doctor Dill's past is unknown, but after years of the Sub-Mariner thwarting every plan he had for committing a successful crime (see comments), Dill created a growth formula and planned to use it on Namor to make him into the world's largest giant.

  Riding his bicycle to the waterfront, Dill spread the word around that he needed to see the Sub-Mariner. Namor heard the news and met Dill on a dock. The diabolical doctor tried to convince Namor that he had gone straight and wanted to be friends; as a gesture of goodwill, Dill even bought Namor a bottle of cherry soda (which he "secretly" poured the growth serum into as Namor watched) to drink a toast to their new friendship. Namor could tell by the smell that the additive wasn't poison, so he decided to drink it anyway to see what would happen (Oh, that was smart). Suddenly, Namor felt himself growing, and he was a foot taller. Running into a nearby grocery store to look at himself in a mirror, Namor saw himself getting taller every second (he was now about 10 feet tall). As his size continued to increase, the Sub-Mariner burst through the ceiling of the building.

  Soon Namor was about 60 feet tall and still growing, and he was unintentionally causing destruction in the confines of the city because of his Brobdingnagian proportions. The mayor had a message put on a billboard for the giant Namor, ordering him to leave. Not wanting to cause any further damage, Namor went back to the waterfront and hopped into the ocean, but his movements were causing tidal waves and flooding the city, so he could only walk out to deeper waters (he estimated that he was as large as the Empire State Building by this point).

  Meanwhile, having left the Atlantean prince in quite a pickle (Sorry, couldn't resist) and too preoccupied to stop him, Doctor Dill began to organize the criminal underworld for the second phase of his carefully-laid plan. With an armed yacht, the sinister scientist and his outlaw crew began their campaign of piracy, stealing a gold shipment from a freighter.

  Namor, now taller than a mountain, realized if he didn't stop growing, there wouldn't be enough room on the planet for him and he'd fall off into space. Spotting a yacht nearby, the Sub-Mariner thought there might be a doctor on board who could help him. Namor picked up the yacht with his hand and -- lo and behold! -- he saw it was the yacht of Doctor Dill! Namor threatened Dill, telling him that if he fell off the planet, he'd take Dill with him ("Poetic justice, eh?"). With his scheme falling apart, Doctor Dill had no choice but to inject Namor with the antidote, returning him to his normal size.

  About an hour later, Doctor Dill and his crew found themselves locked in the brig of a naval vessel. Despite Dill's insistence that the whole plot was "just a joke -- heh-heh-heh! just a gag," his words fell on deaf ears as the Sub-Mariner swam off, happy that he wouldn't be causing any more tidal waves.

Comments: Created by an unknown writer and Al Gabriele.

Although Namor referred to him as "my old enemy," this is actually Doctor Dill's first, last and (thankfully) only appearance.

It looks like Dill discovered something akin to Pym Particles.

The cover of this issue depicted Doctor Dill flying in an airplane, but the only forms of transportation he used in the story were his bicycle and the yacht... of course, the cover also declared Doctor Dill to be "The Most Amazing Villain in Comics!" -- guess you can't always trust the covers.

This tale is pretty goofy and reads like something out of Spidey Super Stories, but I don't suppose there's anything to keep it out of Earth-616 continuity (...other than good sense, that is).

And a BIG Thank You to Brian Hirsch for sending me the scans for this story!

Profile by John Kaminski

CLARIFICATIONS:
Doctor Dill has no known connection to:

• "Dill", fury of the pickled cucumber that walks like a man @ Howard the Duck I#22
• Mister Doll, another loser villain @ Tales of Suspense I#48
• Dolly Dill, star of Timely/Marvel comic @ Dolly Dill#1
• any other characters with similar names

images:
Sub-Mariner Comics#31, p2, pan7 (main)